October 29, 2018

"As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age."  Genesis 15:12-15

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians." Exodus 6:6:7

I am focusing on the four great promises God made to His people through Moses as He was about to deliver them from the bondage of Egypt.

So far, since a promise is only as good the person who makes it I thought it important to show that God can be counted on to keep His promises. Always has and always will! How can He be God and fail in a promise. The promises that have not yet been fulfilled certainly will be in due time. In fact, they will happen at just the right time!

But this morning I want to point out one more important and inspiring insight about promises. In order for a Promise-keeping God to be true to His promises He must depend on promise-keeping men!

The first promise above was made to Abraham. We know that Abraham wasn't perfect and that his judgment was occasionally flawed. But God was willing to enter into a covenant with Abraham that when kept would bring salvation to the world! I think it is safe to say that God believed in Abraham more than Abraham believed in God!

It is accurate to say that if the first promise had not been kept the second promise - the four-fold promise - would not have been made!

But it was!

So, enter the second promise-keeping hero, Moses! Yes, Moses the Egyptian raised murderer turned fugitive turned rancher. That Moses!

It was to this guy that God revealed the most strategic promises in history! Does it encourage you to think that you don't have to be perfect to be a promise-keeper? Does it give you hope to think that God's faithfulness is greater than your flaws?

The faithfulness of Abraham and then Moses, imperfect men, allowed the life-changing, world-changing, history altering and eternity changing promises of God to be fulfilled! Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

We should also include other Bible heroes such as Isaac, Jacob and Joseph who also sustained the Covenant through the generations from Abraham to Moses. They were far from perfect but faithfully fulfilled their purposes within the promise!

Here is the truth to wrap your head and heart around this morning: A promise-keeping God is depending on you to help Him fulfill His promises to you and to those you influence!