Resources
Lives On And By The Promises Of God
Sermon #5 from Pastor Floyd's series "Big Faith"
$6.00 — $12.00
What an incredible opportunity we have every week when we study God’s Word, and when we’re able to open the Scripture, but before we open the Scripture we sing songs. And I love that song. It’s a great song.
So many times when we sing these songs, many times we do not know the story behind so many of the songs that we sing. I’m a reminded of a story that I read in the last several days about a man named Russell Kelso Carter, who at 30 years of age was diagnosed with a critical, medical condition. His physicians had come to him and told him there was nothing more that they could ever do for him. He needed a miracle from God.
When Carter received those words, soon afterwards he knelt on his knees and he told the Lord, “Lord, whether You heal me or not, I’m going to live with You and for You, and praise You regardless of what happens for the rest of my life.” All of a sudden when he opened up the Scriptures they began to have meaning to him like he had never known before. He became strengthened physically, and eventually he was miraculously and completely healed.
In his journey towards healing, God began to speak words into his life. Now remember he was 30 when he was diagnosed, and then God did a miracle, and you know what? He lived an additional 49 years after he was diagnosed with a terminal, critical, medical condition. And in his journey towards healing, Carter wrote down some words that thousands of churches across America and the world still sing today.
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.
I love that next verse because the next verse, I can just imagine here he is in the mean time of his faith, not knowing whether God was going to heal him or not, but all of a sudden he declares:
Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling doubts and fears asail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior,
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.
You see Carter understood something that every one of us need to understand. Big faith grows in our life when we learn to live on and by the promises of God. And that’s exactly what I want to preach about today. I want to preach on the subject of Big Faith that lives on and stands by and on the promises of God.
You see the Scripture tells us something over in the 17th and 18th and 21st chapters of the book of Genesis, some things that we need to discover about Abraham, and how Abraham lived on and by the promises of God. We know that if we were apart of our study last week that in the 16th chapter of Genesis he failed miserably. He took his own life in his hands, he and his wife, Sarai, and the end result was not good. They created a son that was not the intent and the heart of God. But yet, mercy found him. And aren’t you glad today that mercy finds you, even when you mess up in your life?
My goal today is for us to teach you the Scripture, for us to learn the Scripture together, but also, it is my goal today for us to understand this journey of faith, and as we journey in our faith we will come away with some life lessons that I guarantee you will help you in your life this week.
So today as we begin this journey I want to give to you several highlights from these chapters in the Scripture. Highlight number:
1. God renews His promises. He renews His promises. In chapter
number 17, I want to read verse 1 and 2. The Bible says, “When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him saying, ‘I am God almighty. Live in My presence and be devout. I will establish my covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.” Here was Abram 99 years old, and God appeared to him again. I wonder today do we have anyone here that is 99 or beyond 99? Periodically we do. But be encouraged if you’re here today and you’re 99 or beyond; God is still able to appear to you in your life, and He still has a purpose for you in your life.
And may I remind you that it was at 75 years of age when Abram received the
call of God upon his life to leave his homeland and go to a land that he did not know where he needed to go. But God lead him to the Land of Promise, the Land of Canaan. And may I also remind you that he was 86 when his son, Ishmael, was born? After Abram and Sarai took their own life in their hands, and Sarai said the promise is never going to come through me. Why don’t you take Hagar, my servant, and make love to her, and then a child will come from her. She will provide the promise. They did it, and I’m telling you uh, a real problem began to be created. But again, thank God mercy found both of them.
God declares here, 24 years after the original call, when he was 99 years old, that I am God almighty. In the Hebrew that is term El Shaddai, declaring the mighty power, and the great might of God. And what God was doing here was that he was inviting Abram to come and to live in His presence, and to experience His presence, and when he did, He told him there were 2 promises that I’m going to renew with you. I’m going to go into covenant with you. The word covenant there is a word that means an agreement, an agreement between 2 parties. If you make a covenant with someone, it’s an agreement between you and another party, and you covenant together.
