”The Promise Keeping God” | Pastor John Tilley Jr | Joshua 21

Fantastic. Well,

I hope that this morning we don't always

theme our services one in one vein, but

this morning we did and I hope that

your heart has been helped and that

you've been encouraged and reminded

of the blood that was shed on

your behalf.

Jesus didn't have to die for us. You

understand that?

But he chose to.

He knew it would be the only way that we

would ever be able to get to a right

relationship with God.

Which for the blood of Jesus. The Bible

says without the shedding of blood there

can be no remission of sins. We see this

all the way through scripture in the Old

Testament. We see them having to

sacrifice the perfect spotless lamb, but

it was only temporary. It was never

completely perfect so it could only ever

do so much. And so over and over and

over and over they had to make the

sacrifice every year and then sacrifices

throughout the year. And then Jesus came

as the final sacrifice, the

propitiation, the payment of our sin.

And it was with his blood that we are

redeemed

and made right with our heavenly Father.

And so

I hope that this morning you've been

reminded of some of those things

and that you'll leave today singing some

of these songs, worshipping our Savior

for his blood. You know, there's a

movement in modern evangelicalism to

remove the blood from churches and from

worship.

And they say it's too gory. It's too

It's messy. We don't like the blood. We

want to be professional and we want to

be just, you know, God has redeemed us

and so we're, you know, and they go

through all this stuff.

But uh

I don't I'm just not comfortable doing

that. Just being honest with you because

the Bible's very clear that it is only

through the blood of Jesus that we can

go to heaven. It's only through his

blood that we have any access to God the

Father. And so I'm going to sing about

it and I'm going to preach about it and

I'm going to tell people about it. I'm

going to rejoice in it. I'm going to

remember it

because I'm thankful this morning for

the blood that Jesus shed for me. Amen.

Take your Bibles and go with me to the

book of Joshua chapter 21 this morning.

Joshua 21 · chapter mention

Joshua 21, I know that we have been at

this for an hour now and we're just now

getting to the Bible and so I will keep

that in mind. I'm going to go as quickly

as I can this morning and I don't want

to I don't want to make you late for

Mexican today, okay? Uh so we'll we'll

do our best to get you out of here on

time this morning.

But uh there are some truths that we

want to look at and the word of God is

what makes the difference. The Bible

says the grass wither, the flower fades,

but the word of our God shall stand

forever. So we want to make sure that we

study the Bible. That's what's most

important. It'll change your life.

It has changed my life and I'm forever

grateful for it. Joshua 21 this morning.

Father, I need your help now for just a

few moments. Help me to expound your

word. I do not want to say my words. I

want to expound your word.

I pray that you'd help us to do that

this morning.

Help us to grow closer to you. May we be

reminded of just how good and how great

you are today.

We'll give you the glory and the praise.

We ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. I want to talk to you this morning

on this thought, a promise-keeping God.

I'm thankful that we do in fact have a

promise-keeping God. A God that makes

his promises and then follows up. A God

who doesn't leave us stranded, leaves us

wondering, leaves us

guessing if he's going to show up or if

he's going to come through, but he is a

promise-keeping God. He has always been

a promise-keeping God and he will always

be a promise-keeping God. He doesn't

change and he will never break a

promise. Throughout the year we've been

preaching through the book of Joshua and

this is the 24th, I believe this is the

24th sermon from the book of Joshua that

we have preached and we're in chapter 21

this morning and here's what we're going

to observe from chapter 21 of the book

of Joshua. In a statement. This is the

sermon in a statement.

We will observe how God kept all of his

promises to Israel and how he keeps all

of his promises to you and I. We could

say it this way, the same God who kept

all of his promises to his people back

then is the same God that will keep his

promises to his people today.

So, we're just want to remind you by

looking briefly at this chapter this

morning

that our God will keep his promises.

