The story has been told of a man who was crossing a desert in the days of the pioneers. He ran into trouble and was dying of thirst when he spotted a pump near an abandoned shack. He had no water to prime the pump, but he noticed a jug of water near the pump with a note attached. It read: "There is just enough water in this jug to prime the pump, but not if you drink some first. This well has never gone dry, even in the worst of times. Pour the water in the top of the pump and pump the handle quickly. After you have had a drink, refill this jug for the next man who comes along."

What would the man dying of thirst do? To follow the instructions and prime the pump without first taking a drink would be an exercise of the kind of belief the Bible speaks of. Biblical belief requires that one stake his life on the truth of the promise. If the man follows the instructions, he takes the chance of pouring out all the water and getting none to drink if the pump fails. So he must trust that the message is right. He must act in belief, without first receiving, and must trust in the truth of the promise. What would YOU do? I wouldn’t really like to be in that situation, because I would have no idea who left the note. I would have no way of telling whether or not they were trustworthy. I would have to place my trust in a human being and a human invention, both of which have been known to fail. It would be hard to put the same trust I have in the Bible in something that is manmade.

God’s promises are different than human promises! The situation that prompted Paul to write these words is that he had to make a change in his travel plans. He had originally planned to visit this congregation in Corinth, but circumstances forced him to delay that visit. A group of people then jumped on this situation, saying Paul was not trustworthy. They took it one step farther by questioning whether Paul’s message could be trusted.

I think we can sympathize with the fact that people can not always be trusted, and human promises can often be broken. In our businesses and daily lives, people question the spoken word. "Put it into writing!" "Put a deposit down on that!" We hear politicians promise no tax raises on one day, and then raising them a few months down the road. A week ago, the government promised to begin funding pro hockey by giving tax breaks, and then a day later pulled that plan after they heard the outcry. Last Sunday we went out to eat at Swiss Chalet. Part of our order was a side of the "World’s Best Fries." Wonderful though they were, I believe that in my limited sampling of French fries, I have had better. In your dating days, how many boys or girls did you date that promised you so many things, promises long since forgotten? Everything was going great, you thought you were in love, and then…? Wives, how many husbands have promised to do that project around the house, and then never got to it? Husbands, how many wives have promised you patience, but found it hard to fulfill that? How often has your pastor not quite measured up to his promises and the standards that you have set for him. I am sure there are times that I haven’t been all you are looking for in a shepherd.

The truth is, we can’t rely on anyone here. Not completely. We certainly have people we trust, but we are going to be let down at times. We are sinful. We are flawed. We are going to let others down. Others are going to let us down. Even the Apostle Paul had to change his original travel plans! But that did not change what can’t be changed! That did not change God’s message that Paul proclaimed! My inadequacies will never change the message from God’s Word that I share with you. Because that message never changes! His promises always come true! God’s promises are different than human promises!

In the early days of pioneers in North America, a traveler came to the banks of the Mississippi River for the first time. There was no bridge. It was early winter, and the surface of the river was covered with ice. Could he dare cross over? Would the uncertain ice be able to bear his weight? Night was falling, and it was urgent that he get to the other side. Finally, after a lot of hesitation, and filled with fear, he began to creep cautiously across the surface of the ice on his hands and knees. He thought that if he distributed his weight as much as possible, it might keep the ice from breaking beneath him.

About halfway across, he heard the sound of singing behind him. Out of the dusk there came a man, driving a horse-drawn load of coal across the ice and singing merrily as he went on his way. And here he was, crawling on the ice so that it wouldn’t break. But there, riding like the winter wind went the man, his horses, his sleigh, and his load of coal, upheld by the same ice on which he was creeping!

Like this weary traveler, do we sometimes only creep or crawl upon the promises of God? Cautiously, timidly, tremblingly we venture forth upon God’s promises, as though the lightness of our step might make His promises more secure. As though we could contribute even in the slightest to the strength of His assurances! Don’t place YOUR inadequacies on God. Just because someone doesn’t come through for you, don’t think God won’t answer your prayer. If living in this world has given you skepticism, a negative attitude, or even a sarcastic sense of humor, don’t apply that to God! Have you ever applied that attitude toward God? Ever doubted Him? Then get down on your knees and ask Him for forgiveness. That doubt is a sin that you should be thrown out of his gracious presence for! When this is our attitude, we are living as though God’s promises were thin, uncertain ice.

In actuality, we are able to run out onto that ice and jump up and down on it! God’s promises are the most solid thing there is! More solid than the thickest strongest ice in the whole world! Or the strongest rock! With God, there is no "yes" and "no." With God, it is always "yes!" "Yes," all of God’s Promises Come True! You can’t break God’s promises by leaning on them! Look at God’s track record. He made all sorts of promises about His Son coming for us. Those prophecies are recorded in the OT. Some doctor figured out that if you were going by the law of chance, it would require 200 billion earths, populated with 4 billion people each, to come up with one person who could achieve 100 accurate prophecies without any errors in sequence. But the Bible records not 100, but over 300 prophecies fulfilled in Christ’s first coming!

So it makes logical sense that we can trust God’s promises, and that if every promise about Jesus was fulfilled, that every promise He has given us will also be fulfilled. But that is not why we are going to trust His promises. We are going to trust His promises because He tells us that they will all come true through our Savior! God’s Promises Come with a Guarantee! How many of you think you could go and buy a car or a house without a down payment? Good luck! Your word that you will pay them is not going to be good enough for anyone to just let you walk off the lot, or hand you the keys to the house. They are going to need some money down. Well, even though He wouldn’t have had to, God put down a "deposit" on the promise He made to you and me. He put the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The Holy Spirit worked faith in our hearts. That faith assures us that we can count on those promises. The fact that our life is changed by the faith in our hearts guarantees that what God has promised will come!

And what has He promised us? He promises us, "I will be with you always, even to the end of the world." Believe that promise! He has promised that He will make all things work for your good. Believe Him when He says so. He has promised to grant us victory over all our spiritual enemies. Let us trust His truthfulness. Above all, he has promised to grant us full and free forgiveness of all our sins because of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Believe that He forgives you even for the times you doubt his promises. And - He has promised to come and take us to His heavenly home. Let us take Him at His Word.

Don’t creep on these promises as though they were too fragile to uphold you. Stand upon God’s promises -- confident that God is as good as His Word and that He will do what He has pledged. And then run and jump upon the strength of those promises in the joy that they give you! Amen.

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