The Promise Keeper

“The Promise Keeper”

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Have you ever been promised something that never happened? Have you ever made a promise that you did not keep? Sadly we are living in a day of promise-breaking, when what you’re told may-not happen. The bible tells us in the last days people will be promise-breakers, that promises made will mean nothing, that people will be trucebreakers,

. Jeremiah said Truth has fallen in the streets.

Politicians promise protection from war, jobs, improved health care, better education programs, safer borders, and a stronger economy.

Sadly many husbands and wives are breaking their promises. We are uncertain who we can trust to keep their promises. Well there is someone you can trust, someone who always keeps His promises, someone who cannot lie, and always keeps His word.

-“God is not a man that He should lie”

-“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen”.

God will always keep His promises!!

We are living in a world of broken hearts, and broken homes, broken hopes; because of broken promises; but I came here this morning to tell you that God is not a promise-breaker, He is a promises keeper!!

Here in these verses we’re told what God’s Promises will do for you.

1. God’s Promises Remove Fear!

V:1-“After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am your shield, and you exceeding great reward”.

Notice the start of that verse, “after these things” After what happened in Chapter 14, after the war and the rescue of Lot from the enemies, after he refuses to be in alliance with the King of Sodom. Abraham has defeated the enemy; he has been on the mountain top; but after the mountain top came the valley. Abraham is thinking what happens if the four kings from the east return with reinforcements and attack the camp? He is afraid he will be attacked and defeated, killed or dragged off into captivity. Abraham has done the right thing, but he is fearful of what the consequence for doing right will be. He is fearful so God said to him, “Fear not Abram”

Do you think Abraham was surprised when God said that to him? It is a reminder that God knows what I am going through, and I don’t even have to tell Him!! God in His great love and grace knew about the fear that was gripping Abraham heart. So God speaks to him,V:1-“Fear not, Abraham… God didn’t rebuke him, or shame him, instead God makes him a gracious promise, V:1-“I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward”

God promises remove our fears! God promised Abraham his presence, I am your shield, God didn’t promise to give Abraham a shield, God Himself promise to be his shield. I am going to be with you, I will be surrounding you, and protecting you.

I will come between you and your enemies, and you will be safe because the great I am is your shield.

King David said the same thing when he was surrounded by enemies:

-“LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! Many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. But you, O LORD, are a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

God knew where Abraham was, and what he needed to hear; and God knows where you are and what you need to hear.

Have you just taken a stand for God’s word?

Have you just been in a battle with the enemy?

Have you just come off a mountain top experience?

Are you afraid of the consequences for doing right?

Are you afraid of the enemy’s next move?

Are you afraid God will abandon you?

Then you need to hear this promise from God’s word, V:1-“Fear not, I AM you shield, and you exceeding great reward”

The enemy will have to get through ME to get to you, and it isn’t going to happen! I am your shield!

You didn’t taken anything from the king of Sodom, you are depending on me to take care of you and I will, V:1-“I am you exceeding great reward”

God said the exceeding great reward is ME!! What reward is greater than God Himself? I rather have God than anything in this world. I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold!!!!

These promises were meant to remove the fear from Abram’s life!

The promises of God are meant to remove the fear in your life!!

· -“I will never leave you, nor forsake you”.

· -“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me….

· -“Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon you. For I am the LORD you God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior”.

This bible is full of promises to remove fear from our lives; we just need to find them and believe them. This is the first time in the bible you read the phrase "Fear not” but from Genesis to revelation you read it 365 times, a “fear not” for every day of the year!

Are you living in fear because of something that has happened in the past or because of something that is happening in your life right now? God says to you “Fear not” I am your shield- I will protect you from the enemy!!! I will take care of you, I will be your reward for telling the world no, and trusting me!!

Abram was also afraid of the future:

-Read. I don’t have a son; will the nation you promised come through my servant?

What is the future for my family?

It has been 10 years of waiting for a son to be born, and Abram was at the breaking point, I hear you saying you will be my exceeding great reward, but what will you give me….I don’t have a son yet!!! And whatever you give me will go to my servant.

Abram is filled with fear, uncertain because he is doubting the promises of God.

When we doubt what God’s word says, we will be filled with fear, doubt and uncertainty.

Abram brings his doubts to God, he tells God what he is thinking, he tells God what he is struggling with, and he tells God his disappointments.

God welcomes you to do the same thing Abram did. When you’re filled with fear and uncertain, and you have questions, bring them to God directly, personally, and respectfully.

Be like the father in the N.T. who brought his son to Jesus; when the man was challenged to trust Jesus completely for the healing of his son, he exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Sometimes we need help to trust God completely, Abraham did. God encouraged Abraham by giving him promise that he could wrap his faith around: V:4-“This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir”

The plan I have for you and your family involves you having a son of your own, you have my word on it!

God takes Abram out in the night and says,

V:5-“look up in the heaven, and count the stars, if you are able to, so shall your children be”

Don’t live another day in fear about you’re:

· Protection- I am you shield!

· Provisions- I am your exceeding great reward.

· Plan- you will have a son, nation.

What fears are gripping your heart today? God’s promises remove fear!

2. God’s Promises Promote Faith!

V:6-“And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Abraham heard God’s promise, and he believed God, and God counted it to him for righteousness!

Abraham placed his faith in what God said; and his faith in God brought the righteousness of God.

The bases of Abrahams faith was the promises of God; for you and I the bases of our faith in the promise of God in the Word of God!

We don’t have faith in faith; we have faith in God who is revealed to us in the Bible!!

Reading God’s word, will promote faith in your heart!

-“So then faith cometh by hearing, the word of God”.

This verse is one of the greatest verses in the O.T. it is quoted 3 times in the N.T. ;

; and . The New Testament writers use this verse to illustrate salvation is by faith.

