Digging Up Promises
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 12 viewsNotes
Transcript
An antique collector was strolling through the city when he noticed a mangy cat drinking milk from a saucer in the doorway of a store.
He did a double take, because the saucer that cat was drinking from was very rare and very valuable. He walked casually into the store and offered to buy the cat for two dollars. The store owner replied, “I’m sorry, but the cat is not for sale.”
The collector persisted, saying, “Please, I need a hungry cat around the house to catch mice. I’ll pay you twenty dollars for the cat.”
The owner said, “Sold,” and handed over the cat.
The collector was excited that his plan was working, he asked, “For the twenty-FIVE dollars, could you throw in the saucer, too? I’m sure the cat is used to it, and I won’t have to buy a dish for her.”
The owner replied, “No way, buddy, that is my lucky saucer. So far this week I’ve sold fifty-nine cats.”
If you think that’s a bad joke, you should be happy that I didn’t tell the one I wanted to tell, but my wife said it was worthy of an eye roll:
Did you hear about the tiny cat? It only drank condensed milk.
I like the joke about the fancy saucer because of the store owner. He had this incredibly valuable possession. Everyone else knew it was super valuable, but he was using it to feed mangy cats! He had no clue that it was more than luck that was bringing blessing into his life.
Now, I KNOW, it’s a joke. We aren’t supposed to pick it apart and try to assign a deeper meaning, but if we were…I’d say we’ve all been a little like the store owner. We’ve been given the free gift of Jesus who was the greatest fulfillment of a promise ever given. But we either forget or don’t realize the value of this great gift from Heaven.
Let me tell you, whatever is going on in your life right now, Jesus is the answer. The gift from God, His Son, is the answer to the problems you’re facing. Until you come to Him, you’ll never have peace. You’ll never find victory. You’ll never know true love. You’ll be lost like a person stuck in the desert looking for relief.
What I want you to get from the message today is simple: I want you to see that God is your provider, taking chances is not walking in faith, and God is faithful.
I believe that you can leave this place differently than you came today. Let’s trust the Lord to speak to your heart. Forget about the worries of life and listen to His voice speaking to your heart today. He’s speaking.
Before we get to the scripture today I want to tell you a quick story about a piano.
I didn’t bring this baby grand piano here today to illustrate a story, but if it helps let’s just pretend I did!
When I was 14 years old I started talking piano lessons. Now, I have never been, nor will I ever be a GREAT piano player. But that didn’t stop my grandmother from paying for lessons, and loving to hear me play.
My grandmother owned a beauty salon. She would cut hair, do perms, and make her customers come out with these perfectly sculpted marbled helmets of hair. Well, sometimes she would do house calls for the elderly and I would go with her from time to time.
We went to one house that had a beautiful baby grand piano. The lady of the home was a phenomenal player and actually had the home designed around this piano. She asked if I played, and I told her I was taking lessons. She allowed me to play while she was getting her hair set.
A couple a days later my grandma called to tell me that the woman said she was going to give me the piano in her will! I couldn’t believe it, I was excited. I have never hoped a person would die, but…just kidding, I didn’t hope for that, I was incredibly thankful.
10 years went by and I had completely forgotten about the promise. Until I got a call that the sweet woman had passed and the piano was mine if I still wanted it…Kristen and I were married and living in an apartment. I’ll never forget having a Baby Grand piano delivered to our tiny apartment living room.
It was one of the greatest fulfillment of a promise in my life up until that point.
I tell that story for a reason. It illustrates the message today.
I was given a promise I didn’t deserve, there was nothing I could do to fulfill that promise - all I could do was trust, and in the end the giver of the promise kept their word.
That Promise was Valuable. It was mine. No one could take it from me. My job was to trust that one day it would be fulfilled.
I want to remind you of a story in the Old Testament about a promise, a failure in faith, and God’s faithfulness to fulfill the promise.
Now, let’s look at first scripture:
8 I will give you and them the land in which you are now a foreigner. I will give the whole land of Canaan to your family forever, and I will be their God.
God is our Provider
God is our Provider
God appeared to Abraham multiple times in Genesis, but in this instance God gave a specific promise that his descendants would possess the land he was currently traveling through. At the time of the promise, the land Abraham was traveling through was already claimed.
Abraham didn’t have anything other than God’s Promise that would make him think he would be able to conquer that land and make it his home.
One thing that we should see, earlier in chapter 17, is that God referred to Himself as “El-Shaddai”. This is significant because God is giving one of His seven covenant names that reveal His attributes to Abraham.
What does El-Shaddai mean? And why is it important for us today?
In Hebrew, El Shaddai means “the All-Sufficient One,” or “the God Who is more than enough.”
For Abraham, who had no land, no legitimate decedents, and no way to obtain those things in his own strength or ability it meant EVERYTHING. It meant that God was taking the burden of fulfilling an undeserved promise.
Without God, Abraham was nothing. It was God’s grace that reached down in relationship and covenant with him.
As we follow the story of Abraham and His descendants we will see time and time again where God was more than enough to meet their physical and spiritual needs.
