A Promise God makes is a Promise God keeps

We watch TV Streaming – therefore no adverts – but remember when TV ads were part of SA Culture - Ads with famous taglines / slogans.

Starting with a quiz – I’lI say slogan – you answer

1. ‘They taste so good, cos they eat so good’ – Farmer Brown Chicken
2. It’s not inside it’s on Top – Cremora
3. For a 25 hour day – Bar one
4. Obey Your Thirst -  Sprite
5. Your 2 Year Guarantee store – Morkels
6. A promise we make is a promise we keep – Dion

There’s something about that slogan. (apologies if this was before your time)

A promise we make is a promise we keep.

Something about that must have resonated with people – focus groups – poured lots of money into communicating that message to the public.

• A helpful slogan because it instills trust – something about trust.
• When you trust someone
  • If I can trust someone to keep a promise, it shows me 2 things
  • Something about their character
    • Faithful / trustworthy / honest
  • Something about our relationship
    • I must mean something to them / I have value / I have significance

The section we’re looking at today, again, shows us a God who keeps His promises.

• We see that a promise God makes is a promise God keeps
  • This teaches us about His character

This also teaches us about our relationship with Him

Looking at a bigger chunk today – Joshua 10—12

Remember the four sections:

1. Chp 1-4 God’s people entering the land.
2. Chp 5-12 God’s people conquering the land (the section we’re in at the moment)
3. Chp 13-21 God’s people taking possession of the land, settling into the landthe people taking possession of the land and allocating the land among themselves.
4. Chp 22-24 God gives commandments to His people, ie. What they need to do to keep the land.

Chp 10 – 12 rounds off that second section -  The conquering of the land.

Last week chp 9.

• Started with kings West of the Jordan, came together to wage war against Israel.
• The story then went on to talk about the Gibeonites – who didn’t really want a war, so they resorted to deception.
• Go read chp 9 to find out what happens.

Chp 10

• Introduced to Adoni Zedek – king of Jerusalem.
• He sets his sights on Gibeon, because they’ve formed an alliance with Israel.
• He and the other Amorite kings join forces to go and attack Gibeon.
• Gibeon appeals to Israel for help, now that they were friends – had an alliance.
• Look what happens next:

Joshua honours their alliance with Gibeon

Vs 7 he takes his entire army, which means his best fighting men would have been there.

• Not just second string team members / willing to risk his top men
• But wasn’t a risk because look at what God says vs 8: “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.”
• As we’ve seen throughout – God works supernaturally in order to keep His promise.
  • The Lord threw them into confusion
  • The Lord hurled large hailstones vs 11 “more of them died from hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites.
• Then there’s that account where the sun stands still.
  • It’s totally supernatural / It doesn’t make sense
    • Scientifically
    • In terms of time – if Sun stands still – impact on the calendar and the time and the rest of the world.
  • Vs 14: There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!
  • This event showed that the God of the universe is in control.
  • The God of the universe who is in control – is on Israel’s side.
• The God of the Universe who is in control is on YOUR side
  • We often forget that in the midst of all that we go through.
  • Pending courtcase / difficult conversation / that difficult situation that you’ve caused – a hole that you’ve dug for yourself / God is in control of all of this.

Then the rest of this chapter up until the end of chapter 11 is just Joshua and Israel taking out the enemy.

• A lot of details, you can read in your own time.
• Joshua 11 ends with verse 23 which says: So Joshua took the entire land, just as the Lord had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. Then the land had rest from war.
• Joshua 12 starts with account of kings East of the Jordan that Israel and Moses had conquered – vs 1-6.
• Joshua 12 vs 7 onwards – the kings that Joshua & the Israelites conquered West of the Jordan.
  • It’s quite a list – 31 Kings in all.

Back to the start:

Remember Joshua chapter 1

• God promises to give Joshua and the Israelites the land they are about to enter.
• “Every place where you set your foot”
• “Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.”
• “No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
• To Joshua “you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.”
• End of chp 11 into chp 12 – shows us that God has fulfilled those promises

What did Israel have to do?

• Be strong and courageous
• Obey the law / ie. Do what God says / what God commands them to do / obey the existing laws of Moses
  • DO THINGS GOD’S WAY!
  • Live your life God’s way
  • Live for Him and for His kingdom
  • Live for His purposes

How is that relevant to us today?

