(Hebrews 10:23) God keeps His promises that he makes. People often make promises they do not keep, or have no intention of keeping. But when God promises, “it is impossible for God to lie.” (Hebrews 6:18) The New Testament “has been enacted upon better promises…the promise of eternal inheritance.” (Hebrews 8:6; 9:15) It is through these promises, the N.T., that God empowers us to live as he wants. (2 Peter 1:4) “He hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
A. Death is promised
1. To Adam (Genesis 3:19) “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
2. To ALL people (Ecclesiastes 12:7) “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”
B. Judgement is promised to all (Hebrews 9:27) “And as it is appointed unto men once to die,but after this the judgement.” (Ecclesiastes 12:14) “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
C. God promised a savior for mankind
1. This was Unconditional (Genesis 3:15) “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heal.”
A. Israel was promised possession of the land of Canaan (Exodus 23:20-31) One condition (vs. 22) “If thou shalt indeed obey his [the angel’s] voice, and do all thatspeak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies.”
a. They did NOT keep the condition (c.f. Hebrews 3:12-19)
B. Saul was made King over Israel by God’s will
1. When Saul rejected God; God rejected him (1 Samuel 15:22-23) “And Samuel said, hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath rejected thee from being king.”
A. Salvation
1. Promised salvation IN Christ
a. Jesus shed his blood “for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28)
b. Jesus gave the “conditions” for appropriating the atonement of his blood. (H-B-R-C-B-F)
B. ALL spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3) “Who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”
1. Again, conditional upon being “in” Christ
C. No condemnation (Romans 8:1) “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.”
1. Must be “in” Christ and also walking “in” the light (1 John 1:6-7; 2:6)
D. A Better Home (John 14:3) “I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there ye may be also.”
1. Must be faithful to God “in” Christ (2 Timothy 4:6-8)
A. God’s promises today are only fulfilled “IN Christ”
B. God’s promises IN Christ cannot be EARNED but they are CONDITIONAL We must KNOW the promises of God to live as he Directs We must TRUST God and His promises, “…for He is faithful that promised.” (Hebrews 10:23)