Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: A Time Of Need

Promises and Limitations

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Covenant Theology

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2026-03-01

Synopsis: John Weaver distinguishes between unconditional and conditional promises in Scripture, using Isaiah 55:6-13 as the primary text. He explains that unconditional promises depend solely on God's sovereign action, while conditional promises require human response—specifically repentance and a change in thinking. The sermon emphasizes that God's thoughts and ways are higher than ours, and that true transformation comes through renewing the mind to think biblically. The promise of mercy and pardon in Isaiah 55:7 is conditioned upon forsaking wicked ways and thoughts.

[John Weaver] Let's open our Bible today to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. And we're going to be reading verses 6 through 13. Isaiah 55, verses 6 through 13. The title of the message is Promises and Limitations. Promises and Limitations. So if you look at Isaiah 55, beginning there with verse 6, the Word of God says, Seek ye the Lord, while it may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near.

[John Weaver] Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

[John Weaver] For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return into me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing.

[John Weaver] and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands, and instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." Each one of us understand promises in one sense of the word, because promises literally abound in the Word of God. Oftentimes we try to claim one of those promises and it seems like there's no fruition of the promise in our life. And we think then either there's something wrong with the promise or there must be something wrong with our interpretation of the promise. So we fail to understand concerning promises in the Bible. In the Bible there are two types of promises. Number one, there is an unconditional promise. Now, an unconditional promise simply means what it says.

[John Weaver] There are absolutely no conditions attached to it. It is the work of God. It is a declaration of God. It is the degree of God or the counsel of God. But then there are also what we know as conditional promises. And conditional promises certainly are based upon conditions. And we cannot expect the fulfillment of that promise. unless those particular conditions are met.

[John Weaver] Now, let me give you first some examples of what we would call unconditional promises. So first of all, in Genesis chapter 9, verse 11, God gave a promise that he would never again destroy the world by flood. So clearly then, this is an act of God. It is a unconditional promise because Regardless of how man lives, regardless of how man acts, God has promised unequivocally he's never ever going to destroy the world again with a flood. He may destroy it some other way, but not with a flood, because his word is true. And then secondly, when you look at Genesis chapter 12 and through Genesis chapter 15, God has promised to give Abraham a seed And he's promised them to preserve his prosperity. He's promised also that through him and in him, all the nations shall be blessed. And so that is an unconditional promise.

[John Weaver] You can read about it. God said, I will. I will. I will. In other words, nothing is based upon Abraham's acts. It's all based upon God. And then thirdly, there is the unconditional covenant that is unconditional promise of the new covenant that is spoken of in Jeremiah chapter 31 verses 31 through 34. This is the promise where God has said that he would write his laws upon our hearts and in our minds. You'll find that promise also mentioned in Hebrews chapter 8 and Hebrews chapter 10. This is another thing where God says, I will, I will. This is something that God is going to do. You say, but he's only going to do it to those who have faith and who repent. That is true. But you have to remember, it is also God who gives you the faith to believe and repentance to enable you to turn from your sin. So it's still all an act of God. That is for sure. And then in 2 Samuel chapter 12, God has promised to David a posterity, and not only that, an everlasting dynasty, which is unconditional.

[John Weaver] So, you say, how in the world can this work with Abraham, and how in the world can this work with David? Well, the answer is Matthew 1 in verse 1, in the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So Jesus Christ is the true son of David. Jesus Christ is the true son of Abraham. And so that everlasting covenant and that unconditional dynasty is going to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then there's another unconditional promise, and that's Hebrews 13, verse 5, where he said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And so that is a promise based upon God's sovereign decree. God is never, ever going to leave us. You say, but he's going to leave us when we die. No, he's not. Psalm 23, David said, Yea, thou walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me. So he's never, ever going to leave us. He's never, ever going to forsake us. So unconditional promises, then, are grounded upon God's character and are fulfilled through and by his sovereign action, even when even when human instruments fail.

[John Weaver] It doesn't matter, because God is given this promise unconditionally. That is why in 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 20, the Apostle Paul said this, So all of these that I've just mentioned are unconditional promises. Now secondly, there are conditional promises.

[John Weaver] We have to grasp these conditions. When you look in Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, you'll find in both of those passages the curses and the blessings. So the blessings are based upon obedience. If we obey his word, if we obey his commandments. The curses, by the way, are based upon disobedience. In other words, There are conditions. If you want to be cursed, just simply disobey. If you want to be blessed, then you must obey. So, we understand this.

[John Weaver] So, I could look at Brother Steve, since he's mechanically inclined, and I would say, Brother Steve, I tell you what, if you can fix my old truck up, and you take care of the parts, and I will give you a thousand Federal Reserve notes. Now, I promise I'll give you that. Now, here's the thing. I just promised him 1,000 Federal Reserve notes if he fixed my truck. If he doesn't fix my truck, I don't owe him the 1,000 Federal Reserve notes. You see that? So that would be a conditional promise. I promised to give him that if he fulfilled the conditions. But if he does not fulfill the conditions, then he does not get it.

[John Weaver] Now, let me give you an illustration straight from the Scripture that everybody can understand. Most of you can quote this verse, 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14. God said, If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then, He said, will I hear their prayer, forgive their sin, and heal their land. So hearing our prayer, forgiving our sins, healing our land, are based upon and conditioned upon humility, seeking Him, praying to Him, and turning from our wicked ways. So you can pray all you want to for a real, genuine revival in this land, but until we humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, There's not going to be any real healing in our land. You follow that?

[John Weaver] So that is a conditional promise. Now, here's another one. Our Lord said it like this in Matthew 6 and verse 33. He said, But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things shall be added unto you.

[John Weaver] Now, when you go back and read the context, he's talking about supplying our daily needs. So here's a condition. If you want your daily needs supplied, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. If we put God first, he promises that all these other things will be added unto us. But if we put him second, third, fourth, fifth, or 100th or 1000th, then we're not going to find those promises fulfilled in our lives because there are conditions.

[John Weaver] So clearly, we understand conditional promises then reflect what I would call a covenantal relationship where God's grace interacts with human faith, obedience, and repentance. So these conditions are not burdensome, but they are designed to deepen our relationship with God and to foster spiritual growth. Now believers are actively encouraged to meet these conditions, faith, obedience, repentance, prayer, to experience the fullness of God's blessings. Let me make this clear. These conditions are not earned, nor are they earning the fulfillment of God's promises.

[John Weaver] So let me explain it like this. The only way that we can come to Him is that He first comes to us. It's kind of like the passage in 1 John 4 and verse 19. We love Him. Why? Because He first loved us. So when He stirs our hearts and He encourages us and gives us faith and gives us repentance and gives us obedience and gives us all that we need to fulfill those conditions, It's not our earning it, it's still His grace and His mercy that's working in our lives that enables us to meet those conditions.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to keep these truths in mind as you look at Isaiah 55 with me. So, first of all, I want you to look at verse 6. Look at this. He says, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near.

[John Weaver] Now, in one sense of the word, we might think this is a very strange command. The two verbs, by the way, in verse 6, are imperatives. That means they are a command. There's the command to seek the Lord while he may be found, and there's the command to call upon him while he is near. So here's the question. Is God not always near? Can God not always be found? Now, when you stop and think about this, and I said it's kind of a strange thing, because most of us immediately we think about the omnipresence of God. And when we think about the omnipresence of God, we think that God is indeed truly everywhere in one place with the totality of his being. I could change that. He is everywhere in each place with the totality of His being. So when people try to explain the omnipresence of God, and they try to say, well, one part of God is in Russia, another part is in Egypt, another part is in Israel, another part's in Canada and England, another part's in America, another part's...

[John Weaver] No, no. And you put all these together and you've got one God. No, that is heresy to the nth degree. The omnipresence of God tells us that God is everywhere at one time in the totality of his being. So let me show you. If you will turn in your Bibles, hold Isaiah 55, but if you will turn in your Bibles to Psalm 139, Psalm 139. In this Psalm, David is talking about the omnipresence of God, that it is impossible to escape His presence. Look at this. Psalm 139.

[John Weaver] And let's begin reading there with verse 7. Psalm 139, verse 7. And David asked, Whether shall I go from thy spirit? Or whether shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell or shield, thee, O thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee."

[John Weaver] So David is saying there's no way to escape the omnipresence of God. I remember when I was a boy and all my boyfriends, male friends, if you ever wanted to do something bad, if you ever wanted to do something you knew your parents did not like, you'd go out by the barn. Why would you go by the barn? Because nobody could see you. But you can't go by the barn with God because God is omnipresent. God is everywhere at once in the totality of his being.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look back then to Isaiah 55 and verse 6, because this is a strange verse and you must interpret it in light of other scriptures. When he says, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. How do we understand this verse in light of the omnipresence of God? Well, first of all, let me say that God is telling us that we must seek him sincerely. We must seek him seriously. And listen to this, we must seek him seasonably. That is in season, because this verse clearly indicates there is a time when God cannot be found And there is a time when God is not near. What do I mean when he is not near? He is not near in his special, selective presence.

[John Weaver] So here's a good illustration. You will remember the children of Israel had the tabernacle. God ordered the tabernacle. He gave the pattern. Moses built the tabernacle. The tabernacle was carried throughout the wilderness wanderings by the children of Israel. It was just a tabernacle until the Shekinah glory descended upon it. When God came down upon it, that was a special presence of God. So it's just like you had the outer court, you had the inner court, the holy place, and then you had the most holy place. The most holy place was where God revealed himself in a special presence.

[John Weaver] So this is what we're talking about in this sense of the word. So he is saying. In verse six, that there is a time. That it may be impossible to call upon God, there may be a time when God is not near and God is not going to answer. Let me give you a quote. as by Albert Barnes, he said it like this, in an important sense, God is equally near to us at all times.

[John Weaver] That would be his omnipresence. But this figurative language is taken from the mode of speaking among people, and it denotes that there are influences more favorable for seeking him at some periods than others. Thus, God comes near to us in the preaching of his word, when it is born with power to the conscience. He comes to us in his providences when he strikes down a friend and comes into the very circle where we move or the very dwelling where we abide. When he lays his hand upon us in sickness, he is near us by day and by night in a revival of religion or when a pious friend pleads with us. God is near to us then and is calling us to his favor. These are favorable times for salvation. Times which, if they are suffered to pass by unimproved, return no more.

[John Weaver] Periods which will all soon be gone, and when they are gone, the sinner is irrevocably lost or dies. Wow.

[John Weaver] Now, let me explain this in a very simple way. We will either be saved in God's time and God's way or not at all. We'll either be blessed in God's time and in God's way or not at all. Salvation and blessing are not in our hands. They are in God's hands. Let me put this another way. God is not at our disposal. We are to be at his disposal. He is God. and not us.

[John Weaver] Now, let me just show you what Isaiah 55 verse 6 is talking about. So I want you to follow me with some scriptures. First of all, I want you to turn back to Psalm 32, and I want you to look at verse 6. Psalm 32. And look, if you would please, at verse 6. Look what the word of God says. Talking about prayer. In fact, let's read verse 5 in light of this, just so you can see it. So, Psalm 32, verse 5, David said, I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. So now we're talking about confession and acknowledgement. Then he says in verse 6, for this shall everyone that is God be prey unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found. Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come unto thee. So he says there's a time when he can be found and now he says here are times, floods of great waters that come nigh unto thee.

[John Weaver] Those times he can't be found. And so the floods of great waters can be anything catastrophic that will take away your attention, take away your desires. You heard me say this about Stonewall Jackson when he was wounded and on the battlefield and a litter was called and of course his left arm was mutilated by many balls, broken. And as they were carrying him off the field, Lieutenant Smith's foot got tangled in a vine and he tripped and Stonewall fell from the litter on that arm.

[John Weaver] He let out a bit of pitiful groan. Lieutenant Smith said, are you hurt? So he said, I'm fine. And they got him to the hospital. His arm was amputated. He died shortly thereafter, within a week or so, I think, from pneumonia, not from the amputation. But he told Chaplain Beverly Tucker Lacy, he said, I learned a very valuable lesson. He said, when I fell from that litter, had I not already been a child of God?

[John Weaver] He said, my pain was so great, I could have never controlled my mind. To call upon him and ask for mercy and grace. So this is what he's talking about in Psalm 32. So let me show you another truth. Look in your Bibles if you would now to Proverbs chapter 1. So we're talking about a time when God cannot be found and when God is not near. So if you look in Proverbs chapter 1, let's begin reading there with verse 23 and we'll read through verse 31. So look in Proverbs chapter 1 and verse 23. Look what our Lord who is wisdom incarnate says. Proverbs 1 verse 23.

[John Weaver] Turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you. I will make known my words unto you.

[John Weaver] Now look what he says. Because I have called and you refused. I stretched out my hand and no man regarded. But you have said it not all my counsel and would have none of my reproof. You wouldn't listen. What's going to be the outcome? I will also laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh, when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer.

[John Weaver] They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me. Why? For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel that despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own ways and be foothold with their own devices." So what does he think? I've called and you refused. I was near and you had paid me no attention.

[John Weaver] Now you're going to call and I'm not going to answer. Look in your Bibles if you would to Isaiah chapter 65 and verse 12. Isaiah 65. And verse 12. Look at this. Isaiah 65 verse 12. God says. Look at it. Therefore, will I number you to the sword and you shall all bow down to the slaughter? Why? Because when I called, you did not answer. When I spake, you did not hear.

[John Weaver] but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I did not." God said, I called and you wouldn't answer. I spoke and you wouldn't hear. And now I'm going to number you to the slaughter.

[John Weaver] Now, if you would turn right on over to the book of Hosea. So Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. So if you'll turn to Hosea right after the book of Daniel. Look in chapter five and verse six. Hosea chapter 5 and verse 6. Look at what is said. Hosea 5 verse 6. They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord, but they shall not find him.

[John Weaver] He has withdrawn himself from them. Wow. There are times when God withdraws his special favorable presence. He cannot withdraw his omnipresence, but he can withdraw that special saving or blessing presence for sure.

