I was just thinking about this before. It’s what a special privilege it is just to gather together. And we’ve all got whatever we’re dealing with in life, right? Small and big, large burdens and small nagging things that happen to us. But I just encourage you to just leave it outside right now. Can you take 30 minutes, an hour, and just hear what the Lord might say to you? Just lay them aside. We know that worrying doesn’t add any time to our life, and worrying certainly won’t resolve whatever issues you’ve got going on. So just let this be what it is. It’s a time of rest. It’s a time of shelter and a time of peace that we can just come and listen. So we’re going to continue on going through our Advent series. Pastor Chad preached to you last week on faith. And I want to continue going through that rhythm with you today. And just to sort of recap and sum up what was said to you last week, and it’s foundational for this week. So I think I have to go back and touch on it. Faith. What is faith? Faith is founded solely on the Word of God. So you have to have the Word. We believe that God has spoken. And where has He spoken? It’s been recorded for us in the Old and New Testaments, in the Scripture. And we believe that it is authoritative. It’s without error. It’s perfect. It’s living. It’s active. It’s sharper than any two-edged sword. It’s the very Word of God. That should carry a lot of weight. Cameron and I were talking about it. At supper, I think last week after church, just when we come to the Word in our personal life, in our daily devotions, we should, before we ever crack it open, just remind ourselves that this is the living Word of God. What a privilege it is to hold the whole of it in our hands, right? And remind ourselves how much blood was spilled so that we could have it today. And Christians have given their lives throughout the centuries to preserve, and protect it. So it’s a great privilege to have the Word. But faith is founded on the Word of God, yes. But any fool, any lost sinner can come to the Word of God and read it. And even believe that it’s from God. So if you crack open in Genesis, you’re going to come to some pretty bad news right off the bat. You’re going to see the fall, the effects of the fall, the penalty of the fall. It’s death. So what do you do? It can’t just be the Word of God. It’s something specific about the Word of God. Because the Word of God calls for great terror and dread. It condemns me. I have to believe that God has spoken something in His Word to relieve me of the penalty of death. God has given a promise. And again, right there in the garden, He promised the seed would come from the woman, and crush the head of the serpent. The first gospel that was preached, right? So there has to be some good news specifically in the Word of God. God has to offer something to redeem you from the fall. He has to promise something to save you from it. But even more specific than that, because anybody can come to the Word and believe that God said it, and that He meant it, and that He will save. And that He will save people from their sin.
You have to come to the Word, see that promise, and know that the promise is for you in particular. You have to believe, you have to have the faith that that promise to be redeemed, to be saved, to be made new, to be given all things, is for you.
And you can’t do that other than the eyes of faith. You have to believe that those promises are yours. In a personal way, God has presented Himself as a loving, tender, gracious, and merciful Father. And He invites you in to come and to receive the promise that He has made.
Faith. It’s to believe that God is true in what He has done. That He is said. And at the same time, that what is true is for you. Specifically.
So, to sort of illustrate what I want to help you to grasp today, I thought of this illustration as the best I had.
If faith, God tells you to plant a tree. The tree is called faith. And He tells you where to plant it. That fertile and new, Nutritious soil called His Word. The Word that contains in itself everything necessary for this tree to grow and to thrive. So I go and I plant my tree in the Word. But usually, whenever you plant a tree, at least in our climate, you plant it in the winter. It’s in a dormant state. I’m not at all suggesting faith is dormant at this point. The analogy only goes so far. You plant it in the winter, alright? You don’t plant it with fruit on it automatically. You plant it, and then it grows roots into that necessary soil. And God promises, here’s God’s promise. You plant the tree in the soil that I ask you to plant it in. One day, it’s going to have this delicious fruit hanging on it. That you’re going to be able to come and partake of and taste in reality.
But you don’t have the fruit yet. But by faith, you believe God. You believe that if you do what He says to do, you’ll have the fruit. So what about the winter? What about the winter season? What causes me to go outside and tend to this tree in the winter? What causes me to put out stakes and tie it down so that the wind doesn’t blow it down? What causes me to go out there in the springtime and start watering it and doing the things that are necessary for it to thrive? It’s hope.
