God’s Precious Promises

What would you think about a person who was very wealthy but always complained about not having enough? Many Christians have the same attitude. They are spiritually wealthy, but don’t act like it and often choose to live as paupers.

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Next on, in touch. God’s precious promises.
What would you think about a person who was very, very wealthy and yet was always complaining about not having enough.
And you look at them and you think, wait a minute, nobody is wealthy but look how he dresses.
Oh, look what he drives. Look where he lives. You wonder. Well, it doesn’t quite match.
In other words, if he’s, if he has all of that, why does he act the way he acts?
And so you have to ask yourself the question. Well, does he not know that he’s wealthy?
Does he not believe that he’s wealthy?
Does he not know how to cash in on his wealth?
What’s wrong with a person who lives that kind of life?
Well, something definitely is wrong but I know a lot of believers who are the same way.
They are very wealthy. They don’t act like it.
They don’t claim it, I think because they don’t believe it because either they’ve never been taught or somewhere along the way, they missed this awesome truth.
And when I think about how clear God has made His word and the awesome way he has provided for us.
And yet people oftentimes act like they are or act like, you know, I just never have enough.
God’s left me out. Uh God. God doesn’t understand what, what my needs are.
I know that’s what the Bible says, but it’s not working for me or what’s the problem is the problem with God or is the problem with the fact that I don’t understand what I have.
So I want you to listen very carefully.
It’ll change your way, you think about yourself and maybe the way you think about God.
So I want you to turn to the little book of Second Peter and look if you will in chapter one.
And this is the second uh a message in our series on uh the promises of God.
And in this particular passage of scripture, Peter describes this awesome wealth that you and I have listen to what he says beginning in verse one of this first chapter.
Second Peter Simon, Peter Aon serving an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who have received the faith of the same kind as ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus, our Lord seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and governess through the true knowledge of him, of Jesus who called us by his own, listen by his own glory and excellence.
For by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises.
So that by them, you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that’s in this world by loss.
And so what I want you to see in this passage of scripture and in all these passages is this, watch this carefully.
I know that many of you are not gonna believe this, but listen carefully whether you know it or not, the day you receive Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you became this awesome wealthy person.
Now, where is all this value? Here’s where it is, it’s in the promises of God.
And I’m gonna show you in a few moments why I say that that when you trusted him as your savior, the promises of the word of God became your promises.
You are a very wealthy person.
So let’s begin with the first evidence of God’s wealth that He’s bequeathed to you.
So I want you to turn if you will to Romans chapter five for a moment, and we’ll be going through a numbers of scriptures.
Romans chapter five tells us how it all starts. And here’s what he says.
He says in verse six.
But while we were still helpless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
But one will hardly die for a righteous man though perhaps for the good man, someone would dare even to die.
But God demonstrated his own love toward us.
And that while we were yet sent as Christ died for us, much more than having been justified by the, by His blood.
We shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His son, we shall be saved by his life.
And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Now watch this when you trust in Jesus Christ as your personal savior, he forgave you all your sins.
He brought you into a relationship with himself, a personal relationship that from that point on watch this, you can call yourself a child of God that is your possession.
You now have a heritage and that heritage is that God is your father, Jesus Christ is your savior, your brother and you are now a member of the family of God.
That’s who you are. You cease to be who you used to be a child of the devil.
You are now a child of God.
Number one very important and until that happens, nothing else that I’m going to say would apply to you.
The second thing I want you to notice is this not only did he save you and forgive you and cleanse you write your name in the Lamb’s book of Life.
Make it a part of the kingdom. But he gave you this promise.
This promise is in first John 19, you all know it by heart.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
What an awesome promise. Here’s what that means.
It means that as I live out my life in this filthy dirty world, I can stay clean every day because he says, if we confess our sins, he’s faithful, that is you can trust him faithful and just He has the right to do it, forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from every unrighteous thing that says, I am very wealthy that I have the privilege of going to God Almighty asking him Lord, this is in my life.
It shouldn’t be. I recognize it. I acknowledge it. And I’m asking you to forgive me of my sins.
That is an awesome possession. A third part of that wealth is simply this and that is his, his continued presence in our life.
Think about this. Who else can promise you this?
This is the sovereign God of the universe who says, I will never leave you nor forsake you there in Hebrews chapter 13 verse five, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
You know what that says? See if you can match this.
You have a traveling companion in the person of Jesus Christ who will never under any condition no matter what ever desert you or forsake you.
Period. Now, who can promise you that? Nobody can promise you that?
And you see, it’s when people turn their eyes away from the Lord God and when they start looking at themselves and their situation circumstances, instead of asking what’s the promise of the father?
The promise of the Father is you. Listen, once you trust Jesus as your savior, you can’t ever be alone.
You may wanna be, you can’t be. He says, I will not, I will not forsake you.
No, never desert you under any condition.
That is an unconditional promise of God that belongs to every believer and listen, nobody can change that.