[John Weaver] Now, in Luke 19, you don't have to turn there. I'll quote it. But our Lord is bewailing the fact that Jerusalem is going to be destroyed. You remember how he said that as a hen gathers her chicks under his wings, so would I would have gathered you. but you would not come then he said in Luke 19 in verse 44 and shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee or with and they shall not leave thee once on upon another because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation Jesus Christ lived and walked among them they did not receive him they hated him they despised him they crucified him He said, you did not know the time of your visitation. You did not know the time of the special presence and manifestation of God.

[John Weaver] So it's important for you and I to understand that we are not to waste opportunities to seek the Lord, to call upon him, to worship him and to be taught of him. He is not always near in his gracious presence, although he's always present because of his omnipresence. So there are times that God also comes in a chastening presence or in a punishing presence, especially for those who disobey and rebel and those who refuse to hear and listen.

[John Weaver] Now, Scripture does teach and I want to show it to you. Scripture does teach that there is an accepted time of salvation and an accepted time of blessing. So if you will go back to Isaiah, chapter 49, whole 55, we're coming back there, but looking at Wood in Isaiah 49, and note verse 8, Isaiah 49 verse 8, Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, in a day of salvation have I helped thee, and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people to establish the earth, and a cause to inherit the desolate heritage."

[John Weaver] Now this is a promise that God gave to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in verse 7,"...Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to Him whom man despises, to Him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, He shall choose thee." And then He talks about the acceptable time,"...I have heard thee, and a day of salvation have I helped thee, and how he's going to preserve me. Now, if you will turn right over to 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 2, you'll see that this truth is also applied to his people particularly.

[John Weaver] And it is stated very plainly. 2 Corinthians chapter 6, look if you would please at verse 2. Then we'll go back and catch verse 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 6, look in verse 2. For he said, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. So go back to verse one.

[John Weaver] The apostle says, we then as workers together with him beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain. Do you realize it's possible to receive the grace of God in vain? It must be because Paul says that you should not receive it in vain. And there is a common grace, yes, and there is a special grace as well. But I want you to notice, he said in verse one, we then as workers together with him beseech you. And then he says, I've heard the unaccepted time or time accepted in the day of salvation of a succor day. Behold now, what time is it when they're beseeching, when they're preaching, when they're teaching, when they're witnessing? That is a special time. God must be near because his salvation is being proclaimed. His salvation is being offered. Wow.

[John Weaver] Well, look at your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Hebrews, Chapter four. Here's one more illustration of this. Hebrews, Chapter four. Let's begin reading their reverse one. Hebrews, Chapter four and verse one. Look at this.

[John Weaver] Now we're going to put it together. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 1. Let us therefore fear. Why should we fear? Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left of us, being left us, of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. Now, wait a minute. Let us fear, lest a promise being left us, of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to become short of it. How do you come short of it? Well, look at verse 2.

[John Weaver] Now he's talking about those Israelites that fell in the wilderness. He said, for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. They didn't believe. They didn't hear. Then he said, for we who have believed do enter into rest, as he said, as I was sworn in my wrath. if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world."

[John Weaver] In other words, God says, I'm speaking in a special time, in a special way. You better hear me. You better come when I call. It's just that simple.

[John Weaver] Now, so I want you to go back to Isaiah. Look in 55. Let me try to begin tying this together for you. Look at Isaiah 55, verse 6 again. Isaiah 55, verse 6. Seek ye the Lord. While he may be found. When he's coming in a special way. Call you upon him while he is near. You remember it was Stanley Crosby. The blind hymn writer. Who wrote?

[John Weaver] Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Do not pass me by. while others are calling, do not pass me by." In other words, there's a special time and this is what he's talking about. There's a time to call.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to notice how this leads into verse 7. Look at this. Seek ye the Lord when he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous men his thoughts. and let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. So you must note now that the promise of mercy and pardon are conditioned in verse 7 upon repentance of our ways and repentance of our thoughts.

[John Weaver] If there is no changing and repenting of the mind There's not going to be any repenting or changing in the conduct. Without repentance and without faith, it is useless to call upon the Lord. So let me put it like this. Pilate may wash his hands all day long. The Pharisees may clean the outside of the platter all day, please. And the hypocrite. can try to deceive everybody, but it cannot deceive God. None of them will ever be blessed by the Lord or saved by the Lord. Why? Because they're not meeting the conditions of repentance and faith. Wow.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you. It is impossible to be converted without repentance. So if you will turn over in your Bibles to Jeremiah, chapter 18, Jeremiah chapter 18. Hang with me. We're going to get through this, Lord willing. But look in Jeremiah chapter 18 and verse 11. Look what God says. We're coming back to Isaiah 55, Jeremiah 18, verse 11. God says, Now, therefore, go to speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I frame evil against you and devise a device against you. Return you now everyone from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good. God says I'm planning something destructive against you and the wise thing for you to do is to listen and repent. Turn you everyone from his evil way and make your ways and you're doing good. So your way is your lifestyle. It is your conduct.

[John Weaver] It is how you live. It's just that simple. Look in Jeremiah, chapter twenty five and verse five. Jeremiah, twenty five, verse five. Look at this again. They say, turn you again now, everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given unto you and your fathers forever and ever. So you're not going to dwell in the land unless you repent, unless you turn and unless you obey.

[John Weaver] Now, let me tell you how appropriate this is. You don't have to turn to Luke chapter 13, but if you want to go there afterwards and find it, that's up to you. But Luke chapter 13. They came to our Lord and said, basically did you hear about those Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices now you have to remember they were really trying to upset our Lord because he was from Galilee Nazareth was in Galilee so these were his people so Pilate then murdered some of them while they were sacrificing unto God and you know what our Lord said suppose you that these Galileans were sinners exceedingly I tell you next but except you repent you shall likewise perish and then he added something he said how about those 18 on whom the tower of Siloam fell do you think they were sinners exceedingly I tell you nay but except you repent you shall likewise perish in other words he is saying that God demands repentance so the way of the wicked is his walk it is his conduct and God demands that he turns from his conduct and from his walk How do you do

[John Weaver] that? Well, you must turn from your evil thoughts as well. You have to understand this. I'm going to show it to you from the scripture. But you have to understand that it's your mind that controls your body. It's your mind that controls your actions. If you do not think biblically, you're not going to act biblically. If you think wrongly, you will act wrongly. Years ago, I was preaching a little Baptist church outside of Thomasville, Georgia.

[John Weaver] In the congregation was the pastor's brother. The pastor had witnessed to his brother for years, but his brother was lost. That night, God just mercifully and graciously saved his brother. So after service, The pastor was so happy. He invited us to go to a restaurant and have some refreshment in a time of fellowship. Well, of course, his brother and his family went as well. And so we were sitting around, we had already prayed, and we were sitting around just talking back and forth. His brother was a huge bird hunter. He hunted quail.

[John Weaver] And all of a sudden, He burst out laughing. I mean, just almost uncontrollable. And I looked at him, and I said, what is wrong? Or what is so funny? He said, well, it just hit me. He said, I'm going to have to retrain my bird dogs all over. They won't understand a word I'm saying now. Well, you get the picture. But what he was saying is, look, since I've been saved. I've got to think differently. I have to speak differently as well.

[John Weaver] So this illustration now leads me to verse 7. So let's look at verse 6 and 7 again. Hang on. He says, Seek ye the Lord while it may be found. Call you upon him while he's near. Let the wicked forsake his way. Hang on. And the unrighteous man his thoughts. and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon." Wow. So, it is not just the way, it is not just the conduct that has to be changed, it is the way of thinking that must be changed as well. Our thought life, our thinking, is the foundation of our walk our conduct, our action, our ways. The way you think is the way you act. It's just that simple. I said it earlier, if you think unbiblically, you're going to act unbiblically. If you think according to Scripture, you're going to act according to Scripture. So, it's the sinful, wicked, and wrong way of thinking that leads us into wicked and wrong ways of acting and conduct as well.

[John Weaver] So we have to change our way of thinking into a biblical pattern. So we normally, we normally think carnally, we normally think naturally, we normally think fleshly. Okay? So suppose Ron and I get kind of at each other's throats. and Ron gets so aggravated at me, he just starts cussing me. And he cusses me in front of everybody.

[John Weaver] Now, he's not going to do that. I know that. But what would be my normal reaction? What would be the fleshly reaction to cussing back? You're not going to talk to me like that. I'll talk to you even worse, you see. But what's the scripture say? Proverbs 15 verse 1, a soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stirreth up anger. So if I let him upset me, because he's already upset, and now I fire back at him, and he gets more upset, next thing you know we're in a fist fight. You see what I'm saying? So you can either think carnally, you can either think fleshly, or you can think biblically, it's just that simple. So we have to change our way of thinking if we're going to change our way of acting and conduct.

[John Weaver] This is the place where most Christians fail. They change a few things in their lives. Well, I quit drinking, I quit smoking. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't chew, and I don't go to the girls that do. You know, that's fine. But we never change our way of thinking. We still think wickedly and carnally, and therefore, we never really change. If you do not change your thinking, if you have a habit that's wicked or wrong or unscriptural, if you don't change your thinking and you say, I'm going to quit that habit, you will quit it temporarily, but then you'll go back to it. Because although you change your conduct for a short period, you never change your thinking. And you went right back to it.

[John Weaver] Here's a quote from Albert Barnes on Isaiah 55 and verse 7. He says, The Hebrew word denotes all that is the object of thought, and the idea is that the man must abandon his plans and purposes of life. The thoughts in the sight of a holy God are not less important than the external deportment. and no man can obtain his favor who is not ready to abandon his erroneous opinions, his pride in vanity, his plans of evil, and his purposes of life that are opposed to God." So he says you have to change. You just have to change your way of thinking. Now, let me quote some scriptures and I want you to think about these with me. First of all, Proverbs 4 and verse 23.

[John Weaver] Keep thy heart with all diligence. for out of it are the issues of life. Now the heart in the Bible is the mind. I know occasionally it refers to affections, but most of the time it refers to your mind. Keep thy heart in all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. Everything comes from your mind. You can't move without thinking. I can't even pick up my glasses without thinking. The Bible says in Proverbs 23 verse 7, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

[John Weaver] The words, your thoughts determine how you live. It's just that simple.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to turn with me, hold Isaiah 55, but turn with me first of all to Matthew 15, and then we're going to go to Mark 7. But look in Matthew chapter 15, if you would. I want to show you what our Lord says. Matthew chapter 15, and let's begin reading there with verse 18. Matthew 15 and verse 18. In fact, we can read verse 17. Watch this. In fact, we'll go to verse 16.

[John Weaver] Our Lord's talking to His disciples, and He said, Are you also yet without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the drawer? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. Now, look what comes out of the heart. Very first thing, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts. Your heart, your mind. And what are those thoughts about? Murders, adulteries, fornications, theft, false witness, blasphemies, These are the things which defile a man, but eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man. So I said everything comes out of the heart and the very first thing is evil thoughts.

[John Weaver] Now you will turn over to Mark chapter seven. Mark chapter seven. And look, if you would please, at verses 20 through 23, it's the same truth, but said just a little differently. Mark chapter 7 verse 20. And he said, that which cometh out of the man, that defileth him. Now look at verse 21. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetous, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, All these evil things come from within and defile the man.

[John Weaver] So, unless we change our way of thinking, we're not going to change our lives. Now, let me give you some scriptures just to show you why God demands that we change our thinking. And I'm going to come back to that in Isaiah chapter 55. But you remember the passage in Romans 12, verses 1 and 2. Paul said, I beseech you, therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, not unreasonable. Now, verse 2. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed, listen, by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God. You will never prove that good and perfect and acceptable will of God until you have a renewed mind. He says your mind must be renewed. Do not be conformed to this world. Don't be pressed into the mold of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now, in Ephesians 4 and verse 23, He just simply says, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

[John Weaver] Colossians chapter 3 and verse 10. Listen now. And it put on the new man. Which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him, the creator to him. Well, how did we get renewed in knowledge? Because we submitted our minds to the word of God. We learned what God said, what God demands, what God desires.

[John Weaver] Now, I'm going to quote one more. Listen to this. Philippians two and verse five. Let this mind be in you. Which also is in Christ Jesus. So God then demands that we have the mind of Christ. Now I have two questions for you. Number one, what is the mind of Christ? Number two, how do you know whether or not you have the mind of Christ? Well, I'll tell you what, if you will turn in your Bible to John chapter eight, John chapter eight, I will tell you what the mind of Christ is and then I will show it to you from the scripture. What is the mind of Christ? The mind of Christ is a mind of submission, obedience, walking in faith, and pleasing the Father. That's the mind of Christ. So if you look in John 8 and verse 29, Our Lord said, And he that sent me is with me.

[John Weaver] The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things which please him. Do you remember how Jesus Christ said, I came not to do my will, but the will of him that sent me? Jesus Christ delighted in doing the father's will. He was submissive to his father. He was obedient to his father. He honored his father. He prayed to his father. I do always those things which please him. Wow.

[John Weaver] It's important that you and I understand that our way, when he said, let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man is thought, Our way is our walk. It is our life. It's how we live. But that walk and that life and how we live is controlled by our minds so that we cannot do anything without thinking. And if we think in a biblical framework, yes, we will act biblically. But if we do not think in that framework, we will act unbiblically.

[John Weaver] Now, let me put this together. I want you to look back in your Bibles to Isaiah 55. I want you to see how beautifully this is woven together right here in this passage. So look what he said. Let's begin reading again. Verse six. Watch. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call you upon him while he is near in a special way. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him.

[John Weaver] to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Why should we do all of this? Why does God have conditions? Here's why. God says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my way, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? We do not think like our Heavenly Father by nature.

[John Weaver] It is only in regeneration and conversion that we even begin to see how he thinks and how he moves. We understand that in his word, in his truth, and we understand that his thoughts are far above ours. His ways are far above ours. But we must learn to think his thoughts. Watch. Turn in your Bibles, hold Isaiah 55, but turn in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4, and look if you would begin with verse 17. Ephesians 4, verse 17.

[John Weaver] Now, the apostle here is talking about the unsaved in these few verses. He says, This I say therefore, testifying the Lord, Now, he's talking to Christians, but he says this, that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles or the unsaved walk or the nations walk in the vanity of their minds. That is the useless of their minds. Why is their mind vanity? Look in verse 18, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them. They don't know God. They don't know his word. They don't know his truth.