I believe that what God has said is true. And then I expect, hope is the expectation that I’m going to receive what He has promised. So, this is what I want to tell you today. This is my main point.
Christmas ratifies our right to a bold expectation. That God will fulfill all His promises.
Christmas ratifies my right and your right to a bold expectation that God will fulfill all of His promises. Let me break that down a little bit and kind of define my terms and qualify it for you. Christmas ratifies. Well, what do you mean Christmas? Yes, Jesus came. Christmas representing the coming of Christ. The first coming. But aren’t His death and His resurrection necessary to ratify any expectation I might have to secure any promise that I might receive? Yes, but a lot of times, we mean with one word more than one thing. So, if you talk about the death of Christ, with the death of Christ, you mean the resurrection of Christ as well. Because we know Paul. Paul himself used the death by itself of Christ. But he also says elsewhere, if you have the death of Christ without the resurrection of Christ, go home. You’ve got better things to do today. So, by Christmas, the coming of Christ, I mean the coming of Christ, the giving of Christ, the life of Christ, the perfection of Christ, the death and atonement of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the ascension of Christ into heaven to intercede for you. Christmas representing all of those things. Because as sure as God promised Christ was going to come and He came, as sure as that was, it was as sure that He was going to die and bury your sins on a cross and rise from the dead three days later. He promised it long ago. And so, Christmas, long foreseen, okay, promised in the garden, the seed is going to come. And then He made a promise to Abraham, of your seed, I’m going to bless the nation. And then through a promise to Moses, I’m going to raise up a prophet from you. And then to David, I’m going to establish a king from you. I’m going to make a priest in the order of Melchizedek. He lets us know from the writer of the Hebrews. Promise upon promise upon promise, clearly seen. We don’t have the time to go into them all today, but over and over and over again, Christ was promised. And very specifically. Christ was promised to be born of a virgin. Christ was promised to be born in Bethlehem. On and on and on. There were very specific things that were going to take place and that did take place. And so, the coming of Christ, such a fulfillment of what was to happen, it ratifies, it says, this is for sure, this is secured now. Our right. What right do you have to anything? For the non-believer, you don’t have any rights. You’re entitled to a long and vicious death.
But to the one who believes in Christmas, he has a right. And I want to demonstrate to you in the Gospel of Luke. I went on a little farther than I should. I want to demonstrate the foundation that Christmas is in believing that the full salvation of God has been revealed.
Luke chapter 2.
Verse 25, he says, He says, He says, This is being presented at the temple. He says, Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and bled. And he blessed God and said, Lord, now you’re letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel. It was good enough for Simeon to lay eyes on Jesus, still a baby, for him to say, your salvation’s here, confirmed. It’s a sure thing.
At the same time, it says that all the Old Testament saints, if you read in that hall of faith in Hebrews, it says that all these, they received the promise but never realized it.
Does that make it null and void? No. We’re going to explore that a little bit more. But it ratifies our right, back to where I was. What right do you have? None. None. Except the right that Christ gives you. In John, chapter 1, he says that he gave us the right, for all who would believe, we are given the right to become children of God. And if I’m a child of God, should I not expect certain benefits? My children expect to have breakfast every morning. I don’t fault them for that. That’s a reasonable expectation, don’t you think? My children expect for me to provide them a safe and comfortable home. My children expect for me to provide them a safe and comfortable home. My children expect for me to do certain things as a parent. That I think the Lord wants us to expect from Him as children of His. So I don’t mean a right to a bold expectation. I don’t mean walking around like peacocks demanding that God satisfy and fulfill our ever need and desire. That’s not what I mean. I don’t think someone who truly understands Christmas walks around like that. Right? You understand that. You understand that God has in His grace and in His mercy secured your salvation and brought you in, given you something that you completely did not deserve.