You could go to prison or you could be here, you could be, there doesn’t make any difference.
He says, I’ll never leave you enough forsake you. I’ll never desert you, period.
So the next time you get down in the mouth and you’re alone and you think I need a counselor, I need this.
Oh God, help me, just stop and ask yourself the question.
Now, what is that I possess, I possess Jesus as my intimate friend who lives on the inside of me and who promised that no matter what goes on in my life, he will never leave me.
You can’t beat that for a promise of a friendship that is an awesome possession which no one else can give you and no one else can promise you that.
Then of course, he promises us that we don’t even have to live this life in our own strength and power.
But we have the Holy Spirit who is called our helper there in John chapter 14 verse 16, when he says, I’m gonna send you a helper.
And when he comes, he talks about what he will do for us.
When he calls you to serve him, you have the Holy Spirit to enable you to give you wisdom and direction and guidance for your life and to empower you in order to do well to do good, whatever he calls you to do, that’s his promise.
And it’s these promises that make you wealthy so far.
You’ve not heard anything that I’ve said that anybody else can provide for you other than God because of your relationship to him.
Then he says, for example, that He’d supply of who can promise you that not one person.
So there are lots of verses about that, but probably one of the most valuable ones in the sixth chapter of Matthew.
For this reason, I said, you don’t be worried about your life as to what you’re gonna eat or what you will drink or for your bodies to what you put on is not life more than food and your body more than clothing.
He talks about the birds of the air and the lilies of the field and all the rest.
And then he comes down and he says, do not worry. Then saying, what would you eat?
What would you drink? What would you wear for your clothing? He says, the unbelievers, think about these things.
Your heavenly Father knows that you need all of these things. So what is he saying?
Here’s his promise to do what to meet our daily needs. Who else can promise you that?
Nobody said, well, these no, no, no, no, nobody can promise you that they’re gonna answer your prayer.
But the almighty God, nobody can promise you that whatever the situation, the circumstance that you’re in whatever you need you have.
Here’s the promise. He says, he knows what the need is and he will provide that need no matter what.
And so what about this whole issue of answered prayer?
Who can promise you that they’ll answer your prayer?
Or somebody may be able to help you in some issue.
But listen to what he says in first John chapter uh 5 14 15, this is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
And if we know that He hears us, we know that we have the petition that we deserved of Him, who can promise you that no one else.
And there many, many verses of promise, answered prayer in the word of God. But watch this.
People said I have needs. Are you cashing in? You know, what, what need do you have?
Well, how do I cash you? Well, prayer is certainly one of the ways.
And so oftentimes we feel needy and we want somebody else to meet the need.
Uh We think, I don’t know how God’s gonna work this out.
Here’s the promise, this is the confidence that you have in him.
And so he makes the crystal clear, for example, he says, asking it, she’ll be giving you seeking, you should find knocking.
It shall be open to you.
So there’s promise after promise, after promise of answer prayer, whatever burden you’re dealing with, he’s the burden.
So well, how do I, how do I give it to God?
You bring it before Him, you lay it before Him and we’ll talk about that. How do you claim it?
Listen, it is not his will for his people to be down in the dumps and discouraged and living with frown on their face.
He talks about the joy of the Lord.
Then of course, he says that He will grant us wisdom and um and James uh if you will notice in that first chapter, uh he, he makes the promise of wisdom.
Listen to what he says for.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all people generously and without reproach and it will be given to Him.
Somebody says, well, I don’t know what to do. Well, listen, you may not know what to do.
Do you want wisdom? You, you have the promise of wisdom.
A promise of God says that all of the sovereign power of God is behind what He promises and He will make it work.
You need wisdom. That is, you need to see things from God’s perspective.
You need, you need to make a wise decision here.
You, you, you have that promise that He will grant you wisdom in every circumstance of life because that’s who He is.
You have the wisdom of God dwelling within you.
Listen, in every single solitary situation, you have a promise from God that He will give you wisdom to know how to respond or how to react in that given situation.
That’s one of the things that makes us wealthy, tell me anything in the more valuable than wisdom, seeing things from God’s perspective and knowing how to walk in it.
Then we come to this whole issue uh of peace and uh and uh the, the passage that most of us know by heart in Philippians, listen to what Paul says.
He says now, rejoice in the Lord. He says, let’s just let your gentle spirit be known to all men.
The Lord is now be anxious for nothing. They don’t, don’t get upset about these things.
But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ.
Jesus, what does he say? He says this no matter what’s going on in your life.
God will give you a garrison, a wall that will separate you from anxiety that will listen, that will fulfill your need of peace in your life.
Why? What did Jesus say?
The Bible says that Jesus is our peace who’s living on the inside of you? The Lord Jesus Christ.
And so we go through situations and circumstances.
Sometimes we hear bad news and frightening news or whatever it might be.
Where do we get our piece from?
Oftentimes, it’s not from our friends, not from the doctor, not from the banker, not from this, it’s from him.