[John Weaver] because of the blindness of their heart, they're blind to it. So consequently, verse 19, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work old uncleanness with greediness.

[John Weaver] Now, he says, I'm writing this to tell you as Christians, you're not to live like the ungodly. You're not to live like this. Well, here's my question. How do we change? Well. Look in verse 20. He says, but you have not still learned Christ. Let me stop there. You and I must learn Jesus Christ. Look in verse 21. If so be that you have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning the former conversation or conduct or lifestyle the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness so he says you have to learn Jesus Christ and how you learn Jesus Christ is by learning his word learning his precepts learning his principles you learn to change your thinking And therefore, you learn to change your conduct because your conduct is a product of your thinking.

[John Weaver] So we must change our thinking in order to conform our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his word. So we have to learn to think biblically. That's why God says my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are my ways your ways. So we have to learn to think the way God thinks in order that we may stay in the way that he's ordained.

[John Weaver] Now, let me make some applications. The first one is this. Think about this first one. God said, for my ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my thoughts higher than your thoughts, and my ways higher than your ways. God is not going to condescend to think our thoughts, our thoughts are are carnal and fleshly and human. God is not going to condescend to approve our ways. God demands that we conform to His Word, His will, His way. We have to learn to think His thoughts. You're only going to find peace and mercy and pardon in submission and in obedience. Here's the second one.

[John Weaver] The promise in Isaiah 55 is conditioned upon repentance and faith. It is conditioned upon biblical change. Biblical change is not just changing your life, it's changing your thinking. And when you do that, it is a permanent change. It is not what you and I would call a temporary fix or an emergency fix because I've seen parents who had a child that was dying. I've seen husbands who had wives that were leaving them and wives who had husbands that were leaving them and adulterous individuals. I've seen all of that and everybody gets in a real emergency situation. Lord, Lord, help me. Lord, help me. Lord, if you do this for me, I'll do this. I'll do that.

[John Weaver] And they do for about three or four weeks and then they quit once they get what they want. So that's trying to bargain with God. That's trying to deceive God, which he's not deceived. He already knows that just adds to your condemnation. That's all. No, if you and I are going to change our lives, we have to change our way of thinking, period. We have to learn to think biblically and scripturally.

[John Weaver] Now, here's the third one. I want you to listen to this. There will never be an increase in holiness and obedience and sanctification unless we learn to think biblically. I want you to go back to Isaiah 55. I told you that there are conditional promises There are conditional promises. This happens to be a conditional promise. He said in verse seven, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and our God for he will abundantly pardon. So the pardon of God and the mercy of God is conditioned upon forsaking the wicked ways and the unrighteous man, his wicked thoughts and turning to the Lord.

[John Weaver] OK, the blessings come from the same thing. it's not just salvation it would be any blessing now skip down if you would let's begin reading with verse 10 watch this he said for as the rain cometh down from and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth in bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater which is a blessing now He says in verse 11, So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, that is, his promises, anything, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereinto I send it. Now, if you come to him in the way that he demands in verse seven, look what he says. Verse 12. For you shall go up with joy and be led forth with peace. The mountains, the hills shall break forth before you into singing.

[John Weaver] And all the trees of the field shall clap their hand. That is, there'll be peace, there'll be blessings everywhere. And still the thorn shall come up the fir tree. And still the briar shall come up the myrtle tree. And it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." In other words, God's word is true. His blessings are true.

[John Weaver] When you and I try to claim a promise, if it is a conditional promise, we must understand, we must meet the conditions that God demands, and the only way we can meet those conditions is to beseech Him to enable us to meet those conditions, to give us His grace and give us His mercy. If God demands faith, faith is His gift. If God demands repentance, repentance is his gift. If God demands submission, submission is his gift.

[John Weaver] We can't do anything without him. Our Lord said without me you can do nothing. So when we come to the promises of God, we have to understand the conditional promises have limitations. And those limitations are the conditions that God requires and we must beseech him to enable us to meet those conditions, because without Him, we can do nothing. Let's pray. Father, we ask you in the name of Jesus Christ for your grace, for your mercy, goodness and kindness. We pray, Lord, that you would help us to be able to change our thinking, enable us to read your scripture, give us understanding, give us enlightenment. May we understand, Lord, your principles, your precepts, and apply them in our lives. Lord, teach us to think as thou dost think, so that we may act biblically and scripturally. We ask for your blessings upon each one, Lord, and especially these on the prayer list. We commit them into your hands and ask, Father, in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whose name we pray. Amen.

Promises and Limitations

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	3326145512921
Subject	Covenant Theology
Course	Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: A Time Of Need
Genre	Sermon
Date	2026-03-01
Dictation Name
Book	Book 043: Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: A Time Of Need — Chapter 8
Source Timed Segments	88

Formatted Transcript

Opening

Let's open our Bible today to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. And we're going to be reading verses 6 through 13. Isaiah 55, verses 6 through 13. The title of the message is "Promises and Limitations." Promises and Limitations. So if you look at Isaiah 55, beginning there with verse 6, the Word of God says,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 55:6-13

"Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near." "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing." "And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands, and instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

Each one of us understand promises in one sense of the word, because promises literally abound in the Word of God. Oftentimes we try to claim one of those promises and it seems like there's no fruition of the promise in our life. And we think then either there's something wrong with the promise or there must be something wrong with our interpretation of the promise. So we fail to understand concerning promises in the Bible. In the Bible there are two types of promises. Number one, there is an unconditional promise. Now, an unconditional promise simply means what it says.

Introduction: Two Types of Promises

Weaver introduces the concept that the Bible contains both unconditional and conditional promises, and misunderstanding this leads to confusion when promises seem unfulfilled.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 55:6-13

"And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands, and instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

There are absolutely no conditions attached to it. It is the work of God. It is a declaration of God. It is the decree of God or the counsel of God. But then there are also what we know as conditional promises. And conditional promises certainly are based upon conditions. And we cannot expect the fulfillment of that promise unless those particular conditions are met.

Examples of Unconditional Promises

Unconditional promises are based solely on God's decree, such as the promise to never again destroy the world by flood, the Abrahamic covenant, the new covenant, the Davidic dynasty, and God's promise to never leave or forsake believers.

Now, let me give you first some examples of what we would call unconditional promises. So first of all, in Genesis chapter 9, verse 11, God gave a promise that he would never again destroy the world by flood. So clearly then, this is an act of God. It is an unconditional promise because regardless of how man lives, regardless of how man acts, God has promised unequivocally he's never ever going to destroy the world again with a flood. He may destroy it some other way, but not with a flood, because his word is true. And then secondly, when you look at Genesis chapter 12 and through Genesis chapter 15, God has promised to give Abraham a seed and he's promised to preserve his posterity. He's promised also that through him and in him, all the nations shall be blessed. And so that is an unconditional promise.

You can read about it. God said, "I will. I will. I will." In other words, nothing is based upon Abraham's acts. It's all based upon God. And then thirdly, there is the unconditional covenant that is unconditional promise of the new covenant that is spoken of in Jeremiah chapter 31 verses 31 through 34. This is the promise where God has said that he would write his laws upon our hearts and in our minds. You'll find that promise also mentioned in Hebrews chapter 8 and Hebrews chapter 10. This is another thing where God says, "I will, I will." This is something that God is going to do. You say, but he's only going to do it to those who have faith and who repent. That is true. But you have to remember, it is also God who gives you the faith to believe and repentance to enable you to turn from your sin. So it's still all an act of God. That is for sure. And then in 2 Samuel chapter 12, God has promised to David a posterity, and not only that, an everlasting dynasty, which is unconditional.

So, you say, how in the world can this work with Abraham, and how in the world can this work with David? Well, the answer is Matthew 1 in verse 1, in the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So Jesus Christ is the true son of David. Jesus Christ is the true son of Abraham. And so that everlasting covenant and that unconditional dynasty is going to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then there's another unconditional promise, and that's Hebrews 13, verse 5, where he said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." And so that is a promise based upon God's sovereign decree. God is never, ever going to leave us. You say, but he's going to leave us when we die. No, he's not. Psalm 23, David said, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me." So he's never, ever going to leave us. He's never, ever going to forsake us. So unconditional promises, then, are grounded upon God's character and are fulfilled through and by his sovereign action, even when human instruments fail.

It doesn't matter, because God has given this promise unconditionally. That is why in 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 20, the Apostle Paul said this,

Scripture Reading — 2 Corinthians 1:20

"For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us."

So all of these that I've just mentioned are unconditional promises. Now secondly, there are conditional promises.

Examples of Conditional Promises

Conditional promises require human obedience, faith, or repentance. Examples include the blessings and curses in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, 2 Chronicles 7:14, and Matthew 6:33.

We have to grasp these conditions. When you look in Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, you'll find in both of those passages the curses and the blessings. So the blessings are based upon obedience. If we obey his word, if we obey his commandments. The curses, by the way, are based upon disobedience. In other words, there are conditions. If you want to be cursed, just simply disobey. If you want to be blessed, then you must obey. So, we understand this.

So, I could look at Brother Steve, since he's mechanically inclined, and I would say, "Brother Steve, I tell you what, if you can fix my old truck up, and you take care of the parts, I will give you a thousand Federal Reserve notes." Now, I promise I'll give you that. Now, here's the thing. I just promised him 1,000 Federal Reserve notes if he fixed my truck. If he doesn't fix my truck, I don't owe him the 1,000 Federal Reserve notes. You see that? So that would be a conditional promise. I promised to give him that if he fulfilled the conditions. But if he does not fulfill the conditions, then he does not get it.

Now, let me give you an illustration straight from the Scripture that everybody can understand. Most of you can quote this verse, 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14. God said,

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 7:14

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then,"

He said,

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 7:14

"will I hear their prayer, forgive their sin, and heal their land."

So hearing our prayer, forgiving our sins, healing our land, are based upon and conditioned upon humility, seeking Him, praying to Him, and turning from our wicked ways. So you can pray all you want to for a real, genuine revival in this land, but until we humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, there's not going to be any real healing in our land. You follow that?

So that is a conditional promise. Now, here's another one. Our Lord said it like this in Matthew 6 and verse 33. He said, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things shall be added unto you."

Now, when you go back and read the context, he's talking about supplying our daily needs. So here's a condition. If you want your daily needs supplied, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. If we put God first, he promises that all these other things will be added unto us. But if we put him second, third, fourth, fifth, or 100th or 1000th, then we're not going to find those promises fulfilled in our lives because there are conditions.

So clearly, we understand conditional promises then reflect what I would call a covenantal relationship where God's grace interacts with human faith, obedience, and repentance. So these conditions are not burdensome, but they are designed to deepen our relationship with God and to foster spiritual growth. Now believers are actively encouraged to meet these conditions—faith, obedience, repentance, prayer—to experience the fullness of God's blessings. Let me make this clear. These conditions are not earned, nor are they earning the fulfillment of God's promises.

The Urgency of Seeking the Lord (Isaiah 55:6)

The command to seek the Lord while He may be found implies a limited time of special, favorable presence. God's omnipresence is constant, but His saving, gracious nearness can be withdrawn if opportunities are neglected.

Now, in one sense of the word, we might think this is a very strange command. The two verbs, by the way, in verse 6, are imperatives. That means they are a command. There's the command to seek the Lord while he may be found, and there's the command to call upon him while he is near. So here's the question. Is God not always near? Can God not always be found? Now, when you stop and think about this, and I said it's kind of a strange thing, because most of us immediately we think about the omnipresence of God. And when we think about the omnipresence of God, we think that God is indeed truly everywhere in one place with the totality of his being. I could change that. He is everywhere in each place with the totality of His being. So when people try to explain the omnipresence of God, and they try to say, well, one part of God is in Russia, another part is in Egypt, another part is in Israel, another part's in Canada and England, another part's in America, another part's...

No, no. And you put all these together and you've got one God. No, that is heresy to the nth degree. The omnipresence of God tells us that God is everywhere at one time in the totality of his being. So let me show you. If you will turn in your Bibles, hold Isaiah 55, but if you will turn in your Bibles to Psalm 139, Psalm 139. In this Psalm, David is talking about the omnipresence of God, that it is impossible to escape His presence. Look at this. Psalm 139.

And let's begin reading there with verse 7. Psalm 139, verse 7. And David asked,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 139:7-12

"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee."

So David is saying there's no way to escape the omnipresence of God. I remember when I was a boy and all my boyfriends, male friends, if you ever wanted to do something bad, if you ever wanted to do something you knew your parents did not like, you'd go out by the barn. Why would you go by the barn? Because nobody could see you. But you can't go by the barn with God because God is omnipresent. God is everywhere at once in the totality of his being.

Now, I want you to look back then to Isaiah 55 and verse 6, because this is a strange verse and you must interpret it in light of other scriptures. When he says, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near." How do we understand this verse in light of the omnipresence of God? Well, first of all, let me say that God is telling us that we must seek him sincerely. We must seek him seriously. And listen to this, we must seek him seasonably. That is in season, because this verse clearly indicates there is a time when God cannot be found and there is a time when God is not near. What do I mean when he is not near? He is not near in his special, selective presence.

So here's a good illustration. You will remember the children of Israel had the tabernacle. God ordered the tabernacle. He gave the pattern. Moses built the tabernacle. The tabernacle was carried throughout the wilderness wanderings by the children of Israel. It was just a tabernacle until the Shekinah glory descended upon it. When God came down upon it, that was a special presence of God. So it's just like you had the outer court, you had the inner court, the holy place, and then you had the most holy place. The most holy place was where God revealed himself in a special presence.

So this is what we're talking about in this sense of the word. So he is saying in verse six, that there is a time that it may be impossible to call upon God, there may be a time when God is not near and God is not going to answer. Let me give you a quote by Albert Barnes, he said it like this, "In an important sense, God is equally near to us at all times." That would be his omnipresence. But this figurative language is taken from the mode of speaking among people, and it denotes that there are influences more favorable for seeking him at some periods than others. Thus, God comes near to us in the preaching of his word, when it is born with power to the conscience. He comes to us in his providences when he strikes down a friend and comes into the very circle where we move or the very dwelling where we abide. When he lays his hand upon us in sickness, he is near us by day and by night in a revival of religion or when a pious friend pleads with us. God is near to us then and is calling us to his favor. These are favorable times for salvation. Times which, if they are suffered to pass by unimproved, return no more.