So the one who understands Christmas does not arrogantly expect anything. But at the same time, the one who understands Christmas does realize his right in expecting God to provide things that a good father would provide.
So by hope, I mean expectation. I want us this Christmas to have a bold hope, a bold expectation that God will fulfill all His promises. He ratified it. The Son was given. The Spirit is received as a guarantee, as a down payment, as earnest money. He secured it for you. Why? Why would God give such a valuable amount of something, namely His Son and His Spirit, and then not follow through on His purchase? The answer is He wouldn’t. He won’t. It’s a guarantee, the Scripture tells us. If you’ve received the Spirit of God, it’s a guarantee that you are a child and have a right to a bold expectation in Him.
It says, Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. And by promises, I mean all promises, Old Testament and New. And I mentioned that verse earlier, that all the Old Testament saints,
all the fathers, all the patriarchs, they were given a promise but never realized it. On earth. But that was on purpose. So that’s because Christ had not come yet. The fulfillment of those promises was something greater than their immediate circumstance. I do believe that the promises had an immediate context to them, certainly. But ultimately, they find their fulfillment and their meaning in the person of Christ.
And again, Scripture makes that clear to us. Otherwise, why would the patriarchs have endured so much? Why would they have endured so much? Why would Abraham have wandered around without receiving anything if he didn’t believe that it was something greater than the now? Would he have waited to the last moment of his life to make a decision? Well, this ain’t coming through. I guess I better go enjoy what I can. No, he knew it wasn’t the now that was going to see the fulfillment of that promise. Jesus said that Abraham saw his day from far off and he rejoiced in it. So Abraham knew. He knew what the promise really meant. No, he didn’t have the same amount of light shed on it that we do. But he knew of Jesus. He knew his day was coming and that’s what he was waiting for. That’s why he endured not receiving the promise in the immediate. Because he knew that God will fulfill it at some point whenever he saw fit.
All promises, Old Testament and New Testament, they all find fulfillment. They’re fulfillment in Christ. And so here’s our text. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 20.
2 Corinthians 1, verse 20. He says, For all the promises of God find their yes in Him, that is Jesus. That is why it is through Him that we utter our amen to the God for His glory. Just to give you a quick brief context, Paul is… Paul is writing a letter to the Corinthians. He’s saying, hey, I had plans to come to you on my way to Macedonia and then to come again on my way back from Macedonia. And something happened. Well, he gives his reason later on. I won’t go into that. He didn’t go twice. And so then people were charging him of being wishy-washy and saying, well, Paul doesn’t really… He’s not really for us. He’s yes and no at the same time. Paul doesn’t really mean what he says. And then Paul, in defense of not himself, he doesn’t really… He doesn’t really… He doesn’t really seek to justify himself. But what he wants to guard is his doctrine in the gospel that he preaches. And he says, as sure as the word of God is, is what I preach to you. I’m not yes and no. But I’m yes, just like Christ is yes. And then he says… And he compares it. He said, my preaching of the gospel to you is as sure as the promises are in Jesus. They’re sure. You can’t be any more sure than the promises are in Jesus. And that was Paul’s point. He couldn’t give a better example, right? Just like God can’t swear by anything higher than himself, so he swears by himself. Paul couldn’t say, I’m more sure in my preaching of the gospel than Jesus is fulfilling the promises of God. He couldn’t use a higher example. So Paul was doing something very specific by saying that, but I think in verse 20 we can derive a general doctrine on its own and say that all the promises are sure in Christ, regardless of where the context is. Because… That’s just a true statement. So that’s what I want to focus on, is that all the promises of God find their yes in Jesus. Sort of parse through some of them. Promises ensuring the salvation of our own souls, our children, and the lost sheep of the nations. Those are all yes in Christ. And so, my goal in saying all of this today is that you would leave here this evening with just a great rest and confidence in the promise of God. And that it might grant you some peace. Because you know that the promises are sure.
