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The Promise - Part 1

In Touch / Charles Stanley
The Truth Network Radio
December 7, 2024 12:00 am

The Promise - Part 1

In Touch / Charles Stanley

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December 7, 2024 12:00 am

Dive deeper into God's promises and how they relate to humility.

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Welcome to this weekend's In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley. Earthly objectives like wealth or success may be attractive, but for believers in Jesus, humility should be our goal. Today's podcast reminds us that earthly objectives will provide only temporary satisfaction at best. It's a good thing to have a good Bible verse as a good Bible promise in our life. Those promises are very meaningful to us, and I think God intends for us to claim those promises.

And especially when you think about why He gave them. For example, He gives us promises that will give us peace, for example, when we're going through those difficult times in life. They will lift us up when we feel down. They will energize us when we feel weary or when we are searching and reaching out for those goals in life.

Also those that will encourage us when we go through the tough times. And certainly He gives us those promises that will strengthen our faith when our faith really gets tested. So God has promises in His Word for very specific reasons. Now what you'll notice is this, that most of the time those promises are conditional. They're two kinds of promises. There is an unconditional promise which God says, here's what I'm going to do, period.

No exception, no anything. Just here's what I'm going to do and that's it. Then there are those conditional promises. In fact, most of them are conditioned upon something that you and I must do. For example, He says, ask and then it shall be given you. He says give and it shall be given to you. He says trust that you will discover God's ways and His will for your life.

Confess and then you'll be forgiven. So there are many, many promises in His Word. Almost every one of them in the New Testament that relate to us are conditioned upon something.

Believe, He says, and then you will be saved. So therefore, God has a responsibility to fulfill the promise, but His fulfillment is based upon our fulfilling our personal responsibility. So I want you to turn, if you will, to First Peter chapter five and just look at a couple of verses here. Notice what he says beginning in verse five. He says, You younger men and women, likewise be subject to your elders, and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. For God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Then He says, Therefore, on the basis of that, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares, your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.

Look at this promise. He says, Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, our responsibility, that He may exalt you at the proper time, His responsibility. God wants the best for us.

And think about this. If He has stored up goodness for you, He doesn't store up goodness for you and only dish out a little part of it. He wants you to have all of His goodness and love and kindness that He prepared to give you in this life. We're grateful that it all isn't confined to this life because somewhat much of it will for eternity be confined to eternal life. But now in this life, God says that He will exalt us. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, He says, and He will exalt you. Well, let's think about what we mean by the very word exalt, and then we'll talk about how God exalts us, how others exalt us, and how we're to respond to those things. For example, let's look at the life of Jesus for a moment, but think about what we mean by exalt.

To exalt someone means to lift them, to elevate them, to honor them, to praise them, to increase them in rank. And this isn't just a matter of praise and majesty and glory to God, though that's certainly a great part of it. And something that should be a part of that in every single believer's life. But all of us, He says, He will exalt us. Now, some people would say, well, what He's referring to primarily is when we die and go to heaven.

Well, that is true. We're going to be exalted to that. But there's exaltation in this life.

To lift up, to elevate, to honor, to praise, to glorify, and to increase in rank. All of that is a part of this whole issue of being exalted. Now turn, if you will, to Philippians chapter two for a moment. And you'll recall this is the passage about Jesus, and I want you to notice how the apostle Paul says this.

We've come to some very practical ways that you and I have to face this whole issue of exaltation. He says, having described Jesus as a bondservant, as a slave. He says in verse eight, being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient even to the point of death, even death on a cross.

For this reason, what reason? He humbled Himself even to the point of death on the cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He says Jesus' exaltation brought about what?

That His name is the name above every name. That His name every single knee shall bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. Jesus Christ indeed was exalted following His death. Turn, if you will, over to Hebrews and look, if you will, in the seventh chapter. Hebrews chapter seven, and notice what the rite of Hebrews says about Jesus. He says in chapter seven, verse twenty-six, For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. Then if you'll go back over to Acts chapter two for a moment, because I think all of these verses help us to understand that in those days those who wrote, those who listened, those who were followers of Jesus Christ, saw Him as the exalted Lord. And in this second chapter, if you'll notice in the thirty-third verse, Peter's preaching his awesome sermon there at Pentecost. So Acts chapter two, verse thirty-three says, Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. And so very interesting that over and over and over again the Bible talks about Jesus Christ being exalted.

That is, listen, the lowly Jesus that walked on the face of this earth was elevated in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, no more to be the lowly Jesus, but now once again restored to His position, His rightful position of Lord, Master, ruling and reigning over this universe. So when we think about how the Father treated Him, then we ask ourselves the question, how are people exalted today? And what are people exalted for?