And then we're going to conclude this

sermon today. I'm going to give you a

list

of all of the promise Well, not all of

them, but a list of promises that God

has given to the New Testament local

church. I'm going to remind you of them

based on the fact that he's a

promise-keeping God. And my goal in this

is to encourage you from the word of

God.

Oftentimes

when we come when we're talking about

the land of Canaan, which is what Joshua

is all about, the book of Joshua,

they're conquering the land of Canaan,

and you have probably heard it called

this. When someone is referencing the

land of Canaan, they will call it two

words. They call it the promised land,

right? Have you heard that phrase, the

promised land? Well, they're talking

about that comes from Joshua. That comes

from the land that God promised the

nation of Israel. And so, the land of

Canaan is the promised land. Now, I

understand that's become somewhat of a

uh catchphrase, a buzzword in our

culture, right? You pull into the

Chick-fil-A parking lot and you say,

"Welcome to the promised land," right?

Or men, we go to Bass Pro Shops and we

walk in and we say, "The promised land,"

okay? Because this is a place I don't

know what it is about moms, but it's

Esther walks into Carter's in the mall

and like it's nothing but baby clothes

in there. I have no reason to go in that

store whatsoever. I have never left

anything in Carter's, but she goes in

there and she's like, "The promised

land," right? I mean, she could spend

hours in there looking at baby clothes

and shopping for stuff. Okay, so we've

got we understand the phrase and then we

understand what it's become in our

culture, right? And and what we use it

as in our culture is not so true to what

it means in the Bible.

The promised land is the land of Canaan

that we've been studying for months now.

But what it is for you and I is is a

picture of promised living that comes

only through Jesus Christ.

The promised land in the Old Testament

is a picture of promised living in the

New Testament.

It's a great picture of, if we wanted to

say it very plainly, the victorious

Christian life.

You can live in victory. You can live

joyfully. You can live encouraged and

motivated in your Christian life. You

can defeat sin in your Christian life,

but it only comes through the person of

Jesus Christ. And so as we're looking at

the promised land, there there's a an

ideology out there that will say that

the promised land is a picture of

heaven. There are some resemblances to

that. I can see what how they make that

argument, but I don't believe it's

primarily a picture of heaven. I think

the promised land, the land of Canaan,

primarily is a picture of the victorious

Christian life. It's you and I on this

earth. We still fight battles. We still

mess up. We still make mistakes, but we

keep on going and we keep conquering new

ground in our Christian life because of

Jesus Christ our savior. Does that make

sense to everybody this morning? Y'all

with me so far? So we have the promised

land a picture of promised living for

you and I. When we come to Joshua 21,

we're right in the middle of the section

of the book where they are dividing all

of the land. I say the middle, we're

really at the end of it. Chapter 21 is

really the last that we'll see of them

dividing up the land. And so they're the

all of the tribes have their allotment.

We talked about this. We showed you a

map. We pointed out all of the different

tribes and and where they were and what

piece of ground they got.

We come to one more group of people who

live in the the land of Canaan. They

live in the promised land, but they

don't get their own land. They don't get

their own little piece of their own

little plot of land that they can settle

on and build.

Uh this group of people is called the

Levites. They were from the tribe of

Levi, and they were the priest.

Uh they would have been the worship

leaders. They would have been the ones

who served in the temple and the

tabernacle. And God said, "I don't want

them to have their own piece of land,

but instead what I want them to do is to

inhabit specific cities that will be

located all throughout the land." So,

instead of having one chunk of land that

this is the the tribe of Levi's spot,

and they all pretty much live in that

area, instead of doing that, God

assigned 48 cities that he scattered

throughout the entire land of Canaan,

the entire promised land, and the

Levites were to inhabit those 48 cities.

And there's some reasons for that.

The the biggest reason was so that they

were accessible.

Uh no matter where you were in the land

of Canaan, you would have been a short

distance from one of these Levitical

cities. So, you could have went and and

learned the law, you could have went and

went to church, so to speak. Uh there

was a place where somebody was gifted in

teaching you the Bible and could have

explained the Bible to you.

