1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,820 What is the most common sin found out there in the world as well as in the church of Jesus 2 00:00:12,820 --> 00:00:13,820 Christ? 3 00:00:13,820 --> 00:00:19,000 There could be a lot of possible answers, I suppose. 4 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:27,380 I wonder if the sin of unfaithfulness may not be the greatest, the most common of sins. 5 00:00:27,380 --> 00:00:32,000 Because it is defined in so many different ways, it touches so many different areas of 6 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,440 life. 7 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:37,700 Failure to keep promises. 8 00:00:37,700 --> 00:00:44,660 People go to the store and they put this pile of goods on the desk for the clerk to go through 9 00:00:44,660 --> 00:00:49,160 and she goes through and rings it up and hands the credit slip over to the person and the 10 00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:52,480 person signs it. 11 00:00:52,480 --> 00:01:01,920 How many times is that signing of the voucher, the credit slip, not fulfilled? 12 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:08,360 People pile up debts, they don't pay their debts, they don't keep their promises. 13 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:15,800 Those who buy cars look for a car sale by trying to get the best price they can. 14 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:22,880 They get the dealer to give them the very best price possible and sometimes don't follow 15 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:26,720 through with the financial responsibility they're incurring. 16 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:31,360 We see it often too in the marriage vows, don't we? 17 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:36,880 People who make promises to one another and then do not keep them. 18 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:44,680 Or people who are unmarried and are not faithful to their future marriage partner because of 19 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:47,080 moral looseness. 20 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:53,320 But certainly the greatest example of unfaithfulness has to be the unfaithfulness that all people 21 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:56,360 show toward God. 22 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:01,240 All of us are guilty to some degree of unfaithfulness, but tonight we don't want to talk about our 23 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:02,240 failures. 24 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:06,520 We want to talk about the one who is faithful and that is God. 25 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:11,640 As I said this morning, there may not be an area where the difference between us and God, 26 00:02:11,640 --> 00:02:16,080 at least ethically, is so clear as in this area. 27 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:17,080 The faithfulness of God. 28 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:21,640 I'd like to invite you to open your Bible, please, to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 29 00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:28,640 7. 30 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:37,640 Deuteronomy 7 and verse 9. 31 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:51,960 We're coming here into the middle of a context where the Lord is telling His people of His 32 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:58,760 desire for them, their preciousness to Him, that they're a holy people. 33 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:06,160 And then He says in verse 9, know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God. 34 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:12,720 The faithful God who keeps His covenant and His loving kindness to a thousand generations 35 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:20,440 with those who love Him and keep His commandments, but repays those who hate Him to their faces 36 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:22,200 to destroy them. 37 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:24,280 He will not delay with him who hates Him. 38 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:26,960 He will repay him to his face. 39 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:31,200 Therefore you shall keep the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which I am 40 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:34,440 commanding you today to do them. 41 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:38,160 The Lord your God, He says, is a faithful God. 42 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:42,680 He is faithful to His word, faithful to His promises. 43 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:49,480 Then turn over to chapter 32 and verse 4 where the same thought is expressed again. 44 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:56,560 Here Moses is speaking to the people of Israel before he leaves them and he is reminding 45 00:03:56,560 --> 00:04:02,800 them of God's great faithfulness to them as a people. 46 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:11,160 Verse 3 says, for I proclaim the name of the Lord, a scribe greatness to our God, the Rock. 47 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:18,760 His work is perfect, for all His ways are just, a God of faithfulness. 48 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:24,160 And without injustice, righteous and upright is He. 49 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,520 He is a God of faithfulness. 50 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:31,840 Well now to Psalm 89 where we'll spend a little more time. 51 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:41,680 In Psalm 89 we have a psalm that elaborates for us the faithfulness of God. 52 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:46,360 Its author is said to be Ethan the Ezraite. 53 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:52,080 And he says, I will sing of the loving kindness of the Lord forever. 54 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:57,740 To all generations I will make known thy faithfulness with my mouth. 55 00:04:57,740 --> 00:05:00,800 For I have said loving kindness will be built up forever. 56 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:05,840 In the heavens thou wilt establish thy faithfulness. 57 00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:07,880 I have made a covenant with my chosen. 58 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:10,580 I have sworn to David my servant. 59 00:05:10,580 --> 00:05:16,920 I will establish your seed forever and build up your throne to all generations. 60 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:19,840 Here we have a psalm about God's faithfulness. 