I don’t need to tell you that we live in a world that is filled with doubts and with difficulties, with uncertainties, with frustrations and fear and insecurity. Harvey Porter did a good job of reminding us of that this morning. As a matter of fact, after listening to him I was rather discouraged about all of the things that face us in this life! No, not really. That was a great lesson this morning that Harvey Porter preached to us about having courage. But he did remind us of how discouraging and how depressing the news of the day can be. On the international scene, there are problems of political unrest of all sorts. There’s the continuing real threat of terrorism, and even a lingering threat of war. On the national scene, there are political scandals and corruption in our government at the highest level. There’s economic unrest. On the local level, you know, we have the problem here locally of crime and violence. We have concerns about our environment. And even our municipal and state governments seem to be running amuck at times.
On the job, we’re faced with increasing demands. Companies are “downsizing”. Budgets are tighter. You’re being challenged to do more with less. You’re faced with “downsizing,” which is another “politically correct” word for saying that you’re being laid off or fired. But with all of that, the requirements and the demands seem to increase. Even at home, we’re often faced with difficult things—things that make for difficult times, even within our families.
All of these things, and more, tend to keep us “off balance”, keep us on sort of an “unsure footing” in our individual lives. It’s often difficult to get solid footing—to get a good basis, if you will allow me to say it that way, to stand upon.
Well, in light of these things that we’ve just talked about, let’s consider, once again, the title and the words of the song that we just sang. I asked Ron Wilkerson specifically to lead that song, “Standing on the Promises.”
[The words to the song, “Standing on the Promises”:
Verse 1:
Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring;
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.
Verse 2:
Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.
Verse 3:
Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord,
Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
Standing on the promises of God.
Verse 4:
Standing on the promises, I cannot fall,
Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call,
Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
Standing on the promises of God.
Chorus sung after each verse:
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.
End of song.]
I want to examine a couple of key words in that title. The first word I want to discuss is “Standing.” The dictionary defines that word to be “remain motionless, or steady; to take up or maintain a position; to remain firm, or steadfast; to be located, or situated.” These definitions may invoke in your mind the idea of a foundation, a firm footing, a solid base. This may also suggest the idea of security, which is the opposite of insecurity and uncertainty—something to stabilize us, to keep us from being tossed to and fro.
The second word in the song title that I want to examine is the word “Promises.” “Promises”, according to the New Bible Dictionary, are “words that go forward into unfilled time.” These words reach ahead of their speaker and ahead of their recipient to make an appointment between them for some time in the future.
Several types of promises are described, including “an assurance of continuing or future action” on behalf of someone. For example, “I promise to keep…” (I almost said, “to keep preaching!”) “I promise to quit preaching on time tonight.”
There is also a solemn agreement of a lasting and mutual relationship. An example of that might be the marriage vows that many of us have taken. You know, I promise to love, cher…uh…well, you know what they were!!
Another type of promise is the announcement of some future event. For example, “I plan to run for [the political position of] the Mayor of Albuquerque in 1998.” (You heard it first here! Everyone else is running for Mayor, so I thought I would, too!)
Well, God has made many promises to us as His followers. These promises have been recorded for us in His revealed Word to us—His Holy Word—the Bible. These are God’s Words reaching out into unfilled time to base a future of hope between Him and I—between Him and you.
I submit to you that HERE is our firm footing, our foundation to stand upon and our security! In this world of doubt, confusion, difficulty and uncertainty and insecurity, we have the promises of God to stand upon.
Think again with me about the words of verse two of this song that we sang: “When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises of God.” And verse four: “Standing on the promises, I cannot fall,…”
Skeptics may say, “How do I know that God will keep His promises? After all, promises are only words, and words are cheap! Perhaps God will change His mind. Perhaps God will forget! Perhaps God is just…just too busy to worry about keeping promises that He’s made to us.” To the skeptic I say, “You can have confidence in God’s promises based on His past performance—based on His ‘track record,’” you might say.
