THE PROMISES OF GOD
INTRODUCTION
I guess preachers are as conscience of making mistakes as anyone
else.
A man bought his wife a handgun. She worked late at night and
he was concerned for her safety. The pistol was kept in her purse.
Last year, walking from the mall, she came to a car where four teenage
boys were laughing and giggling.
She said get out of my car. She said I said get out out.
She pulled out her pistol and seeing that she meant
business they ran away. She got into the car before she realized
the car was not hers. The car looked like one just like it.
All of us make mistakes.
We live in changing times. It seems like our society in which we live today is jazzed up and sex drenched. Liberty has become license to sin. I believe we have some very sad days ahead, unless we as a nation wake up.
Moral decay is rampant.
Man has taken deity out of religion. Some today are facetious enough to tell us that Jesus Christ was only a good man.
We live in an age today where men have taken the supernatural out of christianity, and say the Bible is uninspired.
Morality has been taken out of our preaching in America.
So many have become hard and soured on God.
Art has been changed on the cinema screen to base sex.
Art for art sake can be re-phrased as Art for sex sake. Nudity has become the subject for a lot of things.
Ethics have been taken out of business. A mans word and handshake used to be enough, but not anymore.
Our age has taken fidelity out of marriage. Marriage was designed to be a lifetime commitment but now people view it as temporary.
Some make marriage a 90 day option. Many try out the marriage bed before they try out marriage!
We live in a day of pantomime church, pantomime christianity, a see saw theology.
Man is trying to sabotage the Bible, humanize God, deify man, minimize sin, glorify science, secularize religion, glamorize sex and neutralize our society.
On many fronts our nation is in grave danger.
With all these terrible things going on in the world, I ask this question
today. Is there anything we can really depend on?
I know we can't depend on military might, Financial institutions, religious organizations.
We conclude the only thing we can depend on anymore, is that which was
always dependable.
The word of God is dependable and true.
"In the beginning God", is the first statement in the Bible.
Genesis 1:1
The next to last statement is, "Even so come Lord Jesus". Revelation 22:20
There is the alpha and the omega of divine revelation.
The beginning and end of Gods message to man.
I want to talk with you tonight about the hope of a christian.
The wonderful promises of God.
The God of the Bible is a covenant God. he can be depended and relied upon.
Psalms 119:89 Forever O Lord thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generation
This passage tells us that whatever God has spoken is settled both on earth and in heaven.
When God speaks that settles a matter. There is no room for debate. Whether I believe it or not it is settled.
Romans 3:5 Though very man a liar let God be true.
What God said about the church is settled. What God has said about church attendance is settled. What God says about the Lord supper its settled. What God has said about forgiveness and love is settled. There is no room for argumentation
II Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his
promises as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering toward
. usward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to
repentance.
Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast to the profession of our faith, for he is faithful who promised.
God is dependable, trustworthy and reliable!
Romans 4:1 and being fully persuaded that what he promised he was able to perform.
God can produce with all the promises he has made. God never commits himself to something he cannot do!
In fact God can do all that he said.
Hebrews 6:18 It is impossible for God to Lie.
Titus 1:2 God cannot lie.
We can count on all the Lord has said and told us about.
II Peter 1:4 Whereby given unto us exceeding and great promises and made us partakers of the divine nature.
To me personally, all the promises of God's word have strengthened me.
As I have sought to serve and live for him.
The word has been a help to me in every area of my life. We need
to take God at his word and trust him.
Here are some things he has promised us and things he will deliver for
us.
Several years ago a man had a gospel meeting in a southern town. The preacher was to stay with an elderly couple of the congregation. The home was modest and small but filled with los of love. The preacher had a small room prepared for him the whole week. The preacher and the couple had tremendous devotionals together. This older couple was sweet and loving. They read and prayed together that week. The bible was worn and well marked. The preacher noticed several passages that were marked and beside the verse there was a TP beside of the passages. The preacher asked what the markings were far.
The man said the passages that are marked , those are promises of God. He said and the TP written beside of the verse means they have been tried and proved in my life.
He said when two of my sons were in the service our older boy died in the war. He said I took mama to the table and held her hand and said we still have the promises of God though I son is gone. The second boy came home from the war and the second day he was home he was killed by an automobile accident, he said that was devastating. We lost our second son but we still have the promises of God.
My third child was a daughter. She came home one day and her marriage was destroyed. Her husband had become a sexual pervert. The man took his wife and daughter and said this is terrible but we still have the promises of God.
The man said preacher after this meeting, mama will go in the hospital
for some tests and the doctors told us to expect the worst.
Even if she goes home to the Lord we will still have the promises of
God.