Well, I think people are, if we use the word exalted, we can say elevated or lifted up or rewarded, whatever it might be, recognized, praised, oftentimes, I think for a number of reasons. Sometimes it's because of achievement. They've done a fantastic job in what they're doing, and so they are elevated sometimes to an even higher position as a result of their achievement.

Sometime it's performance, for example, an actor or a musician or someone playing some particular sport. Sometimes it's a matter because of years of service. Here's a person who works twenty-five, thirty years in one particular corporation or one business of their own for thirty-five or forty years, and they are certainly honored and praised for their diligence, for their long-term faithfulness in whatever they have been doing.

Sometime it's a matter of position and authority. A person is elevated to position and authority because of their particular area and how well they have done, whatever they've been doing. Then oftentimes it's a matter of exceptional skills and abilities and talents, and a person's recognized for that because they have taken the abilities and skills that God's given them and they have diligently pursued them and sharpened them and now they're making a difference whether it's in business or the world or the body of Christ. And then sometimes it's recognition or elevation because of sacrifice.

You think about all the people who have sacrificed their lives to provide freedom and liberty for us and people who spend their lives on mission fields. I think about people, for example, who spend their lives with tribes that do not have a written language and they'll spend twenty, thirty years of their life discovering how they live, discovering what their emotions and their unknown language means and finally being able to understand that, put it in some kind of form, finally in words and then translate the book of Mark or John in the gospel for the first time in their life. What an awesome sense of sacrifice and yet probably, in fact I've never met one of those missionaries yet who felt like they'd sacrificed anything but had invested their life wisely. And so when we think about in terms of how the world acknowledges people, these are the kind of things that they would consider as being recognition and elevation and so forth. But then how are they rewarded as a result of that? Sometimes it's simply verbal praise.

Well, thank you for doing a very good job. Then sometimes it's financial reward. And so when a person is honored, the result is they are given some financial, sometimes it's a large gift, sometimes it's a raise in pay, whatever it is. But all of that is a way of elevating, exalting, recognizing, acknowledging, praising, thanking, showing gratitude and so there's a response.

Sometimes it's increased responsibility and sometimes increased authority because they could be trusted with the responsibility they had. They did a good job at what they were doing and so we recognize that and we honor them as a result. For example, I think about all the people who in the world accomplished great feats.

They are highlighted. There are pictures on the front page of the magazine, they're on television and radio and the newspaper and so forth and so they get lots of recognition that way. And then sometimes it's a matter of just pure more admiration and love and thanksgiving and praise for those people. Well, that's the way the world elevates. That's the way the world exalts.

That's the way the world acknowledges. Now, how does God exalt His children? Because some of you probably said, well, you know, I've never been exalted and I've never been down and ignored and looked over and overlooked for my job. And so you may have come today or you may be thinking in your own heart. You need a little exaltation.

You could have a little lift. You'd like to be recognized. You'd like to be acknowledged. You'd like to have somebody appreciate who you are and what you do and the hours you put in and the amount that they pay you versus how many hours you put in and what you think you're worth.

And so everybody has a little bit of feeling probably at some time or the other. So think about how does God exalt us? Listen to what He said. He said, if we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, He will exalt us the proper time. Now, that's a promise. And behind that promise is the awesome hand. Listen, He says the mighty hand of God.

This is not a suggestion. He didn't say maybe He would. He might.

It's possible. He said humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. He will exalt you, He says, at the proper time.

How does God do it? Sometimes the way God exalts us is greater responsibility. Sometimes for us it's greater opportunities in your job, wherever you are, whatever you do. You've done a good job diligently. You've not been slothful.

You've not been lazy. You do your best. People see that you do your best. God sees that you do your best. Listen, God is just as interested in the hours I put in, how diligent I am, how hard I work as anything else. And on your job you can't separate what you do in your business from your relationship to Jesus Christ because we are all servants of God. No matter where we are serving and what we are doing, we all are still ambassadors for Jesus Christ and we bear testimony by whether we do a good job or a poor job.

And so sometimes it's increased opportunity. Sometimes it's, there's a whole aspect of this that I want you to listen carefully now because most people don't think about this is exaltation. Remember to be exalted means to be lifted up, to be honored, to increase in rank sometime, to be praised, to be glorified, whatever it might be. Now I don't mean glorified in ideas like glorifying God.

He's not going to share His glory with anybody. But let's think about it for a moment. One of the ways God exalts us is in this manner. By giving us a deeper understanding of Himself. And you see, when I put the deeper understanding of God against anything financially or the world's praise or accolades and all the rest, there's no comparison. To think that God in His infinite wisdom and His almighty power and mercy and kindness would give you and me a deep understanding, a greater understanding of who He is and what He's about and how He operates in life. That is to exalt us. Think about this. When God answers your prayer, you say, well there's nothing exalting about that.