61 00:05:19,840 --> 00:05:22,680 The term is used again in verse 5. 62 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:30,040 It is used in verse 8, in verse 24, in verse 33. 63 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:32,440 And then finally in verse 49. 64 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:37,520 So over and over again in the psalm the faithfulness of God is expounded. 65 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:41,960 First the faithfulness of God to all generations in verse 1. 66 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:48,960 The writer says, I will sing of your faithfulness to all generations. 67 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:50,840 Generation after generation. 68 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:58,800 As one is born and another leaves the earth, God is faithful through all generations. 69 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:04,360 In verses 5-10 God is faithful to His people. 70 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:06,080 His people Israel. 71 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:11,200 In verses 11-13 we see God's faithfulness to His creation. 72 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:12,760 The heavens are thine, it says. 73 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:17,200 The world all it contains, the north, south and so on. 74 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:22,880 And then in verses 14-18 God is faithful among all the nations. 75 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:29,120 When you hit verse 19 you come to the real illustration in psalm 89 of God's faithfulness. 76 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:35,520 It is God's covenant with David and his descendants. 77 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:43,280 Once thou did speak in vision to thy godly ones, and did say, I have given help to one 78 00:06:43,280 --> 00:06:44,280 who is mighty. 79 00:06:44,280 --> 00:06:47,120 I have exalted one chosen from the people. 80 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:51,280 I have found David my servant. 81 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:56,300 With my holy oil I have anointed him, with whom my hand will be established. 82 00:06:56,300 --> 00:06:58,920 My arm also will strengthen him. 83 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:03,440 The enemy will not deceive him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him, that I shall crush 84 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:06,960 his adversaries before him and strike those who hate him. 85 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:13,400 And my faithfulness and my loving kindness will be with him, and in my name his horn 86 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:16,400 will be exalted. 87 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:22,240 And so beginning with verse 19 and through verse 37, the psalmist who is writing some 88 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:29,520 generations after David, expresses to us the faithfulness of God to David and to all of 89 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:31,720 his descendants. 90 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:36,480 When we talk about the faithfulness of God, whether it be to Moses and the people of Israel 91 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:42,960 on that day, or to David and his descendants, or to us today, what are we talking about? 92 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:53,240 The word faithfulness in the Hebrew comes from a root word that means stability. 93 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:59,240 It refers to a prop or to a support. 94 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:06,160 The idea is that God is our stay when we falter. 95 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:11,040 Its first use in the New Testament is found in Exodus chapter 17 verse 12. 96 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:16,680 You may recall in that chapter the people of Israel are fighting their enemies down 97 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:17,680 in the valley. 98 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:20,720 And there's Moses and his two helpers up on the mountaintop. 99 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:23,240 They're holding up his hands. 100 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:29,520 The first time that the word faithfulness is used is used in that context of them supporting 101 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:37,120 his hands, providing the prop for him. 102 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:40,320 God is our stay. 103 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:43,520 God is our support. 104 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:45,940 God is our stability. 105 00:08:45,940 --> 00:08:49,000 He cannot fail. 106 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:54,240 The word faithful or the idea of faithfulness is found from the book of Exodus all the way 107 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:56,840 through the end of the New Testament. 108 00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:01,880 The manifestation of this attribute of God is found in numerous ways. 109 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:06,600 We have touched upon the fact that God is one who keeps his promises. 110 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:17,000 Hebrews 10 verse 23, the last part of the verse says, He is faithful that promised. 111 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:25,120 And here in Psalm 89 we have an example of God's faithfulness to Israel and to David 112 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:27,320 and his descendants. 113 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:33,560 However, Ethan who is writing this Psalm has a problem. 114 00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:40,840 Notice in verse 38, after talking about God's faithfulness, he immediately shows us another 115 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:42,320 side of his heart. 116 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:50,400 He says, but thou hast cast off and rejected, thou hast been full of wrath against thine 117 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:51,400 anointed. 118 00:09:51,400 --> 00:10:00,080 Thou hast spurned the covenant of thy servant, thou hast profaned his crown in the dust. 119 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:06,800 So as he writes here, he seems to be saying, God has not been faithful. 120 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:11,800 He seems to be saying, we have not experienced God's faithfulness. 121 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:17,680 God promised all of these things to the creation, to the nations, and to David and his descendants. 