Periods which will all soon be gone, and when they are gone, the sinner is irrevocably lost or dies. Wow.

Scriptural Warnings About Missing God's Time

Passages like Psalm 32:6, Proverbs 1:23-31, Isaiah 65:12, Hosea 5:6, and Luke 19:44 illustrate that there is a time when God will not be found because people refused His earlier calls.

Those times he can't be found. And so the floods of great waters can be anything catastrophic that will take away your attention, take away your desires. You heard me say this about Stonewall Jackson when he was wounded and on the battlefield and a litter was called and of course his left arm was mutilated by many balls, broken. And as they were carrying him off the field, Lieutenant Smith's foot got tangled in a vine and he tripped and Stonewall fell from the litter on that arm. He let out a bit of pitiful groan. Lieutenant Smith said, "Are you hurt?" So he said, "I'm fine." And they got him to the hospital. His arm was amputated. He died shortly thereafter, within a week or so, I think, from pneumonia, not from the amputation. But he told Chaplain Beverly Tucker Lacy, he said, "I learned a very valuable lesson." He said, "When I fell from that litter, had I not already been a child of God?"

He said, "My pain was so great, I could have never controlled my mind to call upon him and ask for mercy and grace." So this is what he's talking about in Psalm 32. So let me show you another truth. Look in your Bibles if you would now to Proverbs chapter 1. So we're talking about a time when God cannot be found and when God is not near. So if you look in Proverbs chapter 1, let's begin reading there with verse 23 and we'll read through verse 31. So look in Proverbs chapter 1 and verse 23. Look what our Lord who is wisdom incarnate says. Proverbs 1 verse 23.

"Turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you. I will make known my words unto you." Now look what he says. "Because I have called and you refused. I stretched out my hand and no man regarded. But you have set at nought all my counsel and would have none of my reproof." You wouldn't listen. What's going to be the outcome? "I will also laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh, when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer."

"They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me. Why? For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel that despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own ways and be filled with their own devices." So what does he think? I've called and you refused. I was near and you had paid me no attention.

Now you're going to call and I'm not going to answer. Look in your Bibles if you would to Isaiah chapter 65 and verse 12. Isaiah 65. And verse 12. Look at this. Isaiah 65 verse 12. God says. Look at it. "Therefore, will I number you to the sword and you shall all bow down to the slaughter? Why? Because when I called, you did not answer. When I spake, you did not hear."

"But did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I did not." God said, I called and you wouldn't answer. I spoke and you wouldn't hear. And now I'm going to number you to the slaughter. Now, if you would turn right on over to the book of Hosea. So Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. So if you'll turn to Hosea right after the book of Daniel. Look in chapter five and verse six. Hosea chapter 5 and verse 6. Look at what is said. Hosea 5 verse 6. "They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord, but they shall not find him."

"He has withdrawn himself from them." Wow. There are times when God withdraws his special favorable presence. He cannot withdraw his omnipresence, but he can withdraw that special saving or blessing presence for sure. Now, in Luke 19, you don't have to turn there. I'll quote it. But our Lord is bewailing the fact that Jerusalem is going to be destroyed. You remember how he said that as a hen gathers her chicks under his wings, so would I have gathered you, but you would not come. Then he said in Luke 19 in verse 44, "And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." Jesus Christ lived and walked among them. They did not receive him. They hated him. They despised him. They crucified him. He said, you did not know the time of your visitation. You did not know the time of the special presence and manifestation of God.

So it's important for you and I to understand that we are not to waste opportunities to seek the Lord, to call upon him, to worship him and to be taught of him. He is not always near in his gracious presence, although he's always present because of his omnipresence. So there are times that God also comes in a chastening presence or in a punishing presence, especially for those who disobey and rebel and those who refuse to hear and listen.

The Condition of Repentance (Isaiah 55:7)

The promise of mercy and abundant pardon is conditioned upon the wicked forsaking their way and the unrighteous their thoughts. Repentance involves both a change of conduct and a change of thinking.

If there is no changing and repenting of the mind, there's not going to be any repenting or changing in the conduct. Without repentance and without faith, it is useless to call upon the Lord. So let me put it like this. Pilate may wash his hands all day long. The Pharisees may clean the outside of the platter all day, please. And the hypocrite can try to deceive everybody, but it cannot deceive God. None of them will ever be blessed by the Lord or saved by the Lord. Why? Because they're not meeting the conditions of repentance and faith. Wow.

The Necessity of Changing Our Thinking

True and lasting change requires a renewed mind. The heart (mind) is the source of evil thoughts and actions (Matthew 15:18-19, Mark 7:20-23). Believers must learn to think biblically, putting on the mind of Christ through submission to God's Word.

Now, let me tell you how appropriate this is. You don't have to turn to Luke chapter 13, but if you want to go there afterwards and find it, that's up to you. But Luke chapter 13. They came to our Lord and said, basically, did you hear about those Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices? Now you have to remember they were really trying to upset our Lord because he was from Galilee. Nazareth was in Galilee. So these were his people. So Pilate then murdered some of them while they were sacrificing unto God. And you know what our Lord said? "Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." And then he added something. He said, "Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." In other words, he is saying that God demands repentance. So the way of the wicked is his walk, it is his conduct, and God demands that he turns from his conduct and from his walk. How do you do

that? Well, you must turn from your evil thoughts as well. You have to understand this. I'm going to show it to you from the scripture. But you have to understand that it's your mind that controls your body. It's your mind that controls your actions. If you do not think biblically, you're not going to act biblically. If you think wrongly, you will act wrongly. Years ago, I was preaching a little Baptist church outside of Thomasville, Georgia.

In the congregation was the pastor's brother. The pastor had witnessed to his brother for years, but his brother was lost. That night, God just mercifully and graciously saved his brother. So after service, the pastor was so happy. He invited us to go to a restaurant and have some refreshment in a time of fellowship. Well, of course, his brother and his family went as well. And so we were sitting around, we had already prayed, and we were sitting around just talking back and forth. His brother was a huge bird hunter. He hunted quail.

And all of a sudden, he burst out laughing. I mean, just almost uncontrollable. And I looked at him, and I said, "What is wrong?" Or "What is so funny?" He said, "Well, it just hit me." He said, "I'm going to have to retrain my bird dogs all over. They won't understand a word I'm saying now." Well, you get the picture. But what he was saying is, look, since I've been saved, I've got to think differently. I have to speak differently as well.

So this illustration now leads me to verse 7. So let's look at verse 6 and 7 again. Hang on. He says, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way." Hang on. "And the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon." Wow. So, it is not just the way, it is not just the conduct that has to be changed, it is the way of thinking that must be changed as well. Our thought life, our thinking, is the foundation of our walk, our conduct, our action, our ways. The way you think is the way you act. It's just that simple. I said it earlier, if you think unbiblically, you're going to act unbiblically. If you think according to Scripture, you're going to act according to Scripture. So, it's the sinful, wicked, and wrong way of thinking that leads us into wicked and wrong ways of acting and conduct as well.

So we have to change our way of thinking into a biblical pattern. So we normally, we normally think carnally, we normally think naturally, we normally think fleshly. Okay? So suppose Ron and I get kind of at each other's throats, and Ron gets so aggravated at me, he just starts cussing me. And he cusses me in front of everybody.

Now, he's not going to do that. I know that. But what would be my normal reaction? What would be the fleshly reaction to cussing back? "You're not going to talk to me like that. I'll talk to you even worse," you see. But what's the scripture say? Proverbs 15 verse 1, "A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stirreth up anger." So if I let him upset me, because he's already upset, and now I fire back at him, and he gets more upset, next thing you know we're in a fist fight. You see what I'm saying? So you can either think carnally, you can either think fleshly, or you can think biblically, it's just that simple. So we have to change our way of thinking if we're going to change our way of acting and conduct.

This is the place where most Christians fail. They change a few things in their lives. Well, I quit drinking, I quit smoking. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't chew, and I don't go with the girls that do. You know, that's fine. But we never change our way of thinking. We still think wickedly and carnally, and therefore, we never really change. If you do not change your thinking, if you have a habit that's wicked or wrong or unscriptural, if you don't change your thinking and you say, "I'm going to quit that habit," you will quit it temporarily, but then you'll go back to it. Because although you change your conduct for a short period, you never change your thinking. And you went right back to it.

Here's a quote from Albert Barnes on Isaiah 55 and verse 7. He says, "The Hebrew word denotes all that is the object of thought, and the idea is that the man must abandon his plans and purposes of life. The thoughts in the sight of a holy God are not less important than the external deportment, and no man can obtain his favor who is not ready to abandon his erroneous opinions, his pride and vanity, his plans of evil, and his purposes of life that are opposed to God." So he says you have to change. You just have to change your way of thinking. Now, let me quote some scriptures and I want you to think about these with me. First of all, Proverbs 4 and verse 23. "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." Now the heart in the Bible is the mind. I know occasionally it refers to affections, but most of the time it refers to your mind. Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. Everything comes from your mind. You can't move without thinking. I can't even pick up my glasses without thinking. The Bible says in Proverbs 23 verse 7, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."

In other words, your thoughts determine how you live. It's just that simple. Now, I want you to turn with me, hold Isaiah 55, but turn with me first of all to Matthew 15, and then we're going to go to Mark 7. But look in Matthew chapter 15, if you would. I want to show you what our Lord says. Matthew chapter 15, and let's begin reading there with verse 18. Matthew 15 and verse 18. In fact, we can read verse 17. Watch this. In fact, we'll go to verse 16.

Our Lord's talking to His disciples, and He said, "Are you also yet without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man." Now, look what comes out of the heart. Very first thing, "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts." Your heart, your mind. And what are those thoughts about? "Murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man." So I said everything comes out of the heart and the very first thing is evil thoughts.

Now you will turn over to Mark chapter seven. Mark chapter seven. And look, if you would please, at verses 20 through 23, it's the same truth, but said just a little differently. Mark chapter 7 verse 20. And he said, "That which cometh out of the man, that defileth him." Now look at verse 21. "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile the man."

So, unless we change our way of thinking, we're not going to change our lives. Now, let me give you some scriptures just to show you why God demands that we change our thinking. And I'm going to come back to that in Isaiah chapter 55. But you remember the passage in Romans 12, verses 1 and 2. Paul said, "I beseech you, therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service," not unreasonable. Now, verse 2. "And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed," listen, "by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God." You will never prove that good and perfect and acceptable will of God until you have a renewed mind. He says your mind must be renewed. Do not be conformed to this world. Don't be pressed into the mold of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now, in Ephesians 4 and verse 23, He just simply says, "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind."

Colossians chapter 3 and verse 10. Listen now. "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." Well, how did we get renewed in knowledge? Because we submitted our minds to the word of God. We learned what God said, what God demands, what God desires.

Now, I'm going to quote one more. Listen to this. Philippians two and verse five. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." So God then demands that we have the mind of Christ. Now I have two questions for you. Number one, what is the mind of Christ? Number two, how do you know whether or not you have the mind of Christ? Well, I'll tell you what, if you will turn in your Bible to John chapter eight, John chapter eight, I will tell you what the mind of Christ is and then I will show it to you from the scripture. What is the mind of Christ? The mind of Christ is a mind of submission, obedience, walking in faith, and pleasing the Father. That's the mind of Christ. So if you look in John 8 and verse 29, Our Lord said, "And he that sent me is with me."

God's Thoughts and Ways Are Higher (Isaiah 55:8-9)

God's thoughts and ways are infinitely above human thoughts and ways. We must conform our thinking to His through Scripture, not expect Him to condescend to our carnal patterns.

"And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Why should we do all of this? Why does God have conditions? Here's why. God says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? We do not think like our Heavenly Father by nature.

It is only in regeneration and conversion that we even begin to see how he thinks and how he moves. We understand that in his word, in his truth, and we understand that his thoughts are far above ours. His ways are far above ours. But we must learn to think his thoughts. Watch. Turn in your Bibles, hold Isaiah 55, but turn in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4, and look if you would begin with verse 17. Ephesians 4, verse 17.

Now, the apostle here is talking about the unsaved in these few verses. He says, "This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord," now, he's talking to Christians, but he says this, "that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk," or the unsaved walk or the nations walk, "in the vanity of their minds." That is the uselessness of their minds. Why is their mind vanity? Look in verse 18, "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them." They don't know God. They don't know his word. They don't know his truth.

The Blessings of Meeting God's Conditions (Isaiah 55:10-13)

God's Word is effective and will accomplish His purposes. When we meet the conditions of repentance and faith, we experience joy, peace, and transformation, as depicted in the imagery of nature rejoicing and thorns being replaced by fruitful trees.

Now, here's the third one. I want you to listen to this. There will never be an increase in holiness and obedience and sanctification unless we learn to think biblically. I want you to go back to Isaiah 55. I told you that there are conditional promises. There are conditional promises. This happens to be a conditional promise. He said in verse seven, "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and our God for he will abundantly pardon." So the pardon of God and the mercy of God is conditioned upon forsaking the wicked ways and the unrighteous man, his wicked thoughts and turning to the Lord.

OK, the blessings come from the same thing. It's not just salvation, it would be any blessing. Now skip down if you would, let's begin reading with verse 10. Watch this. He said, "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater," which is a blessing. Now He says in verse 11, "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth," that is, his promises, anything, "it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it." Now, if you come to him in the way that he demands in verse seven, look what he says. Verse 12. "For you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing."

"And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. And instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." In other words, God's word is true. His blessings are true.

Applications: Dependence on God's Enabling Grace

We cannot meet God's conditions in our own strength. Faith, repentance, and submission are gifts from God. We must beseech Him to enable us to fulfill the conditions of His promises.

