Listen to sermons at FreeGraceRadio.com

Sermon #2437 — Miscellaneous Sermons

Title: The Faithfulness of God

Text: Jeremiah 31:35-37

Subject: God’s Faithfulness

Date: Sunday Evening — August 12, 2018

Readings: Mark Medley and Rex Bartley

Jeremiah 30:22-31:40

Introduction:

If you are following our daily Bible reading calendar, we have been reading the book of Jeremiah. We will come to the end of Jeremiah’s prophecy on Wednesday. This past Thursday the suggested reading was Jeremiah 31 and 32. Tonight I am going to interrupt my exposition of Isaiah’s prophecy and ask you to turn to Jeremiah — Jeremiah 31:35-37. That will be my text — Jeremiah 31:35-37. My subject is The Faithfulness of God.

(Jeremiah 31:35-37) Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: (36) If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever. (37) Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.

Absolute Security

Here, the Lord God asserts the absolute security of his elect, the Israel of God, his church, and assures us of it by his great faithfulness. This assurance is given immediately following his declaration of his everlasting covenant of grace (vv. 31-34). Just as God set his bow in the sky to assure Noah that he would never destroy the earth again by a flood of waters, the Lord God here promises us that so long as heaven and earth shall stand, so his covenant, his grace, his mercy toward his elect shall never fail — no matter what!

Chapters 1-29 were all about judgment. Israel was a land of sin, idolatry, and apostacy. For these things God brought judgment upon them. But, beginning in chapter 30, the Lord God gave his prophet a message of mercy sure, grace indestructible, and salvation sure for his covenant people, God’s true Israel, all the host of his elect.

The Lord God here tells us that he will never forsake his chosen. He will never cast them off. He will never reject them. He will never turn his back upon them. — Read the text again.

God is talking in terms of the greatest and grandest mysteries of the universe. It is as though God were saying, “Suppose any of you could put out the sun so that it could be darkened. Suppose you could destroy the moon and the stars and stop them from shining day and night. Or, suppose any of you could measure the expanse of heaven or search out the deep secrets under the earth. If you can do all of that,” God says, “then I will admit that I will cast off my people.”

That is extremely strong, moving language. The Lord God is saying here, “You will never lose the ordinances of the sun, moon, and stars, the shining of the sun by day and of the moon and stars by night. All these great wonders that I have made. “They are mysteries far beyond human understanding.” That was true in Jeremiah’s day and it is still true today. No scientist of any kind would ever claim to know the answers to these questions concerning the sun, moon, and stars, the expanse of heaven, the profundity of the depths of the earth. No brilliant mind has begun to fathom these mysteries, even today — nor will they ever.

God’s Faithfulness

God says that if you can search out all of that then he will admit that he can cast off his people. What a strong affirmation of his love, his grace, and his faithfulness toward his people! The point here is this: The people of God will never cease to be the people of God. It doesn’t matter what they do, be their sins never so great, God will never, never, cease to be their God, looking after them and caring for them, and they shall never cease to be his people. — Why? — Because God is faithful!

(2 Timothy 2:11-16) It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: (12) If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: (13) If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. (14) Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. (15) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (16) But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.

(Lamentations 3:21-23) This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. (22) It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. (23) They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

O Spirit of God give me wisdom, grace, and power to proclaim the faithfulness of our God this hour for Christ’s sake! I cannot begin to tell you how much my heart and mind is occupied with this great subject.

There was a time when I talked about God’s faithfulness merely as an article of divine truth revealed in the Scriptures. That was the best I could do, because I had not experienced (to my knowledge at the time) much of his faithfulness. But now, it has been over 51 years since God revealed himself to me in Christ. I have seen some trials, some temptations, and some sorrows. In them all, I must confess, my weakness in the flesh and my sin have been mournfully manifest. But this one thing I can tell you about our God, my Father: He is faithful! — “He abideth faithful!” From the depths of my soul, I rejoice to say with Jeremiah, — “Great is thy faithfulness!”

Faithfulness is a rare thing in this world. In the business world, with rare exceptions, a man’s word is no longer his bond. In the social world, marital infidelity has become something that is expected. The sacred bonds of matrimony, these days, are discarded as thoughtlessly as wastepaper. In the political world, elected representatives, with very rare exceptions, use their public affairs for nothing but personal advantage. And in the religious world, the vast majority of churches, preachers, and religious leaders who claim to serve God, uphold his Word, and proclaim his truth, repudiate the character of God, deny the Word of God, and openly attack the truth of God. Faithfulness is a rare thing in this world.

Even among the saints of God and among his most faithful servants there is great unfaithfulness! How unfaithful we have been to Christ! How unfaithful we have been to the light, privileges, and responsibilities God has given us! Our faithfulness to our God, at best, is unfaithfulness! But, “God is faithful!” How refreshing, how blessed it is to lift our eyes above the world, and above ourselves, to behold One who is faithful, faithful at all times, faithful in all things!

