Sure Promise

Hebrews 6:13–20 (NLT)

13 For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying:

14 “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.”

15 Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.

16 Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding.

17 God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind.

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.

19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.

20 Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

1. God’s promises are credible

God stands by His promises

I promise to uphold...... “So help me God”

It is as if God were to say, “So help Me, Me”

If God said it, He will fulfill it

Num 23:19 “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”

2. God’s promises are grounded in His Character

A promise we often overlook, Gen 8:22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

We see these things happening

Seedtime: whatever you sow

Harvest: you will reap

You can’t trick God, If you sow a bad seed, you will reap a bad harvest

I get together with my family for my mom—that is good seed

I expect to reap my children getting together with me—my harvest

Why am I certain of this: because cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night are still occuring

He spoke through the prophet Jeremiah, Jer 33:20-21 “This is what the Lord says: ‘If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, 21 then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne.”

His promises are sure

3. His promises are conditional

Not everyone gets to enjoy the promises

Not because God is unable to fulfill the promises but because we fail to uphold our end

This is what Moses told God’s people, Dt 30:19-20 “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

Also, the author of Hebrews tells us, Heb 6:12 “12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”

You need faith to obtain the promise

In other words, you need to believe in the promise

You must be fully convinced

You need patience

Don’t get ahead of the promise

God promised you would be a parent—wait until you get married to make babies

God promised you would be a pastor—start learning what it takes

God has certain expectations of each of us

His promises are sure but you must uphold your end

4. God’s promises bring hope

Hope: a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen

Hope is what wakes us up every morning

Hope keeps us in the game

Hope keeps us in the fight

When I was in the hospital, it was hope that kept me alive

The hope of getting back to my wife and children

The hope of getting back to the service of our God

The hope of living the life God promised

Paul said, Rom 8:24 “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?”

We must believe what we do not see

We must believe beyond what our natural eyes see

There is hope in His Sure Promise

5. God’s promises direct our lives

At the end of his life, King David told his son, 1 Kings 2:2-4“I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, show yourself a man, 3 and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go, 4 and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’”

We must learn to obey His commands to receive His promises

We must live a life that honors God

When we mess up, and we will, we must learn to repent

The psalmist wrote, Ps 51:17 “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”

God will not give up on you, don’t give up on yourself

Get up and keep trying

His promises are Sure