Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to the Gospel according to Luke
chapter 24, and reading from our text, verse 49. And behold, I send the promise
of my Father upon you. But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem,
until ye be endued with power from on high. Luke 24 and verse
49. Promises and their fulfilment. Our Lord Jesus Christ, having
risen from the dead and appeared and to his disciples he gave
them this promise, he told them to wait for it, and he told them
what would be the sign of that promise being fulfilled. And in this text there is a pattern
that is to be repeated and has been repeated, right through
time and for the people of God today. God gives promises. He does not fulfill them immediately. There is a waiting time until
they are fulfilled. And when they are fulfilled,
they are to be understood that this has been the promise. This is what was waited for. The Lord has fulfilled what he
has said that he would do. And so I want this evening to
look at these three things that are joined together when God
gives a promise to a people, to a church, to individuals,
the promises in the word of God, these three things are joined
together. The first which we look at is
the promise itself. and then secondly, waiting for
it to be fulfilled, and thirdly, the evidence of its being fulfilled. But firstly, the promise. Our God is a promise-giving and
a promise-keeping God. It is something that we might
say is unique with the Lord. It is not possible for us to
make a promise to one of our fellow mortals, or promise even
to God what we shall do, and we shall be certain that we shall
be able to perform that promise. Things happen in our lives, whether
we are still alive, whether we have health, whether we have
strength, whether we have the ability to perform it, things
come in between. and promises are broken, sometimes
sadly with an intent that they were given and never intention
to be fulfilled, but others where there was every intention and
goodwill and wanting to perform that which is promised to one
another, but for some reason we cannot do it. Now with God
that does not apply. When he promises, And sometimes
there might be conditions on that promise, but he will most
certainly fulfill that promise. And as we see in some of these
promises that already are fulfilled, but are just a reminder of how
many have been given through the Word of God. It's one of
the acts of faith that is recorded in Hebrews 11 and verse 13. Those that walk by faith, they
saw the promises afar off, that is, especially the promises of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and they embraced those promises. They were what they wanted. They
were what they waited for and looked for. And so the scriptures
are full from beginning to end of things that God has said that
he would do and bring about. And especially in the chapter
that we read, we read Acts chapter 2, where again and again we have
a reminder of promises that have been given and fulfilled. Those set forth in the Psalms. those set forth by the Lord Himself. And of course, in our text, it
is Acts 2 that brings about the fulfilment, the promise of the
Father, which was the Holy Spirit, to be given. I will pray the
Father. He will give you another comforter,
which shall abide with you forever. It was on that day of Pentecost
that it was given. And Peter recognized that and
preached to the people. So the very context here is the
giving of the Holy Spirit. They're waiting for those 10
days from the time of our Lord's ascension up into heaven until
the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell. We'll look
at that perhaps a little bit more later. that this is one of those promises,
the promise of the Holy Spirit. I want to look from the beginning
of the Word of God and think of the promise of the coming
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We've sung in our middle
hymn of His birth, But first, and what was right through the
years, was first the promise and expectation that God would
send forth the seed of the woman to bruise the serpent's head.
That it should be that God would dwell upon the earth. Will God in very deed dwell upon
the earth was what Solomon said when he dedicated the temple. Isaiah had said, Immanuel, God
with us. The promises in Isaiah pointed
as well that a child should be born, that there would come one
of the seed of David, of the tribe of Judah, and that he would
sit on the throne of David. And this promise was what All
of those in Hebrews 11, we're looking forward to. We're told
that they did not enter into it, they did not see the fulfillment,
but they died in the expectation that God would fulfill it. And as we said, when God promises,
He most certainly will do that. And so those promises of God
concerning His Son, and the types and shadows that he should be
a suffering saviour, a redeemer, that should redeem his people
from their sins and deliver his people. Those that died before
Christ did, they all looked forward and trusted and believed what
God would do. and they died in the hope of
that. But the promise then was given
of Christ. With Abraham, he was given a
promised seed, in thee and in thy seed shall all nations be
blessed. But Abraham was given that promise
some 25 years before that promise was fulfilled. We think of Joseph,
was in effect given promises when he was given the dreams
that indicated very clearly that his brethren would bow down to
him and that was the expectation that God gave to Joseph. We have in the Psalms also the
promises and expectation of the resurrection of our Lord from
the dead. In Psalm 16 and verse 10, For
thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer
thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of
life, in thy presence is fullness of joy, at thy right hand there
are pleasures for evermore. And so, as the time went on and
the course of time, some thousand years before Christ, they're
looking not only to his coming, but also that he should die,
that he should be a lamb, as a lamb led to the slaughter,
sheep before his shearers is done. And then when he died,
he should not see corruption, but rise again. And then the
promise that we have in our text of the Father, the Holy Spirit,
that He should come, that He should be given as a direct result
of the intercession of our Lord. I will pray the Father and He
shall give you. We have also the promises like
the day of death. Peter was told the manner of
death, that he should die. Not many people are given that,
but we do know that we shall die. And in one way, it is a
promise of God that apart from those that shall be alive when
he comes again, that men will die. We have that certainty from
the Lord, what man is he that liveth and shall not see death. It is appointed unto men once
to die. God has said that that is so.