So the promises are yes and amen concerning my soul, the salvation of my soul. John 3.16 John 3.16 John 3.16
The promise is that if you believe, you will have eternal life. And so what I do with that is I say, I believe, therefore I have eternal life. That’s good reasoning, right? You can’t get any more simple than that. But the question again comes back to, yes, I believe. God said that. I believe. I believe that Jesus came, that He was sent from God, that He gave His life on Calvary. That He bore all my sins in His body on that tree. That He died a gruesome death. That He shed His blood. That He was buried. And that by the power of God, He was resurrected from the dead. I believe that’s true. But man, you don’t know my past, man. You don’t know my past. You don’t know what I’ve done. You don’t believe. That’s not faith. And therefore, you have no hope. What are you expecting?
You have to believe. Your faith must say that the promise is for me. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that if I believe in Him, I won’t perish, but I have eternal life. And therefore, I know when I go to sleep at night, I can rest assured and sleep in peace because I know my soul won’t be lost.
Do you believe that?
I’m not saying that doubt never creeps in and you’re never, man, like maybe you’re just feeling guilty over something that you did. Whatever it is. I’m not saying that someone who truly believes will never have a moment of doubt
or wrestle with the security of his soul. I think that’s a good indicator that you truly are a recipient of that promise. I think the wrestling and the warring is a good indicator that you understand that you needed it in the first place. But what do you do? What do you do when you start having that battle? Where do you go? What is your respite? Where do you calm your soul?
John 10, 27. He says, My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. That’s been one of my favorite promises. Promises of Scripture. I love it. No one can snatch me out of the Father’s hand. What a wonderful thing to be promised. What a wonderful word that Jesus would give.
And so regarding my soul, I have to remind myself that I believe, therefore I have eternal life based on the promise of God and that eternal life will never be lost because Jesus has me in his hand and the Father has me in his hand. And no one is greater than them and no one can snatch me away from them. That’s his promise to me. And so I can rest easy tonight. And tomorrow when I get up and go to work, I don’t need to fear the state of my soul. I know it. And I’m expecting when I die, if I get in a car wreck on the way to work, I’m expecting that I’m going to arrive at the gates of heaven and be welcomed with a warm welcome. Amen.
I’ve been waiting for you.
The yes of Jesus should give you a concrete confidence in the destiny of your soul.
Promises regarding our children. Amen.
I want to be careful. What would I say here?
By no means am I saying, if you are a true believer, it is for sure that your children will be saved. I don’t know. But what I do want to say, what I do want to say is that there’s a great blessing of children being born into and growing up in a Christian household.
And I’m not saying, I’m not saying, I’m not saying it’s not true that children of true believers will be saved. I’m not saying that either. I’m not making a hard stance to you one way or another on purpose.
I’m sure we can all think of a thousand examples, maybe even in our own families. Well, I’m a believer and my child is wayward. I have 10,000 cousins who are wayward and their parents are believers and I have a friend. I understand. I know there are numerous examples of good Christian parents and their children are wayward. On that, I would say, don’t make a judgment before the time is final. That’s not your judgment to make. You don’t know what God is doing. You don’t know if God’s going to draw them on their last breath. You don’t know. And so I think that we can have a great confidence in the salvation of our children because God is gracious. He’s gracious to us and He’s good like that. I’ll read off a few passages. I understand that we’re not Presbyterian and so there’s a covenantal aspect to this that maybe we differ greatly on amongst our families. So that’s why I’m trying not to take a hard stance on this, but I want to give you some security. I want to give you some hope and some ground to rest on regarding your kids. And if you would like to know more, I would be glad to sit with you and talk with you about it. Genesis 17, 7 says, I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God. Acts 2, 39, says, for the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. Acts 16, 30, the jailer, then he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house and he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds and he was baptized at once. He, and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them and he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. I preached on this next passage a few months back when we were going through 1 Corinthians 7, verse 13. It says, if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him for the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean but as it is, they are holy.
Calvin says this about that passage, the passage then is a remarkable one and drawn from the depths of theology for it teaches that the children of the pious are set apart from others by a sort of exclusive privilege so as to be reckoned holy in the church.
