GOD’S WORD FOR OCTOBER 30 ~ ~ Hebrews 11:1-2 ~ ~ “ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.”
Another chapter in the book, We Shall See God, entitled, “Obtaining promises – part one”
CHARLES SPURGEON:
God has placed longings inside each human heart, longings for God and for heaven, for a resurrected life on a resurrected earth. We often confuse these as longings for something less. But our deepest desire is for precisely what God has promised us: to live as complete and righteous people, with the person we’re made for, in the place we’re made for.
The promises of God are to the believer an inexhaustible mine of wealth. Happy is it for him if he knows how to search out their secret veins and enrich himself with their hidden treasures. They are to him an armory containing all manner of offensive and defensive weapons. Blessed is he who has learned to enter into the sacred arsenal, to put on the breastplate and the helmet, and to lay his hand to the spear and the sword.
The promises are the Christian’s Magna Carta of liberty; they are the title deeds of his heavenly estate. Happy is he who knows how to read them well and call them all his own. Yes, they are the jewel room in which the Christian’s crown treasures are preserved – regalia, secretly his today, but which he shall openly wear in Paradise. He is already a king who has the silver key with which to unlock the treasury. He may even now grasp the scepter, wear the crown, and put upon his shoulders the imperial mantle.
Oh, how unutterably rich are the promises of our faithful, covenant-keeping God! See, then, how necessary it is that you and I should know the heavenly art of obtaining promises by faith (Hebrews 11:33)
Life eternal is described as the Promise of eternal life (1John 2:25). We look for the Promise of His coming, and after that “according to His Promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2Peter 3:13)
Obedient to the diving command, Abraham prepares to offer up his son Isaac, his only son on whom his hope of posterity depended, counting that God was able to raise up Isaac again from the dead.
If we are to obtain a promise, our faith must be accompanied by action. When we have made some sacrifice for God, and have been willing in the teeth of human reason to do God’s Word as God bids, we shall then stand in a place from which we may reach another and higher promise than as yet we have ever been able to grasp in the hand of our faith.
I think it is Martin Luther who says that some passages of Scripture are like trees which bear fruit but the fruit doesn’t easily drop. You must get hold of the tree and shake it again and again, and sometimes you will need to exhaust all your strength. But at the last shake, down drops the luscious fruit. So you do with the promises – shake it back and forth by meditation, and the apples of gold will fall.
To doubt an honest man is to cast a slur upon him. But to doubt God, who cannot lie, who has sworn by an oath, is to make God a liar or even a perjurer! Our souls shrink back from infamy so cursed. Did ever fiend in hell commit a more detestable sin than that of doubting the truthfulness of a God of perfection and truth? Come now, there is the promise; there it stands before you. Don’t sin in unbelief.
You say, “I dare not believe it.” But I say “How dare you doubt it? Where did you get your arrogance from? How can you speak so exceeding proudly as thus to think of God and say of Him, that He has promised that He cannot or will not perform?”
And you!! Saints of God, look to your noble ancestors. What a pedigree you have! Through what a host of martyrs, prophets and apostles has our blood descended, and all these bear their testimony that not one good thing has failed of all that the Lord God has promised. Among them all there is no exception. Not one of them will question the truthfulness of God. They tried Him in the bitterness of life and they all say to you, “Trust in the Lord; believe in Him. So shall He bring it to pass, and you shall attain the Promise.
Falter not, hesitate not, waver not, but with the unstaggering faith of Abraham, say, “He that has promised is able also to perform” and you shall see it with your eyes and you shall eat thereof. You shall have His presence and blessing in this world, and in the world to come life everlasting.” God help us so to do for Jesus’ sake.
****************** *************
There are over 8,000 direct promises in the Bible for believers. Some are conditional, some are not. Some are dependent upon our belief (as in salvation), some are dependent upon our obedience, and some are just because of His infinite Grace and Love.
God is ABSOLUTELY TRUSTWORTHY to make good on EVERY ONE!! He is GOD. He cannot lie, fail, or make a mistake. HE WILL DO IT!
Here are just a few of the over 8,000:
1 John 2:25
And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.
Matthew 11:28-30
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Isaiah 54:10
“For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you.”
Colossians 1:13-14
“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
James 1:5 says…
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
James 4:7
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
John 3:16 says…
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Rom 8:28 says it like this…
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”