And that's important for us to

understand. So, that That's what the the

Levitical cities are. And when we come

to chapter 21 of the book of Joshua, it

is all about all 45 verses of it is

about the division and the the assigning

of these 48 cities to the Levites.

So, what does that mean for you and I?

Well, let's read a couple verses. I'll

give you an outline, and we'll apply it,

okay?

Chapter 21, I want you to look at verse

number three.

Let's start in verse number two. The

Levites show up in Shiloh where Joshua

is at and they say they spake unto them

at Shiloh the in the land of Canaan, the

promised land saying, "The Lord

commanded by the hand of Moses to give

us cities to dwell in

with the suburbs thereof for our

cattle." And the children of Israel gave

unto the Here it is, the Levites out of

their inheritance at the commandment of

the Lord these cities and their suburbs.

And then what begins is a list of a lot

of of cities, the names of those cities,

the names of the tribes that those

cities were assigned to. And it's a long

list, several several verses long. I'm

not going to take time to read all of

that this morning cuz it it it would do

nothing but make you laugh at how poorly

I pronunciate all those names, okay? So,

you go home and you poorly pronunciate

those names today. But I want you to

skip down to verse number 41.

All the cities

All the cities of the Levites within the

possession of the children of Israel

were 40 and eight cities with their

suburbs.

These cities were every one with their

suburbs round about them. Thus were all

these cities.

And the Lord gave You notice that?

Notice that phrase, "And the Lord gave

unto Israel all the land which he sware

to give unto their fathers and they

possessed it and dwelt therein."

And the Lord gave them rest round about

according to all that he sware unto

their fathers. And there stood not a man

of all their enemies before them. The

Lord delivered all their enemies into

their hand. There failed not alt of any

good thing which the Lord had spoken

unto the house of Israel. All came to

pass.

God gives the nation of Israel several

things in these verses and I want to do

my best to quickly this morning uh give

it to you so that you can think on it

and uh we'll look at the promises of

God. God promised Israel several things.

For for hundreds of years now, Israel

has been resting in the promises of God.

And now we get to the end of chapter 21

of the book of Joshua and all that God

had promised them had come to pass. Let

me write down a couple of things. Number

one this morning, write down their

possession.

God gives them their possession. In

verse 43, the Lord gave.

The Lord gave. What does he give them?

He gives unto Israel how much of the

land? Look at your Bible and help me

here this morning. How much of the land

does God give them? Then the Lord gave

unto Israel

What's the next word?

All of the land. Y'all see that? Y'all

awake? You got your Bible? All right,

here it is. And the Lord gave unto

Israel

all of the land which he sware unto

their fathers and they possessed it and

dwelt therein.

So God is going to come through on his

promise and he's going to give them all

of the land that is rightly theirs. By

the way, the land is still theirs.

We'll just throw that in there. That's

not politically

uh what do they say? Um

People don't like when you say that.

We'll just call it that for now. They

don't like that. That's not popular in

our cultural cul- culture, but it's

still Israel's land. Now, let me pause

and I want to take you from verse 1 to

verse 42 and I want to I want to give

you a simple application about the

Levites, okay? Verse 1 through 42 we

which is all about these Levites. Who

are they and why do they matter to you

and I? Well, let's talk about them very

quickly. The Levites had three primary

functions in the Old Testament.

They would be the people who would lead

the nation in the worship of God.

So they led the nation in the worship of

God.

They would also teach the nation the

word of God.

And they would also show the nation the

way of God. All right? And I'll give you

a If you want verses, uh they would lead

in the worship of God.