122 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:20,760 But look at what's happened. 123 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:28,400 We don't know precisely the historical circumstances surrounding Ethan's writing of this hymn, 124 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:31,680 this Psalm of God's faithfulness. 125 00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:38,160 But apparently there was one of David's descendants who had experienced some military defeat. 126 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:44,560 And the enemies of Israel were laughing and scorning the people of God. 127 00:10:44,560 --> 00:10:53,280 And Ethan is writing in the turmoil of that milieu with all of the doubt about God's 128 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:58,520 faithfulness attacking his heart, and he expresses it very candidly in these verses. 129 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:05,240 Verse 46 he says, how long, O Lord, wilt thou hide thyself forever? 130 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:10,840 Of course we've never felt that way, have we? 131 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:13,320 And of course we all have. 132 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:18,440 We know the Bible teaches that God is faithful. 133 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:23,000 It is seen over and over again, God has proclaimed himself a God of faithfulness. 134 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:27,480 And yet in the midst of our circumstances, like Ethan, we come to points where we say, 135 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:30,760 God, where is your faithfulness? 136 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:34,280 How long will it be, O Lord, that I must be in this situation? 137 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:36,540 How long will my enemies attack me? 138 00:11:36,540 --> 00:11:41,320 How long will they succeed in their attacks against me? 139 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:47,920 And he cries out in verse 49, where are thy former loving kindnesses, O Lord? 140 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:52,840 He grants that they've happened in the past, but Lord, what about them now? 141 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:58,040 Those which thou didst swear to David in thy faithfulness, remember, O Lord, the reproach 142 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:05,120 of thy servants, how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples with 143 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:12,580 which thine enemies have reproached, O Lord, with which they have reproached the footsteps 144 00:12:12,580 --> 00:12:16,080 of thine anointed. 145 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:19,760 And then verse 52, blessed be the Lord forever. 146 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:23,000 Amen and amen. 147 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:30,620 And so he basically writes this poem at a time when he's under tremendous pressure. 148 00:12:30,620 --> 00:12:33,200 When things are dark, it's gloomy and cloudy. 149 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:35,600 He doesn't see a lot of light. 150 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:42,480 And then right at the very end of it, he injects this note of praise, blessed be God. 151 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:48,720 And tonight you may be in the midst of a situation like Ethan, and you may feel you've been 152 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:55,960 trampled on, you may feel like your life is in turmoil and mess and it's dark and gloomy. 153 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:58,280 But there is an end to it. 154 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:04,000 And God will again show himself faithful to you. 155 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:10,600 And he concludes the psalm by saying, blessed be the Lord forever. 156 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:15,640 Even in the midst of the circumstances he could not understand, which did not seem to 157 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:20,840 match what God had promised, he still says blessed be the Lord. 158 00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:22,760 A good example for us. 159 00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:27,480 Well, God keeps his promises to his people. 160 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:31,240 He preserves his people as he did Israel. 161 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:36,280 Perhaps the best known verse about God's faithfulness is the one found in the book 162 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:37,280 of Lamentations. 163 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:40,520 Who wrote the book of Lamentations? 164 00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:42,160 Jeremiah did. 165 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:45,200 Jeremiah the laughing prophet? 166 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:50,480 Jeremiah the prophet of tears, the weeping prophet. 167 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:58,960 He was the man that God assigned to prophesy to Israel when Israel went into bondage. 168 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:04,620 He was there and saw Nebuchadnezzar and his armies take off the captives to take them 169 00:14:04,620 --> 00:14:07,320 away to Babylon. 170 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:09,240 He saw them besiege the city. 171 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:10,840 He saw the city destroyed. 172 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:12,280 He lived through all of that. 173 00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:14,520 He wept because of it. 174 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:24,560 And in the book of Lamentations he writes a poetic elegy, an expression of mournful 175 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:27,240 feelings about what's happened. 176 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:34,200 In the book of Lamentations, we can't see it in the English. 177 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:36,920 I wish that I knew Hebrew so I could appreciate this more. 178 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:42,320 But in chapters 1, 2 and 4 there are 22 verses. 179 00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:46,120 There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. 180 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:51,200 Each verse of those three chapters begins with a succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. 181 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:54,240 So the alphabet is repeated three times. 