Promises, Promises 3 Sermon

well as you know we've been seeing in
recent weeks that when the Lord entered
into covenant with Abraham I way back in
the book of Genesis he promised Abraham
for things he promised him a land he
promised him a mighty nation as numerous
as the stars in the sky in the sand on
the seashore he promised him a blessing
and he promised him that he would be a
blessing roll all of those together as
we have seen as does the Apostle Paul in
the book of Romans and God promises to
Abraham that he and his offspring are
going to inherit the earth everything
all the human race fights to own desires
to have in terms of its needs in terms
of its happiness in terms of its
blessedness God promises to Abraham and
he promises to give it to him by faith
now we've also seen that if you want to
see what that looks like in history you
get a glimpse of this by looking at the
rule of King David and later on the
glory of his son Solomon David as a man
after God's own heart David rescued his
people from the enemies all around them
he consolidated the land he he organized
the nation and they prospered and he
made sure that the worship of God was at
the center because he understood that
the Covenant blessings of God flow out
of our relationship with Yun and then we
saw together that that historical
fulfillment of which we get glimpses in
David's life ultimately is realized in
the person of Jesus
because according to the genealogy he is
not only the son of David but he is also
the son of Abraham and that means of
course but all the promises that God
made to Abraham about inheriting the
world if you will have been realized in
the person of Jesus Christ he is the
offspring to whom the promise was made
Galatians 3 16 puts it this way the
promises were spoken to Abraham and his
seed the scripture does not say and to
seeds meaning many people but to your
seed meaning one person who is Christ so
what Paul is saying there the covenant
promise that God made to Abraham that he
and his descendants would inherit the
earth finds its ultimate fulfillment in
the person of Jesus Christ and that is
where it becomes explosively powerful
for you and for me because it means
biblically that if we are joined to
Jesus by faith we are now included in
Abraham's seed or offspring and the
promises made to Abraham now apply to
you in me Paul elaborates upon that
Galatians chapter 3 verse 26 he says you
are all sons of God this is speaking to
Gentiles now just like you and I mostly
would have been non-jewish you were all
sons of God that is to say remember sons
inherit has nothing to do with male or
female it has everything to do with
being the heir you are all sons of God
through faith in Christ Jesus for all of
you who were baptized into Christ have
clothed yourselves with christ now
listen there is neither Jew nor Greek
slave nor free
male nor female for you were all one in
Christ Jesus and verse 29 really drives
it home if you belong to Christ then you
are Abraham's seed and heirs according
to his promise if you are belonging to
Christ then you are Abraham's seed in
heirs according to the promise what was
the promise you're going to inherit the
earth everything the human race wants
needs to do life and to do it abundantly
and fights for and wages war for God
says I will give it to Abraham into his
seed in Christ you and I are his seed we
are due to inherit the whole world and
all that that represents and while the
ultimate fulfillment of that of course
is in the age to come when every tier
will be wiped away at every heart that
is broken will be fully mended we have
the first fruits of that we have the
down payment we have the pledge we have
the foretaste through the Holy Spirit
listed again to this verse you've heard
me quoted many times but it is
incredibly powerful and you want to read
it in its context as it is written no
eye has seen no ear has heard no mind
has conceived I like that no mind has
conceived what God has prepared for
those who love Him let your imagination
flow wide as to what you think would be
the most delightful life that you could
possibly have when you dream for the
coming year think of what you think
would make you happy well you haven't
even begun to imagine what God has
prepared for you in glory but now listen
to the rest of that verse God has
revealed it to us by his Spirit you know
that means that means that if you're in
Christ there will be those moment
when God gives you a spirit of wisdom
and revelation were in the midst of all
the struggles the battles and the
difficulties of life suddenly you see a
fresh the glory of God in the face of
Jesus and what the blessings in christ
are that God's going to give you not
only in the future but that you can
actually lay hold of today because you
have the down payment you have the
pledge you have the first fruits and
through the spirit there will be those
moments when we experience the glory of
the age that is to come and if that's
totally foreign to you it's for a lot of
uh city has sometimes then pray that
prayer that Paul prays in Ephesians for
a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of himself God is more anxious
to open our eyes to this then we are
