August 21, 1994 - PM
A PEOPLE OF FAITH AND A GOD OF PROMISE
Hebrews 11:8-19
INTRO: (1) God is a God of promises. Whenever we come across the words, “I will” when spoken by the Lord, we have a promise.
(2) Heb 13:5-6 is a promise for God’s abiding presence. It will be constant.
(3) No promise is as effective as it could be unless it is believed.
PROP: GOD’S PEOPLE BELIEVE GOD’S PROMISES WHETHER THEY ARE FILLED IMMEDIATELY OR NOT
Here are Four accomplishments of people who believed the promise of God
I. It is possible to survive being treated as a foreigner in one’s own country, if one realizes that God’s promises are reliable (Heb 11:8-10).
A. He was called.
B. He obeyed.
C. He sojourned . . . and so did his descendants.
D. He looked. Note that he set his gaze on Heaven.
II. It is possible to produce an immense family against impossible odds if one yields to the plan established by the reliable promise of God (Heb 11:11-12).
A. Promise enables action.
B. If she believed she had to act.
III. It is possible to die in peace without ever completing one’s search if one learns that God’s promise is reliable even after death (Heb 11:13-16).
A. Nothing God promises will ever be unfulfilled.
B. Abraham did not live to see the promised Messiah, but rejoiced in Him (Jn 8:56).
IV. It is possible to endure the greatest tests of faith if one acknowledges the supreme ability of his reliable God of Promise (Heb 11:17-19).
A. We face tests in . . .
Finances
Attitudes
Ideas (or Insecurities?)
Troubles
Home (24) # 9-234, Chuck Swindoll
What we need is an awareness that God is able.
B. GOD IS ABLE! Matthew 3:9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to [our] father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Luke 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to [our] father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Romans 11:23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.
Romans 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
2 Corinthians 9:8 And God [is] able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all [things], may abound to every good work:
2 Chronicles 25:9 And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give thee much more than this.
Daniel 4:37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works [are] truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
Philippians 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
2 Timothy 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
Hebrews 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
Hebrews 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
CONCL: (1) It is our duty to obey God.
(2) Joni Earickson suffered an injury when she dove of her father’s shoulders as a teen. She hit the lake bottom and broke her neck. She struggled with trying to understand why this happened for about two years before she realized that this pursuit was leaving her embittered. Phillip Yancey adds excellent insight when he comments, “ . . . the real issue before Christians is not, ‘Is God responsible?’ but ‘How should I react now that this terrible thing has happened?” (25) #9-234
