God, the true promise-keeper.
Genesis • Sermon • Submitted
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Several years ago (1990), a famous Football Coach, named Bill McCartney, started a movement called Promise Keepers. The movement focuses on helping men to live with integrity. As the name indicates it, men are expected to keep their promises as husbands, fathers, and leaders. The lives of many have been changed thru that ministry.
Are you a promise keeper? or, Are you like politicians that make promises, but do not keep them?
This morning, I want to talk about the true and first promise keeper: Our Almighty God.
Read Gen 21:1-8
A year before of what happened in this chapter, being Abram a 99 years old man; thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael, God changed Abram’s name:
“No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I will make you the father of a multitude of nations.
He went from Abram (“exalted father”) to Abraham (father of a multitude). How could this be if he had only one child, and not from his wife?
God promised him to make him exceedingly fruitful:
“I have made you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you.
In the same chapter, God also changed Abram’s wife’ name:
Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
Her name Sarai means “dominant”. It comes from “sar”: head person. Translated also as captain, general, prince, chief, and ruler. Her new name was Sarah which means “a mistress; a lady”.
The Lord always keeps His promises.
The Lord always keeps His promises.
Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised.
God had promised Abram to give him a miracle child and even He gave him a name.
But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
When Abram received the promise, he worried about Ishmael. God told him that he had blessings for Ishmael, but God’s covenant would be through Isaac.
“But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.”
God wouldn’t be God if He does not keep His promises. He would be a liar!
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
That is enough to encourage us to believe His promises and to expect their fulfillment.
“Not one of the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.” Josh 21:45
His promises are reliable.
His promises are reliable.
His promises are sure.
His promises are sure.
When Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, entered the Promised Land, they saw God’s faithfulness in keeping then:
Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.
We have no valid reason to doubt that He will fulfill them:
For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.
His promises are for us.
His promises are for us.
For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
He does it at the appointed time.
He does it at the appointed time.
So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.
His time is not our time.
God, never delays a minute. He is plan is perfect, his timing is perfect.
“There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven” Eccl 3:1
“Take heed; keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.” Mark 13:33
“But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:8-9
There is nothing too difficult for the Lord.
There is nothing too difficult for the Lord.
When they received the promise, they saw as such impossibility that they laugh.
Abram was the first one to laugh:
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
When the promise was made for a second time, Sarah heard it and laughed. She basically said the same things Abraham had said: “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
God responded to them:
“Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
God keep His promises even against the power and laws of nature. He does it against any prognosis! God keeps on giving children to women who where told by doctors that they wouldn’t have children.
Let’s not forget that miracles are supernatural!
He was 100 years old, and she was 90. (vers. 5)
Imagine the funny situation…
God has a sense of humor! After they laugh, God gave them the name of the child: Isaac (laughter). Comp Gen 17:15-17; Gen 18:9-12
Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.”
“The one who laugh last, laugh better!”
Isaac is a type of Christ:
Promised child.
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.
Long awaited son. Comp.
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,
Joy of his father. Comp.
After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
Mocked by his brother. Comp.
And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.
In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying,
To be sacrificed by his father. Comp. John 3:16
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Sarah is a type of the man in Christ.
Lack faith before meeting Christ.
In the Lord’s hands, the barren became fruitful. Comp. Eph 2:1-2
Received God’s mercy.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Filled with joy when the child was born. Comp.
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
The Bible states that “God has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises.”
Believe God’s promises, hold onto them, claim them, and wait for God’s time to fulfill them!