CONFIRMATION SERMON - MARCH 28, 1999

St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church - Watertown, WI

PROMISES YOU CAN DEPEND ON PSALM 119:49-50

Have you ever been disappointed? I am sure you have. We all have at one time or another been disappointed. Why were you disappointed? Often our disappointments come because someone told us that they would do something and they didn't follow through. For example, your parents may have promised that they would do something for you and then they forget all about it or they can't do it. Or you may have told your mom or dad that you would not do something and then you go off and do it. Your broke a promise. Or there are times when we expect something to be a certain way and it isn't.

We are living in a time when we continue to see and hear a lot of broken promises. People say one thing and they turn around and do just the opposite. People tell us one thing and they know that what they are saying is not the truth. When that happens, you begin to doubt and question any promise that anyone makes to you. You wonder, can I believe that person will do what they said they would do? Is what that person said really true?

Today is a special day in your lives. Today we are remembering promises that were made to you personally. You are also responding to those promises with some promises of your own. As we focus our thoughts on promises the good news that I want to announce to you on your confirmation day is that there are PROMISES THAT YOU CAN DEPEND ON. The writer of Psalm 119 reminds us that I) God Has Made Some Life Changing Promises To You. As you live in this world II) Remember Those Promises!

GOD HAS MADE SOME LIFE CHANGING PROMISES TO YOU

What is a promise? A promise is my word on something. It is my commitment that I will do or not do something. Unfortunately, many today don't make commitments. Or they make promises with never having any intention of keeping them. However, there is someone who has made some exciting and life changing promises to each of you. That someone is the Lord your God. This is the God who gave you life. The God who loved you so deeply that he sacrificed his only Son for you. The God who is always with you. Thirteen or fourteen years ago the Lord made a promise to you. It was on the day you were baptized. On that day God promised you that he would be your God. He promised you the forgiveness of all your sins and eternal life with him in heaven. He promised you the gift of the Holy Spirit. And he gave you the faith to believe these promises. These promises have changed your life and your outlook on life and death. The writer of the psalm verses I read lists three things that God's promises do for us. He says, A) they give us hope, B) comfort and C) they cause us to live.

"Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope." (v. 49) You have hope. The certain hope of a wonderful future. Some of you chose confirmation verses which express that hope. Cole Meyers chose the word of God penned by the prophet Jeremiah which states that hope beautifully. God said to the people of Israel who were living in captivity in Babylon, "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 29:11) Christie Frost, Lindsay Haselow and Stefanie Renner selected a portion of God's Word from Paul's letter to the Romans, "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) These words certainly give us hope. We know that whatever happens in our lives God will work it all for our good. Because we know that the Lord our God is the Almighty and he is guiding and directing all the affairs of history for the good of his people, the holy Christian church.

Not only do God's promises fill us with hope, they also comfort us. We often make a mess of our lives. We make wrong choices. We choose things which are contrary to the will of God. We sin. We rebel and our rebellion and disobedience brings all kinds of sorrow and heartache in our lives and into the lives of those who love us. We destroy relationships with the people we love. We become angry and lash out at those whom we care about the most. It would be very easy to just give up. But God says to us "I forgive you and I remember your sins no more." The blood of Jesus Christ washes our sins away. God will not eternally condemn us for the wrongs that we have done. He condemned Jesus in our place. That's what we will be remembering this Friday as we observe Good Friday, the death of Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the comfort that the promises of God give us everyday.

These promises make us alive. They give meaning and purpose to our existence here and they assure us of eternal life with God in his heavenly kingdom. The psalmist wrote, "Your promise preserves my life." The promises of God give us a full life here and they assure of an eternal life with God in paradise. As we get up each day and face whatever lies before us we know that we are not walking alone. For the Lord is by our side. He is there for us. He will help and strengthen us. As the Apostle wrote, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13) Not only do we have the promise for this life, we also have the promise of God for eternal life. As we heard Jesus' words in our Gospel reading for today, "I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand." (John 10:28) It is this promise of God that gives us life.

These are promises that you can base your life on. You have a loving Creator, Savior and Friend. A God who made you. A God who provides for all your needs. A God who forgives and forgets all your sins and wickedness. A God who is there for you no matter what. A God who does not hold against you all your broken promises.

REMEMBER GOD'S PROMISES

These promises are wonderful. They are almost unbelievable. They can easily be forgotten. That is why it is so important for each of us to remember God's promises. How do we remember the promises of God? Why is it important to remember?

How do you know that someone loves you? They tell you. They spend time with you. You spend time with them. You listen to what they tell you. If we are going to remember the promises of God, we need to spend time with God. We need to take time everyday and read God's Word to us, the Bible. We need to be in God's house weekly worshiping and praising our Lord and Savior, listening to him speak to us and talking to him in prayer. We need to regularly and frequently kneel here at the Lord's altar and receive Jesus' body and blood in holy communion. For here Jesus personally comes to us and tells us how much he loves us and that he forgives and removes all our sins from us. If you don't review and hear again and again, God's promises to you, you will forget them.

That's exactly what the devil wants to happen to each of us. He wants us to forget. He wants us to neglect and overlook God's promises. He attempts to distract us from God and His Word by presenting all the exciting things the world seems to offer. He would have us believe that reading the Bible and attending church is boring, unimportant and not necessary. He would have us turn our backs on God and rely on ourselves. He would have us deny Jesus Christ as our Savior and think that we can save ourselves by our own good lives and works. he would have us believe that we don't need Jesus and that there are many ways to God and all religions are the same.

But you know, there is a time coming for each of us when we are going to have to face the Lord and none of us know when that day will be for us. It's called the day of our death. God wants us to face that day with confidence and peace. We can as we remember the promises of our God. The promises of forgiveness and eternal life are the promises that give us hope, comfort and life.

Amen.