willing to receive yet because God wants
us to understand what the riches are
that we have in Christ Jesus our line
now all of that being true that has
tremendously practical implications for
how you and I live it in the time that
remains this morning when I try to give
you a for practical implications of what
it is that in Christ we are the seed of
Abraham and we are here to the promises
that God is made to hear number one
nothing is more important than coming to
faith in Jesus Christ I'll say it again
nothing in all of the universe is more
important than for an individual to be
joined to Jesus by faith in him why well
it makes sense doesn't it if Jesus is
the
lead to whom the promises are given and
if we can share in those promises only
by coming to faith in Jesus then the
single most important thing that anybody
in the whole universe could do was bend
their knee before jesus and find life
and salvation in him Peter a verse we
often quoted here Acts chapter 4 verse
12 salvation is found in no one else for
there is no other name under heaven
given to men by which we must be saved
it is Jesus and Jesus alone now why is
that so important because we live in a
time when Satan well let me backtrack
and put it this way we have an enemy and
that enemy historically does not want to
see people experienced the salvation of
God both because he hates the human race
and because he hates God and so he is
always trying to blind us to the glory
of God in the face of Jesus he tries to
blind us to the uniqueness of Jesus not
only but he's always trying to get us to
buy in to other saviors or other ways in
which we can receive the inheritance
that we longed for let me give you two
quick examples still a straight this the
Pope was in the news a while back a
couple of weeks back actually during the
Advent season and he made an extremely
thought-provoking observation about the
Jewish people now you got to understand
that historically there's been lots of
tensions between the church and the Jews
going back all the way to when the Jews
used to be blamed for the crucifixion of
Christ which of course was never a very
fair thing but there's always been
tension and the Pope was trying to
diminish the
tension I suspect but he made a most
fascinating observation he said that
Jews should no longer be the object of
Christian evangelism because according
to the Old Testament they already had a
covenant relationship with God and
therefore did not need to come to faith
in Jesus interesting thought is it gone
and again I understand his sentiment but
theologically he couldn't be further
from the mark because the Apostle Paul
spend most of his ministry in the New
Testament fighting that very notion that
just because physically you are a Jew
that does not mean that you are a child
of promise or that you receive the
promises made to Abraham in fact he
points it out very blatantly in the book
of Romans Romans chapter 9 these verses
six seven and eight he says not all who
are descended from Israel or Israel nor
because they are his descendants are
they all Abraham's children on the
contrary it is through Isaac that your
offspring will be reckoned in other
words it is not the natural children who
are God's children but it is the
children of the promise who are regarded
as Abraham's offspring again in other
words what are you seeing the promise
that God made to Abraham that his
descendants would receive the world as
their inheritance ultimate salvation if
you will does not apply to you just
because you're physically a judo the
promise was fulfilled in Christ and so
you must come to Christ because apart
from Christ you cannot be saved and that
is true for the Jewish people as it is
for everybody else one other quick
example the name the name larissa
Hawkins probably doesn't mean very much
to you this morning she has been a
10-year
professor at wheaton college in illinois
now Wheaton Illinois is sort of the
Jerusalem of the evangelical church next
to you know today Colorado Springs it's
a very highly esteemed Christian
institution and she got in the news
during the season of Advent because she
began wearing the traditional Islamic
head covering so that stirred up a
little bit of interest as you can
imagine but then in defensive her
position she went on and she posted this
I believe on facebook she said I stand
in religious solidarity with Muslims
because they like me a Christian are
people of the book and as Pope Francis
stated last week we worship the same God
that was not interesting do you think
Allah and yahwah are the same God most
evangelical Christians would vigorously
disagree because jesus said and again
point-blank in John 14 verse 6 he says I
am the way and the truth and the life no
one comes to the Father but by me there
is salvation in no other and we live in
a day and age where people are trying to
water down the uniqueness of the gospel
as if there are many paths to the
inheritance it is not true there is one
path only and that is Jesus and
practically speaking you know that means
is that you not have an obligation to
make sure that family and friends all
around us know that reality and I'm not
suggesting we hound them to death or
