Numbers 23:19
“God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
Titus 1:2
“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”
• God is not a man
John 4:24
“God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.”
1. God is Sovereign man is not
Acts 15:18
“Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.”
God makes many statements in the Bible about what He is going to do and then works out all of the details to accomplish what He said He would do to the minutest detail.
In the Book of Genesis we are introduced to the first Hebrew and his name is Abraham.
Genesis 14:13
“And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these [were] confederate with Abram.”
One of the infallible proofs that there is a God and the Bible is the words of that God is a people we call the Jews.
The Jews have their beginning in Abram and it is a miraculous beginning. On several occasions God makes promises to Abraham about his future inheritance.
Genesis 13:16
“And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, [then] shall thy seed also be numbered.”
Genesis 15:5
“And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.”
Abraham only has one son by his wife Sarah and he is 100 years old when Isaac is born but God did exactly what God said he would do and God did it in a way that no man could.
Abraham is promised that he will become a great nation and that he will inherit some land.
Genesis 13:14
“And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
Genesis 13:15
For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.”
God begins the nation of Israel in a very unusual way.
Genesis 15:13
“And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land [that is] not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;”
God has promised Abraham that He will give him seed (a son) and he has promised to make him great and God has promised that He will give Abraham some land and now God promises Abraham that his seed are going to be slaves in a strange land.
Numbers 23:19
“God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
God gives Abraham one son; Isaac.
God gives Isaac two sons; Jacob and Esau.
Jacob schemes and steals the firstborn birthright from his brother Esau and then must flee for his life.
Jacob ends up with 4 wives and 12 sons before God leads him back to the land where Esau dwells.
Jacob is afraid for his life but God promised him safety.
Jacob has one wife that he loves more than the other three and with that wife Jacob has two sons; Joseph and Benjamin.
Jacob shows favoritism to Joseph and also gives him a coat of many colors and his brothers hate him.
Joseph has dreams about becoming a ruler and ruling over his brothers; he tells them of his dreams and they hate him all the more.
Joseph is sent out one time to check on his brothers and when they saw him they plotted to kill him.
An older brother sought to protect him from being murdered and put him in a pit.
Some of Joseph’s brothers drew him up out of the pit and sold him into slavery and Joseph was carried down into Egypt.
Joseph was a good slave and his master turned all of his wealth over to Joseph for him to manage.
His master’s wife wanted to have sex with Joseph but he would not so she framed him and his master put him in jail.
Joseph was a good slave in jail and ended up in charge of the jail.
Joseph interpreted dreams for two men who were placed in the jail and the interpretation was correct.
Later Pharaoh had a dream and Joseph was summoned to interpret and once again his interpretation was correct and Joseph finds himself second in command over all of Egypt.
Because there is a famine in the land Joseph’s brothers come down to Egypt to but corn and later the family of Joseph is moved down into Egypt a strange land.
In the Book of Exodus we read the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham 200 years before.
Exodus 1:8
“Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
Exodus 1:9
And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel [are] more and mightier than we:
Exodus 1:10
Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and [so] get them up out of the land.
Exodus 1:11
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.”
Multitudes of details can be learned as you read through Genesis and Exodus but one thing is prominent and that is: Numbers 23:19 “God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
God is sovereign and He promised Abraham that his seed would be slaves in a strange land and then worked out all of the details to fulfill His promise.
Genesis 15:13
“And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land [that is] not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;”
God is Sovereign man is not
God has made some promises to you and God is keeping His word. God is at work on the details fulfilling His promise to you.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God He promised to send a Redeemer.
Genesis 3:15
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
The enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman is a promise of the virgin birth.
Isaiah 7:14
“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Matthew 1:23
“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
The promise of the virgin birth is a promise that God will become a man.
Luke 1:35
“And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
1 Timothy 3:16
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
1 Timothy 2:5
“For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”
There are those who would doubt that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh but doubts prove nothing but that man loves darkness rather than light.
John 3:19
“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
Everyone knows there is a God and everyone knows God has a Son.
John 5:17
“But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
John 5:18
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”
Those unbelievers knew who Jesus was but they were not willing to be honest.
Romans 1:18
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Romans 1:19
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed [it] unto them.”
Psalms 14:1
“The fool hath said in his heart, [There is] no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, [there is] none that doeth good.”
The problem with man is not what he believes the problem with man is his heart.
Genesis 3:15
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
The bruising of the head is a promise of a second advent of the Saviour.
The Lord Jesus will come back to this earth just as He promised.
John 14:1
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
John 14:2
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
John 14:3
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also.”
Genesis 3:15
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
The bruising of the heel is a promise of a sacrificial Saviour that cannot be defeated at the first advent.
The Bible teaches us that the Lord Jesus was tempted by the greatest of all tempters.
Matthew 4:1
“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Matthew 4:2
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Matthew 4:3
And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Matthew 4:4
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
The Lord Jesus lived His life without ever committing one sin in word, thought or deed.
1 Peter 2:22
“Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:”
2 Corinthians 5:21
“For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
Hebrews 4:15
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin.”
At the cross of Calvary the Lord Jesus defeated sin and Satan.
Colossians 2:14
“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Colossians 2:15
[And] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”
God promised to make His grace known by all.
Titus 2:11
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,”
God said that it was His will that all men be saved.
1 Timothy 2:4
“Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
God is longsuffering because He is not willing that any should perish.
2 Peter 3:9
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
God promised hope of eternal life to all.
Titus 1:2
“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;” (You must choose by the free will that God gave you)