Rom. 4:18-21; Heb. 6:10-19a; top: Numb. 23:19; Heb. 10:23

In Ft. Meyers, FL, there is an Assemblies of God pastor named Dan Betzer.  Five days a week he has a 2 minute radio broadcast named “Byline”.  And I receive email transcripts of that 2 minute program.

One day last month this is what he said: (read 10-13-04 byline)

If God has not promised us Divine protection, then what has He promised?  As I have read and prayed over the many requests that are written in our Friendship Folders or on our Care Cards in recent weeks, I have thought a lot about what God has promised, and what He has not promised.

I heard about a book written in the early 1700s by a man named Samuel Clarke.  He had read the words written by Peter in 2 Peter 1: His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

And so Samuel Clark began to go meticulously through the Bible and search out all the promises of God.  I found his book online and downloaded it – 122 - 8½ by 11 pages of promises from Scripture.  It’s called “Precious Bible Promises.”  I found this AFTER I had finished outlining what I sensed God wanted for us today.  Otherwise we would have had a reeeeeeealy long sermon this morning.

You have an outline sheet in your bulletin.  The front side is what we are going to go through today, and on the back are many of the promises I found that we will have to leave for another day.  So if you want to follow along and fill in the blanks, we can together be built up and encouraged by God’s Word this morning.

First of all, let’s look at…

WHAT HAS HE NOT PROMISED?  

I find that sometimes Christians believe God has made promises that He has in fact not made.  We have maybe heard a sermon, or read a book, or watched a TV program, and we think what that person said is in the Bible. 

And sometimes you can indeed take a verse here or there and make it say something that seems true, but in the context of the whole Bible it may not at all be God’s promise to us.

Here are three things God has not promised to us.

That Republicans are the answer to America’s problems.

This one is not in the Bible, but it seems that in the past weeks many conservative Christians have come to believe that this is God’s promise to us.  It’s not, friends.  I am thankful for President Bush’s faith in God and his trust in Jesus as his Savior.  But President Bush is not the answer to America’s problems.

The danger we face today is turning our trust from God to politicians.  I believe we need to elect politicians who will seek to do what is Biblically right for our country. But politicians cannot solve spiritual problems. The Supreme Court cannot solve spiritual problems.  We need God, and we must never forget that.  We need to seek God and plead with Him for a spiritual awakening, starting right here in the Church. 

That if you are spiritual enough you will prosper.  James 2:5.

That everyone is going to heaven.

Forget about hell.  Forget about eternal damnation.  God is a loving God, and a loving God could never send someone to a place of eternal suffering.  Sometimes people even quote the Bible here.  2 Peter 3:9 says The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.  It says it right there: God does not want anyone to perish.

But you can’t ignore passages like 2 Thes. 1:6-10 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed.

God has not promised that everyone is going to heaven; some will suffer everlasting destruction and be shut out from God’s presence.  But what about this one…

That He will always deliver us from suffering. 

Does God deliver us from suffering?  Sometimes, yes He does.  But not always.  There are those who tell us that if we are suffering it’s a sure sign that there is sin in our life.  And yes, sin can lead to suffering.  But Job suffered, and it was not because of sin in his life.  Paul suffered, and it was not because of sin in his life.  Even Jesus suffered, and He was sinless.  So suffering is not always the result of personal sin of some kind.

Listen to Rom. 8:18-23 (read)

John 16:33 says: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

John 15:20-21 says: Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.

OK then, what has God promised?  “A promise is the declaration of some benefit to be conferred.”  Let me give you 7 benefits that God has declared He wants to confer upon us, and 13 others are on the backside of your study sheet this morning. 

And it’s really important that we note if there are conditions attached to the promises being made.  If we do not meet the conditions that God sets down, we cannot expect to receive what He has promised.  You can’t claim the promise if you don’t meet the conditions.

HE HAS PROMISED:

To meet our needs. 

Phil. 4:9 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Can you distinguish between what you need and what you just want?  Do I need a new car, or do I just want a new car?  Do I need to be pain free, or do I just want to be pain free?  Do I need to own my home, or do I just want to own my home?  Often it’s hard to distinguish between needs and wants.

God promises us shelter, but not ownership.  God promises us food to eat, but He doesn’t promise us beef.  God promises us clothing, but it may come from Value Village rather than from Nordstroms.

Our needs do not include the internet, or cable TV, or cell phones.  Our need do not include private Christian school, or two winter coats, or Coca Cola or coffee.  Many times God graciously gives us those things, but if He does not, He has not failed to fulfill His promise.