pound them to death with Bibles but
please do
understand the message of Scripture the
downside of the exclusivity of the
claims of Jesus is that if you are
outside of Jesus there does not await
you paradise but rather the lake of fire
and that is true no matter how good or
nice or proper you may think you have
been only Jesus receives the inheritance
so bring sobering and you and I if we
don't want to be guilty of the blood of
people around us at least have to make
that clear so that people can make their
own choices as to whether or not they
embrace Jesus and what he stands for so
first implication of all of this
practically speaking is there is nothing
more important than for a person to come
to faith in Jesus Christ even if you
have the whole world but don't have him
you're going to be lost at the end of
time which is a horrible thing to
contemplate well second implication of
all of this then is that nothing is more
important than cultivating our
relationship with Jesus Christ nothing
is more important than cultivating our
relationship with Jesus and again that
makes sense doesn't it if Jesus is the
error and if it is in Christ that we
share the promised blessings of God both
in time and in eternity then the
smartest thing that we can do in the
whole world is to make sure that we walk
closely with Jesus but if we because if
we work closely with Jesus and are in
tune with him we are in tune with a
father and the promised blessings of
Abraham are granted to us listen to how
Jesus puts it in the Sermon on the
mount a verse that you know so well
Matthew 6 verse 33 but seek first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness and
all of these things will be given to you
as well seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness and all these things will
be given to you as well think this
through with me a little bit biblically
speaking from a worldly perspective how
do you regain Paradise Lost I mean you
don't have to convince the world that
it's a troubled place and you don't have
to convince the world that there is a
better place I mean an enormous amount
of energy is being expended by
multitudes of people trying to get to a
better and a happier place and from the
world's perspective because God's
outside of the picture it pretty much
depends on you and on the people around
you and so if you're born with a golden
spoon or silver spoon in your mouth
proverbially if you have a good family
and you have good family support and
you're smart and you're good looking and
you're not afraid to work hard then the
chances are success will come your way
and the world's full of self-help
material that is geared towards trying
to encourage you to be the best person
that you can be so that you can be as
successful as you can possibly be isn't
that true and that's not all wrong there
are good elements about that but all of
that is rooted in what the Bible calls
work that is to say it depends on you
and what you bring to the table and the
poor soul that doesn't come from a good
background the poor soul who was broken
from birth the poor soul who isn't very
smart the poor soul who isn't very
good-looking the poor soul who does
have the motivation to make it happen
that poor soul just sort of sinks to the
bottom as everybody else claims over top
in order to get the biggest piece of the
pop true come on it happens every area
of life God's people are not excluded
off on but now consider what the Bible
says the defining word in Scripture is
what the word grace that is to say it
doesn't depend on you it doesn't depend
on me it doesn't depend on what we bring
to the table it depends on Jesus he is
the one who was perfect before God the
Father he is the one who was obedient
even unto death and therefore was highly
exalted given the name that is above
every name he is ruling at the Father's
right hand he has the name that is above
every name he is bigger and more
powerful than anybody else in the
universe and he has reserved a throne in
the new creation for you and me his sons
and his daughters we are heirs and heirs
of God and co-heirs with Christ and we
come into that not because we're so good
looking some of you might get by and
that the rest of us we kind of helps not
because you're so smart and not because
you're so righteous but because we have
owned our scene and because we have
claimed Jesus by faith and so what God
the Father has given Jesus he gives to
you and to me Paul you might recall
talks about that in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 when he says think of what you
were when you were called not many of
you were wise by human standards not
many were influential not many were of
noble birth but God chose the foolish
things of the world to shame the wise
God chose the weak things of the world
to shame the strong he chose the lowly
things of this world and the despise
things and the things that are not to
nullify the things that
so that no one may boast before him it
is because of him that you are in Christ
Jesus who has become for us wisdom from
God that is our righteousness holiness
and redemption therefore as it is
written let him who boasts boast in the
Lord now that doesn't mean you can't be
