The Power Of New Promises Series

OPEN: A little boy was walking on the beach, and he saw an older woman sitting under a beach umbrella. And he walked up to her and asked, “Are you a Christian?” “Yes.” she replied. “Do you read your Bible every day?” She nodded her head, “Yes.” “Do you pray often?” he asked next, and again she answered, “Yes.” With that he smiled and said: “Well then, would you hold my quarter while I go swimming?”

Now, why would that little boy ask all those questions? Because he wanted to know if he could trust her! (PAUSE) And that’s what the world wants to know about us: can they trust US? Because, if they can trust us, odds are they’ll trust God as well.

Paul, for example, had been accused by being dishonest by his critics, and he wrote: “As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in Him.” II Corinthians 1:18-20

AS SURELY AS GOD IS FAITHFUL (pause) So, is God faithful? Well, that’s what the Bible says:

Numbers 23:19 says “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.

Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? ANSWER: NO! God will ALWAYS do what He promises to do.

Then Hebrews 10:23 tells us “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

GOD IS FAITHFUL! He will do what He promises to do. And because He does that, we can have hope in a world that is too often hopeless. SO, when God makes a promise… you can count on it.

Just a few examples of the promises of God for you are these:

Paul wrote that God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Jesus said: “do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:31-33

Hebrews 13:5 declares “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

One early church father wrote: “I have read Plato and Cicero - sayings that are very wise and beautiful; but I never read in either of them: ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’” Augustine of Hippo

The Bible is a book of promises: According to one source “The New Testament has 750 promises, but due to the fact that many of the promises are repeated in different books, there are only 250 separate promised benefits.” (https://www.hopefaithprayer.com/scriptures/new-testament-promises/)

SEVEN HUNDRED & FIFTY PROMISES! That’s a bunch. If fact, when I looked up how many verses there are in the New Testament - 7,957 verses. So, there are 750 PROMISES stated in the New Testament, and there are 7957 VERSES in the New Testament. That means that about 1/10 of the New Testament is dedicated to promises. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a Gospel of promises.

Now you might say “Jeff there were actually only 250 promises - the rest of those 750 verses are just repetitions (echoes if you will) of those original 250. WHY WOULD GOD REPEAT HIMSELF? I say, why would God repeat Himself? I say, why would God repeat Himself?

He repeated Himself for the same reason parents repeat themselves to their kids over and over again. He repeated Himself so that we’d pay attention. Repetition is a valuable tool to remind us of something important. In other words, those 250 promises were SO IMPORTANT that God wanted to embed them in our hearts, and cement them in our minds. SO, HE REPEATED THEM OVER AND OVER AGAIN!

Now, I could preach for hours on those 250 promises, but you gotta go home sometime. So I’m going to focus on WHY God gave us those promises. He gave us those promises so that we would know He’s got our back. Those many promises are summed up in ONE promise in Hebrews 13:5 “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” I WANT TO BE THERE FOR YOU!