The three key words in this verse are believed, counted, and righteousness.

· Abraham believed God.

Abraham said, 'Amen, LORD!" it SHALL be so, it is so!!

The word "believed" means "to lean your whole weight upon." Abraham leaned wholly on the promise of God. We are not saved by making promises to God but by believing the promises of God. In the Gospel of John, which was written to tell people how to be saved, the word "believe" is used nearly 100 times. Salvation is the gracious gift of God, and it is received by faith ().

What was Abraham's greatest need? Righteousness. This is the greatest need of people in our world today, for ). "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God"

-"There is none righteous, no, not one"

It is not enough to be "religious"; God demands that we have perfect righteousness or He will not let us enter His heaven.

How did Abraham receive this righteousness?

He believed the Lord, and righteousness was counted/imputed to him. "Impute" means "to put to one's account." On the cross, our sins were put on Jesus' account where He suffered the punishment that belonged to us.

When you believe in Him, not a mental accent to fact, but when you place your full confidence in Jesus; His righteousness is deposited into your account; and you stand righteous and forgiven before a holy God.

On the ledger of your heart is the debt of your sin:

Rebellion, pride, hate, lust, lies, greed, defiance and everything that condemns you.

But when you place your faith in Jesus Christ, all you sin is wipe clean, and on the ledger of you heart is written-forgive- your debt is forgiven. But that is not all, into your heart is deposited the righteousness of God, so when God looks at you He sees you justified, righteous and Holy!!

-“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

When you place your faith in Jesus, He places his righteousness in you; this is what the bible calls being justified. And the way Abraham was justified is the same way all people are justified, by Faith.

-“Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

-“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”.

Salvation comes only through faith in the Lord Jesus; that is the way it has always been.

James quotes this verse and tells us that faith in Jesus will produce works; it will change your life, IF it is a real faith.

Have you rested your faith on Jesus Christ alone for your salvation?

Has your faith changed your life?

3. God’s Promises Reveal the Future!

V:7, in this verse God reminds Abraham that He brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees to give him the land of Canaan.

Abraham asks God, how do I know that I am going to inherit this Land?

In the remainder of this chapter God reveals the future to Abraham and makes a covenant with him.

God gives Abraham details about the future of his descendants and about the land of Canaan.

The land of Israel is an important part of the covenant for it is in the land of Israel that the divine drama of "salvation history" happened. The land of Israel will also be the stage for the final act of that drama when Jesus returns to reign on earth. God lays out for Abraham what the future would be for him, his family and the land of Canaan.

· V:13-14, Your descendants are going to go to a land that is not theirs, they will be servants there, they will be there 400 years, and that nation shall be judged and they will come out rich.

· V:15, you will die in peace at an old age.

· V:16, and after the 400 years in Egypt you family will come here again.

God is sovereign in history. Process Theology and Openness Theology is a lie, God controls every detail of history.

God knows the future; God reveals much of the future to us in the Word of God! God has told Abraham that he will have a son, from that son a great nation, and land for that nation, and through his family shall all the families of the earth be blessed- the savior, Jesus would come through his family.

That is God’s promise to Abraham about the future. God tells him this, and then God is going to make a covenant with Abraham, He is going to act out a binding contract/covenant with Abraham in V:17-18. I want you to picture how this happened in your mind: What is happening in theses verse was known in that day as "cutting a covenant." This ritual involved the death of animals and the binding of people to a promise. The persons making the covenant would sacrifice several animals and divide the bodies, placing the halves opposite each other on the ground.

Then the parties would walk between the pieces of the sacrifices saying if they failed to keep their word, they deserved the same fate as the animals.

-“The men who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me. I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces. The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem who walked between the pieces of the calf, I will hand over to their enemies their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.”

When Abram was told, “Bring me all these pieces,” he immediately knew what was going on.

This was a covenant ratification ceremony, the making of a contract. Abraham cut the animals in half, he is thinking God is making a covenant with me, and God and I are going to walk between the animals; but that is not what happened!!

Abraham's killed the animals, laid them on the ground, when the sun went down, Abraham fell into a deep sleep;

V:17-“And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

Who walked between the sacrifice? God alone passed between the sacrifices! God walked through the pieces alone, He did not say, “Abram, now you do it.” It was God who made promises to Abraham, and it was God alone who would keep the covenant that He made to Abraham!! God is saying to Abraham I will be cut off if I don’t keep my part of the covenant, but also, I will be cut off if you don’t keep your part of the covenant.

This is the gospel. Salvation is not a cooperative effort. It is not, God helps those who help themselves.” It is not a partnership.

God says, “I will take upon myself the curse of the covenant for both of us.

We are told in V:12, that there was a horror of great darkness that fell that night. If reminds us of another time of great darkness, you read about if in - “At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land . And at the ninth hour Jesus cried My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’

For the new covenant to be ratified, God was cut off, torn apart, He died to keep the covenant, the new covenant, forgiveness and salvation is possible because God did ALL of the work for us, it cost God to make the New covenant!!!

Isaiah says in, “For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.”

Jesus was cut off that we might not be, Jesus died that we might live!! God knowing that we could never keep our part in salvation, kept it for us!!

Salvation is not you doing your part and Jesus doing His, NO, NO!!

God Himself was torn apart that you and I might be in a covenant relationship with Him!!

Abraham believed God and was made righteous, and God promised him an eternally future!!

This morning, God will justify you, forgive your sin, and make you righteous if you will place your faith in JESUS!!

-“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

The promises of God remove fear!

The Promises of God promote faith!

The Promises of God and reveal the future!

There are a lot of things that you can’t believe, but you can believe God!!!

Abraham believed God, have you believed God?