GOD IS ABLE TO KEEP HIS PROMISES
Romans 4:18-21
INTRODUCTION:
A. One of the most devastating lessons a young person learns is that people break their promises.
- Children naively assume that if someone says, "I promise," they can count on it.
- But this assumption takes a vicious beating.
- A father vows to go camping w/his son, but weekend after weekend finds Dad too busy w/other matters.
- A mother pledges to take her daughter to the zoo, then forgets all about it.
- A child shares a secret w/a friend, only to discover that everyone in his or her class at school is in on it.
- No doubt you can give examples of promises made to you that were never kept.
- [Jonathan Swift once said, "Promises & pie crusts were meant to be broken."]
B. But God is able to keep His promises, no matter how unlikely their fulfillment may seem.
- Take the case of Abraham in O.T. book of Genesis.
- He was nearly 100 yrs. old when the Lord renewed His pledge to give him a son.
- The patriarch’s wife, Sarah, was 90.
- Romans 4:18-21 gives us Abraham’s response to this seemingly impossible promise (READ).
C. Abraham was not the only person in the O.T. who recognized God’s ability to keep His promises.
- Joshua wrote, "Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled (Joshua 21:45)."
- And later he told the people of Israel, "You know w/all your heart & soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed (Joshua 23:14)."
- A few hundred years later King Solomon reminded his generation of the same thing when he said in 1 Kings 8:56, "Not one word has failed of all the good promises He gave..."
- Yes, the Bible gives ample proof of God’s ability to keep His promises, even when they seem incredible.
D. Yet most of us have difficulty believing our Lord can calm our emotions or silence the worries that nag at our hearts.
- Unlike Abraham, we do not feel completely assured that what God has promised He is also able to perform.
1. WHAT ARE GOD’S PROMISES?
- The word "promise" in its noun & verb forms occurs no less than 65 times in the N.T. alone.
- Only 2 of these instances refer to human promises.
- All the rest are vows that God makes.
- Let me just point out a few of the prominent examples of divine promises in Scripture.
A. First, God promises the Holy Spirit to people who have put their faith in Christ.
- Eph. 1:13 states, "Having believed, you were marked in Him w/a seal, the promised Holy Spirit."
- If you are a Christian you possess God’s Holy Spirit in your heart.
- And the natural fruit He produces in a life is, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal. 5:22-23)."
- Because this is God’s promise we can display those virtues in our lives if we have yielded to the Holy Spirit.
B. A 2nd biblical promise is an abundant life that will never end.
- 1 John 2:25 declares, "And this is what He promised us--even eternal life."
- Many vss. teach that we believers possess eternal life right now.
- 1 Jn. 5:11-12 says that, "God has given us eternal life & this life is in His Son. he who has the Son has life..."(note the present tense) has Son has Life.
- This means we are secure in our salvation, that is God’s promise.
- Jesus said, (Jn. 10:28) "I give them eternal life, & they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand."
- What a promise!
C. 3rd, our Heavenly Father promises us spiritual rest.
- Hebrew 4:1 tells us that a, "promise of entering His rest still stands..."
- God wants us to cease striving to earn our salvation & start resting in the finished work of Christ on the cross.
- He invites us to rest from worry by trusting in Him.
- He tells us to rest in the power of His Spirit, who alone can produce holiness in us.
- Why then don’t more Christians experience this rest?
- The answer is simple: We have not put our trust in God’s promise.
- We believe our way of achieving peace & fulfillment is better than God’s way.
- And that always leads us to restlessness.
- [As Augustine said centuries ago, "You have made us for Yourself, O God, & our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You."]
D. The people of Israel under Moses failed to receive their rest in the Promised Land.
- They died in the wilderness because they did not believe the Lord could keep His promise.
- With this in mind, Heb. 3:19 says, "So we see they were not able to enter [God’s rest], because of their unbelief."
- We, too, can forfeit our spiritual rest, merely by refusing to trust God for it.
E. We could examine other specific promises.
- James 2:5 mentions the, "kingdom He promised to those who love Him."
- And 2 Pet. 3:4 speaks of, "the promise of His coming."
F. To sum it up, all of God’s promises are included in His Son, Jesus Christ.
- 2 Cor. 1:20 states, "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ’Yes’ in Christ."
- Jesus fulfills such O.T. promises as, "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed (Gen. 22:18).
- "He will swallow up death for all time" (Isa. 25:8).
- "His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed" (Dan. 7:14).
- Do you have Christ in your heart?
- Then you possess all of God’s promises.
- Receive Jesus & you receive everything.
2. WHY ARE GOD’S PROMISES TRUE?
- Scripture gives us two good answers to this question.
A. God is Truthful
- Titus 1:2 affirms that the divine promises are dependent on "God who cannot lie."
- A lie would contradict the Heavenly Father’s nature.
- Romans 15:8 says that "Christ has become a servant...on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises."
- And Jesus said (Jn. 14:6), "I am the truth."
1. To harbor suspicions of God’s Word is to challenge His character, for as truth He cannot lie.
- We know that people often renege on their promises, so we expect the same from the Heavenly Father.
- We bow in prayer, claim a divine promise, thank God in advance for its fulfillment, & then are sure we will never possess it.
- The Bible labels that kind of person "a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways" (Jas. 1:8)
2. When the Lord first promised Abraham a son, the patriarch doubted.
- He tried to help God by taking his wife’s servant girl, Hagar, & having a son through her.
- Eventually he overcame his skepticism & grew strong in faith by trusting in God’s truthful nature.
- That is what our Heavenly Father wants us to do.
