SURELY THERE IS AN END
PROVERBS 23:18
For surely there is an end ; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.
OUTLINE
1. END OF BATTLE
2. END OF INJUSTICE
3. END OF CAPTIVITY
4. END OF AFFLICTION
5. END OF SORROW
6. END OF FEARS
7. END OF BARRIERS
8. END OF DELAYS
9. END OF SICKNESS
10. END OF SCARCITY
THE MESSAGE
SURELY THERE IS AN END
1. END OF BATTLE
The Lord will bring our battles to a victorious end and grant us peace and rest. The Lord will crush satan under our feet.The enemy will not prevail against us.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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Psalm 46:9-11
He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth.He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;I will be exalted among the nations,I will be exalted in the earth.”
The Lord Almighty is with us;the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Psalm 107:29-31
He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.
They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind.
Psalm 147:14
He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.
Isaiah 66:12
For this is what the Lord says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;
you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees.
Romans 16:20
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
Acts 9:31
Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
Matthew 16:18-19
And I tell you that you are Peter,and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
2. END OF INJUSTICE
The Lord will bring injustice to an end. He will answer the cry of His people. He will put an end to the wickedness of the wicked. He will grant justice to His people. No weapon formed against us will prosper. If God is on our side , who can prevail against us.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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Luke 18:7-8
And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?
I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Psalm 103:6
The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
Jeremiah 9:23-24
This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches,
but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.
Psalm 149:6-9
May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands,
to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,
to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron,
to carry out the sentence written against them— this is the glory of all his faithful people.Praise the Lord.
Psalm 7:6-17
Arise, Lord, in your anger; rise up against the rage of my enemies. Awake, my God; decree justice.
Let the assembled peoples gather around you, while you sit enthroned over them on high.
Let the Lord judge the peoples. Vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High.
Bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure— you, the righteous God who probes minds and hearts.
My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge, a God who displays his wrath every day.
If he does not relent, he will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string his bow.
He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows.
Whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment.
Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made.
The trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads.
I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.
Isaiah 41:10-13
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
“All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.
Though you search for your enemies,you will not find them.Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all.
For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.
Isaiah 54:17
no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 20:11-12
But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten.
Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have committed my cause.
Romans 8:31-34
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
3. END OF CAPTIVITY
The Lord will bring our captivity to an end. He turned the captivity of the people of Israel in Egypt .He turned the captivity of Job and granted him a double blessing. He delivered Paul and Silas from prison. The Lord will turn our captivity and grant us a great deliverance.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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Exodus 3:7-8
The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.
So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
Psalm 126:1-6
When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed.
Our mouths were filled with our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.
Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev.
Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.
Acts 16:23-26
After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.
When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.
Job 42:10
After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.
James 5:11
As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
4. END OF AFFLICTION
The Lord will bring our affliction to an end. He will remove the cup of affliction from us. He will make a way of escape for us. He will bring us into a place of abundance and greatness.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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Psalm 90:12-15
Teach us to number our days,that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Relent, Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants.
Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.
Isaiah 14:3-7
On the day the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you,
you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended!
The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers,
which in anger struck down peoples with unceasing blows, and in fury subdued nations with relentless aggression.
All the lands are at rest and at peace; they break into singing.
Isaiah 51:22-23
This is what your Sovereign Lord says, your God, who defends his people: “See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again.
I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, ‘Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.’ And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked on.”
1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Psalm 66:11-12
For you, God, tested us;you refined us like silver.
You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs.
You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.
Psalm 71:20-21
Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up.
You will increase my honor and comfort me once more.
Psalm 138:7-8
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes; with your right hand you save me.
The Lord will vindicate me; your love, Lord, endures forever— do not abandon the works of your hands.
5. END OF SORROW
The Lord will bring our sorrow to an end. The days of our mourning will be ended. Our sorrow will be turned into joy. The Lord will heal our broken hearts.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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Isaiah 60:20
Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.
Isaiah 51:11
Those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Isaiah 61:3
and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.
