God's Precious Promises - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, May sixteenth. Christians are wealthy with riches beyond comparison. Be reminded of what you have as a believer in Jesus in part two of God's Precious Promises. When you think about what you own and what your wealth is, where is your wealth? Is it in your family? Is it in your material possessions? Are you wise enough to recognize that your wealth is in a form and a fashion that no one can take from you?

You will never be able to spend it all. That it's there given to you by God. And it's given to you by God, which He will never change. Because the moment you trusted Him as your Savior, you inherited something. You became a child of God. And with that decision of becoming a child of God, you became a very wealthy person. Now, where is all this value?

It is where it is. It's in the promises of God. And I'm going to show you in a few moments why I say that. That when you trusted Him as your Savior, the promises of the Word of God became your promises.

You are a very wealthy person. So, let's begin with the first evidence of God's wealth that He's bequeathed to you. So, I want you to turn, if you will, to Romans chapter five for a moment.

And here's what He says. He says in verse six, For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, much more than, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Now watch this. When you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, He forgave you of all your sins. He brought you into relationship with Himself, a personal relationship, that from that point on, watch this, you can call yourself a child of God. That is your possession. You now have a heritage. And that heritage is that God is your Father. Jesus Christ is your Savior, your Brother, and you are now a member of the family of God. That's who you are. You cease to be who you used to be, a child of the devil. You are now a child of God, number one.

Very important. And until that happens, nothing else that I'm going to say would apply to you. But that's the beginning and that's the foundation. Then, of course, He says that whenever you and I are troubled, He will comfort us. We have a comforter in Second Corinthians and that first chapter.

And notice what He says here. And the reason He says this, He says, for example, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, not some of it, in all of our affliction, so that we will be able to comfort others, those who are in any affliction with the comfort of which we ourselves are comforted by God. That is, no matter what you're facing in life.

And all of us go through those trying times. He says He's the great comforter. And He will comfort us in every affliction, whatever it might be.

That's part of our possession. And this is what He called the Holy Spirit, parakletos, which means the one who walks by Messiah. So, God who is living within me in the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, He knows what I'm troubled about. He knows what brings me sorrow and heartache and regret or whatever it might be. He says, Here's one of my promises to you.

I'll be there and I will comfort you no matter what. And I've seen that happen in so many people's lives in different circumstances when all of a sudden they come to this passage and they let me sort of explain it to them a little bit. And they say, Oh, you mean God will take this off me?

Yes, He will. Then, for example, He promises that no matter what you and I are going through, whatever trial, He sets a limitation on it in First Corinthians chapter ten, verse thirteen. Look at that. He says, No temptation has taken you, but such is His common demand. And God is faithful. That means you can trust Him.

You can depend upon Him. Who will not, watch this, who will not allow you to be tempted to try and beyond what you're able, but will with the temptation, He'll provide the way of escape so that you and I can endure it. Here's what that means. You and I hit those temptations, those trials in our life. We think, God, I can't handle this. I don't know what I'm going to do about this.

God, why do you let these things happen? You know, we claim our promise. What's the promise?

Here's what He said. If anybody else promised you this, you could doubt it. But God says, I will not allow you to be tempted and tried more than you are able to bear. And He says, mark it down, you have this possession. It's yours whether you claim it or not. It's yours as an absolute promise of God.

I have set a limitation on everything you have to face in life. Now, that is a very encouraging word to people who go on through difficult situations in their life. Then He says, for example, that He will grant us wisdom.

And James, if you will notice in that first chapter, he makes the promise of wisdom. Listen to what he says. For if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all people generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. Somebody says, well, I don't know what to do.

Well, listen, you may not know what to do. Do you want wisdom? You have the promise of wisdom.

Watch this. A promise of God says that all of the sovereign power of God is behind what He promises and He will make it work. You need wisdom. That is, you need to see things from God's perspective.

You need to make a wise decision here. You have that promise that He will grant you wisdom in every circumstance of life because that's who He is. You have the wisdom of God dwelling within you. Now, if you're living in sin, here's what that does.

It confuses the issue. And you, listen, here's what sin does. Sin does what? Sin crowds out the truth of the living God, and it's not that it's not there. It's that you don't know how to seek His wisdom.

Or secondly, you don't believe that God is absolutely sufficient for that. This is what the devil always does. The devil wants to create doubt. If he can create doubt within you, then he's won a victory over you. Does that mean you've lost the promise?

No. The fact is you refuse to claim the promise. And so, what happens is you make very unwise decisions and then people say, Well, God should have stopped it. No, God has offered you wisdom. That's a promise from Him. Listen, in every single solitary situation, you have a promise from God that He will give you wisdom to know how to respond or how to react in that given situation.

That's one of the things that makes us wealthy. Tell me anything any more valuable than wisdom, seeing things from God's perspective and knowing how to walk in it. And then, of course, He promises us rest. In this eleventh chapter of Matthew, I notice what Jesus said in those days. He said, Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, take My teachings, My learning upon you, and learn from Me, from gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy, My burden is light. All of us find ourselves in those situations where we need not just physical rest, but emotional rest.

We need to be able to rest on the inside. What does He say? He says, Come unto Me, and He says, I'll give it to you.

Here's what I want you to see. Deposited within these bodies of ours and these minds of ours is every single solitary thing we need, given to us as a promise from Almighty God. That no matter what's happening, He's there to make that provision, whatever it might be. Then we come to this whole issue of peace.

And in the passage that most of us know by heart in Philippians, listen to what Paul says. He says, Be anxious for nothing. Don't get upset about these things, but in everything by prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. What does He say?