Let me stop here for a second. You need to know that God is more than enough to meet your needs too!
Fast forward 430 years from this promise and we see El Shaddai in action. God spoke to Moses to set the people free from slavery in Egypt. God provided all that was needed. He made it unbearable for the Pharaoh of Egypt until finally he agreed to set Abraham’s descendants free.
Who is El Shaddai? Think of the children of Israel standing at the Red Sea with no where to go, with the most powerful army in the world chasing them. They had no ability to escape. They were trapped.
But God, bound by the promise made to Abraham, was all that they needed. The Red Sea was parted, they crossed on dry land, and the Egyptian Army was drowned.
He was all that they needed. How do we know that God is more than enough to meet OUR needs?
In the New Testament we are told something very important:
8 Jesus Christ never changes! He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
God never changes.
In your life, God has made promises to you! And He is more than enough to bring it to pass.
You might ask, What has God promised to me?
There are so many!
28 If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest.
24 Christ carried the burden of our sins. He was nailed to the cross, so that we would stop sinning and start living right. By his cuts and bruises you are healed.
3 The Lord will keep you safe from secret traps and deadly diseases.
5 If any of you need wisdom, you should ask God, and it will be given to you. God is generous and won’t correct you for asking.
7 Surrender to God! Resist the devil, and he will run from you.
9 But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.
Do you know how many promises are in the Bible?
8,810!!!! We need to look for them. They are there for us to stand on knowing that God is more than able to fulfill them in this life and the life to come!
God is our provider. The fact is that God has already provided many of the things we need to live for Him.
We keep asking God for what we already have!
There are no excuses for not knowing the promises of God, it’s all written down. We must claim them for our lives, our children, and for those around us.
Now, let’s go back to the children of Israel. Abraham was given this promise of a special land. God promised that his give his descendants that land that he was traveling through.
Well, many things happened over the course of 400+ years, and they still didn’t have the promise fulfilled. But, the time had come and God was about to fulfill the promise. They get close to the land and this is what God told Moses:
2 “Choose a leader from each tribe and send them into Canaan to explore the land I am giving you.”
So, Moses sent 12 leaders out to explore. They were gone for 40 days and came back with a report. You probably remember what happened, they came back and only Caleb and Joshua were ready to take hold of the Promise.
Only problem was that the other 10 guys told everyone about the giant people that lived there and they sowed the seeds of doubt that God might not be more than enough to fulfill the promise.
Even though God had set them free. EVEN though God had parted the Red Sea! Even though God provided over and over, they doubted.
Lets read how the people responded:
1 After the Israelites heard the report from the twelve men who had explored Canaan, the people cried all night
2 and complained to Moses and Aaron, “We wish we had died in Egypt or somewhere out here in the desert!
So, they decided not to walk in Faith. And God said, ok, since you won’t trust me, you’ll be punished. You’ll have to live in the wilderness for 40 years. You won’t enter the promised land.
God the provider became God the punisher. And they deserved it! They didn’t trust Him.
You and I are going to mess up in life. It’s going to happen. There are consequences for sin, but our Father in Heaven hasn’t given up on us. It may affect the timing of His promise in our lives, but don’t give up hope. He still has a plan. His mercy is at work when we deserve death. He has a plan for restoration.
Yes, they had to walk in the desert for 40 years, but God provided for them even when they were unfaithful.
So, quick recap in our lesson. I want you to take away three things from the message today. 1) God is our Provider 2) Chance is not Faith and 3) God is faithful.
We’ve covered that God is our Provider, let’s talk about the next thing:
Chance is Not Faith
Chance is Not Faith
So, after the children of Israel chose NOT to trust God, they did one of the most boneheaded things I think we can find in the Bible. After they recieved the punishment of having to live 40 years in the wilderness they had a little change of heart. It’s ridiculous.
I have to read it to you:
39 The people of Israel were very sad after Moses gave them the Lord’s message.
40 So they got up early the next morning and got ready to head toward the hill country of Canaan. They said, “We were wrong to complain about the Lord. Let’s go into the land that he promised us.”
41 But Moses replied, “You’re disobeying the Lord! Your plan won’t work,
42 so don’t even try it. The Lord refuses to help you, because you turned your backs on him. The Amalekites and the Canaanites are your enemies, and they will attack and defeat you.”
44 But the Israelites ignored Moses and marched toward the hill country, even though the sacred chest and Moses did not go with them.
45 The Amalekites and the Canaanites came down from the hill country, defeated the Israelites, and chased them as far as the town of Hormah.
I just shake my head at this whole situation! Why didn’t they say that they day before? Why didn’t they trust God BEFORE the punishment?
You know why? Because they are PEOPLE! Just like us!
At that point, they had stopped trusting the Lord and started trusting THEMSELVES!
They were living by Chance instead of Faith.
We can never do anything by faith that contradicts the Word of God.
All the Israelites could do was to accept God’s judgment and surrender to His will. Far better to wander in the wilderness in the will of God than to fight a losing battle out of the will of God.
In our lives we find ourselves, many times, in the same place these people finding themselves.