When you and I try to claim a promise, if it is a conditional promise, we must understand, we must meet the conditions that God demands, and the only way we can meet those conditions is to beseech Him to enable us to meet those conditions, to give us His grace and give us His mercy. If God demands faith, faith is His gift. If God demands repentance, repentance is his gift. If God demands submission, submission is his gift. We can't do anything without him. Our Lord said without me you can do nothing. So when we come to the promises of God, we have to understand the conditional promises have limitations. And those limitations are the conditions that God requires and we must beseech him to enable us to meet those conditions, because without Him, we can do nothing. Let's pray. Father, we ask you in the name of Jesus Christ for your grace, for your mercy, goodness and kindness. We pray, Lord, that you would help us to be able to change our thinking, enable us to read your scripture, give us understanding, give us enlightenment. May we understand, Lord, your principles, your precepts, and apply them in our lives. Lord, teach us to think as thou dost think, so that we may act biblically and scripturally. We ask for your blessings upon each one, Lord, and especially these on the prayer list. We commit them into your hands and ask, Father, in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whose name we pray. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Unconditional vs. Conditional Promises

Summary: The Bible contains promises that are unconditional (based solely on God's sovereign will) and conditional (requiring human response). Recognizing the difference is crucial for understanding why some promises seem unfulfilled.

Evidence: Weaver states: 'In the Bible there are two types of promises. Number one, there is an unconditional promise... There are absolutely no conditions attached to it... But then there are also what we know as conditional promises. And conditional promises certainly are based upon conditions.'

The Urgency of Seeking God in His Appointed Time

Summary: There is a limited window of God's special, favorable presence. If we neglect to seek Him when He draws near through preaching, providence, or conviction, that opportunity may be lost forever.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Albert Barnes: 'God comes near to us in the preaching of his word... These are favorable times for salvation. Times which, if they are suffered to pass by unimproved, return no more.'

Repentance as a Change of Mind and Conduct

Summary: True repentance involves forsaking both wicked ways (external conduct) and wicked thoughts (internal mindset). Lasting change is impossible without a renewed mind.

Evidence: Weaver explains: 'If there is no changing and repenting of the mind, there's not going to be any repenting or changing in the conduct.'

The Necessity of Thinking Biblically

Summary: Our thoughts determine our actions. To live in obedience, we must learn to think according to Scripture, putting on the mind of Christ through the renewal of our minds.

Evidence: Weaver says: 'If you do not think biblically, you're not going to act biblically. If you think wrongly, you will act wrongly.'

God's Transcendent Thoughts and Ways

Summary: God's thoughts and ways are infinitely higher than human thoughts and ways. We must conform to His revealed will rather than expecting Him to approve our carnal thinking.

Evidence: Weaver states: 'God is not going to condescend to think our thoughts, our thoughts are carnal and fleshly and human. God is not going to condescend to approve our ways. God demands that we conform to His Word, His will, His way.'

Dependence on God's Grace to Meet Conditions

Summary: Even the conditions of faith and repentance are gifts from God. We cannot fulfill them in our own strength but must rely on His enabling grace.

Evidence: Weaver says: 'If God demands faith, faith is His gift. If God demands repentance, repentance is his gift. If God demands submission, submission is his gift.'

Key Arguments

Unconditional promises are grounded in God's character and fulfilled by His sovereign action alone.

Summary: Examples like the Noahic covenant, Abrahamic covenant, new covenant, Davidic covenant, and the promise of God's presence demonstrate that some promises depend entirely on God's faithfulness, not human performance.

Evidence: Weaver says: 'Unconditional promises, then, are grounded upon God's character and are fulfilled through and by his sovereign action, even when human instruments fail.'

Conditional promises require meeting specific conditions such as obedience, faith, and repentance.

Summary: Passages like 2 Chronicles 7:14 and Matthew 6:33 show that blessings are contingent upon human response. The illustration of fixing a truck for payment clarifies the nature of conditional promises.

Evidence: Weaver illustrates: 'I just promised him 1,000 Federal Reserve notes if he fixed my truck. If he doesn't fix my truck, I don't owe him the 1,000 Federal Reserve notes.'

Isaiah 55:6 implies a limited time of God's special, saving presence.

Summary: While God is omnipresent, His favorable, saving nearness is not always available. Scripture warns that those who reject His call may later seek Him and not find Him.

Evidence: Weaver cites Proverbs 1:28: 'Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.'

The promise of mercy and pardon in Isaiah 55:7 is conditioned upon repentance of both ways and thoughts.

Summary: Forsaking wicked conduct is insufficient without forsaking wicked thinking. The mind is the root of behavior, and true conversion requires a change in thought patterns.

Evidence: Weaver states: 'It is not just the way, it is not just the conduct that has to be changed, it is the way of thinking that must be changed as well.'

Lasting change comes only through the renewal of the mind according to Scripture.

Summary: Temporary behavioral changes fail because the underlying thinking remains unchanged. Romans 12:2 and Ephesians 4:23 command believers to be transformed by renewing their minds.

Evidence: Weaver says: 'If you do not change your thinking and you say, "I'm going to quit that habit," you will quit it temporarily, but then you'll go back to it.'

God's thoughts and ways are infinitely higher, requiring us to learn to think His thoughts through His Word.

Summary: Isaiah 55:8-9 contrasts divine and human perspectives. Believers must learn Christ and be taught by Him to put off the old self and put on the new self created in righteousness.

Evidence: Weaver explains: 'You have to learn Jesus Christ, and how you learn Jesus Christ is by learning his word, learning his precepts, learning his principles.'

Meeting God's conditions leads to joy, peace, and transformation, as depicted in Isaiah 55:10-13.

Summary: When we respond rightly to God's Word, it accomplishes His purposes, resulting in blessings symbolized by nature's rejoicing and the replacement of thorns with fruitful trees.

Evidence: Weaver reads: 'For you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace... instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree.'

We are utterly dependent on God's grace to fulfill the conditions of His promises.

Summary: Faith, repentance, and submission are gifts from God. We must beseech Him to enable us to meet the conditions, for without Christ we can do nothing.

Evidence: Weaver prays: 'We ask you in the name of Jesus Christ for your grace... help us to be able to change our thinking... without Him, we can do nothing.'

Scripture References

Isaiah 55:6-13

Context: Primary sermon text; read at the opening and expounded throughout.

Genesis 9:11

Context: Example of unconditional promise: God will never again destroy the world by flood.

Genesis 12-15

Context: Unconditional promise to Abraham of a seed and blessing to all nations.

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Context: Unconditional new covenant promise to write God's laws on hearts and minds.

Hebrews 8; 10

Context: New covenant promise also mentioned in Hebrews.

2 Samuel 12

Context: Unconditional promise to David of an everlasting dynasty.

Matthew 1:1

Context: Jesus Christ is the son of David and Abraham, fulfilling the unconditional covenants.

Hebrews 13:5

Context: Unconditional promise: 'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.'

Psalm 23

Context: God's presence even in the valley of the shadow of death.

2 Corinthians 1:20

Context: All promises of God are 'yea' and 'Amen' in Christ.

Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28

Context: Blessings conditioned on obedience, curses on disobedience.

2 Chronicles 7:14

Context: Conditional promise: healing the land requires humility, prayer, seeking God's face, and turning from wicked ways.

Matthew 6:33

Context: Conditional promise: seeking first God's kingdom and righteousness results in daily needs being supplied.

1 John 4:19

Context: We love Him because He first loved us; God's enabling grace precedes our response.

Psalm 139:7-12

Context: God's omnipresence: impossible to escape His presence.

Psalm 32:5-6

Context: Prayer should be made in a time when God may be found; floods of great waters represent times He cannot be found.

Proverbs 1:23-31

Context: Those who refuse God's call will later call and not be answered.

Isaiah 65:12

Context: God numbers to the sword those who did not answer when He called.

Hosea 5:6

Context: They shall seek the Lord but not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself.

Luke 19:44

Context: Jerusalem destroyed because they did not know the time of their visitation.

Historical References

Albert Barnes (commentator)

Context: Quoted on the meaning of God's nearness in Isaiah 55:6 and on the necessity of forsaking thoughts in verse 7.

Stonewall Jackson (Confederate general)

Context: Illustration of a time when pain prevented calling on God; Jackson said had he not already been a child of God, he could not have controlled his mind to seek mercy.

Fanny Crosby (hymn writer)

Context: Referenced her hymn 'Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior' to illustrate the plea for God not to pass by during a special time of calling.

Pilate (biblical figure)

Context: Used as an example of external washing without true repentance; cannot deceive God.

Pharisees (biblical group)

Context: Cleaning the outside of the platter but not the inside; hypocritical externalism without heart change.

Important Quotes

Unconditional promises, then, are grounded upon God's character and are fulfilled through and by his sovereign action, even when human instruments fail.

Significance: Summarizes the nature of unconditional promises and highlights God's sovereignty in their fulfillment.

God comes near to us in the preaching of his word, when it is born with power to the conscience. He comes to us in his providences when he strikes down a friend and comes into the very circle where we move or the very dwelling where we abide. When he lays his hand upon us in sickness, he is near us by day and by night in a revival of religion or when a pious friend pleads with us. God is near to us then and is calling us to his favor. These are favorable times for salvation. Times which, if they are suffered to pass by unimproved, return no more.

Significance: Quoting Albert Barnes, this explains the urgency of seeking God during times of special spiritual opportunity.

If there is no changing and repenting of the mind, there's not going to be any repenting or changing in the conduct.

Significance: Emphasizes that true repentance must begin with a change in thinking, not just external behavior.

If you do not think biblically, you're not going to act biblically. If you think wrongly, you will act wrongly.

Significance: Connects the necessity of biblical thinking to righteous living, a central application of the sermon.

God is not going to condescend to think our thoughts, our thoughts are carnal and fleshly and human. God is not going to condescend to approve our ways. God demands that we conform to His Word, His will, His way.

Significance: Highlights the transcendence of God's thoughts and the call for believers to align their thinking with Scripture.

If God demands faith, faith is His gift. If God demands repentance, repentance is his gift. If God demands submission, submission is his gift.

Significance: Underscores the dependence on God's grace even to meet the conditions of His promises, preventing works-righteousness.

Discussion Questions

What is the difference between an unconditional promise and a conditional promise in Scripture? Can you think of other examples beyond those mentioned in the sermon?

Context: Weaver introduces the two types of promises at the beginning of the sermon.

How does understanding the distinction between unconditional and conditional promises affect the way we pray and claim God's promises?

Context: The sermon explains that conditional promises require meeting conditions such as obedience and repentance.

What does it mean that there is a time when God 'may be found' and a time when He is 'near'? How can we recognize such times in our lives?

Context: Weaver discusses the urgency of seeking God during His special, favorable presence.

Why is it dangerous to delay responding to God's call? What are some modern examples of 'missing the time of visitation'?

Context: The sermon warns from Proverbs 1 and Luke 19 about the consequences of neglecting God's call.

In what ways does our thinking need to change in order to truly repent? How can we practically 'renew our minds' according to Romans 12:2?

Context: Weaver emphasizes that repentance involves forsaking both wicked ways and wicked thoughts.

How does the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5) contrast with our natural, fleshly thinking? What steps can we take to cultivate the mind of Christ?

Context: The sermon describes the mind of Christ as submission, obedience, and pleasing the Father.

Why do temporary behavioral changes often fail? How does changing our thinking lead to lasting transformation?

Context: Weaver argues that without a renewed mind, attempts to change conduct are short-lived.

How can we rely on God's grace to meet the conditions of His promises without falling into passivity or works-righteousness?

Context: The sermon concludes that faith, repentance, and submission are gifts from God, yet we are called to actively seek Him.

Applications

Examine the nature of the promises you are claiming.

Summary: Determine whether a promise is unconditional or conditional. If conditional, identify the conditions and seek God's grace to meet them rather than assuming automatic fulfillment.

Evidence: Weaver says: 'We cannot expect the fulfillment of that promise unless those particular conditions are met.'

Respond to God's call without delay.

Summary: Recognize that God draws near in special ways through preaching, providence, and conviction. Do not harden your heart or postpone repentance, for the opportunity may pass.

Evidence: Weaver warns: 'These are favorable times for salvation. Times which, if they are suffered to pass by unimproved, return no more.'

Pursue repentance that includes a change of thinking.

Summary: Do not settle for merely altering external behaviors. Ask God to reveal and transform sinful thought patterns through His Word, leading to lasting change.

Evidence: Weaver states: 'It is not just the way, it is not just the conduct that has to be changed, it is the way of thinking that must be changed as well.'

Renew your mind through Scripture.

Summary: Commit to regular, prayerful study of the Bible to learn God's thoughts and ways. Replace carnal, fleshly thinking with biblical truth in every area of life.

Evidence: Weaver explains: 'You have to learn Jesus Christ, and how you learn Jesus Christ is by learning his word, learning his precepts, learning his principles.'

Cultivate the mind of Christ.

Summary: Seek to think and act in submission to the Father, always aiming to please Him, as Jesus did. Evaluate your decisions and reactions by whether they reflect Christ's mindset.

Evidence: Weaver says: 'The mind of Christ is a mind of submission, obedience, walking in faith, and pleasing the Father.'

Depend on God's enabling grace.

Summary: Acknowledge that you cannot produce faith, repentance, or obedience in your own strength. Pray for God to grant these gifts and work in you to will and to do His good pleasure.