But think about this, your peace isn’t something you get from Him, her and them, your peace abides within you.
It is an in dwelling promise of God. What did Jesus say? My peace I give unto you.
Not as the world gives, give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled.
One of the most awesome promises he gives us is that we can have peace in whatever we have faced in life we have to choose.
Are we gonna, are we gonna claim His promise?
And if you claim his promise today, God, I know that you can call me home in time to get ready.
But until then I wanna give it my best. I wanna be strong. I want to be fruitful.
I want my life to count for the kingdom of God.
And then look in Psalm 37. And uh because here’s a wonderful promise of God.
If I should say to you, would you like to have the desires of your heart?
If I said to you, what are the desires of your heart? And says, I want a husband.
I want a boy. I want this, I want that. What are the desires of your heart?
Here’s what God says. This is a promise from Almighty God who has all power and listen, he has unconditional love for you.
Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
In other words, what does it mean to be delighted in Him?
Look at that passage, read it a little bit.
Ask God to show you what does it mean to delight yourself in Him?
Ultimate simply means this above everything in my else in my life. That’s important.
My relationship with him is the most important thing. I am delighted in serving him. I’m delighting in worshiping him.
I’m delighting in giving him. I’m I’m delighted in living out a Godly life.
He says, delight yourself in the Lord. He’ll give you the desires of your heart.
Then he says, for example, a passage that many people don’t believe we have the promise of healing in time of sickness.
Look at the 103rd psalm look in that first verse, bless the Lord.
Oh my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord o my soul and forget none. Listen and forget none of his benefits.
What are they who pardons all our, who heals all your diseases?
Now, let me ask you a question.
When we talk about the attributes of God, the attributes of God is one of them. He is.
He’s uh he never changes. He’s immutable, he never changes. So, did he heal people in the Old Testament?
Did he heal people in the New Testament? Yes. Does he heal people past the New Testament? Yes.
Does he heal people today? Yes.
Then if we believe that, why do we have a little sore throat or have a little sniffle?
We gonna run to the doctor for antibiotics. What about running to Jesus?
Now, most people wanna pray about something and some physical ailment when the doctors have said it’s all over or something very serious, why don’t we talk to him first because we have grown up and we’ve been acclimated and we’ve been told we’ve been warned and we’ve been scared.
The truth is God is the great healer. Does that mean that nobody’s gonna die? No, it doesn’t mean that.
But it means we can be healthy and strong until the Lord finishes with us, then it doesn’t make any difference what happens because think about this, if we have all these promises here.
What about going to heaven and being in the presence of God?
Then of course, look in Romans eight, when I think about the awesome promise in Romans eight and that is the fact that nothing can separate us from the awesome love of God.
Listen to what he says in this passage and here’s the promise and many people don’t, they don’t really, they don’t really believe this.
Listen to this. He says in verse 38 I am convinced that neither death, no life, no angels, no Principalities, no things present, no things come, no powers, no height, no depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ, Jesus, our Lord think about this.
You have the awesome gift of God’s unconditional love within your life.
Nobody can promise you that to God.
Now you may want this person to love you or that person. But look who loves you.
And he says besides that, and he named all these things. Nothing can separate you from the love of God.
That’s a, that’s a possession you have, you possess the love of Almighty God that will never change.
Then if you will turn to um John chapter 10 for a moment and here is his awesome promise of eternal security.
Listen to what he says, my sheep, hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give to them eternal life and they will never perish.
He didn’t say except if and, but when, where they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
My father who gave them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father’s hand.
I and the father of one think about what you possess.
You possess the gift of eternal life. Watch this nothing.
No one, no time, nothing can alter that under any condition.
You are a child of God, you are eternally secure. You live in sin.
Then there’s some other promises about chastisement and discipline.
But we’re talking about the promise God has given you that you are eternally secure, then I would give you one last.
We, we, we could do this all day long, but I’m, I’m gonna stop in a few moments.
But what I want you to see is, is what you possess. What you have.
Listen to what Jesus said. He said, don’t let your heart be troubled.
You believe in God believe also in me, in my father’s house are many mansions if it were not.
So I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go to prepare a place for you, I’m coming again to receive you to myself.
That where I am there, you may be also period. We have the promise of heaven.
What I want you to say is simply this a promise from God is an awesome thing.
And my challenge to you is simply this claim.
What is yours and what whatever you’re facing in life, remember who you are a follower of Jesus and how rich you are and listen.
And there are some capacity you have to serve Him with all of your heart in a way that you will never grow old, but you’ll be flourishing and fruitful and strong all the days of your life.
Amen Barbara, how grateful we are this morning for the wonderful promise of your word.
And what makes it so wonderful is the fact that we know it’ll never change. You’ll never change.
We can’t even begin to think of anything we need that you haven’t covered.
So we say thank you this morning and I pray that he will show us so how to so live that people who are spiritually in poverty will want to know what is the source of our riches.
And we can tell them in Jesus name.
Amen.