God's Precious Promises, 1 of 4
GOD’S PRECIOUS PROMISES Series
TEXT: 2 Peter 1:1-4
TOPIC: God’s Precious Promises
Pastor Bobby Earls, First Baptist Church, Center Point, Alabama
May 31, 2009
(This message is based upon Dr. John Maxwell’s teaching lessons)
This morning I am beginning a new short series of messages entitled God’s Precious Promises.
Whenever I hear the word precious I think about my good friend Pastor Howard Allen from Florence, SC. Howard uses that word precious so often. He applies it to people or things that he really loves.
Precious is also a word the Apostle Peter used frequently. In fact, it is a signature word he used both in his first letter that bears his name and also in his follow-up letter we call second Peter.
Peter, one of Jesus’ original twelve disciples was both an Apostle and a leader in the early church. He was, along with others like the Apostle Paul, James and John, one of the major leaders of the church.
In 2 Peter, he is writing to Christians who are for the most part Gentile believers. Peter’s words are filled with instruction and doctrine. He also reminds us of God’s Precious Promises.
1Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
I. THE SOURCE OF GOD’S PRECIOUS PROMISES, 2 Peter 1:1
1Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
After humbly introducing himself to his readers as a bondservant (doulos) and an apostle of Jesus Christ, Peter immediately uses his word “precious.”
He is writing to those who have received like precious faith. Our faith, and our righteousness he says, are ours as gifts given by our God and Savior Jesus Christ. The Greek construction only has one definite article here and it applies to both God and Savior as being the one and the same. Jesus is our Savior and He is our God!
He is also our Source of God’s precious promises. In fact,
JESUS CHRIST
is the Source of All Our Promises.
He is our Savior, thus Jesus is….
A. The Christ of SALVATION, 2 Peter 1:1, our God and Savior Jesus Christ
B. The Christ of POWER, 2 Peter 1:3a, His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,
C. The Christ of GENEROUSITY, 2 Peter 1:3b, all things that pertain to life and godliness – a reference to eternal life and assurance, and the ability to live godly.
D. The Christ of PROMISES, 2 Peter 1:4, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises,
For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. 2 Corinthians 1:20
II. THE SUBSTANCE OF GOD’S PRECIOUS PROMISES,
The word “promise” is used over 100 times in the Bible. Dr. Everek R. Storms of Ontario spent a vast amount of time studying the promises of Scripture. Writing in Contact Magazine, he said: “The Holy Scriptures contain a grand total of 8,810 promises.[1]
A. UNCONDITIONAL or simply a statement of face, (i.e. John 3:16)
B. CONDITIONAL
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 (NKJV)
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV)
Jeremiah 33:3, Call upon Me and I will answer you…
III. THE SIMPLICITY OF GOD’S PRECIOUS PROMISES
God is a communicator and He wants you to understand his promises. One of the main reasons God spoke His word to holy men of old, and through the inspirtation of the Holy Spirit, wrote those perfect, infallible words down in a book we call the bible, was because He wants you to know and understand the simplicity of God’s precious promises.
IV. THE STIPULATIONS OF GOD’S PRECIOUS PROMISES
Now there are certain truths found in God’s precious promises we need to understand as well. These are the stipulations of God’s precious promises.
A. The Promises of God’s word may have more than one application for my life,
Proverbs 22:4, By humility and the fear of the Lord Are riches and honor and life. (not just material riches, but spiritual, and physical)
Philippians 4:19, And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (what we need not what we want)
B. There are some promises directed to specific persons which relates to every Christian.
Joshua 1:5, “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.
C. There are some promises that speak to nations that can relate to our lives.
Psalm 33:12, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.
D. Promises must never be taken out of their context.
Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1, tell us “There is no God.”
But put in its proper context its truth is very different. (The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.) That’s why I teach and preach expositionally, verse by verse, within the chapter and the chapter within the book.
E. Promises are given to us for both comfort and application.
2 Peter 1:4, 4by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
F. God’s Promises are always morally correct.
God never promises to you anything that would violate His Holy character. (We constantly hear of people who say they killed someone, or left his wife, punched his boss in the nose, because “God told them to!”
No, these folk are listening to the wrong god!
V. THE ASSURITY OF THE BIBILICAL PROMISES OF GOD
A. God’s promises are fixed in heaven and will come to pass in His time.
Ex. Abraham promised a son, David promised to be King, God promised us a Savior, Jesus promises to return.
B. God’s promises are backed by his faithfulness.
Hebrews 11:11, By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.
C. The very names of God gives us a certainty of God’s promises
Jehovah-Jireh “the Lord will provide”
Jehovah-Rapha “The Lord our Healer”
Jehovah-Shalom “The Lord is my Peace”
VI. THE SECURITY OF GOD’S PROMISES
How do we secure God’s promises?
A. We secure God’s promises by FAITH. Galatians 3:22, But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Hebrews 11:33, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
B. We secure God’s promises by OBEDIENCE. I John 3:22, And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
C. We secure God’s promises by PRAYER. Matthew 21:22, “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
Daniel 9:2-4, and the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
3Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 4And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments,
Listen to these wonderful statements by some of God’s choice servants. Men who learned to trust God’s precious promises:
“We have twenty-five cents—and all the promises of God”.—Hudson Taylor, in a letter to his wife during a trying time in the work of China Inland Mission.
And by Charles Haddon Spurgeon:
• I have thumbed my Bible many a year; I have never yet thumbed a broken promise. The promises have all been kept to me; not one good thing has failed.—Charles H. Spurgeon
• I can say myself, I have lived on one promise for weeks, and want no other. I want just simply to hammer that promise out into gold-leaf and plate my whole existence from it.—Charles Spurgeon
• God never gives his children a promise which he does not intend them to use. There are some promises in the Bible which I have never yet used, but I am well assured that there will come times of trial and trouble when I shall find that that poor despised promise, which I thought was never meant for me, will be the only one on which I can float.—Charles Spurgeon.[2]
----
[1]Robert J. Morgan, Nelson's Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000), 645.
[2]Robert J. Morgan, Nelson's Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000), 644.