Ropes of Sand

Happy New Year! “Another year over, a new one just begun,” as John Lennon once sang. This is the time of year when masses of people make New Year’s resolutions, promises about what they’re determined to do differently or better in the new year. After over-eating during the holiday season it’s not uncommon for people to make resolutions about eating - or not eating - and losing weight and exercising. Some people vow to save more money and spend less money. Or they’re going to be nicer to their spouse or more patient with their children.

But here’s what we know: a lot of New Year’s resolutions just don’t work out so well, do they? There’s something about promises and our ability to keep them. Now today, I’m going to tell you about some promises that never fail and are always kept. Really, promises that are always kept.

But first... let’s go back in time.

It was 1988. It was an election year. And being an election year, politicians were saying what they needed to say to build support heading towards the election. At the Republican National Convention George Bush senior accepted the Republican Party’s nomination to be their presidential candidate.

Peggy Noonan had written a speech for Mr. Bush that reinforced one of Mr. Bush’s key themes, one of them being the idea that he would not increase taxes for Americans. During the speech, Mr. Bush spoke with authority and uttered that now famous phrase: “Read my lips: no new taxes!”

The speech went well and Mr. Bush became President Bush. But two years later with the nation facing a serious budget deficit, President Bush was under pressure from politicians on both sides of the aisle. So as part of the 1990 budget agreement, several taxes were actually raised. The promise wasn’t kept.

I’m not trying to criticize former President Bush. The truth is - and perhaps this is especially true in politics - some promises can be very hard to keep. But whether it’s Pete Rose insisting he never bet on baseball - and then later admitting that he did - or the father of “Balloon Boy” claiming that his son was inside a helium-filled balloon floating 7,000 feet above Colorado - when the boy, in fact, was safe at home, there’s just something about a broken promise.

 The Bible weighs in on the subject of promises. The Bible stresses a person should keep his or her word. The Ten Commandments say, “Thou shalt not bear false witness”, which of course would mean that a person should keep their promises (as far as they’re able to do so).

Ananias and Saphira lost their lives because they lied about a broken promise. Whether its a politician promising to end poverty or a Dad promising to bring home ice cream, broken promises just don’t sit well.

In the Christian faith a lot of people make promises that they just can’t keep. It happens every day. It’s like those New Year’s Resolutions to drink less coffee or eat less candy: a person might promise God or promise themselves that from now on they’re going to pray more, stop swearing, control their temper or quit alcohol, and what so often happens? You discover that your promises are like ropes of sand. And you feel like a failure. And often, all sorts of thoughts start flooding the mind when a person feels like a failure as a Christian - I’ll never be good enough, God doesn’t love me, why even bother....

Is there a way out of this? Are there promises that can be kept? Yes there is, and yes there are. There ARE promises that can be kept. Let’s talk about them in just a moment.

EVERY WORD
A man in Iran was so angry with a woman for rejecting his marriage proposal that he threw acid into her face, and blinded her. Under Islamic law, eye-for-an-eye retribution is possible, and as a doctor was about to put several drops of acid into one of the man’s eyes in order to blind him by order of the court, the woman stated that she had forgiven her attacker and didn’t want him to be disfigured. She said, “When you’re in a position of power it is best to pardon.” How true.

In the Lord’s prayer we pray,

“Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” Matthew 6:12. God asks us to forgive. Sometimes it is difficult, but it is God’s way. Unforgiveness cripples, while forgiveness sets the forgiver free. I hope you’ll choose to forgive if you have the opportunity or the need to do so. I’m John Bradshaw for It Is Written. Let’s live today by Every Word.

RETURN TO PROGRAM
Many people have made New Year’s resolutions that haven’t worked out too well as the new year progressed. I’m going to read more. I’m going to watch less television. I’m going to eat better. And I know many people have taken a similar approach to their spiritual life. “I’m going to be a better person. I’m going to speak more kindly to my wife. I’m going to stop losing my temper. I’ll pray more. I’ll be more like Jesus.” And before very long, it’s discovered it isn’t as easy to keep those promises as a person might once have hoped.

It’s like the situation the apostle Paul found himself in. He wrote in Romans 7:15: “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do” (NKJV). A few verses later he said this: “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will NOT to do, that I practice” (Romans 7:19 NKJV).

His problem wasn’t a lack of intent or wanting all the wrong things. You can be the most sincere, earnest, good-hearted person in the world, and still find that your good intentions and your high hopes can fall dishearteningly short.

But a moment ago I mentioned to you that there are promises that CAN be kept. Understanding this is crucial to living a healthy, happy spiritual life.

I’m going to share with you a couple of Bible verses. We’ll go to the book of Hebrews and Chapter 8, Hebrews 8:6 the Bible says this: “But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. Notice what it says. The New Covenant was established upon “better promises.” Stay with me here.