saved if you're good looking or if
you're rich or if you're very talented
and know how to climb the corporate
ladder it just means your status before
God does not depend on any of the things
that define success in the world your
status before God is determined by your
relationship with Jesus am I making
sense here therefore if you're going to
be a follower of Jesus if you want to be
successful in life if you want to do
well before God then cultivating that
relationship with God is simply the most
important thing in all of the world
because it is in union with Christ but
the promised blessings of Abraham are
ours by faith listen to how Jesus puts
it himself again in John's Gospel John
chapter 15 he says I am the vine you are
the branches if a man remains in me and
I in him he will bear much fruit apart
for me you can do nothing if anyone does
not remain in me he's like a branch that
is thrown away and withers such branches
are picked up thrown into the fire and
burned if you remain in me and my words
remain in you ask whatever you will and
it will be given to you we have riches
in christ that we can't even begin to
imagine let alone lay hold of but we
move towards it by learning to cultivate
our relationship with Jesus and if
you're looking for a new year's
resolution that's the new year's
resolution that ought to take priority
over everything else no matter how many
urgent things in life try to push that
away from your Center number three
closely tied into that we must cultivate
the spiritual disciplines we must
cultivate the spiritual disciplines
spiritual disciplines are things that
you and I can do to facilitate our
growth in christ now understand we
cannot make ourselves grow we can only
create the circumstances by which the
seed of new life planted in us can in
fact prosper and grow it's like
gardening you cannot make a seed sprout
you cannot make a plant grow and you
cannot make it bear fruit but the
difference between a good gardener and a
bad gardener is miles apart because a
good gardener can create the
circumstances under which that seed can
grow you can give it the cultivation the
nutrients the environment that it needs
so that the life that is inherently
present can flourish and become what it
needs to be and that is what's true in
the Christian life if Christ is in you
and you are in Christ you have been
implanted by a seed from heaven you've
got to understand this it's no longer
you that live but Christ that lives in
you that life of Christ in you is the
very life of God it has gone through
death and hell it has not been stopped
by death and hell
it has flourished it is seated at God's
right hand it has overcome everything
that life in Christ is in you and it's
in you whether you feel it or not
whether you experience it or not or
whether you see the evidence of it or
not but it's there and the nature of
seed is to sprout and bear fruit and you
and I can't make that happen but we can
cultivate an environment in which that
can happen and those are the spiritual
disciplines in your bulletin you don't
need to turn to it but in your bullet is
an insert that outlines a number of
spiritual disciplines as formulated
originally by richard Foster who wrote a
classic defining book the celebration of
discipline way back in nineteen seventy
eight and then a summary from Dallas
Willard who picked up on some of that
take that home look at it in the
meantime let me touch on just a couple
of things that you already know but
knowing is not enough it takes
discipline to put it into action because
you see the urgent always takes over
from the important and there are a
thousand and one things that you and I
in this crazy day and age are busy with
from early morning to late at night but
as Jesus said to was it to Martha one
thing is needful no to Mary who was it a
complaint in that story come on help me
here was it Martha Martha was upset
because Mary wasn't helping her in the
kitchen remember what Jesus said to her
one thing is needful so what are some of
the disciplines that you and I can and
need and should be practicing well one
is the discipline of solitude we live in
a world where we are barage with noise
one of the brothers here told me the
other day one of his disciplines of late
has been that when he drives 20 minutes
to work he's learned to shut off the
radio and just be with himself and with
gone a lot of us have no idea what we
are feeling or what lives on the inside
because we keep ourselves so plastered
with noise from the outside God couldn't
get through if he was shouting if you
are going to speak to you and if you
want him to get in touch with deep hard
places then at least give him the
courtesy of saying okay Lord I'm going
to shut up for a while and show me what
I'm feeling show me what I'm thinking
show me what my problems are show me
what I I need to be praying about and
that's of course another discipline is
prayer talking with God and if you find
yourself distracted as many of us do you
know the little acronym a cts works
wonderfully adoration confessing thanks
confession thanksgiving in supplication
bible reading scripture is categorical
in can't see the verse here romans 10 17
faith comes from hearing the message and
