God’s Promises

Going After God’s Promises
by Steve Sudworth

Liberty Church (Ottawa, ON)

What has God promised you?
• Do you know the GENERAL PROMISES of God?

• And the SPECIFIC PROMISES?
o Check/test these = make sure they are from Him
o Be careful of RELATIONSHIPS, STATUS & MONEY

• In BIG & SMALL ways what has God taken hold of you for?
o He shows Himself faithful in SMALL THINGS to help us go after BIG THINGS
 EXAMPLE? David – shepherd

What do we do with these promises?

(1) Turn God’s promises into PRAYER
EXAMPLE?
• GENERAL = “Lord, you said you would give me the desires of my heart.”
• SPECIFIC = “Lord, you’ve called me to Chicago…”

Persistence in prayer is what God wants – we demand in a HUMBLE way…
• Ps89 O Lord, where is your former great love which in your faithfulness you swore to David…Praise be to the Lord forever!
• Lk18:1 Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

(2) Avoid UNBELIEF
Hold on with FAITH thru DELAY…OPPOSITION…WEAKNESS
• EXAMPLE? Zechariah

(3) Remember Jesus is working WITH US and FOR US
We’ll stumble along the way but we have a SYMPATHETIC HIGH PRIEST who is ministering MERCY & GRACE as He brings us TO GLORY (Heb4)

(4) Press on until God says YES
Until God says “not my will” or “YES”, press on to ENTER REST…
• DL Moody: “Tarry at a promise and God will meet you there.”

1Jn5:14-15
Prayer is…
• Relational: confidence = freedom of speech
• Exploratory: according to the will of God
• Submissive: ask for courage to obey
• Persistent yet Patient: Isa64

WHAT IS OUR SPRING BOARD/MOTIVATION TO GO AFTER THE PROMISES OF GOD?
• RADICAL FORGIVENESS
• ASSURANCE OF OUR SALVATION

Heb8:10-12
1. I will put my law into their minds and write them on their hearts
2. I will be their God
3. They will be my people
4. A community of believers
5. BECAUSE of radical forgiveness

(1) I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts
Not external (stone tablets) but written by the Holy Spirit on our hearts = a new heart & capacity to know and love God
• Eze37 – starts with being born again but grows from there
• Rom8 – A heart sensitive to the Holy Spirit, sons led by the Spirit
• Gal5 – we live by the Spirit so walk/keep in step with the Spirit

It’s like hearing God twice…by the SPIRIT & confirmed by the WORD
• Bible = life by the Spirit put into words, confirming that what we hear is God
• Gal5 – the acts of the sinful nature are obvious
o EXAMPLE? Joseph
o Do you need the Bible to tell you not to lie?
• Deut8 – man lives on the word that proceed from the mouth of the Lord

What are His Laws that He puts on our heart?
• NOT OT Law = shadow pointing to something much greater…
o Not just “don’t commit adultery”, don’t have a lustful thought
o Not just “don’t murder”, don’t be angry with your brother
o Not just “don’t steal”, work with your hands so that you can give to others in need
• Essentially boils down to LOVE = for God & your neighbor…
o Greatest Commandment: Matt22
o Rom13/Gal5 – the law is summed up by “Love your neighbor as yourself”
o Do to others as you would have them do to you
o Bearing with each other’s shortcomings

(2) I will be their God
God is our Father…by the HOLY SPIRIT we cry Abba Father
• Deal with a false fear of the Father = if you’ve seen Jesus you’ve seen the Father

As our Father…
• …He makes His PURPOSE known = ambassadors that rule/govern, represent Jesus

• …He PROVIDES our needs according to His call for our lives
o Ask God boldly, lean on heaven
o He often meets abundantly

• …He reveals His PROMISES and helps us fulfill them
o Even rewards are gifts of grace we lay at His feet

• …He PROTECTS us, we’ll never be forsaken, Satan will not get to us.

• …we have His PRESENCE = His ways are “My Presence will go with you and I will give you rest.”

(3) They will be my people
His ambassadors, his representatives, people of influence and impact
• Matt5 – people will see our good works and praise God
• If they see us, they’ve seen the Father

(4) A Covenant Community
Contrasted to the Old Covenant…
• Could be in ISRAEL without ever knowing God
• But in Christ we will KNOW God

A picture of the church in it’s finest hour…
• “they will all know me” = Matt28
• “from the least of them to the greatest” = all used by God
o Eph4…works of service lead to maturity
o The most effective church is on where the priesthood are equipped, united and released

(5) All based on the radical forgiveness of God
• Micah7 hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea
• Ps103 as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us
• Isa43 He remembers our sin no more (!!)
o Why do we remind God?

The LAW dealt with sins of ignorance & waywardness (Heb5:2) but not BIG sin…
• David abandoned the LAW and went straight to God when he murdered
Jesus deals with “big” sin!

What do we do when we mess up?
• Approach the throne of grace (Heb4:16)
• Confess your sin and receive His radical forgiveness
• Compensate/make right (where necessary)
• Ask God to turn it to good (Rom8)
• Move on


THE PURPOSES OF GOD IN OUR LIVES ADVANCE RADICALLY ON THE BASIS OF…
• RADICAL FORGIVENESS

• ASSURANCE OF OUR SALVATION
o Rom5:1-5
 Peace with God (v1)
 Access into grace (v2a)
 Rejoice in the hope of glory (v2b)
 Perseverance in trials (v3-4)
 The outpouring of God’s love (v5)

o Rom6:1-11
 The Gospel is not soft on holiness but it comes from a REVELATION OF POSITION (Eph4 & Rom12)

 baptized = placed into/fused to Christ (v3)
EXAMPLE? Finger is fused to the body

 What happened to Him happened to me (v4)
He and I DIED…BURIED…GIVEN LIFE…RAISED…ASCENDED…SEATED

 Rom6:5-10 expounds on Rom6:3-4
 v6-7 amplified DEATH
 v8-10 amplifies RESURRECTION

 reckon = based on fact, devoid of emotion/experience (v11)
NOT “What do I do?” but