The Promises of God

By Lewis Willis

Some form of the word promise appears in the Old Testament 42 times, and in the New Testament 72 times. The word translated promise means “speech, speaking: announcement.” In Biblical usage, promise contains the elements of covenant, contract and pledge, with blessings in store to the beneficiary. In a sense a promise is a prophecy, the fulfilment of which is properly expected (Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible IV:872).

There are man-made promises and God-made promises in the Bible. Some are temporal, and others are spiritual promises. The promises of God are sacred, while the promises of men are subject to human frailties. God made many promises to the nation of Israel. At the close of Joshua’s life he said “not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof” (Josh. 23:14).

God’s Promises Today

1. To be a Father to us. If Christians will separate themselves from the sins of the world, he will be their Father, and they will be his children. Paul said “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 6:17-7:1).

2. Life in Christ. Paul said he was an apostle “by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 1:1).

3. A Crown of Life. A man is blessed who endures temptation “for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” (Jas. 1:12).

4. Rest for the Soul. The Hebrew writer said, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it” (Heb. 4:1). 5. Eternal inheritance. Christ is the mediator of the New Testament so that “they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9:15).

6. Eternal life. John wrote, “And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life” (1 John 2:25).

Is it any wonder that Peter would refer to these promises as “exceeding great and precious” (2 Pet. 1:4)? They are great because they offer us so much. They are precious because they mean so much to the soul.

Promised to Christians

The promises of God that are precious to the soul are made to his children (2 Cor. 6:18). “They which are called” receive the promise of eternal inheritance (Heb. 9:15). Christians are the people who have responded to the call of God issued through the gospel (2 Thess. 2:14). The promises of God are also said to be “to them that love him” (Jas. 1:12).

Gentile Christians were said to be “partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel” (Eph. 3:6). Christians are the ones who have obeyed the gospel. The promise of life is said to be “in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 1:1). The only conclusion that can be drawn is that the promise of heaven is made for God’s people, Christians who compose the Church.

We Can Depend Upon God’s Promises

Three things are said about God that make his promises sure: (1) “He is faithful that promised” (Heb. 10:23; 11:11). (2) God cannot lie. Paul said he was “in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Tit. 1:2). (3) Peter said, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise . . .” (2 Pet. 3:9). Because God does not lie, when he makes a faithful promise, he will not ignore it — he will fulfill it!

He Is Able

The things which were listed before, which God has promised to his children, would be meaningless to us if the promises had been made by a mere man. Man simply is not able to give us a crown of life, eternal life, eternal inheritance, or eternal rest. We would not expect to receive such things from men. However, these promises came from God, and they are our hope for eternity. We are depending upon these things which God said he will do for his people. Paul said Abraham “staggered not . . . through unbelief” because he was “fully persuaded that, what he (God) had promised, he was able also to perform” (Rom. 4:20-21). God is able to do what he has said he will do. Like Abraham, we also can depend on it!

Conclusion

What conclusions, then, can we draw from these truths about God’s promises? The promises are in Christ, and realized by our obedience to the gospel (Eph. 3:6). We must make absolutely certain that we have obeyed the gospel! Thereafter, we must be determined in our efforts to live the Christian life. We must meet the requirements of faithful living (1 Cor. 4:2), worshiping and serving God in all things (Matt. 4:10). God and the Kingdom must be the focus of our affection and our work (Col. 3:1-2; Matt. 6:33). Then, we must never become careless or impatient as we await the fulfilment of God’s promises. The Hebrew writer instructed Christians, “That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Heb. 6:12). We must have enough faith to persevere to the end (Rev. 2:10); we must be careful to maintain good works (Tit. 3:8, 14); we must not lay down our sword before the battle is won (Eph. 6:17). If we do so, this is the promise of Jesus Christ: “He that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matt. 10:22).

I still like the words of R. Kelso Carter, in his well- known hymn:

Standing on the promises I now can see, Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me; Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free, Standing on the promises of God.

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

Dear reader, can we say, “I’m standing on the promises of God”?

