April 6, 2025 Sermon
Title: The Promise (God's Covenant Faithfulness) Series: The Path of Redemption
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Title: The Promise (God's Covenant Faithfulness)
Series: The Path of Redemption
Introduction:
The letter arrived on a Tuesday. Sarah held the envelope in her trembling hands, her name written in her grandfather's unmistakable penmanship. How could this be? He had passed away three weeks earlier.
She carefully opened the envelope. "My dearest Sarah," it began. "If you're reading this, I've gone home to be with the Lord. But there's something I promised you long ago, when you were just a little girl. You probably don't remember..."
But she did remember. On her eighth birthday, her grandfather had taken her small hands in his weathered ones and made a promise: "Someday, Sarah, I'll help you open your bakery. That dream you have? I believe in it."
Twenty years had passed. Yet here in her hands was the fulfillment of a promise made decades earlier—a check with enough funds to lease that empty storefront, along with a note: "Promises don't expire, my dear. Not the ones that matter."
Promises. They form the framework of our relationships, don't they? Some promises are kept; others are broken. Some are remembered; many are forgotten.
But what about God's promises? The Bible tells us that God is the ultimate promise-keeper. His promises span not just decades but millennia. Today, we begin a journey through "The Path of Redemption: God's Grand Story." Over the next four weeks, we'll trace God's redemptive plan from promise to passion to power to people.
Would you join me in Isaiah 43, beginning at verse 19:
[1]"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." (Isaiah 43:19)
Our God is a God who makes a way. He made a way through the Red Sea for the Israelites. He made a way through the wilderness. And as we'll see in the coming weeks, He made a way through death itself in the resurrection of Jesus. But all of this begins with promise—with God's declared intention to redeem His people and restore His creation.
1. DECLARED THROUGH THE AGES
God's story of redemption begins with promises—covenants established with individuals that would impact all of humanity. The first major covenant promise comes with Abraham:
"I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing... and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (Genesis 12:2-3)
Consider what God is promising here. At this point, Abram is 75 years old with no children. Yet God promises to make from him a great nation. God promises that all peoples on earth will be blessed through him. This is a staggering promise that seems impossible to fulfill.
This pattern continues throughout Scripture. God makes a covenant with Moses and the people of Israel, promising to be their God if they would be His people. He makes a covenant with David, promising that his descendant would sit on the throne forever.
Through the prophets, God continues to declare His promises, even when His people fail:
"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant... I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." (Jeremiah 31:31-33)
These promises form a consistent thread through Scripture, building upon one another in God's grand narrative of redemption. Today, we stand in that same line of promise. When we open our Bibles, we are reading the record of God's promises to His people across time.
Every time we baptize a young person, we are declaring God's promises to a new generation. Every time we gather for communion, we are participating in the "new covenant in Christ's blood." We are people defined by promise.
2. DEFENDED THROUGH ADVERSITY
But what happens when circumstances seem to contradict God's promises? What happens when God's people face exile, suffering, or apparent abandonment?
Consider the Israelites in Babylonian exile. Jerusalem had fallen. The temple was destroyed. The people were forcibly relocated. Every visible sign of God's covenant seemed to have vanished.
Yet it was precisely in this moment of national catastrophe that God spoke:
"When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:10-11)
Even in exile—especially in exile—God defends His promises.
We see this pattern throughout Scripture. Joseph, sold into slavery, later declares: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good" (Genesis 50:20). Through adversity, God was defending His promise that all nations would be blessed through Abraham's offspring.
Perhaps the most poignant expression comes in Lamentations. After describing Jerusalem's devastation, the prophet writes:
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:21-23)
Even surrounded by destruction, the prophet clings to God's promise of compassion.
What does this mean for us? When we face our own adversities—illness, fractured relationships, financial hardship—God's promises remain intact. Circumstances do not nullify covenant.