182 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:59,000 In chapter 3 there are 66 verses. 183 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:03,560 What he does in chapter 3 is to devote three verses to each letter. 184 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:07,680 So they come in blocks of three. 185 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:11,680 So you can see something of the poetic structure of the book. 186 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:17,880 In this book he writes about what he has seen in Israel. 187 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:24,800 And he writes about his feelings, the terrible state of God's people in this city. 188 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:33,320 And as he writes about his broken heart and he weeps out his crushed spirit, he breaks 189 00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:40,480 out in the middle of chapter 3 in that famous verse, great is thy faithfulness. 190 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:42,000 Great is thy faithfulness. 191 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:49,040 It is good for us to remember God preserves His people even when everything seems to be 192 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:50,120 going wrong. 193 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:56,360 Even when there is a captivity and what we have thought we had gained has been destroyed 194 00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:59,120 as in the case with Jerusalem. 195 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:04,280 We must still remember as did Jeremiah, great is thy faithfulness. 196 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:10,120 His loving kindness, his faithfulness is new every morning. 197 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:15,360 We as God's people are preserved today as well in the midst of our suffering. 198 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:30,560 We have a New Testament verse about this, 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 19. 199 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:35,420 Peter is writing to saints who are suffering. 200 00:16:35,420 --> 00:16:38,820 He tells them not to be surprised at their suffering. 201 00:16:38,820 --> 00:16:40,960 Faithfulness is appointed to God's people. 202 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:45,760 Indeed, they are to rejoice in this period of suffering. 203 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:48,960 It is God's work. 204 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:55,760 And so he says in verse 19, therefore let those also who suffer according to the will 205 00:16:55,760 --> 00:17:04,840 of God entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right. 206 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:13,080 Even when we suffer for doing what is right, we must entrust our souls to God because He 207 00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:14,080 is faithful. 208 00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:20,040 God is faithful to keep His promises and faithful to preserve His people. 209 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:25,800 There is another aspect of God's faithfulness that we don't think of quite as often and 210 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:32,520 that is that God is faithful in chastising His people as well. 211 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:41,440 The psalmist says in Psalm 119, Lord, thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. 212 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:44,120 God is faithful to chastises. 213 00:17:44,120 --> 00:17:49,640 Chastisement is not punishment, but it's training. 214 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:55,280 It's putting us through certain experiences so that we learn lessons that are important 215 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:57,600 for life. 216 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:04,600 Listen with me to Hebrews 12, which again is a New Testament expression of God's faithfulness 217 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:07,680 in this way. 218 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:20,440 Hebrews 12. 219 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:26,960 Verse 5 says, You have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. 220 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:33,600 My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved 221 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:36,920 by Him. 222 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:45,320 For those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives. 223 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:51,120 It is for discipline that you endure. 224 00:18:51,120 --> 00:18:57,760 God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom His Father does not discipline? 225 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:04,880 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate 226 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:06,400 children and not sons. 227 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:11,120 Furthermore, we have earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. 228 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:16,360 Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 229 00:19:16,360 --> 00:19:20,720 For they disciplined us for a short time, as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us 230 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:25,560 for our good, that we may share His holiness. 231 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:30,240 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful. 232 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:36,280 Yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of 233 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:37,280 righteousness. 234 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:46,440 And so He tells us here that God purposes to train us, to correct us, to bring us through 235 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:49,640 experiences that will show us how God wants us to live. 236 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:55,640 And He says God's purpose in this is that we might be righteous and thus know peace 237 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:56,640 in our lives. 238 00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:57,640 It is for our good. 239 00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:02,280 God is faithful to chasten His people. 240 00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:06,720 Another aspect of God's faithfulness to us is that God cleanses us. 241 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:12,840 One of the best known verses of the New Testament, I suppose, that all of us have learned, 1 John 242 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:21,960 9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse 243 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:25,560 us from all unrighteousness. 