A Mother in Israel Has Gone Home

By James P. and Maria Needham

On May 8, 1998, I will have been trying to preach the gospel for a half century. During those years I have had a diversity of experiences among my brothers and sisters in the Lord; all the way from births to marriages, to baptizing whole families, to seeing people who knew the truth turn away from it, to serious illness, to deaths of both young and old, and to coming to know the best people on earth. In our experiences as preachers we come to know some people who are extra special; who come to mean more to us than we can possibly describe. We also come to know people as nobody else knows them, and they probably come to know us as nobody else does.

I have often stated what I have never heard another gospel preacher say, namely, “preachers, don’t discount or overlook the advice of godly women.” Maybe others have not had the experience along this line that I have. As a young preacher I think I benefitted more from the advice of the good sisters than from brethren. Maybe it is the mother’s  touch on how the advice was given, or just maybe they had an insight that men seldom have. Men’s approach to preachers tends to be more antagonistic or adversarial than that of women. I know there are notable exceptions to this, but it is generally true.

In this article it is my exalted privilege and pleasure to pay tribute to a “mother in Israel” who has meant more to me than words can convey. I moved to Louisville, Kentucky in 1961 to work with what became the Expressway church. I lived there almost nine years. I came to know some of the best people on earth, and we had a very fruitful work, though it was very stormy and unpleasant at times.

Justice and Elsie Shull were members at Expressway, and had been members of the old Taylor Boulevard Church for many years. They gave me wonderful encouragement and inspiration in one of the most difficult times of my preaching life. The old Taylor Boulevard church, the largest church in the state, had divided over the institutional issues, and filed a law suit against the conservative brethren (about 200) to bar them from the building. The situation was very disturbing and one in which a preacher needs all the moral support he can get.

I received great support from the elders, and a large majority of the members, and especially from Justice and Elsie Shull. Elsie kind of adopted me as a son, and I came to look upon her as my second mother. She often refreshed my spirit and held up my hands in the battle for truth. Compromise was not a thought she ever entertained, and she loved every gospel preacher who had the courage to contend for the faith. She reminds me so much of Paul’s statements about women he had known in the Lord. He admonished Timothy to treat “the elder women as mothers . . .”(1 Tim 5:2), and he said to Philemon, “And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow labourers, whose names are in the book of life”(Phil 4:3).

Elsie was both a lovely and a lovable person. She was a woman of impeccable character, physical beauty, and of great influence in the Expressway church. God blessed her with a physical beauty that is seldom seen which she possessed until the day of her death at age 90, but she was no less beautiful on the inside. A more beautiful “mother in Israel” I have never known.

There are many words that fitly describe this very un- usual lady, such as: righteous, beautiful, generous, neat, gracious, devoted, lovely, loveable, kind, considerate, motherly, supportive of that which is good, sweet, and a lover of truth. Before the Expressway building was finished, I used to hold Bible classes in the basement of her house, and I stayed with the Shulls during a gospel meeting at Expressway, and I can safely say there never was a neater housekeeper than Elsie Shull. Nothing was ever out of place. Her basement was like a living room. Her laundry was neatly ironed and folded and put in its place as neatly as if it were on display in a department store! She was a neat person!

Elsie   lived to the ripe old age of 90 years. We corresponded throughout all the years after I left the work at Expressway in 1969. At age 90 she could write a letter as uplifting and inspiring as she ever could. She not only corresponded with me and my family, but with others she came to know through the years.

She said something to me in a letter when our precious daughter died, whom she had known since infancy, that I have never forgotten and which has been a source of com- fort to me ever since. She said, “Jim, don’t worry about Karla, she is in a better place.” It is my firm belief that the same can now be said of our dear Elsie. If our loved ones can converse with each other in that land beyond the sky, I am sure Elsie is still speaking words of comfort.