And then, after death, the judgment. These are, you might say, promises,
or you might say, the Lord revealing what shall happen. They're very
closely aligned. we think of in the Acts chapter
1, where the apostles saw our Lord taken up into heaven, and
the angels, they came and stood by them. Two men stood by them
in white apparel, which also said, ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken
up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye
have seen him go into heaven." And we have the promise of the
Lord's return, that he shall come again, and this time with
power and great glory. And so we have these promises
concerning our Lord, concerning definite periods and times in
history, and what we can expect to happen. But we also have other
promises, and we would remember that all the promises of God
are yay and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ. Right through the
Word of God, he's given promises to his people. And I'm not going
to name many of them, but just to give some idea of them, in
Isaiah chapter 40, the last verse, but they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as
eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk
and not faint. It is a promise that the Lord
is pleased to give to his people what he shall do for them. In
the 10th verse of the next chapter, Isaiah 41, fear thou not for
I am with thee, be not dismayed for I am thy God. And then he
gives these promises, I will strengthen thee, yea, I will
help thee, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. And there are three beautiful
promises there all couched together. We have in Psalm 32, I will instruct thee and teach
thee in the way which thou shalt go, I will guide thee with mine
eye." And there is a promise of the Lord's guidance, of the
Lord's teaching, and of his instruction. You have also in the epistles
of Peter as well those promises in chapter 5 of the first epistle
of Peter and verse 10. But the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after
that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle you. And these desires, these really
promises what the Lord will do for his people and right through. the Word of God, then we have
these words to His people that we may come across, we may have
them preach to us, the Holy Spirit may bring them to our remembrance,
those promises that were given to the saints of old as a specific
promise to them, but also may be applied as well to each one
as God may apply that promise to us. We think of Jacob as the
Lord appeared to him as he had the vision with his head upon
these stones and he as he left his home and behold I am with
thee and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest and
will bring thee again into this land for I will not leave thee
until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And
that was a promise that Jacob was given at that time. And so God is pleased to give
promises, something he says that he will do and will perform. As in our text, and behold, I
send thee promise of my Father upon you. And that promise was
of the Holy Spirit of God. Well, dear friends, if we have
been given a promise, then we must know that there is a time
factor between when the promise is given and when it is fulfilled. And sometimes that time is very,
very long. We especially think of the promise
of our Lord, some 4,000 years went by from the first promise
as recorded in Genesis 3.15, the seed of the woman that should
bruise the serpent's head, until it was fulfilled in the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And all that time, the Church
of God was looking, waiting, expecting they were getting some
reminders, some token, some further promises that were pointing to
that same event taking place. And really the coming of our
Lord is one great example how that one day with the Lord is
a thousand years, a thousand years as one day. And that the
Lord, though much time goes by, will fulfil what He has said
that He should do. But we have this lesson, this
reminder, that we are to wait for these promises. We are to remember there is need
of patience, there's a need of pleading the promises, reminding
the Lord of them, and trusting in what the Lord has said. We read in Romans chapter 8 and
verse 25, but if we hope for that, we see not. then do we
with patience wait for it. And there's this exercise of
patience, waiting for what the Lord has said that he will do. Coming before the Lord, reminding
him in prayer, and seeking to have our sights and hopes set
on what God will do, and watching as well for the fulfilment of
it. Going back again to Peter in
his epistles, the second epistle this time and chapter three,
we read this of Peter saying in verse 15, an account that
the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. Even as our beloved
brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him
hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking
in them these things, in which are some things hard to be understood,
which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do
also the other scriptures, to their own destruction. But he
says, Ye therefore, beloved, Seeing ye know these things before,
beware lest ye, also being led away with the error of the wicked,
