The Promise Keeper
Notes
Transcript
There once was a man from Canada who read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation over 27 times in his life. His name was Everett Storms. And when Mr. Storms was reading the Bible through on the 27th time, he decided he would write down all of the promises of God that were written in the Bible. When he finished the reading the Bible the 27th time, he found that God made a promise to man, us, 7, 487 times.
God Promises in the Bible = 7, 487
28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
All promises. and there are many more found in his word. If God has said it, it will happen. He will not lie. He cannot lie.
Hebrews 6:18 (NLT)
18 So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.
When God spoke through his word and said that something would happen, it did. And if it hasn’t happened yet… it will.
We sang it this morning:
He's faithful through generations
So why would He fail now?
He won't
This morning Daniel looks to God and his promises, his sovereignty, and he knows God is faithful to what he says and looks to the fulfillment of his promises.
+++CBC Creed+++
+++CBC Creed+++
Open your Bibles to Daniel 9 .
If we go back to Daniel 1, we see that it was Daniel, Shadrach, Meschch, and Abednego along with 3000 other Israelites that were captured by King Nebuchadnezzar and brought out of Jerusalem into Babylon.
At that time, the people of Israel were actually split into two nation. In 1 Kings 1 there was a split between the 12 tribes of Israel, so they became divided.
Israel was the nation to the north, and Judah was the nation to the south. And many times they were at war with each other. The city of Jerusalem, where the temple was, is the south with Judah. So because, Jeroboam didn’t want the people of Israel to go down to Judah and worship at the temple, he built a temple in Bethel and Dan, but it was a temple with golden calfs and false gods.
This was not a good time for God’s chosen people. The people in the north, Israel were constantly attacked and at war with other nations, and they began to follow false Gods. It was during this time that the prophets Amos, Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah warned them and tried to bring them back to God. For 216 years these tribes, God’s chosen people were separated. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin were in the south and the other ten were in the north.
A divided people of God. The northern kingdom would last for about 200 years, then they were destroyed by Assyria in 722. The southern kingdom, Judah, Daniel and his 3000 friends, as we know, was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC.
God’s chosen people had been taken captive. What would become of them? Were they finished? Where the cut off? Were they destroyed?
No. Why? Because God keeps his promises. And Daniel knew that.
Daniel 9, verse 1-19 is all about Daniel relying on God and his promise to preserve his people.
1 It was the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, the son of Ahasuerus, who became king of the Babylonians.
2 During the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from reading the word of the Lord, as revealed to Jeremiah the prophet, that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years.
Daniel studied the Scriptures. He looked back to the writings of the prophet Jeremiah, and believed the promises that God had given Jeremiah to write about. What did the Lord say through Jeremiah?
10 This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.
The Lord promised that the Babylonians would not continue to keep them captive, and that they would be released and would one day return home to their place, and the place they worshipped, the temple in Jerusalem. God promised it. And Daniel knew that when God said it, it would be done. So what did Daniel do, knowing that God was faithful to his promises?
3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes.
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “O Lord, you are a great and awesome God! You always fulfill your covenant and keep your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands.
5 But we have sinned and done wrong. We have rebelled against you and scorned your commands and regulations.
6 We have refused to listen to your servants the prophets, who spoke on your authority to our kings and princes and ancestors and to all the people of the land.
7 “Lord, you are in the right; but as you see, our faces are covered with shame. This is true of all of us, including the people of Judah and Jerusalem and all Israel, scattered near and far, wherever you have driven us because of our disloyalty to you.
8 O Lord, we and our kings, princes, and ancestors are covered with shame because we have sinned against you.
Daniel knew that the reason they were captives in a strange land was because of their sin… Israel had always turned away from God, following small “g” gods and ignoring the covenant God had made with them. They ignored God, and they were punished. Look at verse 9.
Daniel 9:9–13 (NLT)
9 But the Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him.
10 We have not obeyed the Lord our God, for we have not followed the instructions he gave us through his servants the prophets.
11 All Israel has disobeyed your instruction and turned away, refusing to listen to your voice. “So now the solemn curses and judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured down on us because of our sin.
12 You have kept your word and done to us and our rulers exactly as you warned. Never has there been such a disaster as happened in Jerusalem.