Evidence: Weaver prays: 'We ask you in the name of Jesus Christ for your grace... help us to be able to change our thinking... without Him, we can do nothing.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T00:46:32Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T15:07:01Z

Clean Transcript

Promises and Limitations

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Let's open our Bible today to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. And we're going to be reading verses 6 through 13. Isaiah 55, verses 6 through 13. The title of the message is "Promises and Limitations." Promises and Limitations. So if you look at Isaiah 55, beginning there with verse 6, the Word of God says, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near."
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"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
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"For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing."
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"And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands, and instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." Each one of us understand promises in one sense of the word, because promises literally abound in the Word of God. Oftentimes we try to claim one of those promises and it seems like there's no fruition of the promise in our life. And we think then either there's something wrong with the promise or there must be something wrong with our interpretation of the promise. So we fail to understand concerning promises in the Bible. In the Bible there are two types of promises. Number one, there is an unconditional promise. Now, an unconditional promise simply means what it says.
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There are absolutely no conditions attached to it. It is the work of God. It is a declaration of God. It is the decree of God or the counsel of God. But then there are also what we know as conditional promises. And conditional promises certainly are based upon conditions. And we cannot expect the fulfillment of that promise unless those particular conditions are met.
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Now, let me give you first some examples of what we would call unconditional promises. So first of all, in Genesis chapter 9, verse 11, God gave a promise that he would never again destroy the world by flood. So clearly then, this is an act of God. It is an unconditional promise because regardless of how man lives, regardless of how man acts, God has promised unequivocally he's never ever going to destroy the world again with a flood. He may destroy it some other way, but not with a flood, because his word is true. And then secondly, when you look at Genesis chapter 12 and through Genesis chapter 15, God has promised to give Abraham a seed and he's promised to preserve his posterity. He's promised also that through him and in him, all the nations shall be blessed. And so that is an unconditional promise.
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You can read about it. God said, "I will. I will. I will." In other words, nothing is based upon Abraham's acts. It's all based upon God. And then thirdly, there is the unconditional covenant that is unconditional promise of the new covenant that is spoken of in Jeremiah chapter 31 verses 31 through 34. This is the promise where God has said that he would write his laws upon our hearts and in our minds. You'll find that promise also mentioned in Hebrews chapter 8 and Hebrews chapter 10. This is another thing where God says, "I will, I will." This is something that God is going to do. You say, but he's only going to do it to those who have faith and who repent. That is true. But you have to remember, it is also God who gives you the faith to believe and repentance to enable you to turn from your sin. So it's still all an act of God. That is for sure. And then in 2 Samuel chapter 12, God has promised to David a posterity, and not only that, an everlasting dynasty, which is unconditional.
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So, you say, how in the world can this work with Abraham, and how in the world can this work with David? Well, the answer is Matthew 1 in verse 1, in the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So Jesus Christ is the true son of David. Jesus Christ is the true son of Abraham. And so that everlasting covenant and that unconditional dynasty is going to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then there's another unconditional promise, and that's Hebrews 13, verse 5, where he said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." And so that is a promise based upon God's sovereign decree. God is never, ever going to leave us. You say, but he's going to leave us when we die. No, he's not. Psalm 23, David said, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me." So he's never, ever going to leave us. He's never, ever going to forsake us. So unconditional promises, then, are grounded upon God's character and are fulfilled through and by his sovereign action, even when human instruments fail.
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It doesn't matter, because God has given this promise unconditionally. That is why in 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 20, the Apostle Paul said this, "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us." So all of these that I've just mentioned are unconditional promises. Now secondly, there are conditional promises.
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We have to grasp these conditions. When you look in Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, you'll find in both of those passages the curses and the blessings. So the blessings are based upon obedience. If we obey his word, if we obey his commandments. The curses, by the way, are based upon disobedience. In other words, there are conditions. If you want to be cursed, just simply disobey. If you want to be blessed, then you must obey. So, we understand this.
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So, I could look at Brother Steve, since he's mechanically inclined, and I would say, "Brother Steve, I tell you what, if you can fix my old truck up, and you take care of the parts, I will give you a thousand Federal Reserve notes." Now, I promise I'll give you that. Now, here's the thing. I just promised him 1,000 Federal Reserve notes if he fixed my truck. If he doesn't fix my truck, I don't owe him the 1,000 Federal Reserve notes. You see that? So that would be a conditional promise. I promised to give him that if he fulfilled the conditions. But if he does not fulfill the conditions, then he does not get it.
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Now, let me give you an illustration straight from the Scripture that everybody can understand. Most of you can quote this verse, 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14. God said, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then," He said, "will I hear their prayer, forgive their sin, and heal their land." So hearing our prayer, forgiving our sins, healing our land, are based upon and conditioned upon humility, seeking Him, praying to Him, and turning from our wicked ways. So you can pray all you want to for a real, genuine revival in this land, but until we humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, there's not going to be any real healing in our land. You follow that?
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So that is a conditional promise. Now, here's another one. Our Lord said it like this in Matthew 6 and verse 33. He said, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things shall be added unto you."
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Now, when you go back and read the context, he's talking about supplying our daily needs. So here's a condition. If you want your daily needs supplied, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. If we put God first, he promises that all these other things will be added unto us. But if we put him second, third, fourth, fifth, or 100th or 1000th, then we're not going to find those promises fulfilled in our lives because there are conditions.
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So clearly, we understand conditional promises then reflect what I would call a covenantal relationship where God's grace interacts with human faith, obedience, and repentance. So these conditions are not burdensome, but they are designed to deepen our relationship with God and to foster spiritual growth. Now believers are actively encouraged to meet these conditions—faith, obedience, repentance, prayer—to experience the fullness of God's blessings. Let me make this clear. These conditions are not earned, nor are they earning the fulfillment of God's promises.
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So let me explain it like this. The only way that we can come to Him is that He first comes to us. It's kind of like the passage in 1 John 4 and verse 19. We love Him. Why? Because He first loved us. So when He stirs our hearts and He encourages us and gives us faith and gives us repentance and gives us obedience and gives us all that we need to fulfill those conditions, it's not our earning it, it's still His grace and His mercy that's working in our lives that enables us to meet those conditions.
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Now, I want you to keep these truths in mind as you look at Isaiah 55 with me. So, first of all, I want you to look at verse 6. Look at this. He says, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near."
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Now, in one sense of the word, we might think this is a very strange command. The two verbs, by the way, in verse 6, are imperatives. That means they are a command. There's the command to seek the Lord while he may be found, and there's the command to call upon him while he is near. So here's the question. Is God not always near? Can God not always be found? Now, when you stop and think about this, and I said it's kind of a strange thing, because most of us immediately we think about the omnipresence of God. And when we think about the omnipresence of God, we think that God is indeed truly everywhere in one place with the totality of his being. I could change that. He is everywhere in each place with the totality of His being. So when people try to explain the omnipresence of God, and they try to say, well, one part of God is in Russia, another part is in Egypt, another part is in Israel, another part's in Canada and England, another part's in America, another part's...
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No, no. And you put all these together and you've got one God. No, that is heresy to the nth degree. The omnipresence of God tells us that God is everywhere at one time in the totality of his being. So let me show you. If you will turn in your Bibles, hold Isaiah 55, but if you will turn in your Bibles to Psalm 139, Psalm 139. In this Psalm, David is talking about the omnipresence of God, that it is impossible to escape His presence. Look at this. Psalm 139.
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And let's begin reading there with verse 7. Psalm 139, verse 7. And David asked, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee."
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So David is saying there's no way to escape the omnipresence of God. I remember when I was a boy and all my boyfriends, male friends, if you ever wanted to do something bad, if you ever wanted to do something you knew your parents did not like, you'd go out by the barn. Why would you go by the barn? Because nobody could see you. But you can't go by the barn with God because God is omnipresent. God is everywhere at once in the totality of his being.
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Now, I want you to look back then to Isaiah 55 and verse 6, because this is a strange verse and you must interpret it in light of other scriptures. When he says, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near." How do we understand this verse in light of the omnipresence of God? Well, first of all, let me say that God is telling us that we must seek him sincerely. We must seek him seriously. And listen to this, we must seek him seasonably. That is in season, because this verse clearly indicates there is a time when God cannot be found and there is a time when God is not near. What do I mean when he is not near? He is not near in his special, selective presence.
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So here's a good illustration. You will remember the children of Israel had the tabernacle. God ordered the tabernacle. He gave the pattern. Moses built the tabernacle. The tabernacle was carried throughout the wilderness wanderings by the children of Israel. It was just a tabernacle until the Shekinah glory descended upon it. When God came down upon it, that was a special presence of God. So it's just like you had the outer court, you had the inner court, the holy place, and then you had the most holy place. The most holy place was where God revealed himself in a special presence.
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So this is what we're talking about in this sense of the word. So he is saying in verse six, that there is a time that it may be impossible to call upon God, there may be a time when God is not near and God is not going to answer. Let me give you a quote by Albert Barnes, he said it like this, "In an important sense, God is equally near to us at all times."
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That would be his omnipresence. But this figurative language is taken from the mode of speaking among people, and it denotes that there are influences more favorable for seeking him at some periods than others. Thus, God comes near to us in the preaching of his word, when it is born with power to the conscience. He comes to us in his providences when he strikes down a friend and comes into the very circle where we move or the very dwelling where we abide. When he lays his hand upon us in sickness, he is near us by day and by night in a revival of religion or when a pious friend pleads with us. God is near to us then and is calling us to his favor. These are favorable times for salvation. Times which, if they are suffered to pass by unimproved, return no more.
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Periods which will all soon be gone, and when they are gone, the sinner is irrevocably lost or dies. Wow.
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Now, let me explain this in a very simple way. We will either be saved in God's time and God's way or not at all. We'll either be blessed in God's time and in God's way or not at all. Salvation and blessing are not in our hands. They are in God's hands. Let me put this another way. God is not at our disposal. We are to be at his disposal. He is God, and not us.
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Now, let me just show you what Isaiah 55 verse 6 is talking about. So I want you to follow me with some scriptures. First of all, I want you to turn back to Psalm 32, and I want you to look at verse 6. Psalm 32. And look, if you would please, at verse 6. Look what the word of God says. Talking about prayer. In fact, let's read verse 5 in light of this, just so you can see it. So, Psalm 32, verse 5, David said, "I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." So now we're talking about confession and acknowledgement. Then he says in verse 6, "For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found. Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto thee." So he says there's a time when he can be found and now he says here are times, floods of great waters that come nigh unto thee.
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Those times he can't be found. And so the floods of great waters can be anything catastrophic that will take away your attention, take away your desires. You heard me say this about Stonewall Jackson when he was wounded and on the battlefield and a litter was called and of course his left arm was mutilated by many balls, broken. And as they were carrying him off the field, Lieutenant Smith's foot got tangled in a vine and he tripped and Stonewall fell from the litter on that arm.
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He let out a bit of pitiful groan. Lieutenant Smith said, "Are you hurt?" So he said, "I'm fine." And they got him to the hospital. His arm was amputated. He died shortly thereafter, within a week or so, I think, from pneumonia, not from the amputation. But he told Chaplain Beverly Tucker Lacy, he said, "I learned a very valuable lesson." He said, "When I fell from that litter, had I not already been a child of God?"
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He said, "My pain was so great, I could have never controlled my mind to call upon him and ask for mercy and grace." So this is what he's talking about in Psalm 32. So let me show you another truth. Look in your Bibles if you would now to Proverbs chapter 1. So we're talking about a time when God cannot be found and when God is not near. So if you look in Proverbs chapter 1, let's begin reading there with verse 23 and we'll read through verse 31. So look in Proverbs chapter 1 and verse 23. Look what our Lord who is wisdom incarnate says. Proverbs 1 verse 23.
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"Turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you. I will make known my words unto you."
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Now look what he says. "Because I have called and you refused. I stretched out my hand and no man regarded. But you have set at nought all my counsel and would have none of my reproof." You wouldn't listen. What's going to be the outcome? "I will also laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh, when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer."
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"They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me. Why? For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel that despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own ways and be filled with their own devices." So what does he think? I've called and you refused. I was near and you had paid me no attention.
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Now you're going to call and I'm not going to answer. Look in your Bibles if you would to Isaiah chapter 65 and verse 12. Isaiah 65. And verse 12. Look at this. Isaiah 65 verse 12. God says. Look at it. "Therefore, will I number you to the sword and you shall all bow down to the slaughter? Why? Because when I called, you did not answer. When I spake, you did not hear."
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"But did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I did not." God said, I called and you wouldn't answer. I spoke and you wouldn't hear. And now I'm going to number you to the slaughter.
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Now, if you would turn right on over to the book of Hosea. So Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. So if you'll turn to Hosea right after the book of Daniel. Look in chapter five and verse six. Hosea chapter 5 and verse 6. Look at what is said. Hosea 5 verse 6. "They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord, but they shall not find him."
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"He has withdrawn himself from them." Wow. There are times when God withdraws his special favorable presence. He cannot withdraw his omnipresence, but he can withdraw that special saving or blessing presence for sure.
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Now, in Luke 19, you don't have to turn there. I'll quote it. But our Lord is bewailing the fact that Jerusalem is going to be destroyed. You remember how he said that as a hen gathers her chicks under his wings, so would I have gathered you, but you would not come. Then he said in Luke 19 in verse 44, "And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." Jesus Christ lived and walked among them. They did not receive him. They hated him. They despised him. They crucified him. He said, you did not know the time of your visitation. You did not know the time of the special presence and manifestation of God.
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So it's important for you and I to understand that we are not to waste opportunities to seek the Lord, to call upon him, to worship him and to be taught of him. He is not always near in his gracious presence, although he's always present because of his omnipresence. So there are times that God also comes in a chastening presence or in a punishing presence, especially for those who disobey and rebel and those who refuse to hear and listen.
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Now, Scripture does teach and I want to show it to you. Scripture does teach that there is an accepted time of salvation and an accepted time of blessing. So if you will go back to Isaiah, chapter 49, hold 55, we're coming back there, but look at Isaiah 49, and note verse 8, Isaiah 49 verse 8, "Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, in a day of salvation have I helped thee, and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people to establish the earth, and a cause to inherit the desolate heritage."
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Now this is a promise that God gave to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in verse 7, "Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, He shall choose thee." And then He talks about the acceptable time, "I have heard thee, and a day of salvation have I helped thee," and how he's going to preserve me. Now, if you will turn right over to 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 2, you'll see that this truth is also applied to his people particularly.
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And it is stated very plainly. 2 Corinthians chapter 6, look if you would please at verse 2. Then we'll go back and catch verse 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 6, look in verse 2. "For he said, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation." So go back to verse one.
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The apostle says, "We then as workers together with him beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain." Do you realize it's possible to receive the grace of God in vain? It must be because Paul says that you should not receive it in vain. And there is a common grace, yes, and there is a special grace as well. But I want you to notice, he said in verse one, "We then as workers together with him beseech you." And then he says, "I've heard thee in a time accepted, in the day of salvation have I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time." What time is it when they're beseeching, when they're preaching, when they're teaching, when they're witnessing? That is a special time. God must be near because his salvation is being proclaimed. His salvation is being offered. Wow.
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Well, look at your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Hebrews, Chapter four. Here's one more illustration of this. Hebrews, Chapter four. Let's begin reading there with verse one. Hebrews, Chapter four and verse one. Look at this.