fall from your own steadfastness. And it is a waiting, then, for
the promise of believing what God has said, what He would do. And the time of waiting is an
exercise of faith, that the Lord will perform it. We said of Abraham,
he had 25 years before between the time God promised him a seed
and that Isaac was born. And in that time, he succumbed,
you might say, to trying to put his own hand to it, to bring
it to pass, and resulted in Ishmael being born. But God said, no,
that was not. the promise seed, in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. And you read of events that took
part and took place between the promise and the fulfilment and
what Abraham went through during that time. There is a time of
exercise, a trial of faith. Going on to Joseph, we think
of what he went through between the time when he was given the
dreams and the expectation and when it was fulfilled. We're
told very clearly in Psalm 105, until his time came, the word
of the Lord tried him. But we can see that it was fulfilled,
it was brought about, even though there were some 20 years that
went by. before it was. We think also with the resurrection,
only three days, you might say, but what a three days of exercise
for the apostles. The Lord has said, I have power
to lay down my life, I have power to take it again. He has even
told them the third day that he should rise and even his adversaries
knew and that's why they asked for the sepulchre to be made
sure against the third day. But there was that waiting and
those doing the way to Emmaus really they set forth the exercise. We trusted that it should have
been he that should have redeemed Israel. They were sad, they were
low, they were discouraged and yet they had these promises and
they'd seen all what was taken place, but hadn't interpreted
it, hadn't seen it as it really was. And so we have a little
glimpse of them walking through this intervening time. And we think then of those like
Peter, who was given an intimation of how he should die, and that
is being crucified, the Lord said. Thou shalt be carried,
whither thou wouldst not. Thou shalt stretch forth thine
hands. But what happens between that
time? Of course, Peter is greatly persecuted. They suffer a lot of persecution
in the preaching. And then he is apprehended. James
is killed with the sword. And Peter is held with four soldiers
and in the innermost prison with shackles and the doors all bolted. and waiting till after Easter
and is to be brought forth and shall fully expect that he also
will be slain with the sword. But Peter is sleeping soundly. Why is he sleeping soundly? Of
no doubt trusting in what the Lord had said. He was not going
to die by the sword. That was not how he was to depart
this world. And so those things that he walk
through that you might say threatened to make the Word of God, the
Word of our Lord to be wrong. But it wasn't wrong. And we understand
that Peter was indeed crucifying, upside down as he didn't think
it worthy that he should suffer like his Lord. That information
is not found in the Word of God. but it is in the history of the
Jews. But as we know God fulfills his
word, it was so. We think then of those things
that we now are waiting upon, as much then as the Jews and
as especially the apostles were waiting at Jerusalem for the
promise of the Father. So we also, we wait for the Holy
Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit in our
assemblies. We need His power upon us. If anything is done, the disciples,
they had to tarry at Jerusalem, in the city of Jerusalem, No
use preaching without that. When they preached later with
the Holy Spirit to those in Thessalonica, they told the word was not in
word only, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. So as much as the disciples waited
for the Spirit, so we also have the expectation that we will
have the Spirit as well. Sometimes we may not be aware,
but other times we have very clear feeling and knowledge of
the power of God in the place when the Word is preached. But
it should be our expectation, we exhort her not to grieve,
the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of
redemption. But we have the promise of the
Lord's second coming. And again, the Thessalonian church,
they were called to wait for his son from heaven. The people
of God, as much as the Old Testament looked for his first coming,
we now look for his second coming. We look for a new heavens and
a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. We look for the
end. of this world, the end of this
time, when the Lord shall come with power and great glory. And
it is then to remind ourselves where the Lord has given a promise,
he will give a time that we are to wait upon that promise. We're not to forget it, we're
to remind the Lord of it. We think of the Jews in Babylon,
Daniel, those that had had the promise 70 years should be accomplished,
then the Lord would bring them out again. They were told in
that intervening period that they were to marry, they were
to build houses, they were to prosper, and we are told, occupy
till I come. We're not to be like the Thessalonians
that Paul sent his second epistle to because they had mistaken
his first epistle and thought that the Lord's coming was imminent.