Matthew 19, verse 23, verse 13, it says, then children were brought to him, to Jesus, that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people but Jesus said, let the little children come to me and don’t hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them and then went away. Why was Jesus laying his hands and praying on children? Don’t they need to hear and believe on a mental level? Don’t they need to be able to say, well, yes, I deduced that because Jesus laid his hands and prayed on infant children because their parents who were saints brought them to him. And he said, let them come to me.
Again, to quote Calvin, he says, therefore, let it be without controversy that God is so good and liberal to his people that he is pleased as a mark of his favor to extend their privileges to the people of heaven. To the children born to them. And Calvin is obviously a paedo-baptist who would be a Presbyterian of sorts. I understand that while I’m saying this to you. So, I’m not making a stance on that issue. What I’m saying is that we should recognize that God has a certain type of favor toward us that extends to our children. They benefit from growing up in our house. Do we take so lightly, do we value so little the word being preached and taught that we think it makes no difference in their lives? Well, they’ve got to invite Jesus into their heart. It is true that they must experience regeneration themselves. They’re not just intrinsically saved because I am. But I think we give it too little weight in some of our circles. The fact that children are born into Christian homes and what the benefits transferred are.
Yes, they must be born again. But think about how much, how often they should be hearing the gospel. How often they should be being taught the promises of God. How familiar they should be on the firmness of Jesus. The word of God is power into salvation. The gospel is power into salvation. How often do we know that? How effective is it, or should it be, or do we think it is, in our homes, with our children? I think we give it too little weight. That’s all I’m saying on that.
Promises regarding the souls of the nations. Isaiah 56.6 And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be His servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant, these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, I will gather yet others to Him besides those. The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, John 10.16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Jesus is talking about the Gentiles. You and me.
Matthew 8.11 He says, I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
On what are we operating in our daily lives when we consider our souls and our children’s souls? On what are we operating when we go out to preach the gospel and to evangelize? What are we extending to people? The promises of God. What are you extending other than what God has said He will do? More specifically, in a gracious way. Because God said He will destroy those who do not believe. But, for all who do believe, will receive eternal life. We should be operating on that. And it’s true for our souls and for the promises for me, for my children, and those who are far off. So when we go to preach the gospel at Big Spring Park, or whenever we’re sitting at the pregnancy center, how sure are we? On what we’re doing. What are we doing there? What is the mission? To preach the gospel. What is the gospel? It’s the good news of the promises of God to be gracious to us in His Son, Jesus. And it’s for everyone.
It’s for everyone. It’s for everyone.
Promises to equip us with today’s provisions. Psalm 37.5 says, Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him, and He will act.
O fear the Lord, you His saints, for those who fear Him have no lack.
Psalm 34.17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
What are you leaning on today? Tomorrow morning when you get up, in the now, with all of life’s stuff. Got to go to my job. My boss is a bit of a hard head. My family life is a bit unstable right now. Whatever it is, whatever is troubling you, whatever lack you have, whatever need you find yourself in,
where are you looking for it to be met?
Do you find yourself at your wit’s end for issue A and you just don’t have anything to remedy it? You don’t have anything for it? You can’t get over it or around it or under it? I would go to Psalm 34.17 and say, Lord, I’m crying out to you. I’m crying out to you for help. And you said, you hear me and you will deliver me out of all my troubles. That promise is true for you today. Again, if you have faith to believe that it’s for you.
Regarding things seemingly small, reading the book, The Promises of God by Charles Spurgeon. He was talking about how we seemingly shy away. From approaching God with small things or what we consider to be small, insignificant things. Some things that some people say, you’re bringing that to the Lord? Like, you think he cares about that? Yes, he cares. And he makes the point like this. If the Lord wasn’t concerned about the small things in your life, he wouldn’t be concerned about anything at all. Because when you put it in the right perspective, they’re all small to him.