Hear this Word from God and rejoice…

(1 Corinthians 10:13) There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

(Psalm 36:5) Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.

(Psalm 89:1) I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. (2) For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.

(Psalm 89:8) O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? Or to thy faithfulness round about thee?

(Psalm 119:90) Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.

(Isaiah 25:1) O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

(Psalm 92:1) It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: (2) To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night.

Proposition: The Lord our God is faithful, always faithful, in all things faithful. — This is our confidence in him. We could have no faith in God, we could have no confidence in his Word, we could not believe his promises were he not faithful.

Faithfulness is an attribute essential to God, without which he would not be God. It is a most glorious attribute of his nature. — “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him” (Deuteronomy 7:9). God’s faithfulness is, like himself, great and infinite. In the teethe of great pain and sorrow, the weeping prophet cried, “Great is thy faithfulness!” Faithfulness is all around him, like a garment with which he is clothed and covered from head to foot. — “O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? Or to thy faithfulness round about thee?” (Psalm 89:8). God’s faithfulness is immutable, invariable, unchanging, and unchangeable. It has never failed and shall never fail. It is established in the heavens and will continue forever (Psalm 89:2, 23, 33; 119:90). “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). Do you understand what I am saying? It is utterly impossible for God to be unfaithful!

God’s faithfulness is the foundation of our trust and confidence in him. He never forgets, never fails, never falters, never forsakes, and never forfeits his Word. Therefore, we may safely and confidently commit ourselves to him and depend upon him for all the mercies he has promised, both in this life and in the life to come (1 Peter 4:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

(1 Peter 4:19) Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

(1 Thessalonians 5:23-24) And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (24) Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

The faithfulness of God is seen, primarily, in the fact that he always performs his Word (Numbers 23:19). — “The foundation of God standeth sure.” — And “there shall be a performance of those things which were told (us) from the Lord” (Luke 1:45).

(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?

Illustrations

1^st — Let me remind you that illustrations of God’s faithfulness are found throughout the Bible. More than 4,000 years ago God said, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). Every year furnishes a fresh witness to God’s faithfulness to his promise. He promised that he would never destroy the earth with the waters of a flood again. And he set the rainbow in the sky to remind us of his faithfulness to his promise (Genesis 9:8-15).

In Genesis 15:13-16, God told Abraham that his seed would serve as strangers in a hostile land for four hundred years, and afterwards come out with great substance. As the centuries ran their course, Abraham’s descendants groaned beneath the load of their bitter affliction in Egypt. Had God forgotten his promise? Had God forgotten to be faithful? Not at all. — “It came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:41).

In the days of the kings of Israel the Prophet Isaiah gave this word of promise from God. — “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Hundreds of years came and went. But “when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law” (Galatians 4:4-5).

And of Christ it was prophesied, “Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins” (Isaiah 11:5). When Christ came he faithfully fulfilled all the stipulations of his covenant with the Father as our Mediator and Surety. He brought in everlasting righteousness. He redeemed his people. He put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. He ascended back into heaven. And there he took his place upon the throne of glory as the God-man, whose name is “Faithful and True!”

His Covenant

2^nd — God is always faithful to his covenant (Isaiah 54:9-10).

(Isaiah 54:9-10) For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. (10) For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.

Sometimes it appears that God’s covenant has been broken, nullified, or even destroyed. But it never has, nor can it ever be, because the covenant of God’s grace and peace is not in any way dependent upon man. It is a covenant made between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost before the world began. It is a covenant depending not upon the faithfulness of man, but upon the faithfulness of God.

God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, has been faithful in his obedience to the Father, as our Surety and Covenant Head (Psalm 40:6-8; Isaiah 50:5-7).

(Psalm 40:6-8) Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. (7) Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, (8) I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

(Isaiah 50:5-7) The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. (6) I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. (7) For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

In order for the holy Lord God to save his elect people certain requirements and stipulations had to be met for us. We could not meet them. But Christ met them for us, as our Representative, and by his obedience unto death we are saved.

God required…

Obedience to his law.
Satisfaction for his justice.
The restoration of manhood to perfect holiness.

Christ agreed to do it, became responsible to do it, and has done it. That is what Paul means when he says, “Christ hath redeemed us!” That is what our Savior meant when he said, “It is finished!”

God the Father has faithfully given our Mediator the reward of his obedience (Philippians 2:9-11).

(Philippians 2:1-11) If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, (2) Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. (3) Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. (4) Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

(5) Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (6) Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (7) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (8) And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (9) Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: (10) That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; (11) And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The triune God has exalted and glorified the God-man, Christ Jesus, as Lord over all (John 17:2-4).
God has given his Son a seed to serve him forever (Psalm 2:8; John 17:9, 20, 24).
And the Lord God has given our great Savior pre-eminence in all things and over all things (Colossians 1:18; Hebrews 1:1-3).