244 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:33,560 God's faithfulness is seen in cleansing His people from their sins. 245 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:36,400 Then God's faithfulness is seen in answer to prayer. 246 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:43,000 Hear my prayer, O Lord, says the psalmist, give ear to my supplications, in thy faithfulness 247 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:49,080 answer me, and in thy righteousness. 248 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:50,080 God answers prayer. 249 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:52,680 He is faithful in that respect. 250 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:57,200 But there's one more way in which I think it's important for us to look at God's faithfulness 251 00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:59,440 before I go on to something else. 252 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:05,540 That is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 253 00:21:05,540 --> 00:21:13,800 In this chapter, He begins to lay out before us how important it is that we not fail the 254 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:19,740 Lord, as did the people of Israel. 255 00:21:19,740 --> 00:21:27,600 He reminds them of Israel's failure in the past despite their many spiritual privileges. 256 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:34,280 But He says in verse 6, these things happened as examples for us that we should not crave 257 00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:41,760 evil things as they did, that we should not be idolaters as they were, that we should 258 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:49,340 not be immoral as they were, that we should not try the Lord as some of them did or grumble 259 00:21:49,340 --> 00:21:51,400 as some of them did. 260 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:56,280 All of these things, He says, happened as an example and they are written for our instruction 261 00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:58,640 upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 262 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:04,920 For let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 263 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:11,760 No trial has overtaken you but such as is common to men. 264 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:17,320 And God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted or tried beyond what you are 265 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:21,960 able to bear. 266 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:27,280 But with the temptation will provide the way of escape also that you may be able to endure 267 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:28,880 it. 268 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:35,400 God in His faithfulness provides for us a way of escape. 269 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:40,040 That doesn't mean an easy way out, by the way. 270 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:44,600 It doesn't mean that God is going to put the pressure on us and then He is going to say, 271 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:48,520 oh by the way if you want to escape from this situation here is a side door that will get 272 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:50,000 you out of it real easy. 273 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:56,720 But what He is saying is that God provides a way out of the trial that is pleasing to 274 00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:01,040 Him and which will help us. 275 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:07,760 And the promise here is that God will never allow so much to come upon us that we should 276 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:11,560 be crushed by it. 277 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:19,840 There is something called the Plymsol mark. 278 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:28,840 Years ago the British Parliament passed a law that required a series of striping or 279 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:34,400 marks to be painted on ships, the merchant ships. 280 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:35,720 We still have these today. 281 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:41,480 If you go to an area where there are ships you will notice that there are the lines painted 282 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:47,200 on them and often the numbers corresponding to the depth of the ship. 283 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:48,200 And that is what it is about. 284 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:55,400 The Plymsol mark is the top line in a merchant vessel or the load line. 285 00:23:55,400 --> 00:24:02,760 It is named after a man named Samuel Plymsol because he was the reformer in Parliament 286 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:04,000 who pushed for this. 287 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:10,400 There was a tendency on the part of some merchant marines to overload the ships. 288 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:15,240 And so they calculated what the mark ought to be for the ship to be loaded without sinking 289 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,400 it even in bad storms. 290 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:26,080 And that mark became the load mark or the Plymsol mark that was named after this member 291 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:27,640 of Parliament. 292 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:34,000 Likewise, God has a mark on my life and on yours, a load line. 293 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:41,060 And he knows when the waters of trial reach that line and he will not surpass it. 294 00:24:41,060 --> 00:24:43,500 God is faithful to that. 295 00:24:43,500 --> 00:24:50,200 God is never going to put so much on us that it will sink us in the storm. 296 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:54,800 Indeed God's faithfulness means stable and because of the load that is there, there is 297 00:24:54,800 --> 00:25:00,200 stability even in the waters of storm. 298 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:01,200 God is faithful. 299 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:07,620 Now, when we have application of these thoughts that we have talked about in the manifestation 300 00:25:07,620 --> 00:25:14,840 of God's faithfulness, let's remind ourselves that when we fail, God is still faithful. 