THE PURPOSE OF GOD'S PROMISES

2 Peter 1:3,4
The purpose of God's promises is for us to participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption of the world.


1. GOD'S PROMISES ARE THE SOURCE OF OUR FAITH

Romans 4:18-21
Abraham believed God's promise because God always keeps his promises. Growing up, we get used to people making promises to us but not fulfilling those promises, so we can easily end up doubting God's promises. But unlike the case with humans, god keeps his promises.


2. GOD'S PROMISES ARE THE SOURCE OF OUR STRENGTH

Joshua 1:1-7
The Bible is a chronicle of the promises God has made and the way that he is able to fulfill the all.

Joshua was Moses' aide. When Moses was with God in the Tent of Meeting, Joshua was just outside the tent. When Moses was with God at the top of the mountain, Joshua was also on the mountainside, halfway up.

Here, God promises Joshua great things - "no one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life." "Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us," Hebrews 12:1 says, and this was the race marked out for Joshua. in order to strengthen him, God gave him great promises. God goes on - "As I was with Moses, so I will be with you." Imagine how inspiring these words would be to Joshua!

At this point, only one thing could stop Joshua - lack of obedience (vv. 7,8). The one thing that can stop us from being great for God is we ourselves, via lack of obedience.

Joshua needed strength and courage to not only lead the people, but, on a more basic level, to obey. It requires strength and courage to obey, e.g. getting up early in the morning, even though you do not feel like doing do, in order to read your Bible and pray. Your mind says, "I ought to get up," but your body says, "we are not going to do this." if we lack strength and courage, we will easily end up deciding to stay in bed rather than get up. At this point, though, we are not being careful, and God says that we must be careful to obey.

God says that obedience would lead to Joshua's being prosperous and successful.

v. 9 - God tells Joshua not to be terrified. When you are terrified, you are discouraged and easily overcome. Any transition is scary. For Joshua, he was taking up a new role. We all go through different transitions, e.g. starting primary school starting high school, starting college, starting at a new job, moving into a new neighbourhood, etc. In each case, we must be strong and courageous.


3. GOD'S PROMISES LEAD US TO SALVATION

1 John 2:5 The greatest of all promises is not the promise to give land, prosperity or success, but the promise of eternal life.

In Hebrews 11 we read about great men and women who did things because of God's promises.

Hebrews 11:32-40
The faith of these courageous men and women was credited to them. Credit is when you get something without first paying for it. These people received salvation before Jesus had yet paid for it.

Hebrews 12:1-3
It is to salvation that God wants our salvation to lead us. To that end, put off sin. It is not easy, because few will applaud you for taking a stand against participating in sin, compromise and ungodliness. But, with faith, put off sin.

The race has been marked out - stay on track.