So he says, no, it isn't. It isn't. You are to occupy,
you are to do your business, you're not to be idle, you're
to carry on your work. And so we are to do that. But in doing that, doesn't mean
to say that we have forgotten what the Lord has said or Lord
has done. Many years ago, the Lord impressed
upon me as quite young really, that I should return back to
this land. And whereas I couldn't say the
specific promises of the word, but it was a certain thing to
me that the Lord would bring this about. But that didn't mean
to say that I didn't then have my education, have an apprenticeship,
have employment, and completely fulfil 31 years over in Australia
before the Lord was to bring it about. All the time I was
mindful that the Lord would do that, and the Lord has done that,
but there is and occupying or waiting till the Lord comes. And I would say to really encourage
any that have promises, expectations from the Lord, to wait on the
Lord for Him, put Him in remembrance, occupy, use the time effectively,
usefully, until the Lord fulfills what He has said that He will
do. And remember, it is providence
that is the thing that does ultimately show whether it really has been
of the Lord or not. There are some that have felt
the Lord's given them a promise, but it has never come to pass,
and that has proved it has not come from the Lord. Or some have
said that they've had a promise from the Word of God, but it
is completely out of context or it might be promising a thing
that is even sinful or evil and in the waiting for it brings
about sin in how it is being waited for. And we can be sure
if a promise is from the Lord it will not lead to sinful actions
or sinful thoughts in the intervening time from when it is given to
when it is brought to pass. And so the intervening time is
an important time as to examine ourselves, are we walking according
to the word of God? Or is what we trusted was the
word of the Lord is bringing about evil? We think of the children
of Israel, especially in Jeremiah's day, When Jeremiah was saying
that God would send judgment and bring them into captivity,
there was other prophets who were saying, no, we shall be
delivered from those in Babylon. We shall not be brought into
captivity. And they were making out they
had promises from the Lord, but theirs did not come to pass.
And what is more, the promises that they had were only confirming
the people in their sinful ways, in their rebellion from the Lord.
It was encouraging them in sin. God's promises will never encourage
in sin or to walk in a way that is contrary to His holy word. If the promises are of God, they
are holy, and they are those that lead to holy, upright, godly
lives and waiting upon the Lord. to fulfill them and bring them
about. We have a reminder with Abraham's
case of the trouble that came upon him and his family, you
might say, even to our day through Ishmael being born. And surely
when we start to put our own hand things to things, we make
a mess of things and there comes more trouble than not, but God
is gracious and merciful and we would bless the Lord for that.
But if we are in that intervening time and waiting upon the Lord,
may we wait in a gracious and godly way. And yes, there may
be those times that knowing what the Lord has said to us, it will
affect what we do, how we organise our lives. If the Lord had said
to us that he would take us when we are not old or younger, then
it would be a foolish thing to be making plans as if we were
going to live a long life or outlive those of our loved ones. And it would be a thing in order
if we then were putting our house in order and living as if we
believed what the Lord had said. May we be of those waiting for
the promise to be fulfilled, like in our text, Behold, I send
the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city
of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. The Lord has specifically told
them where to tarry, where to be. And we assure this, that
where the Lord puts us in a place, we should not be anxious to move
away from that place until he clearly shows us that we are
to. With the disciples here, it was
very clear where they should abide, where they should stay,
until, until. And then when the Spirit was
given, then they were to do as he had commanded them, and the
other gospels go into all the world, preach the gospel to every
creature, or in verse 47 here in Luke, that repentance and
remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations
beginning at Jerusalem. On to look then lastly at the
evidence of the promise being fulfilled. In the portion that we read in
Acts 2, we have many evidences of the promises being fulfilled. Peter doesn't just confine to
the giving of the Holy Spirit, but the chapter begins in describing
how they were all together in one place, And then there came
a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, filled all the house
where they were sitting. And we were told of the cloven
tongues like as fire, and then them speaking in languages that
they hadn't learned, but they were languages that were recognized
by all of those that had gathered at that time, and what they were
speaking, was the wonderful works of God. It wasn't just anything
at all, but verse 11, they were speaking in our tongues the wonderful
works of God. The fruit and effect of the Holy
Spirit was praise to God, the wonderful works of God. He shall
receive of mine and shall show it unto you. And the apostles,
they recognized they recognized this was fulfilling what the
Lord had said. Ten years later, when Peter was
sent to Cornelius and his household, the Gentiles, he recognized on
the preaching of the gospel the same effect of the Spirit. And
so it is good for us to recognize promises being fulfilled. That
is where we can give glory to God, That is where we can be
strengthened in our faith. That is where we can really praise