Well not only am I going to covenant with you, what I told you before, but I’m also going to give to you what? Multiplication. I’m going to multiply you greatly. So God speaks to him, and God gets him ready again one more time for a fresh new move, and activity of God in his life. Now here’s the insight that I want you to gain today: God renews His promises to you in your life. There are times when the Lord speaks in previous years about something, and He comes back to you again in another way, sometimes through the same Scripture, sometimes through various circumstances, or similar circumstances, but He speaks to you, and He renews His promise again. And He puts it in your heart to fulfill the promise at a particular time, which is just right in the timing of God.
But God not only renews His promise, but He also:
2. Revises their names. And that’s the second great highlight from this text. In fact, in chapter number 17, I want you to notice in verse 3 through verse number 6, “Then Abram fell to the ground, and God spoke with him. ‘As for Me, My covenant is with you, and you will become the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram, but your name will be Abraham for I will make you the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful, and will make nations and kings come from you.” May God be praised by that incredible word from the Holy Scripture.
You see Abram was overwhelmed by the presence of God. He was so overwhelmed that he hit his knees in honor and holiness and great glory being brought to the King of kinds, and the Lord of lords. God assured him one more time that He would hold to His side of the agreement that He made with him. And that Abram would become the father of many nations.
And what happens in verse number 5 is that God revises his name. Now the reason God revises his name is because God was going to do a new and fresh work with him. And what did He do? He took his name, Abram, which meant what? Exalted father, exalted father. And He changed to Abraham, which means what? Father of many nations. And that’s exactly what he did.
I want to urge you today to understand the critical nature of that. The critical nature is here is a man 99 years of age getting his name changed. How many of you would like your name changed at 99? I mean if some of us had our name changed at 99, we couldn’t remember what our first name was by then. But now he had another name to remember! And his name was changed from you are an exalted father, to now you are the father of many nations. An indication that God, according to verse 6, was going to make him extremely fruitful, and kings would come from him.
Question? Why did God change his name? Why did God change his name? Because God was going to do a new thing in his life, and that new thing was going to expand his influence generationally. That’s exactly why God did it. Exalted father to a father or many nations for generations to come. Even your descendants will inherit this land of promise, God says.
You know recently our church changed our name? And perhaps you’ve wondered why did we really do that. The reason we really did that was because we believe that over the last several years that God has begun to a new thing, and not only has God begun to do a new thing, He is continuing to do a newer thing among us. And He wants to expand His influence through this body of believers generationally; something beyond us, something bigger than us, something that’s not about us. I love what was said on the video, “Let’s no boast about worshipping at First or at the Pinnacle, but let’s boast in the cross, and in the cross alone!” And that’s why we’ve called ourselves Cross Church.
But notice the third highlight:
3. God removes our barrier. He removes the barrier. It is very interesting what happens here in this highlight. God brings up the subject that we don’t talk about a lot in church, but it’s a biblical principle of the Old Testament. It’s talked about in chapter 17, but let’s talk about it specifically in one verse of Scripture. Go straight to the heart of it. Look at verse 11. “But you must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin,” this is God talking to Abraham, “to serve as a sign,” key word there, “of the covenant,” remember what a covenant is, the agreement between you and me, and that’s what I want you to do. I want you to use it as a sign.
So he talks about this element called circumcision. So God was committing in this chapter to bless with offspring, to bless him generationally, to bring him to the Promised Land, to give him his descendants the Promised Land. But as God extended this covenant promised to him, God was saying, “Abraham, I want you to take a journey of faith, and I want you to demonstrate a sign of your part of the commitment.” What is that God? I want you to be circumcised. Here’s this 99-year-old guy having this dialogue with God, and God is telling him, I want you to be circumcised.
What is the sign here? You see the sign of circumcision is when what happens? Circumcision is when the male organ’s foreskin is removed surgically. Very important. The male organ’s foreskin is removed surgically. Now why was that done? It was done for healing and cleansing, but also it was done to increase intimacy. And the removal of the foreskin, listen carefully, removes a barrier between a husband and a wife. And what God was doing here is that God was using the sign of physical circumcision of a man, of a mere man, to point towards a greater sign for days to come. And you know what that sign was? God was giving Abraham a word, and here’s the word: Through his seed one day the Messiah would come and remove the barrier, the barrier of sin, so that complete intimacy could occur between us and God.