When adversity strikes, we have a choice. We can interpret God's promises through our circumstances, or we can interpret our circumstances through God's promises. One path leads to doubt; the other to hope.
3. DEMONSTRATED THROUGH JESUS
God's promises, declared through the ages and defended through adversity, find their ultimate demonstration in Jesus Christ. In Jesus, the abstract becomes concrete. The promised becomes present.
Paul puts it succinctly: For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. (2 Corinthians 1:20)
Every promise God ever made finds its fulfillment in Jesus. He is the offspring of Abraham through whom all nations are blessed. He is the prophet like Moses. He is the Son of David who will reign forever. He is the suffering servant who bears our iniquities. He is the one who establishes the new covenant.
Jesus himself claimed to be the fulfillment of God's promises. In the synagogue at Nazareth, he read from Isaiah about proclaiming good news to the poor and freedom for prisoners, then said: "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21).
In Jesus, we don't just hear about God's promises; we see them embodied. We see what God's love looks like in human form. The incarnation itself is the ultimate demonstration of God's promise-keeping character. God had promised to be with His people, and in Jesus, God is literally with us—Immanuel.
As we approach Holy Week, we'll see how Jesus' death and resurrection fulfill God's promises of redemption. The cross and empty tomb are God's definitive demonstration that He keeps His word, even at immeasurable cost to Himself.
The question is: Do we recognize Jesus as the fulfillment of God's promises? Do we see in him the answer to humanity's deepest needs? Or are we still looking elsewhere for fulfillment?
4. DISCOVERED THROUGH APPLICATION
God's promises are declared, defended, and demonstrated. But they must also be discovered through application. Promises are only effective when they're embraced and acted upon.
Paul writes to the Romans: We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. (Romans 8:22-24)
We live in the tension of the "already but not yet." Christ has come, fulfilling God's promises. Yet we still await their complete realization. How do we live in this tension?
First, we need to identify God's promises in Scripture. Not every statement in the Bible is a promise. We need to understand the context, the audience, and the nature of each promise.
Second, we need to claim God's promises through faith. Hebrews reminds us that "faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is not a leap in the dark; it's a step into the light of God's promises.
Third, we need to align our lives with God's promises. If we believe God's promise that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him" (Romans 8:28), then we face adversity differently. If we believe God's promise that He will "never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5), then we approach uncertainty differently.
John, a Christian businessman, faced a difficult ethical decision at work. The easy path would have brought financial reward but required compromising his integrity. "I kept coming back to Matthew 6:33," he said. "'But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.' I chose to trust God's promise rather than take matters into my own hands."
Finally, we discover God's promises by sharing them with others. God's promises are never just for us; they're given so that we can be channels of blessing to the world. Remember God's promise to Abraham: "all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
We are heirs of that same promise, called to be blessings to our families, communities, and workplaces. When we forgive, we demonstrate God's promise of forgiveness. When we serve the needy, we embody God's promise of provision. When we share the gospel, we offer God's promise of redemption.
Conclusion
As we prepare to enter Holy Week, we do so as people of promise. We stand in a long line of faith, reaching back to Abraham. We join with countless others who have trusted God's promises, even when circumstances seemed to contradict them. We look to Jesus as the ultimate demonstration of God's faithfulness. And we discover these promises in our own lives as we claim them, align with them, and share them.
Next week, we'll explore "The Passion"—the cost of fulfilling God's promises through Christ's sacrifice. But today, I invite you to identify one promise from Scripture that speaks to your current circumstances. Perhaps you need the promise of God's presence in loneliness, strength in weakness, guidance in confusion, or forgiveness in failure. Whatever you need, there is a promise for you.
Remember the letter Sarah received from her grandfather? God has written us a letter too—not after His death, but after His resurrection. It's a letter full of promises, secured by Christ's blood and guaranteed by His empty tomb. And like Sarah's grandfather, our God says to us: "Promises don't expire. Not the ones that matter."
[1] All Scripture is from the NIV (New International Version)