There’s nothing too small. Too small to bring into the presence of God and to ask him to help you, to deliver you from it. That’s true for you today, for today’s troubles. Matthew 6.30 says, But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after these things. And your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
God knows that you need to be clothed.
Maybe you’ve fallen on some hard financial times. Maybe you’re worrying where the money is going to come from to pay your next mortgage payment.
I can promise you that God has promised us that he cares about those things. He says, Cast your cares on the Lord, for he cares for you in things great and small. Don’t worry about them, Jesus said. But he didn’t say don’t make supplications for them. Don’t ask him to provide in regard to them. He said don’t worry about them.
One of Isabella’s… On her own, she’s learning the promises of God. One of her favorite passages is, My God will supply all your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus. All your needs. The pants you’re wearing today and the mortgage payment for next week.
All of them. Physical needs, material things. I’m not preaching a prosperity gospel. I’m not saying, you know, well, he knows you need a new Ferrari. We know that. Stop it. God knows you need things to operate in the world. He knows you need a way to get to work. He knows you need a phone to stay in communication with your wife. He knows you need a doctor for your new pregnancy. He knows everything. He knows you have these needs. And if you would just ask him, he would answer. And sometimes the answer isn’t immediate.
But it doesn’t mean he doesn’t hear. You can be sure because his word says he hears. When the righteous cry, he hears. Would you call God a liar?
Cast your cares on the Lord for he cares for you. He hears and he hears. He cares. Are you going to call God a liar? I don’t think you would. But sometimes I think we get so caught up, so caught up in the shakiness of what seems to be shakiness of our today that we lose sight of that. We lose sight of the sureness of God’s hearing and caring and delivering.
And then for today, rising a little bit above our physical, our physical needs and just our general needs. James 1.5 says, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. Is James necessarily restricting that to wisdom? I don’t think so. I think it’s things, are you lacking in anything in the spiritual realm? Are you lacking in Christ’s likeness? To sum it up, are you lacking in wisdom? Are you lacking? Are you lacking in patience? Are you lacking in obedience? Are you lacking in the forgiveness department? Are you lacking in the faith department? Are you lacking in anything? Ask God. And His promise is that it will be given Him.
And I want you to know I’m preaching to myself because I’m the first one to get all huffy-puffy and, oh man, my insurance rates went up again, for the fourth year in a row. Has God not provided for the past four years? Will He not provide for this one? Why are you of such little faith? And so little expectation? So little hope? If you lack, ask, and it will be given to you. That’s a promise. Why do we think so little of the promises of God? Why do we? I think we were talking about this out in the hall. I think the health, wealth, prosperity, the word of faith movement, I’m not going to name anything by names, but I think these things have sort of destroyed some of this for us because we’re scared to name it and claim it. Completely different realm. Completely different gospel. Nonsense.
But don’t throw baby Jesus and the promises that He secures out with that spirit. Stanky, dirty bathwater. Baby Jesus secures every promise. All the promises of God are yes in Christ. And so if God makes a promise that if you lack wisdom and you ask for wisdom, He will give it to you, you ought to hold Him to that promise. God, you said, you said if I lack this, you would give it to me. Lord, I don’t know where my mortgage payment’s coming from, but you said if I ask for it, you’re going to make it happen. You’re going to make ends meet for me. You claim that promise. Don’t let such and such and so and so who have profaned that and twisted it and just spit on it, don’t let them take it from you. Because the promises are yes in Christ.
Steal it back from the name it and claim it movement. Demonstrate what it really looks like to name and claim it. Demonstrate what it really looks like to name and claim a promise of God. You’re not going to get it because you named it and you have the power to claim it and now He’s obligated to give it to you. You’re claiming it because He promised it. And because God is faithful and true, He will do it. It’s on God, not on you. And that’s, I think, the key difference between those two. 1 John 5, 13, He says, I write these things to you, who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request that we have asked of Him. Do you believe Jesus on that or not?
And I think sometimes we throw it off because we ask and then five minutes later, we don’t get the answer. Or maybe tomorrow, He hadn’t necessarily given it yet. So we just, well, I’m going to go solve it for myself.
