You Can Count On the Promises of God
by Pastor Jim Feeney, Ph.D.

Sermon Summary: God is faithful and true in everything that He says and does. So you can count on the promises of God to be absolutely trustworthy.

2 Peter 1:4 He has given us his very great and precious promises.

•• There are thousands of God's promises in the Bible. Learn to receive them, because God is faithful!

•• Today: “You Can Count On the Promises of God.”

Genesis 28:12-15 [15b] I will not leave you UNTIL I HAVE DONE what I have PROMISED you.

•• God’s absolute steadfastness over a long time.

• Hebrews 6:12 ...imitate those who through faith & PATIENCE inherit what has been promised.

• Fulfilled in Israel in Christ’s time and today = long time.

## Short-term promise or LONG — you can COUNT ON God's promises.

Numbers 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?

•• Don’t evaluate God’s reliability like a human’s.

• God will never lie, never deceive, never mislead you.

• And God will not change His mind.

## If God has promised, the promise is TRUE, and God will not change His mind. You can COUNT ON God's promises.

Joshua 21:43-45 So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn.... [44] The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn.... [45] Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

Joshua 23:14 ...[b] not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.

•• God promised Israel land ... promised them rest.

• EVERY promise of God was FULFILLED.

## The Bible is a historical record of the ABSOLUTE RELIABILITY of God’s promises. The promises have always proven trustworthy, so you can COUNT ON them.

Psalms 119:140 Your promises have been THOROUGHLY TESTED, and your servant loves them.

•• Over thousands of years, the promises of God have been “thoroughly tested” and found to be true.

• Jehovah-Rapha healed Abraham’s wife’s barrenness.

• Five centuries later He still healed (the snakebitten Israelites in wilderness)

• 1,500 years later He still healed (Gospels, Acts...)

• Another 2,000 years later He still heals today!

## Over the space of 4,000 years (Abraham to now), God’s promises have been THOROUGHLY TESTED and found TRUE.

Psalms 145:13 ...The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.

•• “God is faithful” (2 Cor. 1:18).

•• “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

•• Hebrews 10:23 “...he who promised is faithful.”

## You can COUNT ON the promises of God because God the Promiser is FAITHFUL.

Romans 4:13, 16 It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.... [16] Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace ...

•• “The promise comes by FAITH...by GRACE.”

• God is a God of infinite grace.

• You can’t earn or deserve the promises of God. They are ours by grace!

## If you can BELIEVE God, you can COUNT ON His promises, because they are FREE gifts of His grace.

Romans 4:19-21 ...[20] Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, [21] being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

•• The promises of God don’t depend on your abilities, but God’s.

• Abraham was 100, Sarah 90 When Isaac was born. They themselves had ZERO ability to bear children.

• The key was Abraham’s confidence that “GOD had power to DO what He had PROMISED.”

## If you can focus on GOD’s unlimited power, then you can COUNT ON that power to fulfill God’s promises.

2 Corinthians 1:20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

•• All the promises of God are “YES in CHRIST”!

• God says, “I promise” ... Jesus says, “YES!”

• Jesus is the Guarantee of God’s promises.

## You can COUNT ON the promises of God because Jesus is saying, “YES and AMEN” to them on your behalf.

SUMMARY

• Short-term promise or LONG — you can COUNT ON the promises of God.

• If God has promised, the promise is TRUE, and God will not change His mind. You can COUNT ON the promise.

• The Bible is a historical record of the ABSOLUTE RELIABILITY of God’s promises. The promises have always proven trustworthy, so you can COUNT ON them

• Over the space of 4,000 years (Abraham to now), God’s promises have been THOROUGHLY TESTED and found TRUE.

• You can COUNT ON the promises of God because God the Promiser is FAITHFUL.

• If you can BELIEVE God, you can COUNT ON His promises, because they are FREE gifts of His grace.

• If you can focus on GOD’s unlimited power, then you can COUNT ON that power to fulfill God’s promises.

• You can COUNT ON the promises of God because Jesus is saying, “YES” and “AMEN” to them on your behalf.

Preached at South Valley Church, Wednesday, November 17, 2004
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© 2004, James H. Feeney, All rights reserved.
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