(Hebrews 1:1-3) God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, (2) Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; (3) Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

And God the Holy Ghost faithfully fulfils his work in the covenant, in the fulness of time, by bringing every elect, redeemed sinner in the world into the Kingdom of Grace, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Galatians 4:4-7).

(Galatians 4:4-7) But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (5) To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (6) And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (7) Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

The salvation of sinners is a matter of divine faithfulness, the faithfulness of the triune God to his own purpose of grace and to every believer, being born again by the Spirit of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, and chosen by God our Father, every blessing of the covenant of grace is a matter of God’s immutable faithfulness to his covenant (Psalm 89:19-37). There is not one blessing in the covenant that shall not be bestowed upon God’s elect (Ephesians 1:3-14).

· Forgiveness

· Justification

· Acceptance

· Adoption

· Preservation

· Glorification

These are matters of God’s covenant faithfulness to his people (2 Samuel 23:5).

His Word

3^rd — God is faithful in all his Word (Psalm 119:138).

(Psalm 119:138) Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful.

Let men mock, deride, and blaspheme the Book of God as they may, the Word of God, in its entirety, is truth and faithfulness.

Its doctrine is all true (Ruin by the Fall, Redemption by the Blood, Regeneration by the Holy Spirit.)
Its promises are all faithful.
Its judgments are all sure.

His Relations

4^th — God is faithful in all his relations to and works for his covenant people. I pray that God will graciously teach us to know this — “God is faithful.” He may be safely trusted. You can safely rely upon him. No one has ever trusted him in vain. Lord, teach us to trust your faithfulness.

We often judge God’s faithfulness by our circumstances and experiences. But we ought to judge our circumstances and experiences by his faithfulness.

Illustration: Jeremiah (Lamentations 3:1-26).

(Lamentations 3:1-26) I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. (2) He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. (3) Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day. (4) My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. (5) He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. (6) He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. (7) He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. (8) Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. (9) He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. (10) He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. (11) He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate. (12) He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. (13) He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. (14) I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day. (15) He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. (16) He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. (17) And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. (18) And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD: (19) Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. (20) My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. (21) This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. (22) It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. (23) They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. (24) The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. (25) The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. (26) It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

God is faithful in all the dispositions of his providence (Romans 8:28).

(Romans 8:28-30) And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (29) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (30) Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

God is faithful in disciplining his poor, erring, sinful children (Hebrews 12:5-11).

(Hebrews 12:5-11) And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: (6) For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. (7) If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? (8) But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. (9) Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? (10) For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. (11) Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Our heavenly Father never afflicts without a reason. He never causes his child a needless tear. When he afflicts us, he afflicts us in faithfulness (Psalm 119:65, 67, 68, 71, 75).

(Psalm 119:65) Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word.

(Psalm 119:67) Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

(Psalm 119:71) It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

(Psalm 119:75) I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

He knows that our afflictions are necessary to drive us away from sin and to teach us to seek him. He says, “In their afflictions they will seek me early” (Hosea 5:15).

God in Israel sows the seeds

Of afflictions, pain, and toil. —

These spring up and choke the weeds

That would else o’er spread the soil.

Bastards may escape the rod,

Sunk in earthly, vain delight,

But the true born child of God

Must not, would not, if he might.

God is faithful in the preservation of his elect (1 Corinthians 1:9; Philippians 1:6).

(1 Corinthians 1:9) God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

(Philippians 1:6) Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

When we are tempted, he is faithful to keep us (1 Corinthians 10:13).

When we fall, he is faithful to preserve us, to restore us, and to forgive us (Psalm 37:24; Micah 7:8-9; 1 John 1:9).

Psalm 37:24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

(Micah 7:7-8) Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. (8) Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.

(1 John 1:9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Though often, by word and by deed, we deny him, yet he cannot deny himself, “God is faithful.” — “He abideth faithful!” (2 Timothy 2:13).

(2 Timothy 2:13) If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

God’s elect are absolutely, infallibly secure in Christ. But our security is based not upon the strength of our resolutions or our ability to persevere, but upon the veracity and faithfulness of God.

And the Lord our God shall yet prove himself faithful in glorifying his people (Jude 24-25). God who gave us grace will give us glory too (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). He who loved us, predestinated us to life, redeemed us by blood, and called us by grace, will glorify us in the end (2 Timothy 1:12).

(2 Timothy 1:9-12) Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, (10) But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: (11) Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. (12) For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

(Jude 1:24-25) Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, (25) To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Application

I pray that God the Holy Spirit may be pleased to convince us in our hearts of the great faithfulness of our God, so that we may...

· Cease to murmur against his providence.

· Cease from care and worry.

· Honor him by implicit confidence and faith.

· Be faithful to him in all things.

Oh, my soul, every time my foot touches the earth, every time my face feels the warmeth of the sun, every time my eyes behold the moon and the stars of the sky, every time I hear the roaring sea crashing upon the shore, let me hear my God’s promise of faithfulness.

Amen.

Don Fortner

Pastor Fortner’s