Hebrews 6:11-16 Waiting for the Promise
Intro: Broken
promises often result in broken Hearts !!!
A)Billy & Suzy stand before the Pastor / it is a day that they have been anticipating for months.
B) The Church is
decorated / their friends & families are present / everything is just right
– there they stand –exchanging vows of love
& commitment
1)
Promises that they
will be Faithful & true to each other in sickness
or in health / riches or in rags until death separates them
C) 5 yrs later Billy
comes home & says to Suzy –I am out of here,
You no longer meet my needs ….no longer capture my heart / found someone else
1)SO He walks away from his wife/ his family leaving
behind Broken Hearts
D) That is what Broken
Promises do – Leaves behind broken hearts
Little
Johnny has been waiting all week for Friday – Why? Because Daddy promised to
get off work early to take Johnny fishing
A)All week long he has been waiting anxiously – he has his pole ready / tackle box by the door / polished his lures / everything is set
B) Phone rings –
Mom hands the phone to Johnny – it is dad she says
1)
Dad says – Johnny buddy I am sorry but I am not going to be able to
take you fishing this weekend – I have to work late & tomorrow
C) Johnny says It is
ok dad – I understand as tears run down his face – His heart is broken by a BROKEN PROMISE
D) That is just the way
that things are with Man – Never have an
absolute certainty w/ any Promise that it is will be Fulfilled & carried
1)
Sometimes it is the
result of Man’s own Sin & selfishness / at other times it is the by product
of situations beyond his control
E) With
man a promise is never an Absolute / but not the case w/ God!!
This morning I want us to consider the Promise that God
made to Abraham that is mentioned here in our Passage
A) Last week I was feeling led to focus on v.19-20 Our Anchor/ the Hope
we have in Christ
B) But in light of some things concerning our Church
Body that have taken place this week which I will tell you about at the
conclusion of our study
1) I sensed On Friday the Lord was turning my
attention to v.11-16 / & this promise made to Abe /
C) Ramification for us as individual believers /
Body Rd. v.11-16
Context
: Writing to these Jewish believers who because of outside Pressures were contemplating going back into Judaism
A)In this particular section the encouragement has been don’t go back but move forward – Move on into Maturity / Hang in there thru the difficulties
B) He uses Abraham the
father of the Jewish nation as an example of one who patiently endured to
obtain the Promise of God
1) I want to note 3 things about this Promise God made to Abe
1st
the Particulars of the Promise v.14 Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will
multiply you.
A)This Promise was first
made to Abe in Gen.12 / make of you a great nation-
descendants..stars/ from your seed ….. nations of the world blessed
B) Problem Abe was 75
yrs old & his wife Sarah was 65 yrs old when God made this promise to him /
Bit old to be starting a family
1)
But None the less
Abraham believed God and it was accounted to Him for Righteousness / Father of
Faith
C) This Promise was later
reconfirmed to Abe in Gen.15 / then again in Gen.22 where God took an Oath
1)
We will look at those
events in more detail in our study on Wed. /
But
to put it simply God’s Promise to Abe was that He was going to Bless Him in a
special
A)Now what exactly does it mean when God says I will
bless you
B) To bless in the
spiritual sense means to impart supernatural favor.
It is God Doing for You / more than what you could do for yourself
1)
This wasn’t something
that Abe was going to do for himself / or could
do for himself – this was something God was going to do in /thru Abe
C) God was going to
bestow great favor upon Abe – Blessing Him way beyond – Abe could ever imagine
/ever dream /
1)
Interesting when God
came to Abe he was quite comfortable Physically / he lived in a nice place /
wealthy –he had servants
D) But The word Bless means to add weight to / God is saying I am going to add weight to your
life Abe / Spiritually he was going to become Rich
Prov. 10:22 - The Lord’s blessing is our
greatest WEALTH, all our works add nothing to it. (TLB)
E) The Blessing was
going to be the direct result of God Multiplying Abe’s life / Abe life was
going to have more influence /
1) Spiritually a much Bigger Impact / So that was the Blessing
2nd
Note : The Promise was based on God’s Person
A)When God reiterated this promise to Abe in Gen 22 He made an oath to Him – He swore by Himself
B) When people make an
Oath they swear by one greater than themselves
1)
Not going to swear on
your Dog / Rex / or Cat – Fluffy /
C) People say I swear on
my mothers grave / swear by my mothers honor /
Or I swear to God
1) Testify in court hand on bible SO HELP ME GOD !!
In
New Testament times it was common for a person to make an oath swearing on the
altar, or the high priest, or the temple .
A)Once such an oath was
made, argument was over; the dispute was ended.