First Second Chronicles 17:9, they would

2 Chronicles 17:9

teach the word of God. First Chronicles

15 and verse 16. And they would show the

way of God. Deuteronomy 33:10. So, God

Deuteronomy 33:10

sets up the Levites, the priest, the

ones who would serve and and work work

in the temple. He sets them up and he

said, "This is your job. You're going to

tell everybody what the word of God

says. You're going to lead in the

worship of God and you're going to show

the nation the ways of God. And I'm

going to scatter you all throughout the

land of Canaan so that wherever the

nation of Israel goes, there's a Levite

close by. There's somebody who knows the

Bible close by. There's a light in a

dark culture something close by to help

guide and direct and steer the culture

and keep us grounded on the truth of

God's word." Now, hopefully already

you're seeing some comparisons to the

Levites of the Old Testament and the

local church of the New Testament,

right?

God said, "Hey, in the Old Testament,

the Levites, I'm going to put these all

throughout my nation, all throughout the

nation of Israel so that they can guide

and direct and ground people on what is

true." Now, let me show you what the New

Testament says about the local church.

You and I, the local church, are

supposed to lead our culture in the

worship of God.

First Peter chapter 2 and verse 9 says,

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

"You are a chosen generation, a royal

priesthood." We think about priests

sometimes in the Old Testament and we

think, "Oh, the priest, he that's like a

pastor today." There are some

similarities, but really the priesthood

of the Old Testament it is the church of

the New Testament. We are a royal

priesthood. Not just me, we together.

Not just the preacher. I'm not the one

who's supposed to lead in the worship of

of our culture. Not alone. We are

supposed to do that corporately as the

local church. We're a royal priesthood,

a holy nation, a peculiar people that we

should show forth the praises of him who

has called us out of darkness into his

marvelous light. Why does a church

gather on a Sunday morning and sing so

many songs?

Well, because we are supposed to be the

lighthouse to a culture that shows them

what it looks like to worship our God.

And if you don't show up to church on

Sunday, and your lost neighbor or your

lost co-worker sees you mowing your lawn

instead of worshiping your God on a

Sunday morning,

what does that say to them about where

the culture culture needs to be when it

comes to worship? You are the example.

You are the ones who lead the culture,

lead the nation in worship of God. And

if it's not important to you and I, it

will never be important to them.

Number two, not only do we lead in the

worship of God, but the local church is

to teach the word of God.

First Timothy 3 and verse 15,

says that the church is the pillar and

the ground of truth.

The church is the pillar and the ground

of truth. And I can't stay here long.

I've got to move We could preach this

This could be a whole sermon in of

itself. But I'll just say it in one

statement this morning. If a church does

not live by, preach, uphold, open their

Bible on a Sunday morning, leave the

church.

It's not a church. I told this to the

usher the other day. It's not a church.

It's a gathering of people who want to

feel good about themselves by being

religious. If the Bible is not at the

center, it's not a church. Why? Because

God said the definition of a church

is a place that is the pillar and ground

of truth. Meaning the pillar, we hold up

truth, and the ground, everything we do

is grounded in scripture. We are the

pillar and ground of truth. Everything

comes from the word of God. That's why

this morning when we observed the Lord's

Supper, I took you to 1 Corinthians 11,

and I walked you through what the Bible

says about the Lord's Supper. Cuz this

isn't just me trying to be traditional

or trying to do something No, this is

Bible. It's the pillar and ground of

truth. So, if a church If you ever come

across the church online or in person,

and and they're doing things that are

against the Bible, or they get up there

and they sing a whole bunch of stuff and

they dance around, but they never open

the Bible, leave that church.

Leave that church. It's not a church.

Don't even call it a church. It's a

group of people. And I don't mean no

disrespect to anybody,

but they have they have abandoned the

definition of a church, so they

literally are not a church. Does this

make sense?

Y'all think I'm mad at everybody now?

Okay.

All right. Number three, where we at?

Okay, that where the local church leads

in the worship of God, the local church

teaches the word of God. Number three,

the local church is to show the ways of

God.

You and I set the example for the

culture. Matthew 5:16, let your light so

Matthew 5:16

shine before men that they may see your

good works and glorify your father which

is in heaven.

Okay.

Levites, verse 1 through 42. What do

they mean for you and I? Well, you and I

are the New Testament Levites.