13 Every curse written against us in the Law of Moses has come true. Yet we have refused to seek mercy from the Lord our God by turning from our sins and recognizing his truth.
In Nehemiah 10, the people of Israel promised all these things to the Lord. Their faithfulness to him only, not to marry other people who served others gods, and many more. But they broke these promises. And God had brought judgment on them. Allowing them to be taken captive.
14 Therefore, the Lord has brought upon us the disaster he prepared. The Lord our God was right to do all of these things, for we did not obey him.
He kept his promise. Turn away from me and you will be punished. God is a promise keeper. They turned away, and he was faithful in his promise that they would be punished.
But Daniel knew that God was also faithful in his promise as a God of mercy.
15 “O Lord our God, you brought lasting honor to your name by rescuing your people from Egypt in a great display of power. But we have sinned and are full of wickedness.
16 In view of all your faithful mercies, Lord, please turn your furious anger away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. All the neighboring nations mock Jerusalem and your people because of our sins and the sins of our ancestors.
17 “O our God, hear your servant’s prayer! Listen as I plead. For your own sake, Lord, smile again on your desolate sanctuary.
18 “O my God, lean down and listen to me. Open your eyes and see our despair. See how your city—the city that bears your name—lies in ruins. We make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy.
19 “O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen and act! For your own sake, do not delay, O my God, for your people and your city bear your name.”
Daniel, in his prayer, reminded God of his love and mercy. He reminded God of the mercy he showed on his people when he brought them out of slavery in Egypt, and he asked God to turn his anger away from the people. He said,
Daniel 9:18 (NLT)
18 “O my God, lean down and listen to me. Open your eyes and see our despair. See how your city—the city that bears your name—lies in ruins. We make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy.
The he said this:
Daniel 9:19 (NLT)
19 “O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen and act! For your own sake, do not delay, O my God, for your people and your city bear your name.”
He asked God to hear, forgive, listen, and act.
These things that Daniel is asking… God promises to do in his word.
Hear: 1 Peter 3:12
Forgive: 1 John 1:9
Listen: Jeremiah 29:12-13
ThenACT 1 Thess 5:24
24 God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.
Daniel had confidence that God would keep his promise to deliver his chosen people. This confidence that Daniel had came from the prophet Jeremiah who spoke the words of the Lord. Daniel read this words and knew God would bring his people back to one nation. Look at the words of Jeremiah:
10 This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
12 In those days when you pray, I will listen.
13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.
14 I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”
Daniel was encouraged that one day, God would deliver them, and so this prayer from Daniel shows that God hears, forgive, listens, and acts.
As he prayed, he was speaking the words of the Lord, saying from Scripture what God had said and what God would do. We can do that also. We can claim the promises of God in our prayers.
We can say “God I know you will never leave us or forsake us” (Deut 31:8)
We can say “God I know you have plans for me” (Jer 29:11)
We can say “I know I will not perish, but I have eternal life through Jesus” (John 3:16)
We can say “I know when I come to you, you are ready to hear from me” (Philippians 4:6-7)
We can say “Lord I know I am being tempted, but you can give me the power to overcome my temptation” (1 Corinthians 10:13)
I can go on with more promises…over 7000 of them in the Bible. But this is the assurance we have…he is faithful to what he says. If it says it, he will do it.
There is an old him from 150 years ago, and it goes like this:
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.
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God, my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I'm standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
List'ning ev'ry moment to the Spirit's call,
Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
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.
Daniel had confidence as he approached the Lord in prayer that he would hear from God and he would answer him. He stood on the promises of God. Next week, we will see the answer from God to Daniels prayer, reminding God that he would release his people after 70 years.
But what about you? How often do you pray? Only before the meal? Only when there is trouble? Or do you have a lifestyle of prayer. When I say lifestyle I mean its a part of who you are. A lifestyle of prayer comes from a relationship you have with God through Jesus Christ.
That relationship grows with communication…you and him. You going before him in humility, but confident that he will keep his promise. He promised he would send a Messiah, to save the sins of the world. He did. Jesus. And he promised in John 1:12 that those who were in him (his children, the believers) would not be taken from him (John 10:28). Promises. That can, and will be fulfilled.
Where are you? Are you standing on these promises? Do you know him that has the power to save your life? If you don’t, this morning I invite you to submit to the promise keeper. Give him your life and begin to live for him in everything you do.
