God Keeps His Promises
Promise - A declaration assuring that one will or will not do something; a vow. Indication of something favorable to come; expectation. Indication of future excellence or success.
This is the vow God made to Abraham in the book of Genesis. Not only did God give him the promise but He showed Abraham what he must do to receive the promise.
You may can recall some time in your life when God has spoken to you and He made you a promise. He told you something that would come to pass. He shared some insight as to what was to come for you.
As we take the life of Abraham, let us learn from his mistakes but also from his good choices. My prayer is that you will be encouraged on the fact that God has not forgotten about you.
Before we can start viewing the life of Abraham, we must first look to see what seven promises God made to this man.
Gen. 12:2
Gen. 12:2 – God told Abraham:
1. I will make you a great nation
2. I will bless you
3. I will make your name great
4. You shall be a blessing
5. I will bless those that bless you
6. I will curse those that curse you
7. In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed
Not only will I allow you to dwell in Canaan but also one day you and your family will possess it. It will be yours.
Gen. 15:7 – The Lord said to Abraham
“I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to posses it.”
In today’s message you will see:
1. Abraham’s Instructions
2. Abraham’s Incentive
3. Abraham’s Impatience
4. Abraham’s Isaac
Abraham’s Instructions:
When God gives you a promise you must understand there will come a testing time to see if you are going to be faithful to Him and deserving of the promise.
When God gave Abraham his promise, it also came with some instructions.
Read Gen. 12:1 and notice Abraham’s instructions.
Leave your country: comfortable surroundings
At home, you get complacent. Get into a routine that is hard to break. Abraham had to get to the place where He was going only where God instructed him to go.
Maybe you are in unfamiliar territory, be encouraged that God knows exactly where you are. You are never too far that He cannot reach out His hand to help you.
Leave your relatives: influence
Family has a way of influencing you to do what they feel is best for you. Abraham had to get away from those who influence him so he could just concentrate on what God was leading him to do.
When you receive a call on your life from God, your family and friends will not understand it. They will try to discourage you from it because God’s way never falls into the understanding of this world.
2nd Corinthians 6:17 – “Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord”
Leave your Father’s House: security
God wanted Abraham depending solely on Him. When you start depending on others, they will:
Let you down
Discourage you
Try to tell you how to make decisions.
The first test that God puts on Abraham is with these instructions. If Abraham is serious about receiving this promise from God then he will forsake all and follow God’s command.
Isn’t that exactly what God is calling us to do? Even with the disciples, In Luke 5, Christ told Matthew, “Follow Me”. The Bible says that Matt got up and left everything he had to follow Christ.
(Let the dead bury the dead)
His response: Gen. 12:4 - No questions asked,
I can hear him singing:
Wherever He leads I’ll go, Wherever He leads I’ll go. I follow my Christ, who loves me so, Wherever He leads I’ll go.
Abraham’s Incentive:
Read Genesis 13:14-17
Notice God promises Abraham descendants (kids). Remember he is now 75 years old. What in the world could God be thinking? But Abraham keeps on going.
Again in Gen. 15:2 – Abraham calls out to God:
“O Lord God, what will Thou give me since I am childless?”
v.3 “Since Thou has given no offspring to me?”
Notice: God knows what He promises you. But He also knows how to perfect it into your life. We may not understand His timing or His ways of doing things, but God is in control.
God tells Abraham in Gen. 15:4
“the one who shall come from your own body (seed) shall be the heir” (v.5 ) “look at the stars – these represent the number of your descendants”
But Abraham didn’t even have one much less a thousand.
Don’t underestimate God. You may not see one now but God is looking into what you are going to have. What could be one today could be 1000 tomorrow. Stop living your life based on earthly resources and start recognizing that you are serving God not a man.
A God who created this thing. He has all power, all knowledge and is everywhere looking out for you.
Hours pass…
Days pass…
Months pass…Y
ears pass…
Until now it has been eight years and still no son. Abraham and Sarah both get restless which shows:
Abraham’s Impatience:
(Custom: If a wife is barren to find a substitute)
That’s what Sarah does. She brings in Hagar to have Abraham’s son. But God is not pleased.
Just like us, Abraham (now 85 years old) got impatient and started trying to figure things out for himself.
· How much trouble could we keep ourselves out of if we would just sit still and wait on God?
· How much pain could we avoid if we would allow God to do His thing?
· How much stress could we prevent ourselves from going through if we could just WAIT ON GOD!
So Abraham has now has to wait even longer for a son.
One year goes by then two
It’s been three years now four
We are at the five-year mark and still no son
What were five are now ten years that have passed.
· Could it be that his disobedience caused him more years of pain?
· Could it be that he is being punished for taking the matter into his own hands?
· Could it be that Abraham is going through these many years with nothing happening because he tried to get ahead of God?
All I know, 13 years have passed and Abraham is still childless.
God then appeared to Abraham again in Gen. 17:16 explaining how He was going to allow Sarah to bear Abraham a son.
Read Gen. 17:17 – Abraham’s response!
This is the same man who:
· Left his country
· Left his family
· Left his father’s house
The same man who:
· Went when God said to go
· In Gen. 15:6 “…believed in the Lord”
· Was told by God that he would inherit the land
Now this same man is laughing at what God can do.
“Will a child be born to a man 100 years old?”
“Will Sarah, who is 90 years old bear a child?”
Truth: The quicker we learn this truth; the happier we will be while going through this life.
God can do anything at anytime the way He wants to get it done!
· God saw darkness and created light (not T. Edison)
· God saw dry land and created water and rain
· God saw a lonely man and made him a woman
· God caused a staff to turn into a snake (Ex. 4)
· God allowed 40k people to cross the river of Jordan on dry land
· God killed a Giant with a Shepard boy with a sling
· God fed 5000 with two fish and five loaves of bread
· Not only did God feed them but they had leftovers
· God allowed His Son to be crucified but rose Him up on the third day
We may not understand how and why – But we must realize that God knows what He is doing! So let’s trust Him!
Abraham’s Isaac is born
Gen. 21:1 – “The Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised.”
Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born.
Notice: Isaac wasn’t the only promise that God gave to Abraham. But yet, Abraham was allowing this one thing to get in the way of trusting God fully with the other.
Don’t focus in on just one aspect of the promise or the testing.
Out of all that God promised him, Abraham picked out what seemed impossible and allowed that to hinder the progress of God’s command.
Realize that God knows what He is doing and we must submit our ways to Him and let Him have complete control.
Know that God wants to do something special in your life. He is just waiting on you to:
· Follow Instructions
· Notice His Incentives
· Don’t become Impatient
· Realize your “Isaac” is just around the corner!
