PROMISES
Jack Davis
“HAVING THEREFORE THESE PROMISES”
II Corinthians 7:1
GOD HATH SAID, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people … And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” II Cor. 6:16.18.
As we think of these promises, are we experiencing His presence? Is He making progress in us, are we walking with Him? Are we knowing Him as our God? Do we sense being His people? Are we benefiting from the blessings of His Fatherhood? If not, WHY NOT?
Oh, yes, we can realize the reality of such promises, but how do we come into the enjoyment of such? Paul writes, “Let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” II Cor. 7:1.
We are invited to present ourselves before Him, and to submit to His Word and power for our entire cleansing. Christ “loved the church, and gave himself for it. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” Eph. 5:25-26. So we appropriate these promises by the obedience of faith. First, in recognizing His claim on our lives, then, claiming the fulfillment of His promises. The Father is entirely able to bring my heart and mind into perfect agreement with the life of His Son within me. PRAISE GOD!
Although God’s astounding promises are almost staggering to our faith. Rom. 4:19-21 – Abraham “being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” God’s promises are so very stimulating to a purifying hope. I John 3:1-3 – “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”
“For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” – II Cor. 1:20. Our only capacity for things Spiritual must be measured by the promises of God. He never asks or expects any more of us then He has provided for. His grace never demands more then He has given.
Is God able to fulfill His promises? Can we say Amen to God’s Yea, and Yea to God’s Amen? By wholeheartedly submitting to His cleansing of our lives, we say a hearty Yea and Amen to His exceeding great and precious promises – thus they are made our own.
Hopelessness
“That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” Eph 2:12.
Without Christ, without God, and without His promises, we are without hope. What good can man expect; to what shall such look ahead? Shall we eat and drink; for tomorrow we die? I Cor. 15:32. “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” – I Cor. 15:19. Thank God, that is not all there is. If the only expected good is here and now during this earthly existence, if there is no hereafter, what shall we go after here? Does the scripture offer anything pleasant for those hopeless souls that are persuaded that there is nothing beyond their present life span? Praise God, His Word promises that it doesn’t all end with physical death.
I Peter 1:3, God is our Father, because He has begotten us, according to His abundant mercy, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Oh, yes, by faith we have become His hope-filled children, begotten to a lively (or living) hope. The only true hope is living hope. Living in this hope makes us lively or active believers – believers that know that their labor of love and work of faith is not in vain in the Lord. I Cor. 15:58.
Looking for (expecting the realization of) that blessed hope and glorious appearing, conditions us to experiencing His purifying us unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works – Titus 2:14.