We’re not the Israelites entering the promised land / There aren’t any Amorite Kings conspiring to take out God’s people

• The same God who made promises to the Israelites – has made promises to us.
• The same God who kept the promises to the Israelites has made promises to us that He will keep / has kept.
• A promise God makes is a promise God keeps.
• The same God who helped Israel defeat 31 Kings and their territories West of the Jordan in order to fulfil those promises – will fulfil the promises He has made to you and I.
• The same God who used supernatural means to keep His promises to Israel, has used supernatural means to keep His promise that he’s made to you and I, and that supernatural means is through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
• Therefore Christian, Be strong and courageous
• Obey the law / ie. Do what God says / what God commands them to do / obey the existing laws of Moses
  • DO THINGS GOD’S WAY!
• And you can do this because you can trust the God who is faithful / The God who can use any means necessary to keep His promises / defy science / defy the rules of time / and all the natural laws / Because He is Lord of everything.

I want to encourage you today – hold tight to the promises of God

• ‘Don’t stop Believing’ – to quote a popular 70’s hit
• You can believe – because God is faithful and He keeps His promises
• If you don’t believe God’s promises, it’s going to impact the way you obey Him.
  • If you don’t believe that God will keep His promises, you’re not going to want to obey.
  • Faith and obedience go hand in hand.
  • If I don’t believe that God will fulfill His purposes, why should I obey Him, and play my part in fulfilling His purposes.

We need to trust in His promises and believe that He will keep promises, because his promises are for those who believe.

• Israel benefited from the promises that God kept, because they believed that God would keep His promises, and they obeyed him.
• Do you know who didn’t benefit from the promises of God?
  • Those who thought that they could defeat God / the Amorite Kings who thought that they had a shot against God’s people / who thought that they could be the ones that could make God break His promise / they faced judgement and destruction.

Because the thing we need to understand about God’s promises, is that they are promises to fulfill His purposes.

• With opposing nations – wasn’t’ just that they were opposing Israel / they were opposing God’s plans.
• Plus they had been living their own way for hundreds of years.
• God blessed Israel, because they obeyed Him / they were serving His purpose.
• Romans 8:28 – God works all things for the good of those who love Him who are called according to HIS purpose.
• To benefit from God’s promises you need to be on God’s side
  • Can’t live for yourself and cling to God’s promises / do your own thing / fail to inquire of God (remember chapter 9)
• The promise of grace and mercy and eternal life is a promise for those who repent of their sin.
  • Repent of their selfishness / living their own lives / living for their own purposes
  • They’re so aware of their selfishness / sin / that they’ve been serving for and living for their own purpose that they turn from it.
  • They realize that their only hope is Jesus ie. Their selfishness / sin / living for their own purpose needs to be forgiven.
• Israel was God’s people, living for God’s purposes, benefitting from the fulfillment of God’s promises.

So the promise keeping God has kept His promises.

We see that here in Joshua 10 – 12 (throughout the whole book actually)

The same promise keeping God has made promises to you and I – relevant today & to eternity.

The same God who promised to be with Joshua and the Israelites every step of the way – is with us.

The God who promised Joshua that he would defeat every nation that stood in his way and fulfilled that promise has promised that we will spend eternity with him.

No more sickness, no more suffering, no more tears

• The thing about that promise – God has fulfilled it in Christ.
  • What has made that possible has already been done.
  • Do you trust in the Promises of God / that God is in control

AW Pink – The Sovereignty of God – talks about believing that God is in control – Christians today (written over 100 years ago) even more applicable today – Christians don’t believe in the Sovereignty of God. ie. That God is in control.

• Look around us, see the world is in a mess – ‘how can God be in control?’
• But – the Bible tells us that He is.
• The problem: Too many Christians walk by sight and not by faith vs walking by faith & not by sight.
  • 2 Corinthians 5 vs 7 – for we walk by faith and not by sight.
• Sight – we look around us, the world is in a mess – how can God be in control.
• Faith – We look at the Bible that tells us that God is in control & we believe it because it’s God’s word.
  • God has made promises & we believe it because we walk by faith.
  • We obey as we trust God’s promises because we walk by faith.
• Do you know the Promise Keeping God?
  • If you do: - what a joy / what confidence you have / what hope you have
  • If you don’t - This promise keeping God has promised judgement for you - unless you turn to Him.
    • Trust His promises / Trust His fulfilment of His promises – turn to Jesus.

Home Group Questions

 

• Up to chapter 12 – what promises has God kept?
• Are you able to identify parts of scripture (in the book of Joshua & elsewhere) when those promises were made?
• What does this reveal to us about what God is capable of?
• What does this reveal to us about God’s character?

What should our response be to God’s ability and character?