Sermon #12 Series: Who Is God?
Title: The faithfulness of God
Text: I Corinthians 10:13
Reading:
Subject:
Date: Tuesday Evening - April 3, 1990
Tape #
Introduction:
Faithfulness is a rare thing in this
world. In the business world, with rare exceptions, a man’s world is no longer
his bond. In the social, 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!
My subject tonight is The Faithfulness of God. Turn to I
Corinthians 10:13. Read this Word from God and rejoice: “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.”
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, 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” (Deut. 7:9). God’s faithfulness is, like himself, great
and infinite. Jeremiah said, “Great is
thy faithfulness” (Lam. 3:23). 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?” (Psa. 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 (Psa. 89:2, 23, 33; 119:90). “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself” (II
Tim. 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, 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 (I Pet. 4:19; I Thess.
5:23-24). The faithfulness of God is seen, primarily, in the fact that he
always performs his Word (Num. 23:19). “The
foundation of God standeth sure.” And “there
shall be a performance of those things which were told (us) from the Lord” (Lk. 1:45).
I. 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” (Gen. 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 (Gen. 9:8-150.
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” (Ex.
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” (Isa. 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” (Gal. 4:4-5).
And of Christ it was prophesied, “Righteousness shall be the girdle of his
loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins” (Isa. 11:5). When Christ
came he faithfully fulfilled all the stipulations of his covenant with the
Father as our Mediator and Surety. 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!”
II. GOD IS ALWAYS FAITHFUL TO HIS
COVENANT (Isa. 54:9-10).
Sometimes it appears that God’s
covenant has been broken, nullified, and destroyed. But it never has, nor can
it ever be broken, 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 Spirit before the world began. It is a covenant depending
not upon the faithfulness of man, but upon the faithfulness of God.
A.
God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, has been faithful in his obedience to the
Father, as our Surety and Covenant Head (Psa. 40:6-8; Isa. 50:5-7).
In order for the holy 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:
1.
Obedience to
his law.
2.
Satisfaction
for his justice.
3.
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!”
B. God the
Father has faithfully given our Mediator the reward of his obedience (Phil. 2:9-11).
1.
Exaltation and
glory as a man (John 17:2-4).
2.
A seed to
serve him forever (Psa. 2:8; John 17:9, 20, 24).
3.
Pre-eminence
in all things and over all things (Col. 1:18; heb. 1:1-3).
C.
God the Holy Spirit faithfully fulfills 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 (Gal. 4:4-7).
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
(Psa. 89:19-37). There is not one blessing in the covenant that shall not be
bestowed upon God’s elect (Eph. 1:3-14).
·
Forgiveness
·
Justification
·
Acceptance
·
Adoption
·
Preservation
·
Glorification
These
are matters of God’s covenant faithfulness to his people (II Sam. 23:5).
III. GOD IS FAITHFUL IN ALL HIS
WORD (pSA. 119:138).
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 doctrines
are true (Ruin by the fall, redemption by the blood, regeneration by the Holy
Spirit.)
·
Its promises
are faithful.
·
Its
threatenings are faithful.
IV. AND 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 - Lam. 3:1-26).
A.
God is faithful in all the dispositions of his providence (Rom. 8:28).
B.
God is faithful in disciplining his erring, sinful children (Heb. 12:5-11).
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 (Psa. 119:65, 67, 68, 71, 75).
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” (Hos. 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.”
C.
God is faithful in the preservation of his elect (I Cor. 1:;9; Phil. 1:6).
1.
When we are
tempted, he is faithful to keep us (I Cor. 10:13).
2.
When we fall,
he is faithful both to restore us and to forgive us (Psa. 37:24; I John 1:9).
3.
Though often
by word and by deed we deny him, yet he cannot deny himself, “God is faithful.” “He abideth faithful!” (II
Tim. 2:13).
God’s elect are absolutely, infallibly
secure in Christ. But our security is based not upon the strength of our
resolutions or ability to persevere, but upon the veracity and faithfulness of
God.
D.
And God is faithful in glorifying his people (Jude 24-25).
God who gave us grace will give us
glory too (I Thess. 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 (II
Tim. 1:12).
Application:
I pray that God may be pleased to convince us in our hearts
of his faithfulness, 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.