B) Taking such an Oath meant I am serious about this commitment &
my Oath is your assurance that I am going to come thru /
1) no one would make such an oath unless they
fully intended to keep it.
C) Now God, of course, did not need to make an oath. His word is
TRUTH but He makes an Oath for the benefit of man’s weak faith
1)
He meets us on our
level – says I am giving you an Oath – Swear on my name – there was nothing
greater than Him
D) So by taking an Oath God was giving further assurance to Abe that what He Promised He was going to do
Now
God’s Ultimate purpose in this Promise to Abe was to redeem a Lost world
A)When God said to Abe
that from His seed all the nations of the world would be blessed what He was
referring to was this
B) From Abe would come the Messiah the savior of the
World – He was going to come thru the line of Abe / the father of the Jewish
nation
1)
Savior who would pay
the price for Man’s Sins
C) God personally was going to make sure that this
was carried out / God was in Christ reconciling the
world to Himself
Now
the 3rd thing that we want to note is there was a gap between the
Promise & the fulfillment of the Promise 25 yr. gap
A)25 yrs passed from the time God said I will make of you a great nation – until the birth of Isaac the Promised Child
B) Yet we are told that Abraham patiently endured to obtain the Promise
C) Now This is really encouraging to me / those of you who are
familiar w/ Abe’s story know that wasn’t the case
1) Does
the name ISHMAEL ring a bell?
D) You recall that after
they had waited a number of yrs & still no Child
1)
Sarah came up w/ a plan to help
God out – take Hagar – sexually that will be the promised Child – surrogate
mother
Ishmael
was a by product of Abe’s work of the flesh / But God doesn’t recognize our
works of the flesh – in 2ways / Negative & a Positive
A) After Isaac born/ God
comes to Abraham – take your son, your only son -
Isaac
B) But Abe could have argued I have 2 sons/
although it was true/ It wasn’t in God’s eyes/ God provided for Ishmael &
Hagar when sent away
1) But God didn’t recognize Abe’s work of the flesh –
His fleshly attempt to help God out !!!
C) Same is true of our
lives/ God does not recognize the things that we try to do for Him that are in
our strength / our ingenuity / our Flesh
1)
God isn’t going to
reward / our works done in our flesh/ That is the negative side
But
there is a Positive side to this as well Abraham’s work of the flesh was a disaster / there were problems in the
home from day 1
A)And the Birth of
Ishmael has been a sore spot in Israel’s side – ever since!
B) Ishmael – father of Arab – nations – Palestinian conflict – Iraq Scud Missiles/ hatred against the nation of Israel – all linked to Ishmael
C) Now Every time a
conflict happens/ God could look at Abraham say – Abe,
this is all your doing – Ishmael
D) But God not only doesn’t recognize our works in the flesh – He doesn’t remember – failings in the flesh v.15 again
God says –
Abe patiently endured – no he didn’t
A)But This side of
Calvary – forgiven – forgotten/ Sins and iniquities
I will remember no more
B) That is the case w/ all the O.T. characters that were saved when mentioned in the O.T. – almost always seen in a positive light
1)
So even though Abe’s
faith faltered more than once in the 25 yr. gap between the time the promise was
given & the promise was preformed
C) God said He patiently
endured ? What an encouragement that would be to these believers who were
struggle w/ their own doubts / fears
1) God wasn’t going to hold that against them as long
as they kept their faith in Christ
Question why the gap Promise & the fulfillment Why does
the Lord do that in our lives as well
? 2 reasons
A)1st
Teach us endurance /
B) Jeremiah - had a difficult job; preach for
years with no response! complained to
the Lord Ch 12
1) The Lord responded "If you have run with the footmen and have wearied, how will you contend with
those on horses?"
C) The application is - "If you are not getting along in present
situation, present difficulty; how going to make it when things increase?"
1) This is key
concept in the life of the believer - God allows us run hard with
footmen - because He knows might be called later to run with horses!
D)So He seeks to build
us up now as we go through waiting periods and trials - preparing us for promise!
1)
P.T. first started I
couldn’t do a thing – so limited / Therapist were so nice / Doing good Rob
/ Then started pushing me – more / more
E) Goal in mind –
Preparation for further stuff / more difficult stuff
Here is the
biography of a Endurance
A man who had less than
three years of formal education failed in business in '31, was defeated for the
legislature in '32, again failed in business in '33, was elected to the
legislature in '34, defeated for speaker in '38, defeated for elector in '40, defeated
for Congress in '43, elected to Congress in '46 and defeated in '48, defeated
for Senate in '55, defeated for the Vice Presidential nomination in '56,
defeated for the Senate in '58
His name? Abraham Lincoln.