Back at the time Moses was going up on the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, the people told God, “Everything the Lord has said, we will do!” Now THERE’S a resolution! Whatever God says, we’ll do it. In the next chapter, God gives Moses the Ten Commandments.

But Moses was up on that mountain for longer than the Israelites were expecting. They ended up saying, As for Moses, we don’t know what has become of him. So they made a golden calf and worshiped that. One day they’re saying, Whatever God says, We’ll do it! And days later they’re bowing down and worshiping an idol.

Now, was there anything wrong with their promise? No, it was a good promise. A great promise. “Whatever God says, we’ll do it!” That’s a great attitude. But at the same time, it was a terrible promise.

I’ll tell you why. But first, let’s consider another Bible verse. It’s 2 Peter 1:4, where the Bible says, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” 2 Peter 1:4 KJV.

Now, lets see something here. The Bible tells us that there are some promises that work, and that never fail. And they’re certainly not your promises or my promises! The promises that never fail are GOD’s promises. They never fail.

The Bible says this: “God is not a man, that He should lie” (Numbers 23:19 KJV). What God says is TRUE. What God promises HAPPENS. And if you understand this, you’ll never have to make God another promise again.

The fact of the matter is that God doesn’t even want you to make promises to Him. God simply wants you to believe His promises to you! And God’s promises are incredible. I’m going to share some life-changing .promises with you in just a moment.I know the Bible says that if we confess our sins we are forgiven, but why do I still feel guilty about something I did years ago? How do I really know that I have been forgiven? Will this feeling ever go away? I think first thing you want to do is to figure out is if that’s actually guilt that you feel. If it is, then very likely that feeling will go away. But if you simply feel bad about something you’ve done, and that still bugs you, maybe the feeling will never go away. Maybe you don’t want it to go away. If you have confessed that sin, then you can believe that God forgives you. You know how you can believe that? Because God says so. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” That’s that then. You confess, and God forgives. God said so. So, you still feel guilty? If those feelings come, or if you feel doubt about it, then remind yourself of the Bible verse. Psalm 86:5 says that God is “good, and ready to forgive.” Matthew 12:31 says that “all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men.” In another place the Bible says that where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. In other words, if you can sin it, God can forgive it. He delights to and He will if you’re serious about repentance. You can know that you are really forgiven because the Bible says you are really forgiven. You know, to trust your feelings is a dangerous business. You don’t want to do that. And keep in mind that there’s a devil the Bible calls the “accuser” - you can know that He doesn’t want you to know that you are forgiven and cleansed. If you have feelings that you’re not forgiven, take those to God right away. Yield them to Him, and those feelings will dissipate. And as I said, it could be that those feelings are simply feelings of uneasiness about what you’ve done. If you’ve done something terrible, those feelings aren’t such bad things. They’ll help you to remember how awful sin is, and they’ll act as strong reminders to keep you close to Jesus. Peter wrote that it is through GOD’S promises that we can become “partakers of the divine nature.” Peter was someone who knew something about making promises to God and then breaking them spectacularly. Remember, Peter was the one who said to Jesus in Matthew 26:35, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” Matthew 26:35 NKJV. And we know how that worked out... But Peter eventually got it right, he figured it out, and he understood the power of the promises of God. There are literally thousands of promises in the Bible. Let’s look at a few of them and see how they can make a difference in your life. It’s recorded in Hebrews 13:5 that Jesus had said, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5 NKJV . So even if you feel lonely or abandoned, God has said that He will never leave you. He’s with you. You are not alone. The One who wrapped the rings around Saturn has told you that He cares for you. Now that we know that there’s no place for you wondering, worrying or doubting. God has said it, it has to be true, you can believe it and that’s that. Now let’s consider the case of someone who made a New Year’s Resolution to, let’s say... be nicer to their spouse. That person is talking about changing their behavior, but they’ll soon realize they don’t have the capacity to do that. They’ll try and try and fail and fail. And most people become sick of failing. Let’s look at TWO promises that can help with that. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, we read these words--this is 1 Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” 1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV. I don’t want you to miss this, because this is a promise made to you by God. “God... will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.” So now I know that, I know that when I’m tempted to lose my cool, I don’t have to fall. Based on what the Bible says, I am able to deal with this. Remember what we read - God will make a way of escape. It’s there in the Bible. It’s a promise. We can successfully endure the temptation because we’ve been promised by God that He will give us a way of escape. And that way of escape is.... Jesus. When temptation comes we can call on Christ, and He will deliver us every time. “But John, you just don’t know how tough it is for me...” I’m sure I don’t, but I know Jesus, and I know how tough HE is. And that’s all I need to know. Jude 24, let’s read that, Jude 24, that’s one verse: “Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling” Jude 1:24 NKJV. So if you’ve been visiting the wrong kind of websites, or if you’ve not been able to keep out of the bars or the nightclubs, God says that HE can keep you from falling. That is God’s promise to you. I spoke with a woman once who asked me if God would forgive her for a sin that she had committed. So I assured her God would. She said, “But Pastor John, it’s a terrible sin.” I said, “That’s no problem because God is in the business of forgiving terrible sins.” And then I asked her, “Okay, have you confessed your sin.” “Yes,” she told me, “many times.” She told me that this terrible thing she had done happened 50 years ago and that she had confessed it every day, sometimes many times a day. “Good grief,” I said, “That’s over 18,000 times you’ve confessed this to God!”  