GOD’S PROMISES FOR A WEARY PEOPLE
9/17/08 Psalm 125 S__ L__ R__
1. Many Days on way to Jerusalem to Worship
a. thoughts of home
b. thoughts of remainder of trip
c. bone tired – weary – perhaps ready to turn back
2. Life gets like that
a. trials and tribulations
b. swimming against the stream – stop & float
i. dead fish - driftwood & wrecks
1 Corinthians 9:27
But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
3. God’s Promises for a Weary People
1. PEOPLE OF GOD’S PROMISES Vs. 1a They that trust
A. People of Dependence
1. First thought of God’s presence – in the Lord
a. not what they trust, but WHO
b. run to one’s side
B. People of Confidence
1. no room for doubt
2. Neb. Fiery Furnace- bow or burn
Daniel 3:16-18 (MSG)
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, "Your threat means nothing to us. 17 If you throw us in the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from your roaring furnace and anything else you might cook up, O king. 18 But even if he doesn’t, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference, O king. We still wouldn’t serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up."
C. People of Ebullience
1. full of enthusiasm
2. boiling vigorously
3. 1 Samuel 17:41-52
2. PERMANENCE OF GOD’S PROMISES Vs.1b
A. Unshakeable –cannot be removed
1. Can’t be swayed by the culture
2. Can’t be thrown off course by the liberal
3. Can’t be damaged by the worldly
B. Unchangeable –abides forever
1. settled in
2. set down permanently
Jeremiah 36:22-23; 27-31
3. PROTECTION OF GOD’S PROMISES Vs. 2-3
A. Positive vs. 2
1. Guarded
a. Nothing catches God by surprise
b. 2 Cor. 12:9 God said to Paul My grace is sufficient
c. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (MSG)
No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.
2. Girded – so the Lord is round about His people
a. Psalms 34:7
The angel of the LORD encamps round about them that fear him, and delivers them.
B. Negative Vs. 3
1. Persecution - times the wicked will rule
a. sin of leadership or the people
b. oppression might be severe -the rod of the wicked
2. Limitation -shall not rest upon the lot
a. stay or settle down –
Isaiah 5:18-25 (MSG)
18 Doom to you who use lies to sell evil, who haul sin to market by the truckload, 19 Who say, "What’s God waiting for? Let him get a move on so we can see it. Whatever The Holy of Israel has cooked up, we’d like to check it out." 20 Doom to you who call evil good and good evil, Who put darkness in place of light and light in place of darkness, Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! 21 Doom to you who think you’re so smart, who hold such a high opinion of yourselves! 22 All you’re good at is drinking—champion boozers who collect trophies from drinking bouts 23 And then line your pockets with bribes from the guilty while you violate the rights of the innocent. 24 But they won’t get by with it. As fire eats stubble and dry grass goes up in smoke, Their souls will atrophy, their achievements crumble into dust, Because they said no to the revelation of God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Would have nothing to do with The Holy of Israel. 25 That’s why God flamed out in anger against his people, reached out and knocked them down. The mountains trembled as their dead bodies piled up in the streets. But even after that, he was still angry, his fist still raised, ready to hit them again.
4. PROVISIONS OF GOD’S PROMISES Vs. 4
A. Reciprocal
1. Law of reaping and sowing
Proverbs 22:8
He that sows iniquity shall reap vanity: …
Galatians 6:7-8
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
B. Multiple 2 Corinthians 9:6
But this I say, He which sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
C. Eligible
1. those that be good
a. Only way to be good is to be in Jesus!!!
2. upright in their hearts
a. discernment – good from evil
b. direct – strait in their walk
c. devoid of obstacles
i. impede progress
ii. block communication
iii. cause a brother to stumble
5. PEACE OF GOD’S PROMISES Vs. 5
A. Missing from the Crooked
1. turn aside to their own ways
Proverbs 14:12
There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
2. Lead them forth
1. Separation
a. here - Isaiah 57:20-21
But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. 21 There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked.
b. eternity - Matthew 25:32-33
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Matthew 25:41-46
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 For I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we You hungry, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto You? 45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
B. Resting on the Righteous
1. ‘Every things going to be all right!!!’
2. He is in control and not me, or satan, or any other
creature.
3. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (AMP)
Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day. 17 For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!], 18 Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.
