Those Precious Promises Part 2

Last time we looked at God's magnificent and precious promises in which He desires good will toward sinners with great purpose, to bestow some spiritual or temporal good upon us, or withhold some spiritual or temporal evil from us. They are given to us in His word, always for our good, and often for our survival, being objects of our faith and hope, our faith demonstrating for us who believe that these things God promised are true, and our hope in them expecting Him in performing them in those that have faith and believe. And the root of these Divine promises is in the sovereign goodness of God by which He purposes and engages Himself to do good to sinners, not because we have merited His benevolence, but out of free grace to us, since even the condition required (faith, repentance, or the like) is itself from God. So today we will look further into these promises, and attempt to give you examples of what Christ reminds us of so often, DO NOT FEAR, and what His word shares with us to have success against those many fears that jump in to upset our lives.

In 2Peter 1:4, Peter describes God's promises as precious and magnificent promises. We saw that the word precious is used only 11 times in the New Testament, Peter being very fond of that word as he describes the incredible value of certain things such as to describe the value of Christ's precious blood and now here God's magnificent promises. But the Greek word for magnificent, "MEGISTOS" is only used here in the New Testament. The meaning could be referred to as "absolutely excellent, the best of the best, the cream of the crop. They can be described as a staff the shepherd may safely lean on. And for the Christian, rightly using them means believing them, applying them, depending on them, and praying them as well. English Puritan William Spurstowe states, "Applying the promises means keeping those that pertain to various trials "at the ready" so that, we have recourse to divine support and comfort." While being in the Word, reading it and allowing the Spirit of God to allow certain promises of the word to jump off the page and be lodged in our minds and to remember them in that vault to recall at just the opportune time down the road.

God promises to either deliver us from the troubles, or to support us in the midst of these troubles, but in any case, we have great comfort with a particular promise at hand. The great Apostle Paul seemed to always count on that in 2Cor.12:7, as he implored the Lord three times concerning this thorn in the flesh, and He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Paul would persevere because of the grace that was present in him," Jesus promised that. The thorn did not just immediately disappear, many of our struggles usually do not. To that, Puritan William Spurstowe replies, "We often act like sick people who conclude that medicine is unhelpful if it does not immediately remove the pain, when all the while the medicine is working to prevent the sickness from taking greater hold on their bodies." The promises often are not fulfilled immediately just as sowing and reaping are not accomplished on the same day.

To finish, let's find some promises to help in time of need. My go-to, default promise for all is Isa.41:10,"Do not fear, for I am with you, do not anxiously look about you for I am your God, I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." If you are fearing making decisions about your future, Psalm 32:8,"I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go, I will counsel you with My eye upon you." Are you doubting your salvation when the Devil accuses you of yet another sin, Rom.8:31,33,"If God is for us who can be against us? God is the One who justifies, who is the one who condemns?" Are you fearful of growing old, Isa.46:4,"Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you, I have done it, and I will carry you, and I will bear you and I will deliver you." Lastly, would you fear of making shipwreck of your faith,"Phil.1:6,Heb.7:24,For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus," and "Therefore He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him since He always lives to make intercession for them." Begin looking for those magnificent and precious promises and see He is always faithful to keep them, they are all blood-bought, and are all yes and amen in Jesus Christ.

Elder Randy Slak