You see He was giving a sign; he was giving a symbol. He was saying it is going to be through you Abraham, I am going to, to not only bless the nations, but through you I am going to give to, to us, to the world and the promised Messiah will come! And that Messiah will do one thing that will be the greatest thing ever done; He will remove the barrier, the barrier of sin between a Holy God and an unrighteous people so that an unrighteous people can become holy in Christ, have the righteousness of Christ, and have intimacy with God like never, never before.
So, interestingly we learn that at 99 years of age he was circumcised. His son, Ishmael, was 13 years of age when he was circumcised. How would you like to have that conversation with a 13 year old? And then, all of the, of the males that were a part of his household and, and ownership, and supervision were also circumcised as a sign of this covenant with God. Listen carefully today, God removes the barrier. Are you glad today that there is nothing that can stand in the way between you and God since the cross of Jesus Christ was given for the sins of the world? God removes the barrier.
But:
4. God also restates the promise. He restates the promise. Over in chapter 17, look with me please to verse 15 through 19. “God said to Abraham, ‘As for your wife, Sarai, do not call her Sarai for Sarah will be her name.” Now notice what’s going to go on, something’s going to happen here. He says, “I will bless her indeed I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and she will produce nations. Kings of people will come from her.’ Abraham fell to the ground, laughed and thought in his heart, can a child be born to a 100 year old man? Can Sarah, a 90-year-old woman give birth? So Abraham said to God, ‘If only Ishmael could live in your presence,” in other words, God, I mean hey, we’ve already got Ishmael, let’s don’t create another issue here. I mean we’re struggling to keep this teenager alive. But God said, “No, your wife will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant to his offspring after him.” Look at verse 21. “But I will confirm my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bare to you at this time next year.”
In verse 15 God changes her name from Sarai, my princess, God says, to Sarah, meaning princess what? Princess of all the nations. Basically expanding her influence generationally. The same thing God was going to do through Abram to Abraham, God was now going to do from Sarah, or Sarai to Sarah. God was doing a new thing.
In verse 16 He said I’m going to give you a son through Sarah. And she will become a mother of all the nations. Verse 17, Abraham laughed and thought how can a 100-year-old man and a 90-year-old woman have a baby? Verse 18, Abraham appealed, “Hey God, let Ishmael be the receiver of the promise. He’s already here. He, he, he wants his license to drive the camel, and hey, it’s bad! God, look at how old we are! We can’t have a baby at this age!” And God said, “No, that woman who has been barren even in her old age, she’s going to become pregnant. You’re going to be the daddy. She’s going to be the momma, and I’m going to tell you man, you’re going to name him Isaac, which means laughter to remind you of your lack of faith that I can do it. Through Isaac my covenant will be fulfilled.” And He says in verse 21, “I will confirm my agreement with Isaac that Sarah will bear to you,” and notice what He said, “at this time next year, when you are 100 and she’s 90, you’re going to see him born.”
A little insight for all of us in life, God does things through our lives that sometimes surprises us. In fact, if you’re writing anything down, just write this little word down: God loves surprises. He loves surprises because when He surprises you He gets more glory. And that’s exactly what He was doing in this story. You see God is interested in doing in your life and my life what nobody else can do. God is interested in doing in your life and my life what you can’t do. What we try to do is that we try to take His great big, incredible God and bring Him down to our level. That’s is a bad, bad mistake. You cannot reduce the transcendent, glorious, eternal King of kinds, and Lord of lords to your level. You don’t have the capacity to do that! That is, that is completely impossible to do. God wants glory by doing the impossible around you and around me. And that’s why God gave to them another great highlight here in the Scripture, and that is that:
5. God reminds them of His promise. He reminds them of His promise. Look at chapter 18, if you would please. Notice this little dialogue going on here. In verse 9 through verse 15. “Where is your wife, Sarah, they ask him. There in the tent, he answered. The Lord said,” then the Lord interrupted this situation, “The Lord said, ‘I will certainly come back to you in about a year’s time, and your wife Sarah will have a son.” Now obviously God had already told Abram that, Abraham that, and you know, I mean how do you go home and tell your wife that hey, we’re going to have this son, and you’re really going to become pregnant, and you’re going to be 90, and I’m going to be a 100. I know it’s hard for you to buy. I mean she was probably still trying to get over, you know, moving her 24 years earlier from her homeland, from all of her family.
