Promises Kept Genesis 17:1–7, 15–16  

Grace, mercy, and peace …

Today, we’re going to talk about the promises God has kept for us, and that we make to others.

Sometimes we make good promises to others, and sometimes, bad promises. Sometimes we make promises that never should be made, like a promise to get even, or enact revenge; or a promise to join in with others in doing something wrong.

Sometimes we make good promises that we should but don’t keep; like the promise we make every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, to forgive those who trespass against us. That’s a very hard promise to keep; it takes God’s help to keep it, but we need God’s help with all our promises.

The day after the Vikings won their playoff game against the Saints, when they had that miraculous touchdown pass and catch in the last 10 seconds of the game, I saw a Facebook post by a church that said, “In case you made any promises in the last 10 seconds of the game, our services times next Sunday are at 8:30 and 11:00.”

Sometimes we make promises we don’t keep, and sometimes we make promises we can’t keep. God makes promises that he can and does keep.

When we make a significant promise, and then realize how hard it is to keep that promise, how much sacrifice it’s going to take, we might bail out on it; but not God.

The hardest promise ever to keep was the one He made to humanity, the promise to save us from sin, death, and the devil. 

To keep this promise, first, Jesus had to be holy without sin, something we could never be in this life.

Second, he had to die for us; something that took tremendous courage and love.

Third, he had to rise from the grave, something that took tremendous power.

If he could keep the most difficult promise of all, to die and rise again to save us, He can keep all his promises to us, and He does, because that’s just how He is. What all this means is that we are incredibly blessed.

In our Old Testament today, God miraculously blessed a man named, Abram. He made an outrageous promise to him; he told 99 year old Abram, who had no children, that he would have many descendants, be the father of many nations.

Then he sealed his promise by altering his name, from Abram, meaning father, to Abraham, meaning exalted father, father of fathers. Then God told Abraham, “kings shall come from you”.  

And God renamed Abraham’s wife, to Sarah, meaning princess. And God promised Abraham, “kings of people shall come from her.”.

Soon after, 90 year old Sarah gave birth to a baby named Isaac, who, in turn, had a son named Jacob, who was renamed, Israel. Jacob’s 12 sons started the twelve great clans or tribes of Israel.

Centuries later, Moses and then Joshua, would consolidate the clans into one great nation. Later, after a time of civil war, it would split into two nations, Israel and Judah.

To Israel and Judah God sent many prophets over the generations, and anointed many kings, until a man was born who wasn’t a king, but became the exalted King, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, as he is called in Revelation 19, the one who rose from his own death to become King of Heaven.

Through Him all the nations of the earth, and all generations would be blessed.  In our Gospel, Jesus is identified as that man, the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, and to the world.

Jesus asked his disciples what they had heard people say about him. They said, “Some say you’re one of the Old Testament prophets, or John the Baptist, a prophet like him or them.”

Peter said, “You’re more than that; you’re the Christ”, the Greek word for Messiah.

Then Jesus told them exactly how the Messiah would save and bless the world, by suffering and dying for the world’s sin, and rising for its’ salvation.

When Peter said “not so”, Jesus corrected him, and called him Satan; stop tempting me not to die. That’s what the devil tempted Jesus with after he fasted in the wilderness. So just like that Peter went from confessing Jesus, to tempting him.

Jesus then reminded his disciples that, just as the way for him to save the world was through the cross, so following Him is taking up a cross, sacrificing the selfish ways of the world.

And he gave them a warning, and a promise, law and gospel: “For whoever would save his life would lose it, (law) but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it (gospel).”

In our Epistle, we’re assured of this promise of salvation, and of all the gospel blessings that go with it. Jesus won them all for us on the cross. Without what Jesus did for the world on the cross, God couldn’t make any of these wonderful promise to us, leave alone keep them. That’s why we sing, “Oh, the Wonderful Cross!”.  

Paul says, Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with, though our Lord Jesus Christ. So we have the promise of peace and friendship with God.

Paul goes on, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God; so we also have the promises of joy and hope.

And Paul says that we can even rejoice in our suffering knowing the outcome of them that God promises: suffering produces endurance, staying faithful, and endurance, character, the inner strength we need for life, and character hope, the knowledge that God will keep his promises and deliver us; and hope in the gospel does not put us to shame or disappoint us, because God keeps His promises, and because hope comes from the Holy Spirit, given to us in Baptism.

We have all these, because, as Paul says, at just the right time, Jesus died for us sinners, that we might be reconciled with God and live and rejoice with him forever.

These are a few of God’s good promises to us. They’re powerful promises to hold on to as we go through difficult times in life.Since God gives us so many good and perfect promises, and keeps them all without fail, let us strive to make and keep good and godly promises; and let us avoid bad promises, with selfish or evil intent.

To trust, love, serve and obey God; to follow to take up your cross and follow Christ is the best promise you can make, and it yields the greatest blessing.

To love and serve our fellow man is a promise that matches God’s blessings to us; it’s the right response to His perfect promises.  

As we said at the beginning of our message, sometimes we sin and fail to keep our promises, but God has made a promise to us about that, too.

1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

He’ll help us to go on in our life and our relationships, and do better; make better promises, better avoid bad promises, and better keep our promises. Making and keeping good and godly promises makes our world a better place to live in.

May God, who in His Word and through His Son, has made and kept a mountain of good and perfect promises for you, and still has many more promises to give you in your life, may He help you to make and keep good and godly promises in your life, that you may be a blessing to others, as God is to you.

And as you do this, may the promise of His peace, which passes understanding, guard your heart and mind, in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.