A few weeks after the meeting the preacher wrote the couple and the woman had passed away from the surgery. The note was answered and said mama's gone but we still have the promises of God.
The promises of God can help us and see us through the most difficult times of life.
Here are some promises to hold on to and put in your life.
THE PROMISE OF NEVER FAILING PRESENCE OF GOD
Hebrews 13:5 I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
Friends and family may flee and forsake but not out Lord. He promised his disciples to be with them to the end.
Matthew 28:20 Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world".
Psalms 23:5 yea though I walk through the valley and the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.
Jeremiah 23:23 I am a God at hand saith the Lord. I am
not a God that is afar off.
God is close to his people. As a child of God he is never away from you. The presence of God is a comfort to me. God is with us as a christian every day. Please know we are never alone!
Sometimes we feel lonely and afraid but even when we feel like this,
we are still never alone.
You are never alone, never alone is the promise of God.
THE DIRECTION OF GOD IS DEPENDABLE
Proverbs 6:3 In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.
Listen to the great shepherd of Israel talking about the direction God gives us.
Psalms 23:2 He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness.
The Bible teaches us that if we will live in faith the Lord will direct us through his word.
Romans 10:17 Faith comet by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
II Corinthians 5:7 We walk by faith and not by sight.
Are we acknowledging and obeying God? We must follow his direction to make our way safely home to heaven.
We need to let everyone know we are Christians. Don't be ashamed to be a Christian and follow God's word.
We have convictions as he directs and guides our paths through his word.
GOD MAKES THINGS RIGHT
Sometimes we feel short changed and cheat in life.
We try to be the best person possible but things just does not turn our for us.
We need to hear the promise of God. In the by and by God will
make things right for his children.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God.
If we love and serve God, he will make things right.
Life is a tapestry of many colors and hues. Sometimes in our lives we have dark moments. Every life has hills and valleys.
In the end of all things, our lives will look like a beautiful picture and tapestry.
All things will work together for our good.
Sometimes things go great, then suddenly something knocks us down into the valley of depression.
God says, keep loving and serving me, and things will work out
for your good.
A crippled blacksmith was a Christian. He had a bedridden wife
and a child with polio. The blacksmith was very happy and cheerful
even in the midst of one problem after another. A man asked him why
he was so happy with all his problems. The blacksmith took a piece
of metal and placed the metal in the fire. The blacksmith then took
the metal and placed it on an anvil. He threw it back in the fire
and said it doesn't have the right temper. Finally after doing this
several times he threw the metal on the scrap heap. The blacksmith
said, everyday I pray to God and tell him to go ahead and put me in the
fire, but God, please don't ever throw me on the scrap heap.,
Sometimes in the valley of life, in the fires of life the difficult times remember God can use that experience to make us better and stronger.
John. 6:37 He that comet to me I will in no wise cast out.
The wonderful invitation to all mankind. No matter what we have done or been he offers us salvation.
He will never reject or cast us out if we will remain faithful to him
I have seen people through the year that have obeyed and been changed
by the word of God.
Some harlots have been made holy, the doomed and the damned have become redeemed. The lord can change the life of the most defiled and giove hope and help.
There is a land of new beginnings and that is the kingdom of God, the church. I am glad to tell you no matter who you have been, what you have done through Christ you can me made new and clean again.
The Lord offers a new beginning. That is the promise of the Lord also.
THE ETERNAL HOME HE OFFERS
II CORINTHIANS 5:1 For we know that if the earthy
tabernacle of our house were dissolved we have a building
of God not made with human hands eternal in the heavens.
I am not really sure what heaven will like do you? I am sure glad you don't either.
But I do believe in heaven the prescience of all this evil will not be present. All that is good will be there.
Heaven will be worth it all. Heaven will be worth every hour spent in
service to God.
Heaven will be worth every dollar I spent for his cause. Every hour
I spent in preparing sermons.
Heaven will be worth every door I've knocked. Every mile I have
ever driven, every tear I have shed. Every sacrifice
I have made in the name of my God
John 14:1-3 Heaven is a prepared place for the prepared people of God.
We have the promise of heaven as a Christian when this life is no more.
The word heaven and its hope allows us to remain strong in the battles of life.
Sometimes we get discouraged and wonder why others have life easier
than er. The promise is not an easy life here but a safe homecoming
on the judgment day.
CONCLUSION
Have you obeyed the promise of salvation to those who obey his plan of salvation?
Believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God, John 8:34
Repent of sins, Luke 13:3-5
Confess Christ before men, Matthew 10:32
Be baptized for the remission of sins, Acts2:38
Live faithful unto death, Revelation 2:10
NEXT SERMON