A)God our loving Father
allows us to Go thru difficulties in order to teach us endurance to Prepare us
for the Promise
ROM 5:3-4 And not only that,
but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces
perseverance;& perseverance, character character, hope.
B)We need to hang in
there and trust the Lord as He builds character into us - making us men and
women wants us to be!
1) “Character,
like embroidery, is made stitch by stitch”.
C) He knows the perfect
timing for us to obtain the promise / Kids driving
So
first God waits on the performance – to prepare us
2nd
Reason God waits He is Preparing the situation & scene for us
A)When that promise / when that blessing occurs it is in His perfect timing / perfect situation / perfect scenario
Now
Consider the Application to us as individual believers / then consider things
happening w/ our Church
A)In v.17 – We are
called the Heirs of the promise – We are the recipients – thru Christ of this
promise made to Abe/ we are saved – we
are redeemed
B) What was true of to
Abe is true to us / The promises of God to us are based upon His Person 2 Cor
1:20 All Promises …… in Christ
C) The fulfillment of the Promises of God in our lives / in our
Church is going to be directly connected to the work of Christ in & thru
our lives
D) And just like w/ Abe
– there will sometimes be gaps between the promise that is given / & the
fulfillment of that promise in our lives
1) Purpose to teach us endurance – Prepare us to
receive the promise and to prepare the Promise for us ( Fit into our situation
our need / His time)
But
Ultimately the promise involves the same thing that God promised to Abe /
Promise of Blessing – supernatural favor
A)That results in a Multiplying taking place in your life – spiritually God wants to add weight to each one of us
B) He wants to EXPAND
YOUR BORDERS of influence spiritually
1) He wants our lives to have greater influence & Impact for
Him
2Chron. 16:9 9For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to
show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.
C) But the fact of the
matter is this – a lot of us don’t believe that / we think God doesn’t want to
use us
D) Our reluctance comes
from getting our numbers right but our arithmetic completely wrong . What mean
?
1)
Here is how we think –
Take my ability – which is minimal & I add that to my experience which is
even smaller / add in my personality / my past / my training or lack there of –
That = my assigned territory
E) This is what God has
for me – See very small – non existent / reluctant to ever step out in faith
Spiritually
speaking that is wrong arithmetic – Right arithmetic is when I take Willingness
& weakness ( all that I am not) add that to God’s will & supernatural
power that = my expanding territory
Think about the early Church
Impossible Task – Go into all the world & preach the gospel – make
disciples of all nations / Impossible
A)They lacked the resources / they lacked the skill / they were lacking in so many ways – Impossible task / But also Given an Incredible Promise
B) Jesus said : I will always be w/ You – He was thru the spirit
– they were able to do incredible things
1) I like the description given in Acts 11:21
of what the Spirit was doing thru the early church – it simply says there that God’s hand was upon them
C) The Hand of the Lord upon us allows ordinary believers to do extraordinary things.
1)
It allows us to
attempt great things that if God is not in it. It is doomed to fail.
D)
And if failure doesn’t occur it is very clear that what was done WAS DONE BY GOD!!
E)You could call God’s
hand on you a TOUCH of GREATNESS because you don’t become great / But God’s Greatness
is displayed in your weakness
1) And you become completely dependent upon
the strong hand of God.
Like Abraham
God wants to Multiply You
A Murray is helpful here
: Scripture teaches us that the Highest blessing
that God can bestow on our lives is the blessing of Multiplying ourselves /
spiritually reproducing – winning others to Christ & thru Christ living in
our lives being a blessing to others.
The surgeon sat beside
the boy's bed; the boy's parents sat across from
him. "Tomorrow morning," the surgeon began, "I'll open up your heart..."
"You'll find Jesus there," the boy interrupted.
The surgeon looked up,
annoyed. He continued, "I'll cut your
heart open," "to see how much damage has been done..."
The boy interrupted again "But when you open up my heart, you'll find Jesus in there."
The surgeon looked up
at the parents, who sat quietly, then he continued
"When I see how much damage has been done, I'll
sew your heart and chest back up and I'll plan what to do next."
"But
you'll find Jesus in my heart. The Bible says He lives there.
The hymns all say He lives there. You'll
find Him in my heart."
The
surgeon had had enough.
"I'll tell you what I'll find in your heart. I'll find
damaged muscle, low blood supply, & weakened vessels. & I'll find out if I can make you well."
"You'll find Jesus there
too. He lives there."
The surgeon left/ the
surgery was done / and The surgeon sat in his office, recording his notes from
the surgery: "...damaged aorta, damaged pulmonary vein, widespread muscle
degeneration. No hope for a transplant, no
hope of a cure.
