THE POWER OF HIS PROMISE

One of the most influential pastors from Canada was named Oswald J. Smith.  He pastored the People’s Church in Toronto.  He wrote a book entitled The Man God Uses.  In it is a powerful and important statement about an important subject.

He said, “The man who is to be used of the Lord (we would say, “The person”) will hear from heaven.  God will give him a promise … some familiar promise it may be, will suddenly grip him in such a way that he will know God was spoken.”

And he continued, making it very personal, “… if I would attempt a new work for God, let me ask myself first of all the question—have I a promise?  Has God spoken?”

Peter spoke of “exceeding great and precious promises,” and Paul declared the promises of God change everything—“For all the promises of God in him are yes, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” (II Corinthians 1:20)  So, the promises of God give us the courage to say, “Yes,” and those promises make us stand firm in Christ as we face life’s challenges.  We can stand and serve on the promises.

Now, I need to explain this because I believe this concept could change your life, making you impossible to defeat or be discouraged.

So then—open the Word before you and claim God’s promises.  Then, open your heart within you to believe God’s promises.  And then, open the door in front of you and live God’s promises in the world that needs you.

I. THE OPEN WORD BEFORE YOU

What Oswald Smith implied but did not say clearly and explicitly is this—we must get this promise from God, not from a bizarre vision, a personal impression, or some “sign” or some private revelation.  You get this clear promise with the open Word in front of you—it is always based on the Word of God.

Do you remember an old English hymn entitled “How Firm a Foundation”?  There is one phrase in it I have repeated a thousand times.  It goes, “What more can He say than to you He has said?”  That is, God has already told you everything you need to know.  It’s all found in His Word; now do it, repeat those words.

D. L. Moody, the evangelist, once quipped, “I know the Word of God is inspired because it inspires me!”  By the word “inspired” we mean more than what D. L. Moody was talking about.  We mean—the Word of God is from God in total purity and it is His seal on it.  He never out-promised Himself!

When you open the Bible—you can read it with confidence—hold it in your hands, and say, “This is the word of God.”  It contains everything we need to tell us how to be what we should be.  Literally it’s God preaching to us by promises!

The Bible has many things—warnings, statements of wisdom, laws, principles and teachings, but also promises—the Bible is filled with promises.  Hundreds of promises!  “Faith, in the Bible is not a leap in the dark,” said J. I. Packer, “but rather a step in the light.”  We take that step and we stand on the firm ground of God’s unshakable promises.  Because God’s promises are true and trustworthy, faith grows in a breathtaking way.

The open Word of God, page after page, is filled with promises.  We know all that God promises He is able to perform.  Each promise is extended to each Christian today.  Listen to this promise, “I will in no wise fail you, neither will I in any wise forsake you” (Joshua 1:5), and that’s our basis of contentment and confidence.

What an impact it makes to know that every one of God’s “precious and exceeding great promises” (II Peter 1:4) in His Holy Scriptures is “yea” in Christ for me.  (II Corinthians 1:20)  He guarantees it!  There needs to be a full recovery—a new awareness—that the promises of God are the basis and the ground of bold faith.  All of it, based on His promises.

Open His Word—there are 365 promises in God’s Word, one for every day if you want to think that way.  There is a classic book, All the Promises of the Bible written by Herbert Lockyer.  Read God’s promises and find a specific promise to you; say, “This is mine!”

The wellspring of the Christian’s peace, joy, hope, strength, and confidence lies in being able to say, “I am counting on His promises.”  Take a step back—how do you know you are saved, forgiven, and given eternal life?  You are counting on His promises!  The truth is that all faith, at every stage in our Christian pilgrimage, from conversion to its conclusion at His feet, is essentially a resting on the promises of God.

After all, Paul declares, “Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.” (Ephesians 3:20, Living Bible)

II. THE OPEN HEART INSIDE OF YOU

We open our heart to His promises and say, “These are all true!”

Whenever professed Christians are not living in the joy of the knowledge that all God’s promises are theirs, it is because they have not opened their heart to them.  The truth is that God put all those promises in His Word for us.

What does it mean to love the Word of God with your heart?  It means, first of all, that you believe the Bible against the opinions and challenges of anyone.  You base your life and soul on promises from His Word.  It means you agree with Jesus about the Scripture—Jesus never raised a doubt about its all being true.  In fact, the only book Jesus ever quoted was the Bible, and when He did, it explained the reason for His obedience.

To open your heart to His promises in Scripture is to say sincerely, “I believe there is only one thing that is inevitable—and it is that it is necessary for all God said in His Word to be fulfilled exactly.  My heart is open to that without reservation!”

Now, we love the Bible because Jesus did, and we love the Scriptures because they tell us why we should love Him—and I will tell you something:  if you don’t love Jesus, that Book will be a book of jumbles, a pile of words without a theme or a purpose.  It will become a riddle, not a revelation.  But if you love Jesus, all God’s promises become very intelligible and ordered truth that gives meaning to everything in your life and mine.

If you have a love of God’s promises from His Word in your heart and the presence of the Holy Spirit controlling your mind—you have all the equipment you need to live with victory and purpose in life; but it must be embraced personally from your heart.

III. THE OPEN DOOR IN FRONT OF YOU

“Therefore I have opened a door to you that no one can shut.”—Jesus said that!  (Revelation 3:8, Living Bible)

Paul said, “for there is a wide open door for me … So much is happening …” (I Corinthians 16:9, Living Bible)  And then again he said that when he came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, “… a door was opened unto me of the Lord” (II Corinthians 2:12).

And God’s promises cause exactly that—they open a door.  Claim His promises.  It makes invisible things visible, it makes absent things present, it makes the things far off to come near.  Claiming God’s promises opens the door to greater faith so that we rejoice in the Lord.  Claiming promises that God has given makes us laugh at impossibilities, and doors open in front of us!

Promises become the platform for God to display Himself.  All God’s giants have been, at first, weak people who did great things for God because they realized God never made a promise too great for Him to keep.  It opens a door to do the incredible.  To claim God’s promise is to believe what we do not see, and the reward is to see what we believed.  A. W. Pink said about this open door that, “It is because God has promised certain things that we can ask for them with the full assurance of faith.”  Promises open the door—it means venture upon Christ and rise up.  It means venture to Christ and fall before Him.  It means we venture for Christ and go out!  Where the doubting Christian cannot even wade, a person claiming the promises of God can swim!

The door swings open with God’s promises—He makes a way!  It makes the uplook good, the outlook bright, the inlook favorable, and the future glorious! Together let us claim the promises of God.