It’s like a person who is bad at managing money. Maybe they spent too much and didn’t have enough to pay the bills.
God provided the money needed to pay the bills, but they didn’t spend it correctly. So, they repent, God forgives, but they go into panic mode, fly to Vegas, put it all on Red, and LOSE!
Not only did they mismanage the provision, but they took things into their own hands, took a chance, maybe in the name of Faith, and lost everything!
That’s maybe an extreme example, but it illustrates that God has provided all we need. He is more than enough in EVERY situation we face. But when we doubt Him, we start making bad decisions that cause us to walk outside of His will.
We must be Junkies when it comes to God’s will for our lives. There might be times of waiting. There might even be consequences that we must endure until God can work things back around to His promise for your life.
How can we KNOW the will of God? How can we walk in FAITH instead of CHANCE?
Somethings are obvious because they are written out for us in the Bible. We have things like the 10 commandments. Jesus told us our purpose is Love God, Love People, and Make Disciples.
But, you may be facing a big decision, you may wish God would just write His will for you on the wall or speak with an audible voice. But He rarely chooses to make His will for your life that obvious. Instead, He wants you to be persistent in seeking His guidance.
Jesus said:
33 But more than anything else, put God’s work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.
God knows that the process of seeking Him is as important as the answer He might give to any question. As you take steps of faith and learn to recognize His leading, you grow spiritually and strengthen your relationship with Him. It is not always a simple process, but in the end, it’s worth it.
Paul, wrote much of the New Testament, prayed this for the church:
9 We have not stopped praying for you since the first day we heard about you. In fact, we always pray that God will show you everything he wants you to do and that you may have all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives.
10 Then you will live a life that honors the Lord, and you will always please him by doing good deeds. You will come to know God even better.
We must be in tune with the SPIRIT of God. The only way to do that is a daily relationship grounded in His word, prayer, and worship.
6 Turn to the Lord! He can still be found. Call out to God! He is near.
We cannot rely on our past victories to get us through the next difficulty. Think about the example of the Israelites - they have seen the miraculous, but just because they had walked with God didn’t guarantee victory when they were outside the will of God. They need to get in alignment.
And we do too!
“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.”
― C.S. Lewis
We must recognize the importance of Faith. Faith is not blind; it has all of the promises and assurances of God’s Word for its foundation.
We must know, trust, and have faith in God’s will.
Let’s get down to the final thing I want to share with you today.
God is Faithful
God is Faithful
Here’s were we find hope. You see, God made that promise to Abraham, and even though his descendants doubted, God was bound to His word.
Know this, in GOD’s timing, He will accomplish His promise in your life.
Later in Numbers we find this truth about God:
19 God is no mere human! He doesn’t tell lies or change his mind. God always keeps his promises.
The time of punishment for the people was over, and those who had doubted God were all gone. Moses had just died and now there was the leader of the Israelites.
His name was Joshua.
How do you feel when you stand on the verge of reaching a long-awaited goal? Are you happy, sad, or relieved that the journey is nearly over? Are you frightened of the tests and trials that still lie ahead, or do you view your future with courage and faith in God?
After forty years of wandering in the wilderness, Joshua was standing on a mountaintop overlooking the land of promise. Maybe he was afraid. Maybe worried.
This is what God says to Joshua - maybe He’s saying this to you too:
6 “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them.
7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do.
8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.
You know what hits me? In verse 6 God says, “YOU ARE THE ONE.”
What made Joshua the ONE?
We do not know all of the reasons why God selected Joshua. But we do know that Joshua was special. Joshua was one the leaders among the people who were selected to go and spy out the Promised Land. When they came back from their trip, only two of the twelve men believed that God would keep them safe. Joshua was one of those men.
God is looking for those who trust Him. He looks for people who are committed to living a life surrendered completely and totally to Him.
When we know that God is our provider, we walk in faith, we can be assured that God will be faithful to fulfill His promise.
Isn’t this salvation?
16 God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.
It’s all right there, it’s a promise:
God gave His Son. We are to have Faith. He is faithful to save us from eternal death!
It’s the theme of the entire Bible. It’s the Gospel.
What do you need from the Lord today?
There’s one more promise I want to share that might help you:
9 I’ve commanded you to be strong and brave. Don’t ever be afraid or discouraged! I am the Lord your God, and I will be there to help you wherever you go.
Our God says to you the same thing He saying to Joshua: Don’t EVER be afraid or discouraged! I am with you.
Joshua was about to go to battle. It was going to be hard. It was going to take faith. But with God on his side, he have confidence that His will would be accomplished.
Where are you in the story today?
What prayer do you need to pray?
The gift from God, His Son, is the answer to the problems you’re facing. Until you come to Him, you’ll never have peace. You’ll never find victory. You’ll never know true love. You’ll be lost like a person stuck in the desert looking for relief.
God is our provider. We must walk in Faith. He is faithful.
We’ve all been given a promises from the Lord we don’t deserve, there is nothing we can do to fulfill that promise - all we can do is trust. I’m telling you that God is faithful to fulfill every single promise.