So, we lead in worship,

we teach the word, and we demonstrate

the ways of God.

That was the mini sermon within the

sermon. All right. Now, we'll go on

through the rest of this. So, they have

their possession. They're possessing the

land in verse 43, the Lord gave Israel

all the land which he swore to give them

by their fathers.

Genesis chapter 12, God promises

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

Abraham, "Abraham, I'm going to give

your descendants a land. It's going to

be their land." Joshua 21, God has kept

his promise.

I want you to get this now. This is

going to matter for the rest of the

morning that we rest of the time we have

together.

Genesis 12, God promises it. Joshua 21,

promise fulfilled. Y'all got that? Real

simple.

God keeps his promises.

By the way,

the same God who kept his promises to

his people back then

is the same God who keeps his promises

to his people today.

And if God can keep his promise to

Abraham

through Joshua, then God can keep his

promise to you and I that he's made in

his word.

So, we see that they have possessed the

Levites, they possessed the land, and

then in and there's one other thing I

want you to notice before I move on to

the next thing, and that is the Lord.

Did you know that uh it there are six

references?

1 2 3

4 5 6 7. Excuse me, I misspoke. Seven

references in this chapter to Yahweh.

You might want to underline them or

highlight them in your Bible. In verse

number two, the Lord commanded.

Now, notice in your Bible, Lord is all

capital letters. That is the Jehovah

covenant name for God. The the name

Yahweh. It's the covenant name for God.

They They call this name the

It It's got a really fancy word if you

get if you get into uh theology and

start studying this. It's called the

ineffable tetragrammaton.

That's what they call this.

Because in ancient Hebrew, they were not

allowed to say it.

Ineffable. They could not speak this

name. Lord. Yahweh. I am. It was so

high, so reverent, they wouldn't say it

with their mouth. And when they come

when they were writing when the scribes

were writing the Old Testament, and they

came to this name,

which is marked in your King James Bible

with all capital letters.

When they would come to this name for

God, the covenant name for God, the

scribe would have to pause. He would

throw that pen away. He would go take a

bath. He would put on a new change of

clothes. He would get new ink. He would

get a new pen. And then, and only then,

could he write the name. It was so high

and so reverent and so holy. They had to

do that seven times just to get through

chapter 21 of the book of Joshua.

Every time they come to that name, they

pause.

And they go bathe themselves, and they

get new clothes, and new quill, and new

ink.

It's so high and so holy. And yet, seven

times in this chapter, God inspires that

they write that name. Why? Because he's

communicating to them, "Hey, I am with

you.

I am with you.

I am with you. It's in verse two, it's

in verse three.

It's in verse eight.

You find it again in verse 43.

Two times in verse 44.

And again in verse 45. It's all through

this chapter. All through Joshua 21. You

keep seeing the name, the covenant name,

the most holy name of God. Yahweh,

Jehovah, the Lord.

God said, "Hey, I'm still with you." Do

you remember all the way back in Joshua

chapter one? Think with me.

Don't lose me now.

Joshua chapter one, verse number nine.

What did God tell Joshua?

He said, "Joshua, have not I commanded

you be strong and of a good courage. Be

not afraid, neither be dismayed. Why

not? For the Lord your God goes with you

whithersoever you go." God made a

promise. Y'all with me? God made a

promise in Joshua chapter one to a to

Joshua, the new leader, and said,

"Joshua, I'm going to go with you.

Wherever you go, I'm going to be with

you." Joshua 21, years later, guess

who's still showing up? Seven times in

the chapter.

The Lord. Promise made in chapter one.

Promise kept

in chapter 21.

All that to say something very simple.

Our God is a promise-keeping

God.

So, we see their possession.

The Levites, the land, the Lord. Notice

number two.

Not only do we see their possession, but

what else did God give them? Well, God

gives them peace.

Look at verse number 44.

And the Lord gave, here's that phrase

again, the Lord gave them What did he

give them? He gave them rest. You see

that?