Hope is married to patience. You can’t separate hope and patience. One produces the other and the other produces one. You have to wait sometimes. But if you’re not waiting, do you really hope? If you’re not willing to wait, do you really believe?
I would say no. Because if patience can’t be separated from hope, and hope can’t be separated from faith, and faith can’t be separated from the Word of God, if you’re lacking in any one of those, do you really believe the Word? Do you really have faith? Do you really believe God is true in what He has said? And expect Him to do what He has said. I would say no.
There’s this poem in that book, The Promises of God. I would recommend it to you. You get it for 99 cents on Kindle. It’s been rich going through that book. And I am indebted to it today. There’s this poem in it. In the sense that God is concerned with both the great and the small things in our lives today. The poem goes like this. It says, My faith not only flies to heaven, but walks with God below. To me are all things daily given while passing to and fro. The promise speaks of worlds above, but not of these alone. It feeds and clothes me now with love and makes this world my own. I trust the Lord, and He replies in things both great and small. He honors faith with prompt supplies, faith honors faith, and faith honors Him in all. And the author is unknown. I thought it was powerful. Promises. I have a bold expectation of promises that establish us in the midst of tomorrow’s unknown.
I think we can look around today and see what seems to be a shaky reality, a shaky tomorrow. I mean, just take our nation in general. You watch Tennessee, 10 minutes of the news cycle, and you’re like, whoa. I wish I would have saved more money because evidently the economy is going to crash and all my retirement is going to be gone in about five minutes. And, well, the woke movement or the LGBT movement or whatever, they’re just going to rip my children away from me and I just, I don’t know what I’m going to do. Just give up now. Just roll over. Roll over. Roll over.
China is going to come and conquer us because we have a weak government or whatever, whatever it is that you’re looking out on the horizon and it’s like, not looking good. God has a promise to establish you and your faith in the uncertainty of that, in the midst of tomorrow’s unknowns. 2 Samuel 7, 13, He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. Whatever I see happening, in the kingdoms of the earth, I know that God has and will establish His throne forever. Christ Jesus is reigning right now as King today over all kingdoms. He is the King of kings. Period. I need not worry what’s going to happen with our kingdom, the kingdom across the ocean, whatever it is, I need not fret. It might get tough. I’m not saying that it’s not going to get tough. I’m not saying that it’s not going to be hard. And that you’re not going to lose some of the comforts and the freedoms that you enjoy today. But what I am saying is that if you will look on God’s promises, those things that happen to you will not come against your faith and destroy it. Because you have hope. You expect that God’s kingdom is forever. No end. Isaiah 9, 7, Christmas passage, of the increase of His government and of peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David and over His kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice, with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Isaiah 53, 12, Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the many and He shall divide the spoil with the strong because He poured out His soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. So He makes intercession for transgressors now. And hear what the writer of the Hebrew says. He says, Consequently, He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him since He always lives to make intercession for them. So you can be confident that today Jesus Christ is making intercession for you on your behalf and tomorrow He’s going to be making intercession on your behalf. You need not worry about Jesus making intercession for you. Next week, tomorrow, 10,000 years from now. He always lives to make intercession for them. I don’t know how long it’s been. I’m going to try to hurry on.
Don’t fret about the nearness of Jesus tomorrow. He says in Matthew 28, 20, And behold, I’m with you always to the end of the age. Jesus is always near, always ready to comfort, always ready to provide.
Romans 8, He who did not spare His own soul but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised? Who is at the right hand of God? Who indeed is interceding for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword? As it is written, For your sake we are being killed all the day long. Knowing all these things are more than conquerors. Through Him who loved us. For I am sure, I’m confident, I’m persuaded that neither death nor life, angels, rulers, present things or things to come, powers, height, depth, anything else in all creation will ever be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus. That promise is forever.