Elsie, like most people,   was not without burdens in her life, but she bore them with the grace and beauty that was so characteristic of her. Her faith was her bridge over troubled waters. Justice preceded her in death by several years. She lived alone for the rest of her life in the beautiful little  house they had shared and which Justice probably built, for he was a carpenter par excellence. Some of her children were not faithful to the Lord, which was one of the bitter realities with which she lived and for which she prayed daily. Thank God she lived long enough to see one of her sons and his wife return to the Lord with a devotion seldom seen. It was a much deserved happiness and an answer to a mother’s prayer before she crossed over.

Her only daughter, Bobbi, lost her husband to cancer, and in time she was married to Connie Adams, a well-known gospel preacher. Bobbi, like her mother, is a beautiful person within and without, and has that same devotion to the Lord exemplified by her sweet mother. Elsie greatly admired Connie and his stand for the truth. She often spoke with sadness of the milktoast preaching that characterizes many pulpits among us today, and with becoming pride of the kind of preaching done by Connie, Grover Stevens, Greg Litmer, the present preacher at Expressway, and others she had known and loved.

She is gone but not forgotten, nor will she ever be by those who knew and loved her. She is one of the many special saints I have known in my life as a gospel preacher and her sweet disposition and spiritual devotion will continue to be an inspiration as long as I am in this tabernacle.  I express my heart-felt sympathy to all her family and friends and all who were touched and influenced by this gracious and loveable “mother in Israel.” We shall all miss her sweet smile, her beautiful face, and most of all, the inspiration that she was to us all. Heaven is sweeter now!

Heads Are For Thinking

By John F. Maddocks 

The last time you made a decision did your hand tell you what to do? Or, the last time you took a trip was it your foot or your toe that told you where to go? Of course not! We all know that is not how it works. When it is time to make a decision, in reality when we do any thinking at all, the head is what does it. The head is the housing of our brain. The brain is our command center. I’m sure we would all agree this is so.

Jesus Christ is the head of a body. “And He put all things un- der His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:22, 23). “For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything” (Eph. 5:23, 24). “And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence” (Col. 1:18). Jesus Christ’s body is the church. He is not the head of many bodies (churches, denominations) as some today would teach. Ephesians 4:4 says “there is one body.” In a body only the head does the thinking!

Paul, writing to the brethren in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, taught that individually, as part of Christ’s body, we are not all the same. Metaphorically, he described some as hands, some as feet, some as eyes, some as ears, and so on. Each part (individual member) has a function (in Eph. 4:16, Paul says each part is of value). Yes, every part has a function, but, that function is not to do the thinking.

At the transfiguration Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke with Jesus. Peter was prepared to build them each their own tabernacle. God the Father’s reply was, “While he (Peter) was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!’” (Matt. 17:5).

In John 6, many of the Lord’s disciples had turned away from him (v. 66). In verse 67 Jesus asked his disciples, “Do you also want to go away?” Notice Peter’s response in vv. 68, 69, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and to know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

We need to let Jesus do the thinking! What a difference we would see in our world if people would just do this. If instead of, “Well, what I think . . . ,” people would turn to the Lord for a “Thus saith the Lord.” What a difference it would make in our lives if we would just let Jesus, the head, do the thinking!

Overcoming Temptation

By Heath Rogers 

When we become a Christian we become a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17). We rise from the regenerating waters of baptism to live in the newness of life (Tit. 3:5; Rom. 6:4). As Christians, God expects us to live a life free from sin. “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin . . . likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (Rom. 6:6, 11-l3).

We know that we aren’t supposed to sin. We know we must overcome temptation. The question is not “Can it be done?” Jesus did it (Matt. 4:1-11). The question is “How can it be done?” What can we do to overcome the temptation to commit sin? Is there anything we can arm ourselves with? Does the Bible offer any suggestions at all? Yes it does.

Understanding Temptation

One of the best things that we can do to overcome temptation is to understand how temptation works. Temptation works through our desires and lusts. “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (Jas. 1:14-15). If we have a desire, lust or appetite for something, then the devil has the bait. That bait comes in three forms. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). The “lust of the flesh” is something that will make us feel good, something that will satisfy a physical desire. The “lust of the eyes” is something that looks good and makes us want it. The “pride of life” is the opportunity to better ourselves, to improve our status or position, to make us feel better about ourselves.