He gave them rest. Rest from what? He

gave them rest round about according to

all that he swear unto their fathers.

Okay, so God has apparently at some

point before

Y'all awake? We're Bible study this

morning. I know this isn't as as punchy

as some sermons, but stay with me cuz I

promise it's worth it.

God at some point has made a promise

to this people

that he was going to give them rest from

their enemies.

Now, all through the book of Joshua,

they've been fighting battles. And can

you imagine them thinking,

"Where's the rest at? When is this going

to be done? When are we going to stop

fighting the battles? When are we going

to get through this? Is this ever going

to be over?" Joshua chapter 21, guess

Joshua 21 · chapter mention

what happens? Rest.

God said, "Okay, the battle's done.

Fighting's over. I'm going to give you

rest." Here's the reference, Exodus

Exodus 23 · chapter mention

chapter 23 and verse number 23. Years

before,

God said, "Hey, I'm going to give you

rest from your enemies." Here's what he

says specifically, "My angel shall go

before thee and bring thee into the unto

the Amorites and the Hittites and the

Perizzites and the Canaanites and the

Hivites and the Jebusites, and I will

cut them off."

God said, "They're not going to bother

you anymore. I'm going to cut them off.

We're going to give you peace. We're

going to give you rest."

Can I say it real simply this morning?

Exodus chapter 23, verse 23, promise

Exodus 23:23

made.

Joshua chapter 21,

Joshua 21 · chapter mention

promise kept.

He's a promise- keeping

God.

And just as God promised to give his

people peace then, so God has promised

his people peace now.

Philippians 4 and verse 7, "And the

peace of God, which passes all

understanding, shall keep your hearts

and minds through Christ Jesus."

You don't have to live in anxiety and

worry all the time. The God of peace has

promised that if you will trust in him,

he will give you peace.

Let me give you number three, and I'm

almost done. I promise these will go

really quickly. Number three, their

protection.

God gives them their possession, God

gives them their peace, and now God

gives them protection. But continuing in

verse 44, "There stood not a man of all

their enemies before them. The Lord

delivered all their enemies into their

hands." God had promised them years

before that this would happen.

Back in Exodus 23 and verse 27 and 28, I

will send my fear before them and I will

destroy all the people to whom thou

shalt come, and I will make all thine

enemies turn their backs on thee, and I

will send hornets before thee which

shall drive out the Hivite and the

Canaanite and the Hittite from before

thee.

Years before God said, "I'm going to

make you a promise. I'm going to deliver

you from the Canaanites. I'm going to

drive them out. I'm going to cut them

off. I'm going to destroy them and I'm

going to deliver you." That was in

Exodus 23.

Joshua chapter 21, God said, "It's

Joshua 21 · chapter mention

done."

Promise made,

promise kept.

You all You all with me so far this

morning?

Let's Let's look at one more.

Their prosperity in verse 45.

They're rich.

Verse 45, God's going to tell them you

are wealthy.

He said, "There failed not alt any good

thing which the Lord had spoken unto the

house of Israel. All came to pass."

Everything. Just going to summarize it.

I guess maybe there was just too much to

write. If we just kept naming off all

the things that God promised and all the

things that God did, it would have been

the rest of the Bible with just

recording what God did and the promises

kept to Israel. So, they're just going

to summarize the rest of it in verse 45.

And what do they say? "There failed not

any good thing from the Lord had spoken.

All came to pass. Everything that God

had said came to pass. Every promise

that he had made, he kept. Every time he

said he'd come through, he came through.

Every time he said he'd make a way, he

made a way. Every time he said to trust

him and they trusted him. God moved on

their behalf. Every battle, God God

worked with them. Every time they felt

they were alone, God showed up. Every

word that he spoke was true." By the

way, we'll just pause very quickly and

say every word that God has spoken to

you and I is true.

Don't need anything else.

This is sufficient.

The nation of Israel was rich because of

who their God was.

Now, listen.

Let's bring all of this together. We'll

bring it home.

