For All The Promises Of God In Him Are Yes, And In Him Amen

Once again turn in your Bibles to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 1, 2 Corinthians chapter 1. This week we will be finishing the chapter by covering verses 15-24 and I’ve titled this message “All the promises of God in Christ are yes and amen!” This is what Paul tells the Corinthian church in verse 20 “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” So what is the Apostle Paul saying, He is reminding the church that you can depend of God, God has & will keep His promises because all the promises of God are fulfilled in Christ, and Paul wanted to let them know that just as the Lord was dependable, so was he.

2 Corinthians 1:15 - And in this confidence I intended to come to you before, that you might have a second benefit— 16 to pass by way of you to Macedonia, to come again from Macedonia to you, and be helped by you on my way to Judea. 17 Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes, Yes, and No, No? 18 But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No. 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. 20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. 21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

23 Moreover I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth. 24 Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow workers for your joy; for by faith you stand.

So after giving the Corinthians a message of comfort, and expressing his appreciation for them starting in verse 15 he tells them that he had planned on visiting them twice, Paul intended to leave the city of Ephesus and stop at Corinth on his way to Macedonia but his plans changed so apparently Paul’s critics in the church, the false teachers and those who had been led astray by them took this as another opportunity to paint the apostle Paul as a fraud and that you really couldn’t depend on him, Paul says one thing and does another, He says yes but he really means no.

Now the reason Paul didn’t come the first time was to give them time to change and make corrections, he said I didn’t come to spare you so he did it for their sake but of course his critics seized upon this as to question Paul’s dependability.

So I want to spend the first part of the message on the importance of dependability. Because Paul was dependable, so that’s point # 1 – The importance of dependability

Then point # 2 we’ll look at how God is dependable to keep His promises and how they are all fulfilled in Christ

And then point # 3 How the Holy Spirit is given as a guarantee of our salvation, that we who are saved can depend on God to keep us saved and secure. So let’s talk about the importance of dependability – Turn to Matthew chapter 5. Again, the accusation against Paul is that you couldn’t depend on His word, that he would say yes but his yes would end up being no.

A few weeks ago when my father preached and he told the trials and tribulations he went through trying to get a plumber. We’ll be there Monday, no - we’ll be there Tuesday morning for sure, we’ll definitely be there Wednesday -- And once again, guess what? They never showed up! So we understand the importance of being dependable and keeping your word - but look at what Jesus says in Matthew 5:33 Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.