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Now we're going to put it together. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 1. "Let us therefore fear." Why should we fear? "Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." Now, wait a minute. Let us fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. How do you come short of it? Well, look at verse 2.
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Now he's talking about those Israelites that fell in the wilderness. He said, "For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." They didn't believe. They didn't hear. Then he said, "For we who have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world."
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In other words, God says, I'm speaking in a special time, in a special way. You better hear me. You better come when I call. It's just that simple.
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Now, so I want you to go back to Isaiah. Look in 55. Let me try to begin tying this together for you. Look at Isaiah 55, verse 6 again. Isaiah 55, verse 6. "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near." You remember it was Fanny Crosby, the blind hymn writer, who wrote,
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"Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Do not pass me by. While others are calling, do not pass me by." In other words, there's a special time and this is what he's talking about. There's a time to call.
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Now, I want you to notice how this leads into verse 7. Look at this. "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon." So you must note now that the promise of mercy and pardon are conditioned in verse 7 upon repentance of our ways and repentance of our thoughts.
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If there is no changing and repenting of the mind, there's not going to be any repenting or changing in the conduct. Without repentance and without faith, it is useless to call upon the Lord. So let me put it like this. Pilate may wash his hands all day long. The Pharisees may clean the outside of the platter all day, please. And the hypocrite can try to deceive everybody, but it cannot deceive God. None of them will ever be blessed by the Lord or saved by the Lord. Why? Because they're not meeting the conditions of repentance and faith. Wow.
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Now, let me show you. It is impossible to be converted without repentance. So if you will turn over in your Bibles to Jeremiah, chapter 18, Jeremiah chapter 18. Hang with me. We're going to get through this, Lord willing. But look in Jeremiah chapter 18 and verse 11. Look what God says. We're coming back to Isaiah 55, Jeremiah 18, verse 11. God says, "Now, therefore, go to speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I frame evil against you and devise a device against you. Return you now everyone from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good." God says I'm planning something destructive against you and the wise thing for you to do is to listen and repent. Turn you everyone from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good. So your way is your lifestyle. It is your conduct.
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It is how you live. It's just that simple. Look in Jeremiah, chapter twenty five and verse five. Jeremiah, twenty five, verse five. Look at this again. They say, "Turn you again now, everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given unto you and your fathers forever and ever." So you're not going to dwell in the land unless you repent, unless you turn and unless you obey.
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Now, let me tell you how appropriate this is. You don't have to turn to Luke chapter 13, but if you want to go there afterwards and find it, that's up to you. But Luke chapter 13. They came to our Lord and said, basically, did you hear about those Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices? Now you have to remember they were really trying to upset our Lord because he was from Galilee. Nazareth was in Galilee. So these were his people. So Pilate then murdered some of them while they were sacrificing unto God. And you know what our Lord said? "Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." And then he added something. He said, "Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." In other words, he is saying that God demands repentance. So the way of the wicked is his walk, it is his conduct, and God demands that he turns from his conduct and from his walk. How do you do
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that? Well, you must turn from your evil thoughts as well. You have to understand this. I'm going to show it to you from the scripture. But you have to understand that it's your mind that controls your body. It's your mind that controls your actions. If you do not think biblically, you're not going to act biblically. If you think wrongly, you will act wrongly. Years ago, I was preaching a little Baptist church outside of Thomasville, Georgia.
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In the congregation was the pastor's brother. The pastor had witnessed to his brother for years, but his brother was lost. That night, God just mercifully and graciously saved his brother. So after service, the pastor was so happy. He invited us to go to a restaurant and have some refreshment in a time of fellowship. Well, of course, his brother and his family went as well. And so we were sitting around, we had already prayed, and we were sitting around just talking back and forth. His brother was a huge bird hunter. He hunted quail.
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And all of a sudden, he burst out laughing. I mean, just almost uncontrollable. And I looked at him, and I said, "What is wrong?" Or "What is so funny?" He said, "Well, it just hit me." He said, "I'm going to have to retrain my bird dogs all over. They won't understand a word I'm saying now." Well, you get the picture. But what he was saying is, look, since I've been saved, I've got to think differently. I have to speak differently as well.
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So this illustration now leads me to verse 7. So let's look at verse 6 and 7 again. Hang on. He says, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way." Hang on. "And the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon." Wow. So, it is not just the way, it is not just the conduct that has to be changed, it is the way of thinking that must be changed as well. Our thought life, our thinking, is the foundation of our walk, our conduct, our action, our ways. The way you think is the way you act. It's just that simple. I said it earlier, if you think unbiblically, you're going to act unbiblically. If you think according to Scripture, you're going to act according to Scripture. So, it's the sinful, wicked, and wrong way of thinking that leads us into wicked and wrong ways of acting and conduct as well.
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So we have to change our way of thinking into a biblical pattern. So we normally, we normally think carnally, we normally think naturally, we normally think fleshly. Okay? So suppose Ron and I get kind of at each other's throats, and Ron gets so aggravated at me, he just starts cussing me. And he cusses me in front of everybody.
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Now, he's not going to do that. I know that. But what would be my normal reaction? What would be the fleshly reaction to cussing back? "You're not going to talk to me like that. I'll talk to you even worse," you see. But what's the scripture say? Proverbs 15 verse 1, "A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stirreth up anger." So if I let him upset me, because he's already upset, and now I fire back at him, and he gets more upset, next thing you know we're in a fist fight. You see what I'm saying? So you can either think carnally, you can either think fleshly, or you can think biblically, it's just that simple. So we have to change our way of thinking if we're going to change our way of acting and conduct.
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This is the place where most Christians fail. They change a few things in their lives. Well, I quit drinking, I quit smoking. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't chew, and I don't go with the girls that do. You know, that's fine. But we never change our way of thinking. We still think wickedly and carnally, and therefore, we never really change. If you do not change your thinking, if you have a habit that's wicked or wrong or unscriptural, if you don't change your thinking and you say, "I'm going to quit that habit," you will quit it temporarily, but then you'll go back to it. Because although you change your conduct for a short period, you never change your thinking. And you went right back to it.
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Here's a quote from Albert Barnes on Isaiah 55 and verse 7. He says, "The Hebrew word denotes all that is the object of thought, and the idea is that the man must abandon his plans and purposes of life. The thoughts in the sight of a holy God are not less important than the external deportment, and no man can obtain his favor who is not ready to abandon his erroneous opinions, his pride and vanity, his plans of evil, and his purposes of life that are opposed to God." So he says you have to change. You just have to change your way of thinking. Now, let me quote some scriptures and I want you to think about these with me. First of all, Proverbs 4 and verse 23.
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"Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." Now the heart in the Bible is the mind. I know occasionally it refers to affections, but most of the time it refers to your mind. Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. Everything comes from your mind. You can't move without thinking. I can't even pick up my glasses without thinking. The Bible says in Proverbs 23 verse 7, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
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In other words, your thoughts determine how you live. It's just that simple.
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Now, I want you to turn with me, hold Isaiah 55, but turn with me first of all to Matthew 15, and then we're going to go to Mark 7. But look in Matthew chapter 15, if you would. I want to show you what our Lord says. Matthew chapter 15, and let's begin reading there with verse 18. Matthew 15 and verse 18. In fact, we can read verse 17. Watch this. In fact, we'll go to verse 16.
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Our Lord's talking to His disciples, and He said, "Are you also yet without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man." Now, look what comes out of the heart. Very first thing, "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts." Your heart, your mind. And what are those thoughts about? "Murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man." So I said everything comes out of the heart and the very first thing is evil thoughts.
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Now you will turn over to Mark chapter seven. Mark chapter seven. And look, if you would please, at verses 20 through 23, it's the same truth, but said just a little differently. Mark chapter 7 verse 20. And he said, "That which cometh out of the man, that defileth him." Now look at verse 21. "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile the man."
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So, unless we change our way of thinking, we're not going to change our lives. Now, let me give you some scriptures just to show you why God demands that we change our thinking. And I'm going to come back to that in Isaiah chapter 55. But you remember the passage in Romans 12, verses 1 and 2. Paul said, "I beseech you, therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service," not unreasonable. Now, verse 2. "And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed," listen, "by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God." You will never prove that good and perfect and acceptable will of God until you have a renewed mind. He says your mind must be renewed. Do not be conformed to this world. Don't be pressed into the mold of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now, in Ephesians 4 and verse 23, He just simply says, "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind."
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Colossians chapter 3 and verse 10. Listen now. "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." Well, how did we get renewed in knowledge? Because we submitted our minds to the word of God. We learned what God said, what God demands, what God desires.
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Now, I'm going to quote one more. Listen to this. Philippians two and verse five. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." So God then demands that we have the mind of Christ. Now I have two questions for you. Number one, what is the mind of Christ? Number two, how do you know whether or not you have the mind of Christ? Well, I'll tell you what, if you will turn in your Bible to John chapter eight, John chapter eight, I will tell you what the mind of Christ is and then I will show it to you from the scripture. What is the mind of Christ? The mind of Christ is a mind of submission, obedience, walking in faith, and pleasing the Father. That's the mind of Christ. So if you look in John 8 and verse 29, Our Lord said, "And he that sent me is with me."
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"The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things which please him." Do you remember how Jesus Christ said, "I came not to do my will, but the will of him that sent me"? Jesus Christ delighted in doing the father's will. He was submissive to his father. He was obedient to his father. He honored his father. He prayed to his father. "I do always those things which please him." Wow.
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It's important that you and I understand that our way, when he said, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts," our way is our walk. It is our life. It's how we live. But that walk and that life and how we live is controlled by our minds so that we cannot do anything without thinking. And if we think in a biblical framework, yes, we will act biblically. But if we do not think in that framework, we will act unbiblically.
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Now, let me put this together. I want you to look back in your Bibles to Isaiah 55. I want you to see how beautifully this is woven together right here in this passage. So look what he said. Let's begin reading again. Verse six. Watch. "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near" in a special way. "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him."
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"And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Why should we do all of this? Why does God have conditions? Here's why. God says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? We do not think like our Heavenly Father by nature.
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It is only in regeneration and conversion that we even begin to see how he thinks and how he moves. We understand that in his word, in his truth, and we understand that his thoughts are far above ours. His ways are far above ours. But we must learn to think his thoughts. Watch. Turn in your Bibles, hold Isaiah 55, but turn in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4, and look if you would begin with verse 17. Ephesians 4, verse 17.
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Now, the apostle here is talking about the unsaved in these few verses. He says, "This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord," now, he's talking to Christians, but he says this, "that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk," or the unsaved walk or the nations walk, "in the vanity of their minds." That is the uselessness of their minds. Why is their mind vanity? Look in verse 18, "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them." They don't know God. They don't know his word. They don't know his truth.
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"Because of the blindness of their heart," they're blind to it. So consequently, verse 19, "Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness."
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Now, he says, I'm writing this to tell you as Christians, you're not to live like the ungodly. You're not to live like this. Well, here's my question. How do we change? Well, look in verse 20. He says, "But ye have not so learned Christ." Let me stop there. You and I must learn Jesus Christ. Look in verse 21. "If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the former conversation" or conduct or lifestyle "the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." So he says you have to learn Jesus Christ, and how you learn Jesus Christ is by learning his word, learning his precepts, learning his principles. You learn to change your thinking. And therefore, you learn to change your conduct because your conduct is a product of your thinking.
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So we must change our thinking in order to conform our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his word. So we have to learn to think biblically. That's why God says my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are my ways your ways. So we have to learn to think the way God thinks in order that we may stay in the way that he's ordained.
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Now, let me make some applications. The first one is this. Think about this first one. God said, "For my ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my thoughts higher than your thoughts, and my ways higher than your ways." God is not going to condescend to think our thoughts, our thoughts are carnal and fleshly and human. God is not going to condescend to approve our ways. God demands that we conform to His Word, His will, His way. We have to learn to think His thoughts. You're only going to find peace and mercy and pardon in submission and in obedience. Here's the second one.
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The promise in Isaiah 55 is conditioned upon repentance and faith. It is conditioned upon biblical change. Biblical change is not just changing your life, it's changing your thinking. And when you do that, it is a permanent change. It is not what you and I would call a temporary fix or an emergency fix because I've seen parents who had a child that was dying. I've seen husbands who had wives that were leaving them and wives who had husbands that were leaving them and adulterous individuals. I've seen all of that and everybody gets in a real emergency situation. "Lord, Lord, help me. Lord, help me. Lord, if you do this for me, I'll do this. I'll do that."
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And they do for about three or four weeks and then they quit once they get what they want. So that's trying to bargain with God. That's trying to deceive God, which he's not deceived. He already knows that just adds to your condemnation. That's all. No, if you and I are going to change our lives, we have to change our way of thinking, period. We have to learn to think biblically and scripturally.
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Now, here's the third one. I want you to listen to this. There will never be an increase in holiness and obedience and sanctification unless we learn to think biblically. I want you to go back to Isaiah 55. I told you that there are conditional promises. There are conditional promises. This happens to be a conditional promise. He said in verse seven, "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and our God for he will abundantly pardon." So the pardon of God and the mercy of God is conditioned upon forsaking the wicked ways and the unrighteous man, his wicked thoughts and turning to the Lord.
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OK, the blessings come from the same thing. It's not just salvation, it would be any blessing. Now skip down if you would, let's begin reading with verse 10. Watch this. He said, "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater," which is a blessing. Now He says in verse 11, "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth," that is, his promises, anything, "it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it." Now, if you come to him in the way that he demands in verse seven, look what he says. Verse 12. "For you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing."
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"And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. And instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." In other words, God's word is true. His blessings are true.
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When you and I try to claim a promise, if it is a conditional promise, we must understand, we must meet the conditions that God demands, and the only way we can meet those conditions is to beseech Him to enable us to meet those conditions, to give us His grace and give us His mercy. If God demands faith, faith is His gift. If God demands repentance, repentance is his gift. If God demands submission, submission is his gift.
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We can't do anything without him. Our Lord said without me you can do nothing. So when we come to the promises of God, we have to understand the conditional promises have limitations. And those limitations are the conditions that God requires and we must beseech him to enable us to meet those conditions, because without Him, we can do nothing. Let's pray. Father, we ask you in the name of Jesus Christ for your grace, for your mercy, goodness and kindness. We pray, Lord, that you would help us to be able to change our thinking, enable us to read your scripture, give us understanding, give us enlightenment. May we understand, Lord, your principles, your precepts, and apply them in our lives. Lord, teach us to think as thou dost think, so that we may act biblically and scripturally. We ask for your blessings upon each one, Lord, and especially these on the prayer list. We commit them into your hands and ask, Father, in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whose name we pray. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T00:46:32Z

Promises and Limitations

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver distinguishes between unconditional and conditional promises in Scripture, using Isaiah 55:6-13 as the primary text. He explains that unconditional promises depend solely on God's sovereign action, while conditional promises require human response—specifically repentance and a change in thinking. The sermon emphasizes that God's thoughts and ways are higher than ours, and that true transformation comes through renewing the mind to think biblically. The promise of mercy and pardon in Isaiah 55:7 is conditioned upon forsaking wicked ways and thoughts.