We don’t all have the same desires, but we all have desires. Temptation is when our desires are appealed to and encouraged to be fulfilled. It is kind of like fishing. Different baits catch different fish, but they all work on the same principle. If we can understand what is happening when we are being tempted, we stand a better chance of recognizing it and stopping it. After all, we are smarter than a fish, aren’t we?

Don’t Put Yourself In A Situation To Be Tempted

“But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Rom. 13:14). We are not to go out looking to be tempted. We are not to put ourselves in temptation’s way.

Several people in the Bible have made this grave mistake. Lot “pitched his tent toward Sodom” (Gen. 13:11-13). We know what happened to Lot. It all came about because he intentionally put himself in the company of sinners (1 Cor. 15:33). King David was in the wrong place at the wrong time (2 Sam. 11:1-2). He should have been out with the other kings in battle. But instead he was where he could see Bathsheba bathing. He desired her, committed adultery, had her innocent husband killed, lost the child, and had another son rebel against him. All because he was where he shouldn’t have been. Peter followed the Lord “afar off” (Matt. 26:57-58). Instead of staying with the Lord, he was in the company of strangers. It was there that he was able to do the unthinkable, he denied the Lord.

Too many Christians are all too willing to play with fire. It is foolish knowingly and willingly to put ourselves in a situation to be tempted. The Bible tells us that we are to “abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thess. 5:22).

Flee! Get Out While You Can!

When we find ourselves in a sinful situation we are to get out of it. “Flee fornication” (1 Cor. 6:18); “flee from idolatry” (1 Cor. 10:14); “flee these things” (1 Tim. 6:11); “Flee also youthful lusts” (2 Tim. 2:22). “Flee” means to escape, get away, run for your life. Thayer says it is “to seek safety by flight, to escape safely out of danger.” I have a feeling that too many of us fail to see the “danger” that temptation poses. Our world has taken the bite out of sin for us. Sin is no longer a bad thing for many people, including many Christians. Instead of running away from sin, we attempt to explain away our sin. We have concocted all kinds of excuses for people who happen to be caught up in sin. It is not their fault, it is somebody else’s. But Christian, you are a child of God! You are not to engage in sin thinking you can excuse it, you are to run from sin hoping you can escape it (1 Cor. 10:13)!

Protect Your Heart and Mind

If we can keep in control our minds, we have a better chance of overcoming temptation. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Phil. 4:6-8). We are to “put on Christ” (Rom. 13:14) and “walk in the spirit” (Gal. 5:16). This is a lifestyle, and a lifestyle occupies the mind.

Jesus quoted Scripture when overcoming temptation (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10). Have we filled our minds with Scrip- ture? The Bible tells us to meditate and think on certain things for a reason! It is a way of protecting the heart and mind. Assembling for worship equips us with the strength and determination to fight on and resist temptation (Heb. 10:24-26). Prayer is useful — no — essential if we are going to overcome temptation (Matt. 6:13). Are we putting on the armor of God to protect ourselves from the wiles of the devil, or are we walking out into the battleground naked and defenseless (Eph. 6:10-17)? If we will make it harder for the devil to tempt us to sin, then it will be easier to overcome temptation.

Repent

“I did repent when I obeyed the gospel!” Yes, then you sinned again. Repentance is an ongoing process. To repent means to turn. We must stay turned from sin and towards God. Temptation is constantly calling upon us to return to our sinful habits. When being tempted, we have to remember, “No, I repented of that sin to do it no more!” Did you really repent of your sins when you obeyed the gospel? Did you really repent, or were you just sorry about your sins, knowing that you would most likely commit them again if given the chance? True repentance is lacking among God’s people today.

Just saying that we are not to sin — that doesn’t help very much. We all know that. The question is “How do we overcome temptation?” That is information that we desperately need. The Bible tells us that there are some things that we can do that will help us overcome temptation. The question now is “Will we do them?