Therapy: painkillers and
bed rest. Prognosis:" here he paused,
"death within one year."
He stopped the recorder,
even though there was more to be said. "Why?"
he asked aloud. "Why did You do this? You've put him here; You've
put him in this pain; and You've cursed him to an early death.
Why?"
The Lord answered and said, "The boy, My lamb, was not
meant for your flock for long, for he is a part of My flock, and
will forever
be. Here, in My flock, he will feel no pain, and will be comforted as you
cannot
imagine. His parents will one day join him here,
and they will know peace, and My flock will continue to grow."
The
surgeon's tears were hot, but his anger was hotter.
"You created
that boy, and You created that heart. He'll be dead
in months. Why?"
The Lord answered, "The boy, My lamb, shall return to My flock, for he has
done his duty: I did not put My lamb with your flock to lose him, but to
retrieve another lost lamb." The surgeon wept.
The surgeon sat beside
the boy's bed; the boy's parents sat across from
him. The boy awoke
and whispered, "Did you cut open my heart?"
"Yes,"
said the surgeon. "What did you find?"
asked the boy.
"I found
Jesus there," said the surgeon.
1 Cor. 1:27-29 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to
shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame
the things which are mighty; 28and the base things of the world and
the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to
bring to nothing the things that are, 29that no flesh should glory
in His presence
It is God’s
desire to use each one of us to make an impact for Him
A)Multiply us & expand us – His Plan for you / Plan for us as a Body of believers a plan that is always unfolding
B) Some of you were here 19yrs ago when Brian & Cheryl moved down from CM to begin to pastor this little group of 25 people / Hacienda
1)
Prayer then was Lord bless us enough to fill these 200 seats / help us to
be able to pay the mortgage
C) But God did far more
/ it didn’t take long for Him to fill those seats / soon there was a need for 2 services
1)I was privileged to
come on staff about that time Church had grown to about 300 / soon 600 doing 3 services / CM / Youth outside /
buses
D) Prayer was Lord Bless us w/ a facility that will meet
our needs & help us expand / the Lord blessed & Brought us here /
continued to grow
1)
Again 3
services / Classrooms across alley /
now High school meets down the street – veil terrace /
E) School – 320 students / couple of hundred on a
waiting list / Ron 6 interviewing 6 families a day
Thru
the ministry here 14 Churches have been birthed here in the U.S. and another
____ overseas / mostly in the last 11 yrs / CCCPM 40 more
A)God has allowed us to
invest 2.2 Million dollars in that time in Missions
B) God has been so Good to us !!! Not finished yet / He has presented More
opportunities to expand our territory in missions –
1)
Next march we are
going to Take part in Planting of a New Church
in Hungary / Possibly Another one in Russia
C) Also Opportunities to
do some Church Planting in Brazil / And I Know
of some couples that we will be sending out to minister here in the U.S.
1)
Exciting times
Also
have some exciting news on the home front / For several yrs we have been
praying that the Lord would lead us to a New Facility
A)Patiently waiting for Direction / leading / Provision – last thing we want is an Ishmael
B) Been praying for a few yrs about several possibilities/ attention Recently the men in leadership & myself – felt led to take a step of faith
1)
We Presently have an
offer on the table for a piece of land that we feel the Lord has led us to /
that is close to enough to here
C) Allow us to better meet the needs of our growing body / Make us able to
expand Have a bigger impact for the kingdom /
1) more room for our school
Not
totally sure this is the Lord / Feel God is leading / It is a stretch / it will
definitely need to be a God thing – Which is good .
A)Counseled w/ Pastor Chuck – received his encouragement & backing if we needed it / So we sense God is moving / now is the time
B) We want you to pray – Morning / noon / night / bathe in prayer
1) Morning prayer watch – Cover our Body in Prayer
Good
News – Also some Bad – For several yrs now – men in leadership have been
praying about what to do w/ our bookstore
A)Recognize that it has been a neat ministry – however / we believe that where God guides He provides
B) Quite frankly – God has not been providing for the bookstore – 3yrs
praying & trying to figure out what is wrong / reduced payroll / hrs /
1)
Although it is a
ministry to our Body – We believe God calls us to be good
stewards –
C) For that reasons
Church leadership team made a decision a few wks ago that it is time to close the bookstore
1)
Beginning the week
after Easter Store will have GOB Sale
D) Timing is interesting –
Considering how we feel God is leading toward this land purchase / time to step
out – time to tighten the belt
1)
Appreciate your
prayers in all of this / Move forward in what God has for us as a Church Body –
AMEN