He says this. No matter what's going on in your life, God will give you a garrison, a wall that will separate you from anxiety, that will fulfill your need of peace in your life. What did Jesus say? The Bible says that Jesus is our peace. Who's living on the inside of you?

The Lord Jesus Christ. And so, we go through situations and circumstances. Sometimes we hear bad news and frightening news, whatever it might be. What do we get our peace from? Oftentimes it's not from our friends, not from the doctor, not from the banker, not from this, it's from Him.

Think about this. Your peace isn't something you get from Him, her, and them. Your peace abides within you. It is an indwelling promise of God.

What did Jesus say? My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives give unto you, let not your heart be troubled. One of the most awesome promises He gives us is that we can have peace in whatever we're faced in life.

Now, I want you to get this one down. I want you to turn to Psalm ninety-two because here is certainly one that a lot of people need to think about. Because here is a promise that many people are certainly not living by because if they were, you could see it. And that is the promise that you and I can be, listen, watch this, that we can be strong and fruitful in old age. Listen to this passage, Psalm ninety-two, verse twelve, The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree. He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon, planted in the house of the Lord. They will flourish in the courts of our God.

They will still yield fruit in old age. They shall be full of sap and very green, to declare that the Lord is upright, He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Now, here's the promise of God. Here's what He promises. The righteous man and woman has the privilege of living a life that is fruitful no matter what the age may be, and they can be strong no matter what the age is. Full of sap means energy, strength, bearing fruit, still making a difference, whatever it may be.

So, I would just simply ask you, when do you want to get old? We have to choose. Are we going to claim His promise? And if you claim His promise today, God, I know that you can call me home in time to get ready, but until then, I want to give it my best. I want to be strong. I want to be fruitful. I want my life to count for the kingdom of God. And then look in Psalm thirty-seven, and because here's a wonderful promise of God. If I should say to you, would you like to have the desires of your heart? If I say to you, what are the desires of your heart? Here's what God says. This is a promise from Almighty God who has all power. And listen, He has unconditional love for you. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. In other words, what does it mean to be delighted in Him? Look at that passage, read it a little bit. Ask God to show you. What does it mean to delight yourself in Him?

Ultimate simply means this. Above everything else in my life that's important, my relationship with Him is the most important thing. I am delighted in serving Him. I'm delighting in worshiping Him. I'm delighting in giving Him.

I'm delighted in living out a godly life. He says, Delight yourself in the Lord, He'll give you the desires of your heart. Then you say, well, what about when we face troubles, real troubles, difficulties and so forth?

What's His promise? Look in Psalm forty-six and verse one. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake and swell in pride and so forth. The reason I remember that verse in Scripture, this is the influence one school teacher had on me in the eighth grade that I've never forgotten. Every morning we started our class, she read the forty-six Psalm and a number of verses, but primarily she always emphasized this one. God is our refuge.

Watch this. Where do you run when you're in trouble? God is our refuge, a place to run in time of trouble. And our strength, what's the source of your strength?

Watch this, I love this. He didn't say a help in time of trouble. He said a very present help, which means no matter when and where and what, present.

Why? Living on the inside of us. We have the promise of His presence, the promise of His strength, the promise of His help, no matter what we are facing in life. No one can promise us that but Almighty God. Then, for example, if you go back to Psalm thirty-two, listen to what He says. I love this passage because we all need it. He promises to give us direction for our life. In the eighth verse, I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go. I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

Think about what a possession that is. What a promise that is that God will give you direction any time in your life you need it. Here's the promise. I will instruct you and teach you the way which you should go. I will counsel you, listen to this, not from a distance. He says, I will counsel you with My eye on you.

That is, I know where you are, I know where you're headed, I know what's ahead, I know the things you, pitfalls, I know the things that's dangerous. He says, I will give you direction and guidance for your life. That's an awesome promise of Almighty God. Then, of course, look in Romans eight. When I think about the awesome promise in Romans eight and the fact that nothing can separate us from the awesome love of God, listen to what He says in this passage.

And here's a promise. And many people don't, they don't really believe this. He says in verse thirty-eight, For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Think about this. You have the awesome gift of God's unconditional love within your life. Nobody can promise you that to God. Nothing can separate you from the love of God.

That's a possession you have. You possess the love of Almighty God that will never change. Then if you will turn to John chapter ten for a moment, and here is His awesome promise of eternal security. Listen to what He says, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give to them eternal life, and they will never perish.

He didn't say except, if, and, but, when, where. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father who gave them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.

I and the Father are one. Think about what you possess. You possess the gift of eternal life.

Watch this. Nothing, no one, no time, nothing can alter that under any condition. You are a child of God. You are eternally secure.

You live in sin. Then there's some other promises about chastisement and discipline. But we're talking about the promise God has given you, that you are eternally secure.

Then I would give you one last, we could deal with this all day long, but I'm going to stop in a few moments. But what I want you to see is what you possess, what you have. Listen to what Jesus said. He said, Don't let your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I'm coming again to receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

Period. We have the promise of heaven. Now think about this. A promise from God is an awesome thing. And my challenge to you is simply this.

Claim what is yours. And whatever you're facing in life, remember who you are, a follower of Jesus, and how rich you are. And listen, in the awesome capacity you have to serve Him with all of your heart in a way that you will never grow old.

But you'll be flourishing and fruitful all the days of your life. Amen? Father, how grateful we are this morning for the wonderful promise of Your Word. And what makes it so wonderful is the fact that we know it'll never change.

You'll never change. We can't even begin to think up anything we need that You haven't covered. So we say thank You this morning. And I pray that You'll show us how to so live that people who are spiritually in poverty will want to know what is the source of our riches. And we can tell them in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to Part 2 of God's Precious Promises. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.