Psalm 30:11
You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
John 16:20
Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
Psalm 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
6. END OF FEARS
The Lord will bring our fears to an end. He will deliver us from all our fears. He will cause us to serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness. The Lord will never leave us nor forsake us .Therefore we need not fear any man. The Lord has not given us a spirit of fear but a spirit of love , power and a sound mind. We can live in peace because the Lord has good plans for us.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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Isaiah 54:14
In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you.
Psalm 34:4
I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.
Luke 1:73-75
the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
Isaiah 51:12-13
“I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass,
that you forget the Lord your Maker, who stretches out the heavens and who lays the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor?
Hebrews 13:5-6
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.”
So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
2 Timothy 1:7
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
7. END OF BARRIERS
The Lord will bring our barriers to an end. He will go before us and remove the hindrances from our path and help to progress forward in our life. The mountains will become a plain by the power of the Holy Spirit. We must be strong in our faith and command the mountains to move.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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Micah 2:13
The One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their King will pass through before them, the Lord at their head.”
Isaiah 45:1-3
“This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:
I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.
I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
Zechariah 4:6-7
So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.
“What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’”
Mark 11:22-23
“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.
“Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.
Matthew 17:20-21
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
But this kind can come out only by prayer and fasting.
8. END OF DELAYS
The Lord will bring our delays to and end. His promises will no longer be delayed. The time of God’s favour has come. He will grant the desires of our heart.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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Ezekiel 12:28
“Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: None of my words will be delayed any longer; whatever I say will be fulfilled, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
Isaiah 46:13
I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel.
Psalm 102:13
You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come.
Psalm 40:17
But as for me, I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; you are my God, do not delay.
Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
9. END OF SICKNESSES
The Lord will bring our sicknesses to an end. He will heal our diseases. He healed the paralytic who had been sick for 38 years. He healed the woman whom satan had bound for 18 years. He healed the woman had an issue of blood for 12 years. He will heal us also and grant us good health and strength and long life.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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John 5:1-9
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.
Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.
Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed and they waited for the moving of the waters.
From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had.
One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
Luke 13:11-13
and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.
When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.”
Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
Luke 8:43-48
And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,and she had spent all she had on doctors but no one could heal her.
She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.
“Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”
But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”
Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed.
Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
Matthew 8:16-17
When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.
This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
Psalm 103:3-5
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
10. END OF SCARCITY
The Lord will bring our scarcity to an end. He brought the Israelites from the wilderness into a land of plenty. He removed the famine in Samaria by breaking the seige of the enemy. He will turn our poverty into prosperity. When we give to the Lord generously and faithfully , the Lord has promised to bless us with overflowing abundance.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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Deuteronomy 8:1-10
Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors.
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.
Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him.
For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills;
a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey;
a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
Joel 2:21-29
Do not be afraid, land of Judah; be glad and rejoice. Surely the Lord has done great things!
Do not be afraid, you wild animals, for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green.The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.
Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.
The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm — my great army that I sent among you.
You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.
Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.
“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
2 Kings 6:24-25
Some time later, Ben-Hadad king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria.
There was a great famine in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter of a cab of seed pods for five shekels.
2 Kings 7:1-20
Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”
The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!”
Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die?
If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”
At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there,
for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!”
So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.
The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.
Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”
So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, “We went into the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a sound of anyone—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were.”
The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace.
The king got up in the night and said to his officers, “I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide in the countryside, thinking, ‘They will surely come out, and then we will take them alive and get into the city.’”
One of his officers answered, “Have some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here—yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed. So let us send them to find out what happened.”
So they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army. He commanded the drivers, “Go and find out what has happened.”
They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their headlong flight. So the messengers returned and reported to the king.
Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a seah of the finest flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, as the Lord had said.
Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house.
It happened as the man of God had said to the king: “About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”
The officer had said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” The man of God had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!”
And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.
2 Corinthians 8:9
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Philippians 4:15-19
Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only;
for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need.
Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account.
I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
Luke 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Malachi 3:10-11
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty.