And she said, “Yep, that’s about right pastor.” So I asked her if she believed God. And she said, “Yes, of course I do.” I said to her, “Well, based on what you’re telling me, you don’t believe God at all. In fact, you believe God is a liar.” So I took the Bible, I opened the Bible to 1 John 1:9, and read to her, the verse begins by saying “If we confess our sin...” I said, “Have you done that?” “Yes, I’ve done that.” “Alright, then. ‘If we confess our sin He is faithful and just to FORGIVE us our sin, and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.’” I asked her, “Does God tell the truth?” “Yes.” “All the time?” “Yes, I believe so.” “Well here,” I said, “God is telling you that He forgives you. And if He has forgiven you, why in the world would you go back to Him and confess again, as though you don’t believe the promise that God has made to you.” I encouraged her to believe God’s simple, powerful promise and not give this thing another thought. And the next time I saw her, she told me that that night, that night we spoke, she told me that she had the best night’s sleep she’d had in 50 years. You see, when God has promised, we can believe His promises. When God says He’s going to forgive your sins, you can afford to believe that. Instead of making promises to God, you can simply believe God’s promises to you, and claim them, and expect God to work powerfully in your life. As a New Year greets us, I want to encourage you today to trust God’s promises. This is a time when people typically make resolutions that usually don’t meet with a lot of success. But you can have a New Year’s REVolution if you experience the power of God’s promises in your life. Philippians 4:19 is a wonderful promise of God: “My God shall supply all your need, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (KJV). And that’s a promise. You can take this promise to God just like you’d take a check to the bank, and you can expect God to provide what He has promised to provide. It Is Written Script: 1301 Ropes of Sand Page 7 ©2015 It Is Written International Television. All Rights Reserved. In James 4:7, the Bible says this, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” And then you will read in the book of Malachi where God promises us that when we tithe and give offerings, He will open up the windows of heaven and pour out so much blessing that we won’t have room enough to receive it. God has promised! You can expect Him to keep His promises. And when you base your Christian experience on what God has promised YOU, you’re going to meet with victory and success and a whole lot less frustration than you would meet with if you continue trying to keep promises to God. Now a word about those last two promises - notice something about them. James said, “Submit yourselves therefore to God.” And then he said, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Malachi said that when we are faithful to God with our finances, then He is able to bless us. It’s like when James said, Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and” THEN “He shall lift you up.” One thing we’ve got to understand is that the promises of God come with conditions attached. Now I’m not saying that God loves you based on condition or accepts you based on condition but when it comes to God’s promises, a person wouldn’t live with disregard for God and then claim the promises of God. That would not be faith, that would be presumption. What faith does is it claims the promises of God, the promises God makes, and then makes a surrender to God. If we come to God in faith, believing His promises, and then let God work in our lives in a powerful way - so that His will can be done – then we are going to see miracles take place. Now one of the best books that I’ve ever read that touches on this subject is a book called Steps to Christ. I want to share a passage with you from that powerful little book. “You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you; but you need not despair. “What you need to understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him” (p. 47).  Isn’t that encouraging? If you’ll give God your will, God will work in your life. Today, believe His promises to you, and let God *keep* His promises to you. Concentration camp survivor Corrie Ten Boom is quoted as having said, “When I try, I fail. When I trust, He succeeds.” I heard it said that Corrie Ten Boom would go to the Bible, find a promise, put her finger on it, hold it up to God and say, “Here, You read what it says!” That’s bold. But that’s faith. That’s relying on God’s promises. Your experience doesn’t have to be a cycle of try and fail. You can claim the promises of God and ask God to keep His promises to you in your life. And you know what? God will always keep His promises. He always does. 

Thanks for joining me today. I want to encourage you. Go to the Bible, find the promises of God, and take them to God and claim them. And then you will be able to watch God work in your life powerfully. He will do it if we ask Him to so let’s ask him now. Please, would you join me as we pray. 

PRAYER 

Father in heaven, thank You for Your promises. Thank You that they are sure and certain. Thank You that we can trust You to do in our lives what You have said You will do. And Lord, we need You to work powerfully. So many people today under the weight of burdens and pressures and struggles and stresses, and feeling failure and like they are falling more than they are standing up. Lord, in Your Word you have promised us that you could straighten us out and keep us close to Your heart. So please do that and allow us to experience spiritual victory in our lives based on Your Word as You keep your promises to us. We thank You for them and we praise You and we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

At a time when many people are making New Year's resolutions, it's time to find out what God's resolutions are, and how His promises to us can change our