- The 2nd answer to "why are God’s promises true?" is:
B. God is Trustworthy.
1. Speaking of the Lord, Heb. 10:23 says, "He who promised is faithful."
- The New English Bible translates it, "The Giver of the promise may be trusted."
- The original word for "promise" was used in secular literature for the empty promises of politicians & of quacks who were selling supposed miracle potions in a bottle.
- People soon learned that these promises were unreliable.
- But God is trustworthy.
- It is a part of His nature to keep His promises.
- Some people consider themselves so worthless & corrupt they refuse to believe that divine grace will suffice for them.
- But the promise of salvation does not depend on us.
- If it did, no one would know Christ.
- Never doubt that God can love you, for His acceptance is based on His own trustworthiness, not our unworthiness.
- We honor our Lord by trusting in His grace as much as Abraham honored Him by trusting in His power.
2. God called on Abraham to believe he could become a father, even though it was physically impossible.
- He asks us to believe we can be children of God in spite of our unworthiness.
- Though we are faithless, God is dependable; therefore His promises are true.
3. HOW DO WE RECEIVE GOD’S PROMISES?
- Here are four ways through which we receive God’s promises:
A. First, Prayerful Study of Scripture.
1. The Word of God is the treasury of every promise.
- It also reveals Christ, who embodies each one.
- So we must deeply mine the soil of God’s Word to discover its gems.
2. [A little girl pointed to the Bible that stood untouched on the bookshelf & asked her mother, "Whose book is that?"
- Startled by her daughter’s question, the mother answered, "Why honey, don’t you know? It’s God’s book."
- With eyes wide open the girl replied, "Then don’t you think we should give it back to Him? No one around here ever reads it?"]
3. Ignore the Bible & you ignore Christ.
- [John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople in the 4th cent. A.D. said, "The cause of all evil rests in ignorance of & imperfect acquaintance with Holy Scripture."]
- Unless we study God’s Word, unbelief will spread like a cancer in our hearts.
- And how can we know what our heavenly Father has promised unless we hear His voice in the pages of the Bible?
4. We can’t.
- And that is why many people go astray.
- They assume God has made promises, when in fact He has not.
- They assume He has promised them physical healing; a job; fair treatment; a good marriage.
- But the bottom line is that our Christianity is no insurance policy against severe trials & pain.
5. What then, does God promise us?
- In a word, Himself.
- He is all we need.
- In Christ all the promises of God are yes.
- But we must search the Scriptures to find & claim each one.
B. 2nd, Patiently Waiting.
1. Heb. 6:15 says of Abraham, "Having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.
- Perhaps right now you are thinking; "I didn’t concoct a promise; I claimed one straight from the Bible, but it still didn’t come true. Why doesn’t God keep His promises for me as He did for the heroes of Scripture?"
- Remember how the Lord fulfilled His promises for the biblical heroes.
- Abraham waited 25 years--until he was 100 yrs old--between God’s original promise &
the birth of Isaac.
- Have you waited that long?
- Don’t rush God.
- Let Him do His own work in His own time.
- Before He is through He will keep His promises in your life too.
2. David is another example.
- God promised him he would be the king of Israel.
- Yet he waited for years during the wicked reign of Saul before he came to the throne.
- And through it all he learned patience.
3. Even as early as the book of Genesis the Lord promised His people a Messiah.
- But it took centuries for Christ to come in the fullness of God’s timing.
C. 3rd, Obedience to God’s Will.
1. Hebrews 10:36 teaches that obedience is a key to obtaining God’s promise: "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised."
- Part of our obedience is a childlike faith that takes God at His word w/o any questioning.
2. Often the Lord’s promises are conditional.
- We have to fulfill responsibilities before we can receive the privileges.
- Take God’s greatest promise--Jesus Christ.
- The Heavenly Father does not give His Son to us automatically.
- Before He becomes ours, we must trust Him as our Lord & Savior.
- The promise doesn’t come through until the responsibility is fulfilled.
D. 4th, Faith.
1. Heb. 10:36 says the O.T. heroes "by faith...obtained promises."
- When God promised Abraham a son, the patriarch "did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith (Rom. 4:20)."
- So dare to take God at His word.
- 2 Cor. 5:7 states that, "we walk by faith, not by sight."
2. Unlike us, Abraham did not have the full revelation of the Bible.
- The patriarch knew the promise of the Messiah, but we know the Messiah Himself.
- Yet in spite of our advantages over Abraham, we doubt much more quickly than he did.
- If he could believe God for a promised child when he was 100 yrs old, we can claim the promises our Heavenly Father makes to us.
CONCLUSION:
- In closing let me ask you: What is the promise you need to claim?
1. Maybe the one from Philippians 4:7, "And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts & your minds in Christ Jesus."
2. Perhaps you need a promise of victory over temptation.
- Here it is: "God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but w/the temptation will provide a way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it
(1 Cor. 10:13)."
3. Or you may require wisdom to deal w/trials in your life.
- Claim James 1:5, "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously & w/o reproach, & it will be given to him."
4. If you are the victim of slander, divorce, or disease you may wonder if anything good can come out of it.
- Grab hold of 1 Pet. 5:10, "And after you have suffered a for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen & establish you."
5. Perhaps you shoulder a tremendous burden of guilt.
- You would give anything to wipe out your past sin.
- Instead of giving something, just receive this promise: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful & righteous to forgive us our sins & to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn. 1:9)."
6. Whatever your need, God is able to keep His promises.
- When you & I learn to trust Him for that our lives will never be the same.