Consider these Scriptures:
“Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest to His people Israel, according to ALL that He promised:…” Now listen—“There hath not failed one Word of ALL His good promise, which He promised by the hand of Moses His servant,” 1 Kings 8:56. Isn’t that incredible!?! Not only did God keep every promise that He made to the Israelites, but NOT ONE WORD of the promise was changed!
Paul says, “God is faithful, by Whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,” 1 Corinthians 1, verse 9. The use of the word “faithful” there indicates something that is firm, something that is steadfast, something strong, something constant.
We, as human beings—men and women, boys and girls—we are fickle. We can even be deceitful. We can lie. We can forget what we have promised to do. Sometimes we over promise [promise too much], and we just can’t deliver [keep our promise]. Sometimes, we intentionally lie. This happens from a friend to a friend, from a child to the parent, from the parent to the child, from the husband to the wife, from the wife to the husband…and even from a Christian to a Christian!
But the Lord God of heaven never forgets. He never gets too busy. He’s never overextended [His ability to keep His promises is never filled to capacity], and He CANNOT LIE! The Hebrew writer [the writer of the book of Hebrews is unknown—many people think Paul wrote Hebrews] says, “Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that by two unchangeable things in which it is IMPOSSIBLE for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have THIS as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure,” Hebrews 6:17 through 19. Hey, there’s another song that we sing, “We have an anchor to keep the soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll.” (But, that’s another sermon!)
In an ever-changing and insecure world, there IS security, constancy and steadfastness in God. Since God CANNOT lie, the promises that HE makes He keeps. As the apostle Peter said, “The Lord is not slow…”, (or as the old translation says, “slack”) “…concerning His promise,” 2 Peter 3, verse 9. In these difficult and confusing times, this ought to be encouraging news for us, His children.
But what ARE the promises of God? And how can being able to stand upon them with confidence aid us in our lives? Well, let’s notice a few of God’s promises.
First, God has promised to set us apart and hear us when we call upon Him. “But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto Him,”Psalm 4, verse 3. Set apart carries with it the idea of being sanctified, of being made holy, of having a special use, or special purpose. Paul said to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5, and verse 23, “May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.” The Psalmist David said, “In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears,” Psalm 18, verse 6. God promises to set me apart as a member of His elect, and as such, I can communicate with Him.
God also promises to provide for us—to protect and defend us. Psalm 5, verses 11 and 12, reads, “But let all those who put their trust in Thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because Thou defendest them: let them also that love Thy Name be joyful in Thee. For Thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt Thou compass him as with a shield.” God’s rich blessings, both spiritual and temporal, are mine…are yours. He has provided them to us. And at the same time, He will protect us. Proverbs 30, verse 5, says, “Every word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him.” Think of it! The God of heaven, the God that created the universe is sustaining us, is watching over us, is protecting us, is defending us.
God also promises that He is reachable and approachable and that He will be with us. Jesus says, in Matthew’s Gospel, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened,” [Matthew 7:7-8]. Our God is not some mysterious, aloof, far off, unreachable being! If we earnestly seek, we will find God. Again, from the book of Proverbs—Proverbs, chapter 8, verse 17: “I love them that love Me. And those that seek Me early shall find Me.”
Moreover, God even promises His presence with us. Here is a familiar passage, once again, from Matthew—Matthew 18, verse 20. Jesus said, “But where two or three are gathered together in MY name, there am I in the midst of them.” And again, in Matthew, Jesus, with His final instructions to His apostles before He ascends back to heaven—Matthew 28, verse 20—says, “…teaching men to observe ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you ALWAYS, even unto the end of the world—(to the end of the age).” The Lord promises to be our CONSTANT companion. How can we be lonely, how can we be blue, how can we be sad…when we have the Lord as our companion?