the message is heard through the Word of
God let me just unburden myself about
this because the knowledge of Bible is
abysmal in this day and age even among
Christians we're too busy we read the
Bible in little bits and pieces and we
often forget the big picture that God
wants to show us that's why we've been
doing what we've been doing going
through the Covenant made with Abraham
the New Testament doesn't make any sense
unless you know the old testament and so
if you don't already
have a habit of regular consistent Bible
reading would you put yourself through
that discipline hi boss talks to his
congregation about find 15 minutes at
the start of a day or whatever day part
of the day when you are at your best and
use it for reading and meditating upon
scripture use it for for prayer use it
to to formulate in your whole being a
biblical world and life you because
scripture says my people perish for lack
of knowledge the values of the world
that I have invaded the church and that
have colored God's people have power to
do so to the degree to which we do not
know the scriptures and that nobody's
going to do it for you you've got to do
it yourself in fact one thing that we've
been talking about a staff and counsel
and we'd be interested in your feedback
on this is we're toying with running an
eight-week video series that takes us
entirely through the Bible in an
incredibly creative and constructive
fashion and we believe that if we were
to do that it could be a whole family
venture to make sure that our kids as
well as ourselves are rooted and
grounded in Scripture that decision
hasn't been made yet we still have to
have some further discussions on it but
if you think that's a worthwhile thing
for us to do we'd be very interested in
your feedback so there's solitude
there's prayer there's bible reading
this corporate worship scripture of
course talks about that so clearly in
Hebrews 10 25 letters not give up
meeting together as some are in the
habit of doing but let us encourage one
another and all the more so as you see
the day drawing near now one of the
changes in today's culture and we hear
this everywhere we go
is that the priority of corporate
worship for worshippers has dropped to a
new low that is to say people are
increasingly irregular in whether or not
Sunday corporate worship is a priority
can we all understand that sometimes
we're sick and sometimes we're on the
move and we have family obligations but
understand if you will that a log on its
own does not burn very well for very
long and if you want a good fire you've
got to be together with God's people and
you've got to encourage one another in
the faith you need to be able to share
your struggles you need to be able to
share your burdens you need to be able
to share your hopes and your dreams
because it is in that context that God
is present and pours out his life and so
I would plead with you to please would
you please come on time on sunday
mornings would you make an effort I saw
my son come in 20 minutes late this
morning so I can address that will shame
him into being here on time being late
is a habit and it's a lack of discipline
and I don't want to be nasty about this
but it's disrespectful to people who are
up front who are trying to lead you into
corporate worship be here on time come
with your heart open and the less you
feel like being here I've often said
this the more you need to be here
because you don't know what God is going
to do the spiritual disciplines is
larry's Lee said many times it go about
prayer is like working for the power
company he says sometimes you dig holes
sometimes you plan polls sometimes your
string wires but every so often God
throws the switch and the power flows
now God can speak to us anywhere at any
time but I'll tell you that if we're
faithful and spiritual disciplines we
open up the opportunities for God to
break through and to speak to us about
the incredible inheritances that we have
in Christ Jesus our Lord by being fair
to you as we face the new year let's
resolve to ask God for the extra grace
of discipline in our lives the other
thing that I would mention just in
passing very quickly is we have to of
course cultivate obedience the Bible
calls that walking after the spirit I
say walk by this spirit do not gratify
the desires of the flesh if Christ is in
you and you're cultivating a
relationship with him then he will
propel your life from the inside out you
won't just need to be told from the
outside what you need to do it'll come
from the inside and he'll convict you a
sin he'll convict you of righteousness
he'll show you that attitude was wrong
that behavior was wrong this was right
this was good as we learn to listen to
that voice coming to us through
Scripture in the context of community
and obey it our lives change because we
begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit
that's why that passage goes on to say
that his hours of the flesh are against
the spirit the desires of the spirit
against the flesh for these are opposed
to each other to prevent you from doing
which you would there's always two
forces acting on our lives the downward
pull of sin and the upward flow of the
