Favourite Promises

Courtesy Tim Challies

CATHEDRAL NEWSLETTER - 20 June 2024

Friends in Christ, in last week's sermon I shared this comment from the great Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon (see image right)...

Found in his book, God's Promises: Of Salvation, Life, and Eternity, Spurgeon went on to write:

“The divine promises should be as much written upon our hearts as upon the pages of the Book. It is a sad pity that any child of God should be unaware of the existence of the royal promise which would enrich him. It is pitiful for any one of us to be like the poor man who had a fortune left to him of which he knew nothing, and so he continued sweeping the streets and begging for money. What is the use of having an anchor at home when your ship is in a storm at sea? What good is a promise which you cannot remember so to plead it in prayer?”

In the evening version of the sermon, I invited attenders to share their favourite promise of Scripture with me, and a number of you did so. I have a few myself. And so here is a list of ten top promises of God.

1. Let's start with Jesus' words we often use in the Lord's Supper, from Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

2. Here's another Scripture we often use in church, this time before the 'confession of sins', from 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 
   1 John 2:1b-2 then explains why he is able to forgive us... "Jesus Christ, the Righteous One ... is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."

3. Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
   Not necessarily a verse to dump on someone in the midst of suffering. And remember that v29 defines a key part of God's great purpose as believers being "conformed to the image of his Son". But God is powerful and loving enough to turn even evil for good purposes, like he did at the cross. 

4. Hebrews 13:5 "God has said,

   'Never will I leave you;
       never will I forsake you'."
   ...Here the quote comes from Deuteronomy 31:6, and the context may be financial pressure, since this promise is the reason for the obedience to the command to keep your lives free from the love of money. Have little money, but have God in your life and you are richly blessed and you will never be let down. 

5. This leads to a less well known promise God made to the Israelites, via the prophet Joel, as they experienced the impact of exile from their land. Joel 2:25-26 "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten... And you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you."
   Most of us are not farmers. But we who live beyond New Testament times know to look not only to this life, but also to life in the world to come for the fulfilment of this promise. For example, Jesus said, Mark 8:29-30 “Truly I tell you, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life."

6. The next promise is one of my very first memory verses as a young Christian teenager grappling with the reality of sin in my own life. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."
   Do you believe God knows you that well? Do you look for the way out? ...He will help you endure with faithfulness in resisting evil!

7. And what about that most comforting of passages for believers are funerals: John 14:2-3, where Jesus says, "My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."
   There will be room for all Jesus calls to himself. His death (to which he went to prepare the wayto heaven) is sufficient for all. And so personal: eternal life is to be with Jesus!

8. Related to this, someone at church picked Revelation 22:10 as their favourite promise: "He [Jesus] who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon’"
   Spelling this out a little further, he added from earlier in the chapter, Revelation 22:3-4: "No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads." 
   He asked: what could be more important than to at last be able to see Jesus face to face… to finally be able to worship and love our Triune God perfectly, without an iota of corruption! 

9. As we wait for Jesus to return (and as we remember that "with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day", 2 Peter 3:8), be encouraged by the promise at the end of 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24...
   "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it."

10. The last word comes from another member who wrote to me... I reflected yesterday on what my favourite promise of God is. As I reflected, it settled on that one of the greatest assurances we have in Christ is that his words are true and trustworthy. For if I am to stake my life on Christ, and live his way, no matter the cost, a promise that his word is true, and unchanging, is of supreme importance. For from there flows reliance on all others of God’s promises, the truth of the scriptures and the account of the death and resurrection of Christ... Perhaps Matthew 24:35 is one of the most concise New Testament articulations of this, where Jesus says: "Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away". 

As the prophet Isaiah said, chapter 40, verse 8...

The grass withers and the flowers fall,
    but the word of our God endures forever.

Thanks to all who shared suggestions. Feel free to write to me and let me know which of these Scriptures encouraged you the most this week. Or add your own promise to the list!

Warmly in Christ,

Sandy Grant
Dean of Sydney