God also promises to keep us from being overpowered by Satan. Listen! “There hath no temptation given you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful. He will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it,” 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13. [The New International Version of the Bible says, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”]
This is important for us to understand. First, God has limited Satan’s ability to affect us. I didn’t say that God has put us “off limits” to Satan. But God has put parameters around how Satan can tempt us, and what he can do to us. I always think of the story of Job when I think about this particular passage. God told Satan, yes, he could work on Job. He said…well, He first told Satan that whatever he did, he couldn’t affect Job’s body. Then the second time around, God said, you can affect Job’s body, but you cannot kill him. And so, even today, God has put limits on Satan’s power to affect us.
In the Army, in times of war, we have “Rules of Engagement.” And I suggest to you that God has put “Rules of Engagement” on Satan. But even having set these “Rules of Engagement”—these parameters—upon Satan, God still will not permit us to be tempted above our ability to endure. And He knows our limit. He knows our ability to endure.
And one more thing. When we are tempted, God will provide a way of escape—a trap door—an “escape hatch,” if you will permit me to say it that way.
God also promises peace and rest. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 4, verses 6 and 7. Who of us long for peace and rest? In this busy world that we live in, we often feel harried. We often feel as though we have no time to ourselves—we have no free time. You know, a place of solitude, a place of rest, a place of quiet would be very valuable to us.
Beyond this, God also promises—once again, Philippians 4, verse 19—“…and my God will meet…” some of your needs?; a few your needs?; part of your needs?… No. Paul says, “…and my God will meet ALL your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 4, verse 19. May I ask you, “What’s left? What else is needed?” He furnishes ALL of our needs. This He has promised, and His promises CANNOT fail.
You may say, “Well, John, that all sounds pretty good, but, you know, I just have difficulty seeing God’s promises at work in my life.” Well, how do we know if someone’s promises are true? Let me suggest to you that the best way to know is to put them to the test—see if they work, see if they are true, see if they come to pass. In this regard, then, I ask you, “Have you really tried to let God’s promises work for you? Have you really tried to let God’s promises work in your life?”
God promises to hear our prayers. BUT, we must initiate the communication.
God promises to set us apart. But if we choose not to associate with the elect, God will not “nail us down in place.”
God promises to be able to be found, and even to be our companion. But if we don’t seek Him, we’ll never feel His presence, and we’ll never know Him.
God promises no temptations beyond our ability to endure, and He will even furnish a way of escape when we are tempted. But if we continue in willful sin, He will not keep us from it. AND if we, when we are tempted, don’t seek the way of escape, He won’t “push us through the door.”
God promises peace and rest. But if we continue to carry our own load of sin and guilt, we’ll never know peace. The Hebrew writer, in Hebrews 12:1, says, “Lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets us.” Someone said, “If your Christian life is really a drag, then perhaps you’re dragging around too much worldly weight with you.”
How comforting to KNOW that we have all of these promises, and many, many more, to stand upon as a foundation, as fortification in our troubled times—and to KNOW that these promises NEVER can fail.
In closing, let me remind us of God’s greatest promise of all. Listen to these familiar words from John 3, verse 16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in HIM should NOT perish, but have everlasting life.” Yes. God promises eternal life to those who believe and who will obey Him.
Now, God desires that ALL men be saved, and like all of His other promises, He will keep this promise. BUT…there is an antithesis to this promise—a “flip side,” if you will allow me to say it that way. Because God also promises eternal condemnation to those who disbelieve. Listen as I read again from John, the third chapter, verse 18: “He that believeth on Him is NOT condemned; but he that believeth NOT is condemned already.” And just like all of God’s other promises, He will keep THIS promise also.
The lesson is yours. I trust that it has been an encouragement to all of us in being reminded that in our troubled times, we CAN and SHOULD STAND ON THE PROMISES OF GOD. And we can be assured that just as He did with the children of Israel in the long ago, that “not one Word of His promise” made to each one of us will change or be left unfulfilled.