We'll be done.

You and I have no business

walking around

calling ourselves Christians

acting like

a sad country song.

Right? You understand what I mean by

that? You heard a sad country song

lately?

Truck's broke, dog died, wife left,

barn burnt. Yeah.

It's sad country song.

It's awful. You're like, man,

you must really be going through it over

there, right?

And I talk to Christians all the time

and they they walk around living their

life like they're trying to live out a

sad country song and it's like, how's

your day going? And they're like, well,

it's just not been that good, really.

Pretty sad.

This happened and that happened and that

happened and this happened and and and

and I just don't know what I'm supposed

to do anymore.

Well, I'm sorry. Are you saved?

Do you have the Holy Spirit of God

living on the inside of you? Did Jesus

not die for your sins? Are you not on

your way to heaven?

I mean, we've got so much to be thankful

for, but how often do we focus on the

negative instead of the positive?

Can I give you some promises of God

as we conclude this morning

that just as he kept his promises to his

people back then,

so he will keep his promises to his

people today.

And don't go walking around this

afternoon angry at the waiter at the

restaurant, upset at the the person

that's ringing you up at the store,

but go around with the joy of the Lord,

a smile on your face because the God who

has promised it in his word will keep

his word. Here we go. Ready?

I'm just going to name them. Not going

to talk about them. I'm just going to

name them. 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 4

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

sets the foundation for us.

Peter says that we have great, exceeding

great, and precious promises. Okay, what

are they? Well, first of all, he's

promised us salvation. Romans chapter 1

Romans 1 · chapter mention

and Ephesians chapter 2, and we could go

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

through a whole bunch of passages. God

has promised to save those who believe

on his name. Whosoever

whosoever shall call on the name of the

Lord shall be saved. It's not a maybe,

it's not a hope so, it's not a might.

No, God will save you if you trust in

Jesus Christ. You trust in his finished

work on the cross, you will be saved.

He's promised salvation. He's promised

sanctification.

He's not going to leave you the way he

finds you. Aren't you thankful for that?

I was a Listen, you you Some of you were

saved out of drugs and alcohol and and

and God has turned your life around and

you've got a testimony and and God has

been so good to you. What is that?

That's a promise of God that if you

trust in Jesus, he's going to begin to

change you from the inside out.

Promise of sanctification. How about a

promise of glorification? We sang about

this this morning. There's coming a day

when he's going to come out of the

heavens. He's going to call his church.

We're going to go up. We're going to

meet him in the air when that trumpet

sounds. And in a moment, in the

twinkling of an eye, Thessalonians says,

we will be changed into a glorified

body. Oh, yes, I understand that on this

earth we deal with hard times and we

deal with sin and we deal with the flesh

and we have we have to deal with all of

these things.

But there is a promise of God that he is

coming back for his church. And if he

has promised it, he will do it. Cuz he's

a promise-keeping God. So, there's a

promise of glorification. There's a

promise of heaven in John 14 and verse

6. There's a promise of his presence in

Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 5.

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

He said, "I'm going to be with you. I

will never leave you or forsake you."

You remember what he told Joshua in

chapter 1 and verse 9? "I'm going to be

with you." And then in chapter 21, he

showed up. Guess what? In In chapter 13,

God makes the same promise to the New

Testament church. I'm never going to

leave you and I'm never going to forsake

you. So, when you wake up and you feel

all alone, take heart. You've got a

promise-keeping God who has said he is

there. So, whether you feel like he's

there or not, you can rest in the fact

that he said it and therefore it is

true.

Promise-keeping God.

How about this one? Promise of his

provision in Philippians 4 and verse 19.

He said he's going to take care of you.

He's going to provide for your needs.

The promise of his drawing all men in

John 12 and verse 32. He He said, "I'm

going to draw all men unto myself."

How about the promise of peace in John

14 and verse 27? How about the promise

of strength and help in Isaiah 41 and

verse 10? How about the promise of

eternal life in John 3 and verse 16? How

about this promise? The promise that he

will build his church in Matthew 16:18.