Are there any conditions for God meeting all our needs?  If you read the context of Philippians 4, Paul was speaking directly to those who had been generous in their giving.  “You have given to meet my needs,” he says to them, “and God will in turn meet your needs.”

I hear such perversions of this passage.  “If you will give to my ministry, then God will give back to you 10 times over what you give to me.”  “God wants to heal you, and if you will just send your money to me, He will be able to bless you.”  That’s not what Paul is saying here.

He is saying, “God blesses the generous heart.  You have been generous in meeting the needs of others, and you can count on God being generous in meeting your needs.”  He was not saying that to get money from them, but commending them for what they had already done, and assuring them that God had taken note.

To pray for us. 

How can God pray for us?  To Whom is He praying?  We need a little theology lesson here.  The God of the Bible is One God consisting of three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Citing all of the Biblical evidence for that is the subject of another message.  But the Bible says that Jesus is God, as is the Father, and the Holy Spirit.  And listen to what these verses say to us about Jesus:

Rom. 8:34 Who is he that condemns? 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.

Jesus is in heaven praying to the Father for you today.

Heb. 7:24-25  Because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. 

Christian friend, I want you to be encouraged today.  Jesus is in heaven praying for you.  Your praying mother may be gone.  You may feel like no one cares about you.  But Jesus cares about you.  He died for you.  He rose again for you.  He went back to heaven so that He could pray for you.  He is aware of what you are going through, and He is interceding on your behalf.

The only condition that I could find here is that we come to God through Jesus, and as we do, Jesus takes up our case and intercedes for us.

To never leave us. 

We may be abandoned by our friends.  We may have been abandoned by our father.  Our spouse may abandon us.  But God never will.

Psalm 9:10 Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you. 

Heb. 13:5 says 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.”

God says that a love of money and a continual longing for material things is an evidence of a lack of trust in Him; we cannot count on Him.  We have to take care of ourselves because it’s evident that God will not take care of us.  He will bail out on us when we need Him the most.  God Himself says to us: “That’s not true.  I will never leave you or forsake you.  You can trust Me.”

In Matt. 28:20, Jesus said And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Whatever you may feel, God has not abandoned you.  Sometimes you have to live by faith and not by sight or by feelings.  As the verse at the top of your bulletin says: God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? (Numbers 23 19).

To help us and uphold us. 

Isa. 41:10 is one of the most wonderful promises in the Bible. 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. 

V.13 says For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

I will be with you.  I will help you.  I will uphold you.  Don’t be afraid.

Isa. 43:1-2 But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire,

you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;  we are not exempted from the waters; we are not exempted from the fire.  But God promises to walk through those things with us, and uphold us.

To give us His grace. 

His promise is not to take from us the difficulties that are common to mankind.  When hurricanes come, churches are destroyed and sometimes strip joints are left standing.  When earthquakes come, the homes of Christians are destroyed along with the homes of non-Christians.  When the flu season comes, Christians get the flu too.

We are not exempted from cancer, or from hepatitis, or from strokes, or from heart attacks.  We get diabetes, and macular degeneration, and arthritis, and migraine headaches, and osteoporosis, and M.S. along with those who do not trust in Jesus. 

His promise is not to give us invincible bodies; His promise is to give us His grace in the midst of all that life brings our way.

Listen to 2 Cor.. 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling… (4:16-5:2)

We groan; outwardly we are wasting away.  That was written to Christians.  Our bodies are no different than those of the unsaved.  We are all wasting away.  But here is God’s promise:

2 Cor. 12:7-10 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

James 4:6   But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Heb. 4:15-16  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

If you are in need of God’s grace, He invites you to come and receive.

To change us. 

God loves us just as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us just as we are.  He is in the business of changing people.  And very often He uses the things we struggle with to bring about those changes in us.

James 1:2-4  Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  

Rom. 5:3-4  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

2 Corin. 3:18  And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

God is changing you.  He is using the difficulties you are going through to develop your character and to make you more like Jesus.

To turn our problems into ministry. 

Those who have never gone through problems have a very limited ministry. Suffering seems to give us understanding and compassion, and credibility in people’s eyes. If you have never been there, how can you understand what I am going through.  But when you have gone through the fire and found God’s grace, then people are more likely to listen to your testimony.

2 Corin. 1:3-5  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

The God of all comfort comforts us in our trials, so that we can be ministers of His comfort. 

Waiting for the promise to be fulfilled:

Sometimes God does not do things in our time – usually He does not do things in our time.  So often He makes us wait.  We may not enjoy waiting, but waiting is part of the Christian life.  Over and over we read about waiting patiently for the Lord.  Here are a couple of closing Scriptures:

Heb. 10:35-39  So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.  

Heb. 6:10-12   God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

PRAY