And yet at this point in time he didn’t necessarily go and say that to her, but God brought it up, and guess what happened in the Scripture? The Bible says, now, “Sarah was listening at the tent behind him. Abraham and Sarah were old, getting on in years, and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing, so when she heard that, she laughed to herself. After I have become shriveled up and my Lord is old will I have delight? But the Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh saying can I really have a baby when I’m old? Is anything impossible for the Lord?’ At the appointed time I will come back to you and in about a year she will have a son. Sarah denied it and said,” notice this, “I did not laugh, she said, because she was afraid she was in the presence of God. She was fearful. But God replied back, ‘No, you did laugh. You did laugh.’ God and Abraham were talking, Sarah listening in on the other line. Let’s remember, in about a year you’re going to have a baby.
She laughed when she heard it. Oh yea, I’ve got this old guy. I’m all shriveled up, and I’m going to have a baby? And all of a sudden God asked Abraham why did Sarah laugh? Why did she question that I could give her a baby? Verse 14 He says, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” What a great statement. Is anything too hard for the Lord? At my time, in about a year, I’m telling you she will have a son! God caught her. I mean God caught her. How many times has God catch us, and we’re sitting out here mocking His promises, or making fun of His promises? We’ve walked in unbelief. We’re a lot like the people Jesus had talked about who were so used to what we knew about God that God said at that place I’ll tell you why I don’t do stuff there, Jesus said, because of their unbelief.
Unbelief is the greatest sin in the church today. It’s not simply a world problem, it is a church problem. And God caught her, and He said no honey, you, you, you did laugh. Good little reminder, God knows everything about you. God hears every word you say. God knows the intent of your heart even before you know the intent of your heart. But greater than that, along the way, God reminds of His promises so that we can cling to those promises in order to build within us a bigger faith, and aren’t you glad of that?
But notice this 6th highlight today:
6. God reveals the promise. He reveals the promise. Look at chapter 21 if
you would for a moment today. In chapter 21, we are going to read this very slowly because I messed up in the first service. Verse 1, “The Lord came to Sarah as He had said,” now listen if you have a little pen, you need to mess your Bible up. I want to teach you something here. It’s really powerful. “The Lord came to Sarah,” now notice what God did, notice this, take your Bible, put a parenthesis, “as He had said.” All right? “And,” notice what He says, “the Lord did,” take your, take your pen, and put the Lord did, “for Sarah what,” and then do it again, “He had promised.”
There’s a trilogy here. You know what the trilogy is, don’t you? “As He said,” “The Lord did,” and “He had promised.” A three-fold repetition, which draws us to something. What does it draw us to? The faithfulness of God. In other words, what God says, He means, and God will do! He’s faithful. And here He gives to us a tremendous theological insight. In other words, He wants you to park it right here, and remind you of everything God said. That’s what He wants us to understand.
And so He begins to tell us what went on. Look in verse number 2. “Sarah became pregnant, and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at his appointed time God had told him. Abraham named his son, who was born to him, the one Sarah bore to him, Isaac. And when his son, Isaac, was 8 days old, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded him. Abraham was 100 years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him. Sarah said, ‘God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.’ She also said, ‘Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children, yet, I have born him a son in his old age.”
In those final verses there from 2 to 7, Sarah became pregnant, bore a son, named him Isaac, he was circumcised in the 8th day, Abraham was 100, she was 90 years of age. She said that God made her laugh, and whoever would hear that story would have to laugh. Would that laugh be in mocking anymore? Oh no. But that laughing would be a holy laugh. Wow. You know, God can do anything kind of laugh.
Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse a baby? And that she would become pregnant? You see, what we need to understand, in time, God always fulfills His promise. God always reveals to you in your life His promise. Think about this. 25 years after he surrendered to the call of God in his life, the Lord fulfilled His promise! Big faith carried him for 25 years! And yes, those 25 years had moments of doubt, and moments of fear, and they sensed the storms, and sometime they took their lives in their own hands, and tried to create a promise that God had never intended, but God still said, man I’m committed to you, so I’m going to be committed to Ishmael, and I’m going to bless him. But I’m telling you he’s not the promised one. You’re going to bear the promised one, and his name is going to be Isaac, and the world know that he and his descendants will be blessed, and they will be the ones to inherit the Promised Land. It will be through his seed that the Messiah will one day come.
Oh I’m telling you my friend, don’t give up on some promise God gave to you years ago. Some of you have been wondering can God still save my husband? I’ve been praying for my husband to come to Christ for 20, 30, 40 years. Don’t give up. Some of you parents have been praying for your children to come back to God, and you’re wearing thin, maybe have given up. Don’t forget, God is able. Some of you have been praying for a miracle in your business, in your home, or some kind of miracle for the last year, 2 years, 3 years, some miracle economically, you believe God has spoken in your heart. You believe God’s given you a promise to claim. Don’t give up regardless of what it appears to be around you! You can’t go by what is around you! You’ve got to go with what’s in here, and what God has spoken in your heart!
God reveals the promise. Before we leave today I want to give you a few life lessons I guarantee you if you’ll listen, and you’ll really dial in, you’re going to be encouraged greatly before we go. What have we learned today? What do we take away today? What do we wrap our arms around this week? Just try to wrap your arms around one of these. But I’m going to give you several to think about, and to ponder.
Life Lesson #1: The promises of God are in the Word of God, so get in the Word of God. You know what? We’ve been in this series for 5 weeks. I’m going to preach 7 messages on the life of Abraham. And we should already get it by now that your spiritual life won’t ever be any greater, your faith will never be any larger than what you deposit in your heart through the Word of God. You’ve got to get in the Word. The Word has the promises. And do you realize there are over 7000 promises in the Bible? 7000? You say well have you counted them? No, I haven’t counted them, but I’ve read several people that evidently have. And you know what? Even if there was one, that ought to be enough. But there are 7000. Get in the Word! Listen in kindness, in love, with a gentle rebuke to you, if necessary, if the shoe fits, wear it, wear it with love, but listen, grow up, get in the Word of God, stop your griping, stop your complaining, let God set the agenda of your heart, let God set the agenda of your future. It doesn’t matter what America does. It doesn’t matter what the media says. It doesn’t matter whether Obama’s the President, or whoever’s the president, doesn’t matter who’s going to get elected eventually, it’s going to be God is going to turn this ship around. He will use people, and that’s why we need to do what we need to do to support godly, Christian people, but God’s the One who is the source! And you’ve got to get in the Word! You’ve got to have confidence in the Word of God! Get in the Word of God ladies and gentlemen!
We’re moments away from going to the polls and voting convictions about this and that, put people in the offices that believe the Word of God. Ask them what they believe about the Word of God. I mean that’s a big issue. Think about that issue. Hang to the promises of God.
Second life lesson is God’s promises are personal words for your life. I mean we need to imagine that this book where those promises are written; we need to imagine they’re promises of love given to me! They are love letters given to me. If you will do this, I will do this, Ronnie. Ronnie, I want to speak to you in this way. God speaks, imagine Him as personal words from a great, wonderful God to you personally.
Life Lesson 3: What God says, He means and He will do. Did you hear me? What God says, He means and He will do! Do you believe that today? I’m telling you if you get in here, and you believe this, and you have watched it come alive in your life, you’re going to know, you’re going to know. You know what He says He really means, and you know what? If He says He’s going to do it, He’s going to do it! And by the way, it doesn’t really matter whether you believe He’s going to do it or not, He’s still going to do it! He’s still going to do it! He’ll do it with you or without you. It’s not about oh if I believe God enough then God’s going to do something. No, God’s going to do something dude. You’ve just got to grow up to the point of joining Him in what He’s doing. The promises are not about simply holding God accountable; the promises are gentle reminders to you that God loves you so much He’s personalizing His message, and He wants you to get it in your life!
