Standing on the Promises
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Transcript
Handout
God is faithful and we should cling to this for encouragement in this life.
How should the Christian handle discouragement?
Intro
Intro
How many of us find ourselves discouraged? How do we respond?
If you are like me it isn’t a good response.
Illus: - oscillating spirit
How God relates to us is important to remember when we are discouraged.
God communicates to his people through the OT covenant relationship
A bond in blood sovereignly administered
Illus: ANE - A Covenant
Suzerain King would protect the Vassal King
Covenant was as long as the Vassal was obedient the promise of protection remained.
Stipulation - obedience/Promise protection
An animal would be cut in half and both parties would walk through to symbolize what would happen if one broke their promise:
A bond in blood!
Drama
Drama
Stephen’s speech is a history lesson about God’s work of redemption.
Abraham - God walks with Abraham step by step
God of glory appeared -
And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
Called out of Mesopotamia (vs 2) to Haran
Gen 11
Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.
While in Haran, expects Abraham’s trust and faithfulness
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
God placed him in the promised land through his children
Abraham received the promise by God even if unrealized by him
God’s purpose fits his timeline and not ours
The promises of God are upheld and completed in ways we may not see or understand
God is faithful
Doctrine
Doctrine
God’s Covenant requires obedience from his people
Sermon Notes:
Abraham called out of Mesopotamia (vs 2)
and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’
Acts 7
God told Abraham to “go”
Stipulation of the covenant was obedience
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
gen 12:
“So Abram went” - He responded without realizing the promise
God’s Covenant includes promises for his people
Stephen shows them where they have been to show them God’s faithfulness
They were currently living in the land God Promised, inherited from Abraham and his offsrping
God honored his promise and it was being realized by the men Stephen spoke to now
God established the covenant and promised a people more than the stars
Stephen was reminding them of this promise and the realities of it
App: We should look around us and see God’s faithfulness
In our church
In our family
When we become discouraged we should think upon the blessings we have received from God as promised. Our salvation is one.
God’s Covenant includes a sign for God’s people
Circumcision
Those who were circumcised where marked as God’s people
It was a reminder for the people
They would often forget the faithfulness of God
Illus: Grumbling in the desert
And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.
And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
Gen 16:
God provides them Bread from heaven
Rainbow (Noah), Circumcision (Abraham), Baptism (Christ)
Illus: Grumbling in the desert
It was a mark by God
God claims his people
Doxology
Doxology
Why does Stephen start his argument here?
He wants them to understand that Abraham, in the context of this covenant with God, was obedient because he clung to the promises God made to him.
Hebrews 6:13-
For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.
Christ
God is faithful and we should cling to this for encouragement in this life.
When we understand that God relates to man through a covenant we can understand His grace
These covenants all build to the New Covenant in Christ Jesus
Christ fulfills the covenants all other parties could not
God promises us many things and many of them we have yet to realize
Salvation -eternal life is promised although not realized
New Covenant:
Christ is obedient in our stead
His righteousness is imputed to us and fulfills the covenant of works broken by Adam
Illus:
Gen 15
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
God established a covenant with man and here shows us that He himself would fulfill that covenant.
In other Words God made a promise and in his very nature keeps that promise and it is seen in Jesus Chirst
When we become discouraged or Satan has us beat down, we need to look around us to the greatest reminder we have that God keeps his promise - we need to look to Jesus Christ
Illus: Christ at Gethsemane - twice
Matt 26:
Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?
Matt 26:41
Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”
Jesus looked to God and was reminded of the promise that was to come:
Victory over Satan
Resurrection of the Dead
Glorified and seated at the Right Hand of God
A realized promise by Jesus
Illus: Discouragement left unchecked is Satans way of moving our eyes away from God. I remember one man that was dying of cancer in the hospital that I visited. He stopped eating. His countenance had fallen and he was barely wiling to talk. As I sat with him through this there was only one thing I could do. I read scripture to him for hours. I knew this was the only thing, with God’s HS that could bring him out of this. I was even used by the doctors to encourage him to eat as I did this.
Many of us are discouraged:
We are discouraged that our health is failing us
We are discouraged that our family is in disorder
We are discouraged that our job seems to take us nowhere
We are discouraged that our pain is too much to bear
If we place our eyes on Jesus:
By this I mean read and study his word regularly
Pray to him and seek encouragement
We will rain ourselves then to look to the promises of God and be encouraged
For those of us whose tears are more than they can bear, remember this:
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
For those of us whose pain is engulfing you and you feel like you cannot go on, remember this:
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
For those of us whose life is so messed up and in shambles that we are afraid to tell anyone or share anything, remember this:
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Conclusion
Conclusion
When we place our mind and heart on the things of Jesus we will be inundated with the promises of God through Jesus Christ. This is where Stephen rightly begins his speech to the people. He reminds them of God’s covenant and the promises they have already seen. We too have sen our salvation. And, while not realized until we go to be with the LORD, it is a promise that we can hold onto and be encouraged.
Brothers and sisters, be encouraged today, that like Abraham, God has established an unbreakable covenant with us through Jesus Christ, and this is our source fo encouragement. Look to Christ today and place his words on your heart and minds and be encouraged!
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 shall not fall,
List’ning every moment to the Spirit’s call.
Resting in my Savior as my All in all,
Standing on the promises of God.