Opening

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 55:6-13

"Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near." "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing." "And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands, and instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

Introduction: Two Types of Promises

Weaver introduces the concept that the Bible contains both unconditional and conditional promises, and misunderstanding this leads to confusion when promises seem unfulfilled.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 55:6-13

"And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands, and instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

Examples of Unconditional Promises

It doesn't matter, because God has given this promise unconditionally. That is why in 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 20, the Apostle Paul said this,

Scripture Reading — 2 Corinthians 1:20

"For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us."

So all of these that I've just mentioned are unconditional promises. Now secondly, there are conditional promises.

Examples of Conditional Promises

Conditional promises require human obedience, faith, or repentance. Examples include the blessings and curses in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, 2 Chronicles 7:14, and Matthew 6:33.

Now, let me give you an illustration straight from the Scripture that everybody can understand. Most of you can quote this verse, 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14. God said,

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 7:14

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then,"

He said,

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 7:14

"will I hear their prayer, forgive their sin, and heal their land."

The Urgency of Seeking the Lord (Isaiah 55:6)

And let's begin reading there with verse 7. Psalm 139, verse 7. And David asked,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 139:7-12

"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee."

Periods which will all soon be gone, and when they are gone, the sinner is irrevocably lost or dies. Wow.

Scriptural Warnings About Missing God's Time

Passages like Psalm 32:6, Proverbs 1:23-31, Isaiah 65:12, Hosea 5:6, and Luke 19:44 illustrate that there is a time when God will not be found because people refused His earlier calls.

The Condition of Repentance (Isaiah 55:7)

The promise of mercy and abundant pardon is conditioned upon the wicked forsaking their way and the unrighteous their thoughts. Repentance involves both a change of conduct and a change of thinking.

The Necessity of Changing Our Thinking

God's Thoughts and Ways Are Higher (Isaiah 55:8-9)

God's thoughts and ways are infinitely above human thoughts and ways. We must conform our thinking to His through Scripture, not expect Him to condescend to our carnal patterns.

The Blessings of Meeting God's Conditions (Isaiah 55:10-13)

Applications: Dependence on God's Enabling Grace

We cannot meet God's conditions in our own strength. Faith, repentance, and submission are gifts from God. We must beseech Him to enable us to fulfill the conditions of His promises.

Promises and Limitations

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	3326145512921
Subject	Covenant Theology
Course	Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: A Time Of Need
Genre	Sermon
Date	2026-03-01
Dictation Name
Book	Book 043: Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: A Time Of Need — Chapter 8
Source Timed Segments	88

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: Two Types of Promises: Weaver introduces the concept that the Bible contains both unconditional and conditional promises, and misunderstanding this leads to confusion when promises seem unfulfilled.
Examples of Unconditional Promises: Unconditional promises are based solely on God's decree, such as the promise to never again destroy the world by flood, the Abrahamic covenant, the new covenant, the Davidic dynasty, and God's promise to never leave or forsake believers.
Examples of Conditional Promises: Conditional promises require human obedience, faith, or repentance. Examples include the blessings and curses in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, 2 Chronicles 7:14, and Matthew 6:33.
The Urgency of Seeking the Lord (Isaiah 55:6): The command to seek the Lord while He may be found implies a limited time of special, favorable presence. God's omnipresence is constant, but His saving, gracious nearness can be withdrawn if opportunities are neglected.
Scriptural Warnings About Missing God's Time: Passages like Psalm 32:6, Proverbs 1:23-31, Isaiah 65:12, Hosea 5:6, and Luke 19:44 illustrate that there is a time when God will not be found because people refused His earlier calls.
The Condition of Repentance (Isaiah 55:7): The promise of mercy and abundant pardon is conditioned upon the wicked forsaking their way and the unrighteous their thoughts. Repentance involves both a change of conduct and a change of thinking.
The Necessity of Changing Our Thinking: True and lasting change requires a renewed mind. The heart (mind) is the source of evil thoughts and actions (Matthew 15:18-19, Mark 7:20-23). Believers must learn to think biblically, putting on the mind of Christ through submission to God's Word.
God's Thoughts and Ways Are Higher (Isaiah 55:8-9): God's thoughts and ways are infinitely above human thoughts and ways. We must conform our thinking to His through Scripture, not expect Him to condescend to our carnal patterns.
The Blessings of Meeting God's Conditions (Isaiah 55:10-13): God's Word is effective and will accomplish His purposes. When we meet the conditions of repentance and faith, we experience joy, peace, and transformation, as depicted in the imagery of nature rejoicing and thorns being replaced by fruitful trees.
Applications: Dependence on God's Enabling Grace: We cannot meet God's conditions in our own strength. Faith, repentance, and submission are gifts from God. We must beseech Him to enable us to fulfill the conditions of His promises.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Unconditional promises are grounded in God's character and fulfilled by His sovereign action alone.

Examples like the Noahic covenant, Abrahamic covenant, new covenant, Davidic covenant, and the promise of God's presence demonstrate that some promises depend entirely on God's faithfulness, not human performance.

Weaver says: 'Unconditional promises, then, are grounded upon God's character and are fulfilled through and by his sovereign action, even when human instruments fail.'

Conditional promises require meeting specific conditions such as obedience, faith, and repentance.

Passages like 2 Chronicles 7:14 and Matthew 6:33 show that blessings are contingent upon human response. The illustration of fixing a truck for payment clarifies the nature of conditional promises.

Weaver illustrates: 'I just promised him 1,000 Federal Reserve notes if he fixed my truck. If he doesn't fix my truck, I don't owe him the 1,000 Federal Reserve notes.'

Isaiah 55:6 implies a limited time of God's special, saving presence.

While God is omnipresent, His favorable, saving nearness is not always available. Scripture warns that those who reject His call may later seek Him and not find Him.

Weaver cites Proverbs 1:28: 'Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.'

The promise of mercy and pardon in Isaiah 55:7 is conditioned upon repentance of both ways and thoughts.

Forsaking wicked conduct is insufficient without forsaking wicked thinking. The mind is the root of behavior, and true conversion requires a change in thought patterns.

Weaver states: 'It is not just the way, it is not just the conduct that has to be changed, it is the way of thinking that must be changed as well.'

Lasting change comes only through the renewal of the mind according to Scripture.

Temporary behavioral changes fail because the underlying thinking remains unchanged. Romans 12:2 and Ephesians 4:23 command believers to be transformed by renewing their minds.

Weaver says: 'If you do not change your thinking and you say, "I'm going to quit that habit," you will quit it temporarily, but then you'll go back to it.'

God's thoughts and ways are infinitely higher, requiring us to learn to think His thoughts through His Word.

Isaiah 55:8-9 contrasts divine and human perspectives. Believers must learn Christ and be taught by Him to put off the old self and put on the new self created in righteousness.

Weaver explains: 'You have to learn Jesus Christ, and how you learn Jesus Christ is by learning his word, learning his precepts, learning his principles.'

Meeting God's conditions leads to joy, peace, and transformation, as depicted in Isaiah 55:10-13.

When we respond rightly to God's Word, it accomplishes His purposes, resulting in blessings symbolized by nature's rejoicing and the replacement of thorns with fruitful trees.

Weaver reads: 'For you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace... instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree.'

We are utterly dependent on God's grace to fulfill the conditions of His promises.

Faith, repentance, and submission are gifts from God. We must beseech Him to enable us to meet the conditions, for without Christ we can do nothing.

Weaver prays: 'We ask you in the name of Jesus Christ for your grace... help us to be able to change our thinking... without Him, we can do nothing.'

Scripture References

Isaiah 55:6-13: Primary sermon text; read at the opening and expounded throughout.
Genesis 9:11: Example of unconditional promise: God will never again destroy the world by flood.
Genesis 12-15: Unconditional promise to Abraham of a seed and blessing to all nations.
Jeremiah 31:31-34: Unconditional new covenant promise to write God's laws on hearts and minds.
Hebrews 8; 10: New covenant promise also mentioned in Hebrews.
2 Samuel 12: Unconditional promise to David of an everlasting dynasty.
Matthew 1:1: Jesus Christ is the son of David and Abraham, fulfilling the unconditional covenants.
Hebrews 13:5: Unconditional promise: 'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.'
Psalm 23: God's presence even in the valley of the shadow of death.
2 Corinthians 1:20: All promises of God are 'yea' and 'Amen' in Christ.
Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28: Blessings conditioned on obedience, curses on disobedience.
2 Chronicles 7:14: Conditional promise: healing the land requires humility, prayer, seeking God's face, and turning from wicked ways.
Matthew 6:33: Conditional promise: seeking first God's kingdom and righteousness results in daily needs being supplied.
1 John 4:19: We love Him because He first loved us; God's enabling grace precedes our response.
Psalm 139:7-12: God's omnipresence: impossible to escape His presence.
Psalm 32:5-6: Prayer should be made in a time when God may be found; floods of great waters represent times He cannot be found.
Proverbs 1:23-31: Those who refuse God's call will later call and not be answered.
Isaiah 65:12: God numbers to the sword those who did not answer when He called.
Hosea 5:6: They shall seek the Lord but not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself.
Luke 19:44: Jerusalem destroyed because they did not know the time of their visitation.

Historical References

Albert Barnes (commentator): Quoted on the meaning of God's nearness in Isaiah 55:6 and on the necessity of forsaking thoughts in verse 7.
Stonewall Jackson (Confederate general): Illustration of a time when pain prevented calling on God; Jackson said had he not already been a child of God, he could not have controlled his mind to seek mercy.
Fanny Crosby (hymn writer): Referenced her hymn 'Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior' to illustrate the plea for God not to pass by during a special time of calling.
Pilate (biblical figure): Used as an example of external washing without true repentance; cannot deceive God.
Pharisees (biblical group): Cleaning the outside of the platter but not the inside; hypocritical externalism without heart change.

Important Quotes

Unconditional promises, then, are grounded upon God's character and are fulfilled through and by his sovereign action, even when human instruments fail.

Summarizes the nature of unconditional promises and highlights God's sovereignty in their fulfillment.

God comes near to us in the preaching of his word, when it is born with power to the conscience. He comes to us in his providences when he strikes down a friend and comes into the very circle where we move or the very dwelling where we abide. When he lays his hand upon us in sickness, he is near us by day and by night in a revival of religion or when a pious friend pleads with us. God is near to us then and is calling us to his favor. These are favorable times for salvation. Times which, if they are suffered to pass by unimproved, return no more.

Quoting Albert Barnes, this explains the urgency of seeking God during times of special spiritual opportunity.

If there is no changing and repenting of the mind, there's not going to be any repenting or changing in the conduct.

Emphasizes that true repentance must begin with a change in thinking, not just external behavior.

If you do not think biblically, you're not going to act biblically. If you think wrongly, you will act wrongly.

Connects the necessity of biblical thinking to righteous living, a central application of the sermon.

God is not going to condescend to think our thoughts, our thoughts are carnal and fleshly and human. God is not going to condescend to approve our ways. God demands that we conform to His Word, His will, His way.

Highlights the transcendence of God's thoughts and the call for believers to align their thinking with Scripture.

If God demands faith, faith is His gift. If God demands repentance, repentance is his gift. If God demands submission, submission is his gift.

Underscores the dependence on God's grace even to meet the conditions of His promises, preventing works-righteousness.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

What is the difference between an unconditional promise and a conditional promise in Scripture? Can you think of other examples beyond those mentioned in the sermon?

[Context]

Weaver introduces the two types of promises at the beginning of the sermon.

[Question]

How does understanding the distinction between unconditional and conditional promises affect the way we pray and claim God's promises?

[Context]

The sermon explains that conditional promises require meeting conditions such as obedience and repentance.

[Question]

What does it mean that there is a time when God 'may be found' and a time when He is 'near'? How can we recognize such times in our lives?

[Context]

Weaver discusses the urgency of seeking God during His special, favorable presence.

[Question]

Why is it dangerous to delay responding to God's call? What are some modern examples of 'missing the time of visitation'?

[Context]

The sermon warns from Proverbs 1 and Luke 19 about the consequences of neglecting God's call.

[Question]

In what ways does our thinking need to change in order to truly repent? How can we practically 'renew our minds' according to Romans 12:2?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes that repentance involves forsaking both wicked ways and wicked thoughts.

[Question]

How does the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5) contrast with our natural, fleshly thinking? What steps can we take to cultivate the mind of Christ?

[Context]

The sermon describes the mind of Christ as submission, obedience, and pleasing the Father.

[Question]

Why do temporary behavioral changes often fail? How does changing our thinking lead to lasting transformation?

[Context]

Weaver argues that without a renewed mind, attempts to change conduct are short-lived.

[Question]

How can we rely on God's grace to meet the conditions of His promises without falling into passivity or works-righteousness?

[Context]

The sermon concludes that faith, repentance, and submission are gifts from God, yet we are called to actively seek Him.

Applications

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