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Standing on the Promises

What would be the theme song for your life?  “Standing on the Promises” would be a good one as it calls for glory and praise to go to God.  As Christians, we’d all like to be known for that.

Standing on the promises of Christ my King, Thro’ eternal ages let His praises ring; Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing, Standing on the promises of God.

But, if we were honest, we might have to change a few letters for it to be sung as “Sitting on the Premises.”  Ouch!  Have we withdrawn so much into the walls of our church buildings that we only glorify and praise Him there?  What do we have to do for us to truly sing that we are indeed “Standing on the Promises” (Romans 12:1-2)?

I. Hebrews 10:19-23.  The reason that we can stand on His promises at all is because He is faithful who makes the promises.  In Psalm 119, we see that He promises to save (v41), comfort (v50), answer prayer (v58), and to uphold us (v116).  We must long for His promised salvation (v123) as He keeps steady our steps (v133), and His promises are well-tried (v140) as He lets us meditate on them (v148).  So, we must offer ourselves as living sacrifices to stand on His promises that are needed in life’s storms.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, By the living word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises of God.

Are you standing on the promises that cannot fail?

II. John 5:21-24.  Our Father is faithful in His promises, but how about Christ?  He makes similar promises to us (John 14:1-3).  He is able to fulfill His promises because all that the Father has has been given over to the Son through the cross.  Only if we are living in Him can we overcome the world … because He has overcome the world (John 16:30-33).  Once baptized into Him, we can begin the transformational process of rejecting the world and living for Christ to truly stand on His promises.

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord, Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword, Standing on the promises of God.

Are you standing on the promises of Christ the Lord?

III. 2 Peter 1:3-11.  Once standing on the promises, are we ever able to step off?  It is by His divine power that God has given us everything for life and godliness.  His glory and excellence has given us His “precious and very great promises.”  But, here it speaks also of the process we must go through to hold onto them or “never fall.”  We must “make every effort” to add certain “qualities” to our faith in “increasing” measure.  This is walking with the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25) and lets us test what is God’s will.

Standing on the promises I cannot fall, List’ning every moment to the Spirit’s call, Resting in my Savior as my all in all, Standing on the promises of God.

Are you standing on the promises so you cannot fall?

So, is the chorus of your theme song “Standing on the Promises” or is it sung more like this:

“Sitting on the premises, sitting on the premises, Sitting on the premises of God my Savior; Sitting on the premises, sitting on the premises, I’m sitting on the premises of God“?

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Save Those Who are Eagerly Waiting

Why was it so essential that Jesus be seated at the right hand of the Father and that we know that He is coming back?  What is the work of the King of Kings that He does on our behalf as He entered His kingdom?

I.  Colossians 1:9-20.  Jesus is on a rescue mission.  He had to enter His kingdom to deliver us from the dominion of darkness and transfer us to His kingdom.  He accomplishes this through the church (Matthew 16:18), which is His body, which He bought with His blood (Acts 20:28), over which He is head (Ephesians 1:7-23).  We are rescued when we obey the gospel (Acts 2:36-41).

II.  Hebrews 7:23-25.  We need Jesus to intercede for us.  Jesus’ constant work on behalf of those who have obeyed the gospel until the Day of Judgment is to sit at the right hand of the Father as our permanent High Priest and offer intercession for us (Hebrews 9:11-15).  And, it is good that He does as the accuser of our brethren is constantly about his deceitful work (Revelation 12:1-17).

III.  Hebrews 9:23-28.  Because we know that Jesus will return for us (Acts 1:9-11), we must be eagerly waiting for Him.  The time for His redemptive work is done, His sacrifice for sins on the cross and overcoming of death at the tomb accomplished.  He has gone away to prepare a place for us (John 14:1-4), so we must live faithfully, watching and preparing (Matthew 25:1-13).

Jesus has gone away to do His important work of saving us.  Are we about our important work of eagerly waiting for His return?

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Work Out Your Own Salvation

After the wedding is over, who does the work in the marriage relationship?  The answer is both … if the marriage is to be successful.  So it must be when we enter into a relationship with Christ.  The Bridegroom has conquered sin and death by the cross and the tomb, but believers meet Him at the altar by obeying the gospel.  In baptism the wedding is over, how now can the marriage work?

I.  Galatians 3:26-29.  When we enter that covenant, we become “heirs according to the promise.”  No longer separated by our sins from God, we become children of God, “provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:16-17).  Some of that suffering comes from choosing to walk according to Scripture instead of in the way of the religious world around us.  It’s a very narrow path to navigate (Matthew 7:13-14).  Stray a little too much towards ritual and our faith becomes a Checklist Christianity; a little too much towards relationship and it becomes Cultural Christianity.  Rather, true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

II.  Philippians 2:12-16.  For our part, we must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.  And it is hard work indeed.  Maintaining any good relationship is.  We must not grumble or argue to not wreck our influence for the gospel of Christ.  There is a process of partaking in the divine nature and escaping the corruption of the world.  We must add various virtues one to another in increasing measure and practice them with diligence to not fall and find a rich welcome in the Kingdom of God (1 Peter 1:3-11). Only you can strengthen or destroy your own relationship in Christ.

III.  Hebrews 10:38-39.  For His part, God promises to work in you, to work and to will for His pleasure.  So, as you are working out your own salvation, He is molding and shaping you into His Son’s image.  So, faithful living requires many moment-to-moment decisions to walk as Christ did (1 John 2:6).  We can no longer live for ourselves but rather make it our aim to please Him (2 Corinthians 5:9).  As two become one in marriage, we are, as members of Christ’s bride, united with our Bridegroom in death and so also life (Galatians 2:20 and Romans 6:5).  Therefore, we do not shrink back but live by faith

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Greater Things Than These

Usually a death bed promise works the other way.  The one who will continue on promises to do something after the loved one is gone.  As further proof of the resurrection, Jesus, while still alive but soon to die on the cross, makes a promise to His church that through Him (alive again and interceding for us at the Father’s side) we will do greater things than He did while on the earth.

I.  John 14:12-14.  There’s no doubt that Jesus did great things in His three-year earthly ministry.  After all, He was God in the flesh.  But the King of Kings showed Himself to be the servant of servants with great compassion: touching the leper, raising the widow’s only son from death, multiplying food to feed the hungry masses following Him, casting out demons from a man long bound.  And while He did these things, He spoke of how we would become parts of His body (Matthew 16:18), bought with His blood (Acts 20:28) and disciplined to share in His holiness (Hebrews 12:7-11).  Why?  So that we might serve as He did (Galatians 5:13).

II.  Romans 12:4-8.  Belief in Him is essential for the various body parts to work together to do great works (John 10:37-38).  We are to walk by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7) and walk as Jesus did (1 John 2:6).  Not awkward like the participants in a three-legged race, we are to move together as one body, seeing ourselves as parts of the body contributing to its working and connected to the Head (Colossians 2:19).  Whatever your function, you are essential to Christ’s body serving properly.

III.  John 13:12-17.  We stand in awe of what the Amish can accomplish in just one day by working together … and without power tools.  But Jesus promises the body that we will do even greater things than what He did while in his body.  We certainly see His enemies powerless from the start (Acts 4:14-16) to thwart a unified body.  Even their efforts to smash the hornet’s nest in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1-4) backfired as the scattered disciples preached the gospel wherever they went.  So, as an individual body part, how are you serving in your personal ministry?  And, as a member of Christ’s body, how are you working together with others to serve and function as one body?

Jesus built His church with His own blood so that Christians around the world could serve together in local bodies and together be the body of Christ with Him as its Head.  It starts with you.  How are you serving as Christ did?