So, in light of all that, because I have an unshakable hope in the promises of God, what does He say? He says, Jesus, we give our amen to the glory of God. Here’s my phrasing of it. If Christmas ratifies our right to a bold expectation that God will fulfill all His promises, we ought to give a hearty testimony through the One, that is Jesus, who has secured the promises for us to the glory of God. So, my knowing and my resting on those promises, my confidence in them, can’t stop today. It doesn’t stop with me. It shows itself. It plays itself out in my life. So, I just have a few questions. Does your life, your tone, your attitude, your behavior, your disposition, your character, your patience, do they give an appropriate amen to the fact that God in Christ has confirmed all His promises? Are you a grumbler? Do you gossip? Do you lie? Are you impatient? Does your life give an appropriate amen that says, I truly believe and understand that Christ is the confirmation of all God’s promises? Do you live and breathe and move as one who has received the guarantee, the Holy Spirit, of God’s goodness? Does your life reflect that? Do you operate on the basis of one who has received the guarantee of the Holy Spirit that lives and dwells in you? When you find yourself in trial, in doubt, in fear, where do you run? Where do you find shelter? Where do you find… When you find your amen is a notch less than hearty and it’s almost gone, where do you go to strengthen it? You’ve got to go to the promises of God and remind yourself of them.
Here’s a story. You’ve lost the key to an old chest and after trying all the keys you can find, you have no other option but to send for a locksmith. The tradesman comes with a huge bunch of keys in all sorts and sizes. To you they appear to be one big collection of rusty instruments. He looks at the lock and then he tries first one key and then another. He’s not opened it yet and your treasures are still out of reach. Now he’s found a likely key. It almost touches the bolt but not so much. Not quite. He’s evidently on the right track and then at last the chest is opened for the right key has been found. This is a correct representation of many difficulties. You can’t get at the difficulty so as to deal with it properly and find your way to a happy result. You pray but you don’t have freedom from it. A definite promise is what you need but you can’t find it. Your troubled heart sees reasons to suspect that there aren’t any strictly applicable promises to your case. So you leave the old book, for use on another day for they’re not available in the present emergency. You try again and in due season a promise presents itself which seems to have been made for the occasion. It fits as exactly as a well-made key fits the areas of the lock for which it was originally prepared. Having found the identical word of the living God, you hurry to plead it at the throne of grace saying, Oh my Lord, you have promised this good thing to your servant. Please, be pleased to grant it. The matter has ended. Your sorrow has turned to joy. Your prayer is heard.
Quickly, are you anticipating the return of Christ? Jesus said, I am coming back for you. Are you expecting that to happen? Do you believe it’s true? Does your life show that you’re expecting Christ’s return at any moment?
Lastly, do you have a weight limit on the fulfillment of what God has promised? Or are you going to be faithful like the Old Testament saints and even unto death you will wait for the promises? God is not man that he should lie or a son of man that he should change his mind. Has he said and will he not do it? Or has he spoken and will he not fulfill it?
Are you ready to turn to something other than Christ in the midst of your waiting? Or will you be patient? He’ll not tolerate being a back pocket. A reservoir. Reservation. He’ll not tolerate being considered a safety net. It’s Christ or nothing.
So I encourage you, however long the wait, whatever the trial, rest and believe in the promises of God and have a bold and hearty expectation of it. And let your life say that you truly believe that. You truly have that expectation. Christ is coming again. Wait for him. Lord Jesus, I thank you that in you all God’s promises are yes. I thank you that you’ve secured them for us. I thank you, Lord, that we need not fear, worry or doubt about our salvation.
The salvation of all the saints. Your whole entire bride. We can’t worry about today’s troubles or tomorrow’s worries, Lord, but we should just rest on your promises and believe them to be true and expect them to come.
And Lord, here we are a couple thousand years after you ascended into heaven. Lord, I pray that we would be waiting day in and day out for your return and anticipating it at any given moment. Lord, I pray that the way we live out here today and throughout our lives would demonstrate that. Prove that to be true.
Lord, we ask you to come quickly. In your name we pray.