God, because we see His promise, what we've waited for, has been
fulfilled. Most solemnly with the Jews,
we're told they knew not the day of their visitation. When our Lord was born, Then
Herod sought to slay him, and many there wondered at what had
happened, but when the Lord especially began his ministry, then he came
unto his own, his own received him not. And there were many
things in the promises that they hadn't understood. They could
tell at his birth, they could tell Herod that he should be
born at Bethlehem, But then they were asking when he began his
ministry, saying, search and see, there's no prophet coming
out of Galilee. But in Isaiah, we are told of
the prophecies of him coming out of Galilee. He shall be called
a Galilean. He shall be a Nazarene. And so
they had the word of God, but didn't realize it was being fulfilled
in our Lord Jesus Christ. And that is why in Acts 2, Peter
dwells much on recognizing that it is fulfilled. Some are saying,
they're looking at these same things that are happening, and
they're saying in verse 13, these men are full of new wine. That's how they're interpreting
it. But Peter says, no, this is not so. And then in verse
16, He says, this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. So he's going back to promises
in the prophecy of Joel and he records them, he rehearses them
here, right from verse 16, right down to 21. And then he applies
it and he says, ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth,
man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
and he sets forth the Lord Jesus Christ, him being delivered by
the determinate counsel and full knowledge of God, ye have taken
on wicked hands, crucified and slain. And so then he goes on
as well, now not only recognising and setting before them the fulfilling
of the Holy Spirit coming, but the Lord coming as well, and
the Lord rising from the dead. And this is where he quotes what
we've read in David, in Psalm 16, and verse 26, 27. Therefore did my heart rejoice,
my tongue was glad, moreover also my flesh a rest in hope. Because thou wilt not lead my
soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see
corruption. And he goes on further, but then
he speaks of David being a prophet, knowing that God had sworn with
an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the
flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He saw
the resurrection of Christ. And so Peter here is going back
to these promises and saying, we have recognized these have
been fulfilled. These Psalms have been fulfilled. The Lord has been raised up. He has ascended up into heaven.
He sent forth the promise of the Father. So he says in verse
33, therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, Having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He has shed forth
this, which ye now see and hear." And Peter is recognizing the
fulfillment, and he's going back to these scriptures and setting
them forth here. And sometimes it, like with that
in Joel, you might say, well, the Son, Turn into darkness,
the moon into blood, before the great notable day, Lord. Figurative
language. Of course, we know with our Lord,
when he suffered the darkness over the face of the earth, that
sometimes with these promises, you can't see exactly. It needs faith to see exactly
that this is a fulfillment of what has been set forth. And we should be asking of the
Lord, especially when he's given us promises, that he'll show
us, that he'll make us to understand when he fulfills those, when
he brings it about, watching providence, watching his hand,
watching our own spirit, listening to the spirit, listening to the
preached word, and having the evidence that God gives, and
recognizing that evidence, especially with promises in Providence or
help or strengthening, those that we read of in Isaiah, it's
easy to overlook and think, well, we would have had strength, we
would have had endurance, we would have been having help anyway. Or maybe the promise in the Psalms
of direction, and not realize that If the Lord had withheld
his direction, we wouldn't be where we are now. If the Lord
had withheld his help, we would have buckled under what we've
been under. If we hadn't been sustained by
his hand, we couldn't have continued. It's easy to overlook those secret
helps and strengths and guidings and teachings as well, the promise,
all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, to overlook that
why we know what we do know is because the Lord has taught us
and instructed us. And so, may we look for the fulfilment,
especially those promises of grace and help and strength for
his people, that we give the Lord the honour and glory to
his name, where to believers he helps them day by day, sustains
them, gives more grace, gives help, gives comfort, gives that
hope beyond the grave, and gives that continued expectancy of
the Lord's return and of our being brought to heaven. When
the Lord says, I go and prepare a place for you, and if I go
and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and receive you
unto myself that where I am, There you may be also. It's a
beautiful promise. Maybe hold fast to promises like
that and look for the Lord's coming. He says when you see
these signs, you see the signs in the sun and the moon and the
stars, then look up for your redemption draweth nigh. That
expectation of the Lord coming again. Well may the Lord grant
unto us to know something in our lives, of the promises of
God, of waiting upon the Lord for them to be fulfilled, and
of the evidence of them being fulfilled, and to give thanks
and praise to God for them. The Lord Jesus Christ is He that
is the giver of all of the promises bound up in Him, And every blessing
flows through him, through his precious blood, through his death,
his rising again, ascension into heaven and sending forth of his
Holy Spirit. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.