wind of the Holy Spirit which one wins
out is not unrelated to what we do with
a revelation
Lord God gives us so number one it's
really important to be united to Christ
number two we need to cultivate our
relationship with the Lord Jesus and one
of the ways in which we cultivate that a
relationship with the Lord Jesus is to
learn to practice spiritual disciplines
find out what works for you because
that's different for everybody some
people are morning people some people
are night people some people are music
people some people are visual people
find out what it is that feeds your soul
and make it a priority because at the
end of time it won't matter how
successful you have been in the world by
the world standards and I don't begrudge
anybody their success because that's
part of God's blessing but if it's
without Jesus it will all be wasted one
more thing I want to mention because I
want to draw this series to a close this
morning because have to be way next week
I think two would be for a classical
appointment you can pray for me that'll
be a new experience considering our
history fourth practical implication is
this we must trust God to keep his
promises we must trust God to keep his
promises talked about that extensively
at the New Year's Day service not all of
you were there if you weren't may I
encourage you to watch the service
either online or get a DVD of the
service because we talked about the
importance of walking by faith and let
me use this opportunity for just a
moment to point out to you a new feature
on our website because as you know our
services are streamed live what some of
you don't know is that they are recorded
as they're being streamed live and so
immediately upon the
of a service the whole service is online
and to access that if we can put up that
picture this is the front page of our
website maranatha hyphen church com a
lot of you have been there but on below
the main slider here which changes from
week to week here is the button to watch
live if your connection will not sustain
video you can go to audio but down here
is a new button it's been there for a
couple of months now but we've been
wanting to work out all the bugs that
will take you to service replay if you
click on that you will end up with this
screen screen and over here you have the
archives they go back three months after
that they get removed it'll
automatically default to the top one and
it will come up as a splash screen like
this so plus on pray pray play you know
what I'm trying to say and if your
stream can sustain a video stream this
will play and of course if you don't
know that already this button over here
enables you to go to full screen not all
of you have computer connections i
realize that but it is available or will
be it isn't yet on DVD and it talks
extensively about the importance of
faith and if we're to be on the same
page together have the courage to lay
hold of god's promises in this coming
year then do is all a favor and give
that a listen because the january one
message that i give to this community is
almost always i believe a prophetic word
that God wants to use to define our life
together in the coming year one of the
very first verses in Scripture that I
ever memorized after I got to know the
Lord in a real way is numbers 23 verse
19 God is not a man
that he should lie or the Son of man
that he should change his mind does he
speak and then not act does he promise
and not fulfill you only have to read
the scriptures to know that God values
faith not faith that is a mere human
optimism but a faith that is deeply
rooted in the knowledge of God's
character by faith the men of old and
the women of old laid hold of God's
promises and if God has promised us a
land if God has promised us to be a
mighty nation if God has promised to
bless us so that we have enough not only
for our own needs but for the needs of
the world all around us then we need by
faith to lay hold of those promised
blessings come hell or high water and
please don't ever live under the
illusion that just because God promises
to bless us and to give us the
inheritance of the world in the final
analysis that life will be smooth
sailing for you because that would not
be true in fact rereading in recent
weeks the story of Abraham Isaac and
Jacob and all the promises that God
makes I'm struck by the fact that when
God's people step out in faith the devil
the world in the flesh all try to tear
us down but those are the times to stand
on the Word of God until all hell yields
its treasures in God's people can
receive their inheritance and for
whatever it is that the Lord has for us
as we go forward I can tell you this
much it's going to take our collective
faith to stand firm that we are the
children of God we're not under
condemnation God loves us he has given
us his spirit his presence is with us
and individually and corporately he will
give us faith to speak to the mountains
and
commend them to move so that the enemy
has to give up his treasures and God
will have his people that's our job and
that's not calling and we need to do it
together
so whatever your part is in that embrace
it and God will accomplish great and
mighty things even in the midst of a