Let's think that if there is. We are sinners who've been saved with the grace of God and now we've become saints of God. But we still have our faults and our failures. And you and I come to Him in prayer and we say, Lord, here is my need. This is what I need you to do in my life.

You think about this. Is this not exaltation that our Heavenly Father would look upon us and see our need and hear our cry to Him for help and strength or whatever it might be? Reach down and answer our prayer. What is He doing? He is elevating us.

That is, He has hurt us. He's exalting us by the sovereign God of this universe, stooping down and doing what? Reaching down to us unworth as we are and answering our petition. That is recognizing us. That is elevating us. As one of His children, He's taken the time to hear and answer our prayer. And you see, so many times we think that it has to be something financial and so forth.

Think about this. How could God exalt us any more than to say to us, which He says to all of us, I want an intimate relationship with you. I know you perfectly. And I want you to know me just the way I know you.

I want to develop a relationship with you where you can walk, listen to this, where you can walk in undisturbed union with me. I want that kind of fellowship with you. Can you think of anything anymore elevating to your spirit, lifting you up, that God the Father wants a personal, intimate relationship with you? Oftentimes the way He exalts us is He grants us more power, more energy, more strength to do what He calls us to do. One of the ways He exalts us is to empower us with the Holy Spirit, to serve Him in ways that we could never serve Him any other way. That's God doing what?

That's His coming to our rescue. That's His recognition of us. And if I could take one verse of Scripture that describes the greatest expression of exaltation that Jesus Christ ever gives to any one of His children, it is this. It is Romans 8, 29, which says, He predestined us to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.

Think about that. What higher honor could God give to any one of us than to do what? Than to say, I'm going to make you just like my son, Jesus the Christ. What an awesome expression of His elevation. What an awesome expression of His recognition. What an awesome expression of His love toward us. And so when we think of all the ways that God exalts us, He certainly does, even as the world does, elevates us in our positions financially, authority, recognition, praise and all that. God can oftentimes be behind all that.

But then think about this. The ultimate as far as we're concerned in this earth is simply this, that one of these days when you and I come to the end of our life, He's going to do what? Exalt us into heaven. He's going to elevate us and lift us up. Jesus said, for example, in that 12th chapter of John, He said, and I, if I be, in the Bible it says, usually most versions, lifted up, the same word exalted. When He spoke in terms of being lifted up on the cross, He said He would draw all men to Him.

Not only has Jesus been exalted to heaven, but He is going to exalt every one of His children, listen, into the presence of Almighty God. But not only that, our spirit, our soul are going first and then He's going to do the very same thing for our body. He's going to lift these bodies out of the grave and He's going to change them in the twinkling of an eye, transform into the likeness of the body of Jesus Christ.

Doesn't mean that you'll lose your likeness, but it'll be in the same kind of form of the body of Jesus Christ and forever we'll be with God. He's given us a tremendous promise. Now, if you've been saved by the grace of God, your physical body is going to be resurrected. That is a promise that cannot be violated. He's going to take you to heaven.

That's a promise that you'll never miss. But now what we get while we're in this life, how God honors us and whatever He does in this life depends upon our submitting ourselves to Him. Now, likewise, ultimately getting to heaven, you have to submit yourself to the living God through His Son Jesus Christ before you'll be forgiven of your sins so that our exaltation to heaven, listen, our exaltation to heaven is dependent upon our submission to Him as our Savior and Master and Lord in this life. So God desires to exalt His children.

In many, many ways, not just the ways that the world would see fit. Here's the problem. We get our eyes off God and onto our business or the people we work with and we think, well, you know what? They don't like me. They won't ever give me a raise or they won't ever give me a promotion. I'm just stuck here and think, you know what? I'm just, that's the best I'll ever do and it just makes me feel like I'll never make it in life. You have your focus on the wrong person. Listen to what He said. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. He will exalt you at the proper time. So what's the key?

Here's the key. The key is that you and I say to Him, Father, I submit my will and my ways to You. At this point in my life, this is where You've placed me. I'm going to give it my best. I'm going to do my best. I'm going to give it my all. I'm going to be diligent as unto You, as if I were serving You because I am, as if You are the boss because ultimately You are. And then, God, I'm going to trust You. I'm going to trust You to do what You said. You said if I submit myself that You will elevate me. You will exalt me at the proper time. And, Father, I'm not putting any pattern out there for You to match up to what I want. I'm just saying, God, here's what I'm going to do and I'm going to stand back diligently laboring and I'm going to watch to see what You do in my life.

My friend, you will be surprised. Thank you for listening to The Promise. For more inspirational messages like this one on humility and the life of the believer, visit our online 24-7 station. And 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.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-12-07 04:38:05 / 2024-12-07 04:46:46 / 9

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