Full Sermon God Keeps His Promises based on Jeremiah 31:31-34

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I. I promise. “I will be home before 10 p.m. I promise!” “I will pick up some milk from the store on the way home. I promise!” “This is the last time I will work late. I promise!”

We hear people make promises all the time. We make promises from time to time. Promises are good when those promises are kept. We can get upset when promises are not kept. God made promises throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible. Unlike us, God kept every single promise He made.

II. Examples of little boy waiting for his dad and husband waiting for his wife. Our ability to keep our promises is less than perfect. Think of a little boy with a baseball glove in his hand. He has been waiting for his dad to pick him up after baseball practice. He has waited for his dad in the past. He knows that his dad works hard at his job. Sometimes his dad works on Sundays and the family does not get to the church service. His dad promised that he would pick his son up on time. After a half hour of waiting, he takes out his cell phone and calls his dad.

Or think of the husband that is waiting for his wife to get home, so they can go out for a nice meal. The wife is constantly gone. She spends a lot of time with friends. She is hardly ever home. The husband knows his wife loves him. At least, he thinks she loves him. After all, they made vows on their wedding day to love and cherish each other for the rest of their lives.

III. We have all broken promises. We have broken promises to children, to a spouse, and even to God. As Christians, we have promised to obey our parents, to remain faithful to our spouse, to read the Bible and learn more about God. Sometimes we forget those promises. After all, most people in our world tell us to take care of ourselves and look out for good, old number one.

IV. Challenge of good relationships and communicating. Broken promises and broken relationships can go hand in hand. Our world is full of strained and broken relationships. Keeping relationships going is a challenge. Keeping relationships healthy is an ongoing work in progress. Communicating is not always easy for us.

V. God keeps His covenant promises of Jeremiah 31:33-34. While we were working on breaking our promises, God has been at work keeping His promises. Jeremiah 31:33-34 points us to our God who keeps His covenant promises over and over again: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

VI. Usual story of North Carolina man and his rare cigars. I recently read the following unusual story: [A Charlotte, North Carolina man, having purchased a case of rare, very expensive cigars, insured them against—get this—FIRE! Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of fabulous cigars, and having yet to make a single payment on the policy, the man filed a claim against the insurance company.

In his claim, the man stated that he lost his cigars “in a series of small fires.” The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason that the man had smoked the cigars in normal fashion. The man sued and won!

When delivering his ruling, the judge stated that since the man held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that cigars were insurable, and also guaranteed that it would insure the cigars against fire, without defining what it considered “unacceptable fire,” it was obligated to compensate the man for his loss. Rather than endure a lengthy appeals process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid the man $15,000 for the rare cigars he lost in “the fires.”

After the man cashed the check, however, the insurance company had him arrested on twenty-four counts of arson! With testimony from the previous case being used against him, the man was convicted of intentionally burning rare cigars and sentenced to twenty-four consecutive one-year terms.]

VII. Unlike earthly contracts, God’s covenant is different in the sending of Jesus. God’s covenant has come to reality in the sending of Jesus to our world. Jesus came to live in our world to keep God the Father’s promises. Jesus never forgot any promises made by God. Jesus always kept His promises to people, too. Jesus knew that we fail miserably to keep our promises to God and our promises to the people around us. Jesus knew that we could never make ourselves right with God. We might have good intentions to keep our promises. Good intentions do not save us from our sins and wrongs.

VIII. Jesus faithfully kept His promises every single time and Mark 10:42-45. Jesus knew that He would suffer in keeping His promises. Jesus knew that He would be killed because He keeps His promises. Jesus taught His closest student/disciples about true greatness in the Gospel lesson for today in Mark 10:42–45, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

IX. Jesus is the Best Promise Keeper. Our promises are our Christian witness to the unbelievers of the world. Our promises point others to Jesus, the Best Promise Keeper of all time. We sometimes forget our promises. As we repent of those times, we are forgiven by Jesus our Promise Keeper. We sometimes break our promises to God and others. As we repent in sorrow and sadness, we are shown mercy because of Jesus our Promise Keeper. With the help of God’s Spirit, we strive to follow in the footsteps of Jesus our Promise Keeper and keep our promises to God and to others. God will lead you to this altar again and again. You will receive bread and wine and, attached to them, the very words of Jesus our Promise Keeper: “This is my body. I promise. This is my blood. I promise. You are forgiven. I promise.” Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.