Matthew 16:18

"I will build my church," Jesus said.

How about the promise of his protecting

his church in Matthew 16:18b? How about

the promise of his unending mercy in 1

1 John 1:9

John 1:9? The promise of his guidance in

Proverbs 3:5 and 6? The promise of

Proverbs 3:5

comfort through trials in 2 Corinthians

1? The promise of victory over sin in 1

1 Corinthians 15:58

Corinthians 15:58? The promise that all

things work together for good for for to

those who love God, to those who are the

called according to his purpose in

Romans 8:28? How about the promise of

Romans 8:28

rest

in Matthew 11 and verse 28 through 30?

We could go on and on and on. Do you

understand what I'm trying to say this

morning?

Promise made.

Promise kept.

You wake up and you're discouraged

and you're anxious

and you're worried

and you don't know how it's going to

work out.

I know how it's going to work out.

What is this world coming to? Have you

ever wondered that? What is this world

coming to?

I'll tell you exactly what it's coming

to.

It's coming to the feet of Jesus.

You can come. Philippians says that at

that

there's coming a day when every knee

will bow

and every tongue will confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory

of God the Father.

What is happening in this world? What's

it all coming to?

But but the doctor gives you a bad

diagnosis. What's the end result of

that? The worst thing that can happen

[music] to a child of God is you leave

this earth and you enter the eternal

presence of your savior.

Promise made,

promise kept.

Do you know that Christ God always heals

Christians?

There's never been a Christian who had a

disease that God did not heal them.

Sometimes he heals their body.

Sometimes he heals them by giving them a

new body.

But every child of God gets healed.

Promise made,

promise kept.

We serve a God who is so big and so good

that you don't have to doubt,

that you don't have to worry, that you

don't have to be anxious. You have a God

that you can trust in this morning.

And I don't know what you may have

walked in here with and what you might

be facing and what might be in the back

of your mind and you're wondering and

you're worried and you're upset and you

don't know how this situation's going to

work out and you don't know how that

finance financial problem is going to

resolve itself and you don't know how

that relationship is going to be fixed

and and you don't know how you can keep

just being a good Christian because the

harder you try it seems like the more

you fail and you just don't understand

God, you said that you were going to

perfect me. You said you were going to

complete in me the work that you started

and I just don't know what to do

anymore. And I don't know what what you

might be facing but here's what I do

know, the character of our God will

never fail and if he's made a promise

he'll keep the promise.

So stop resting in yourself.

And just start resting in the character

of our God.

He's big enough.

He'll get you through.

Father,

pray that you take your word, apply it

to our hearts this morning.

All I can do is communicate what you've

already given us, and I pray that I've

not confused anyone. I would hate to do

that.

I've had to go quickly this morning,

Lord, and I pray that that

in my haste I have not confused anyone

or miscommunicated anything.

Pray that you would take your word.

Remind us of this simple truth.

Just as you kept all your promises to

your people back then,

so you will keep all your promises to

your people

today.

I love you, Lord.

We're going to take just a moment, and

she's going to play, and

just want you to whatever you need to

leave in God's hands. Whatever it might

be.

Whatever it is that you're worried

about, that you're thinking about, that

you're praying about, would you just

give it to God?

Just say, "Lord, today I'm recommitting

to just trust you."

While Christians are praying all around

right now, I just wonder if there's

anyone here today,

and nobody's looking, just me,

that you say, "Pastor John, I'm I'm 100%

sure

that I'm even on my way to heaven.

I know I want to go to heaven,

but I don't remember a moment in my life

where I

asked Jesus to be my savior and [music]

I trusted completely in him. If that's

you this morning, you do not know for

sure that you're on your way to heaven,

I want you just to slip your hand up.

Nobody's looking but me

and God, he already knows.

Wonderful.

Based on your testimony, we're all saved

here. Means we've got some great,

exceeding great, and precious promises.