Life Lesson #4: Write down the promises God gives to you. Write them down. Do you do that in your life? You know since January 1, 1990, I have written a one-page prayer to God every day of every year in the last 20 years. Now I didn’t do it so one day I could have these journals up in my, up in my office that are just filled with all kind of stuff, but if you were to get some of those down, which you cannot, but if you did, you would see many of those filled with promises that God has given me in a quiet time. God has spoken to me through the Word of God, and I’ve walked in that promise. I’ve written that verse down. I’ve stood on that promise. Some I’ve stood on for years.
#5: Pray those promises daily. Pray those promises daily. If God speaks to your heart, pray about it every day. Bring them up to God. It’s reminding God. It’s like you as a husband reminding your wife of something she committed to do, and yet, has done it. Or, a wife, or her husband that has yet to do it. Young people, reminding your parents of some things that they have said they will do. And parents, you reminding your children of some things that they’re going to do. Well, when you pray about those promises, you are gently, lovingly, “Lord, you said in your heart, in your Word that you’d do this. Would you do this for me?”
There are so many that have meant so much to me through life, but I tell you what, every Sunday morning before I go out to preach at our Springdale Campus, I kneel on my knees in my back office where there is an alter and there is a cross right about the alter. And there is an open Bible, and that Bible is open every week to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 4 and 5. And I guess it’s been at least 25, 30 years probably now that I’ve known that verse by memory, and uh, those verses by memory, and I have prayed those verses over me every week, all of these decades that my preaching will not be with enticing words of men’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power, so that your faith might not be in my wisdom, but in the power of God.
You see, that’s what I want every Sunday. I don’t want you going away and saying man, you know, he’s got some pretty good things to say. I want you to walk away talking about what I’ve taught you about God. I want to hear about what God has done. I want to see what God has said. Because what I say’s never been last; what God says will always be last. God doesn’t fulfill my words, He fulfills His Word.
#6: Wait, wait with faith for them to be fulfilled. Husband, don’t give up on your wife. Wife, don’t give up on your husband. Parents, don’t give up on your children. Children, don’t give up on your parents. Don’t give up on the economy. Don’t give up on your business. Don’t give up on those things if God has spoken; wait for the promises to be fulfilled! Give God an opportunity to move in your life in an extraordinary way. Exercise faith, and big faith on the promises of God.
Why? Why should I not give up? Because of the 7th takeaway today.
Nothing is impossible with God. Nothing is impossible with God. This culture will tell you everything’s impossible. You will try to convince yourself that something is impossible. You know there’s just no way. How many times have you said there is just no way? Well, it just cannot be done. But yet, God does it. And God does it in spite of us many times, and sometime God does it with us. I don’t know what you’ve given up on in your life, but I want to remind you today nothing is impossible with God. I don’t know what you’re scaling right now. You may be scaling something as high as Mt. Everest in your mind and your heart, but you listen carefully, nothing is impossible with God.
Some of you don’t know how in the world you’re ever going to make it out of where you are right now financially. I’m telling you today, nothing is impossible with God. Some of you’re not sure how in the world that marriage is going to make it. Nothing is impossible with God. I mean folks let me tell you today, you’ve got to believe. You have to believe, and just like God said to them, are you telling me that I can’t do that? Don’t let your lack of faith ever be uttered with your words, or ever seen in your heart. Remember your faith is not in you. It’s not in what you can do. It’s not what the world can do, what America can do, what the system can do, what the world can do, what the economy can do. No, that’s not where your faith is! If it is, it’s in the wrong place! Your faith has got to be in an everlasting, eternal God who holds the beginning, and already knows the end. And with Him all is well, even when you think hell is breaking loose in your life. And you think the sky is falling, brother, let me tell you, He doesn’t ever say oops, and oh no. He is in complete charge, and He is leading it all. So why don’t you learn to trust God, have faith in God, in the God who is in charge?
Father I thank you today…
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