301 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:17,840 I'm glad for that, aren't you? 302 00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:26,200 If we believe not, Paul writes to Timothy, if we believe not, yet he remains faithful, 303 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:30,120 for he cannot deny himself. 304 00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:35,880 The Lord is faithful, writes the apostle, who shall establish you and keep you from 305 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:37,880 the evil one. 306 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:41,240 We can depend upon the Lord. 307 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:45,880 Some of you are familiar with Chalmers, who has done some writing, a Scottish churchman 308 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,400 of another generation. 309 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:53,640 He wrote these words, When I walk by the wayside, God is along with me. 310 00:25:53,640 --> 00:26:00,000 When I enter into company amid all my forgetfulness of him, he never forgets me. 311 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:05,600 In the silent watches of the night when my eyelids are closed, my spirit has sunk into 312 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:07,160 unconsciousness. 313 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:12,120 The observant eye of him, who never slumbers, is upon me. 314 00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:15,120 I cannot flee from his presence. 315 00:26:15,120 --> 00:26:20,020 Go where I will, he leads me and watches me and cares for me. 316 00:26:20,020 --> 00:26:27,240 The same being who is now at work in the remotest domains of nature and of providence is also 317 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:35,240 at my hand to make more full every moment of my being and to uphold me in the exercise 318 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:36,920 of all my feelings. 319 00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:44,160 Well, in the language of someone who lived several generations ago, he is simply reminding 320 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:51,480 us that when we forget God, God doesn't forget us. 321 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:55,240 How easy it is for us to go through the experiences of a day and come to the end of the day and 322 00:26:55,240 --> 00:27:02,400 say, Oh my goodness, I haven't remembered God much today. 323 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:08,800 But despite that, God has never taken his eye off of us. 324 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:17,420 Despite the fact that we may forget him, he remembers us each moment. 325 00:27:17,420 --> 00:27:23,440 And then considering God's faithfulness, secondly, let me say, considering God's faithfulness, 326 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:28,680 we should be kept from murmuring against God. 327 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:30,840 Israel murmured against the Lord. 328 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:34,000 They complained against God. 329 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:38,520 I'm not going to take the time to look up the several scriptures that deal with this, 330 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:43,640 but you see it again and again that God would do something magnificent for Israel. 331 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:47,920 Israel would acknowledge that at the moment, then quickly forget and go right back to her 332 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:49,520 old ways. 333 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:53,660 And over and over and over that cycle appeared. 334 00:27:53,660 --> 00:27:56,040 They murmured against God. 335 00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:57,680 They did not call God faithful. 336 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:04,200 In fact, by their unbelief, they called God unfaithful. 337 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:09,080 An application of God's faithfulness is that we need to remember it and not murmur against 338 00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:12,120 God. 339 00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:15,840 Remember what the Lord has done for us. 340 00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:22,080 The writer of 1st Corinthians, Paul, says, Neither murmur ye as some of them murmured 341 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:25,520 and were destroyed by the destroyer. 342 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:33,400 Again in Hebrews 3, the apostle goes at length to talk about the danger of unbelief in the 343 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:37,320 face of God's great faithfulness. 344 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:45,640 The wonder of God's faithfulness really ought to encourage us to be the same. 345 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:50,960 The third note of application is this, that we ought not to judge God's faithfulness on 346 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:57,000 the basis of how we feel for what we see. 347 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,480 Ethan was tending to do that, wasn't he? 348 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:04,560 He writes very transparently and I'm glad God allowed him to do that because it's encouragement 349 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:10,080 to me to know that even a man like this was a man who had some of the same feelings I 350 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:11,780 do. 351 00:29:11,780 --> 00:29:18,840 We tend to judge the faithfulness of God upon how we feel or what we see. 352 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:21,640 We pray for a loved one to get better. 353 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:23,760 We pray for healing. 354 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:29,960 We pray that God will answer a prayer to give new strength to that loved one and it doesn't 355 00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:31,160 happen. 356 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:34,680 The disease continues. 357 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,440 And we judge God's faithfulness on that. 358 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:42,840 Or we pray that God will give us that job that we're desperately needing. 359 00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:46,400 We've been unemployed and we're saying, God, you know my situation. 360 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:48,400 Where's the job? 361 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:51,920 And week after week and month after month it goes by. 362 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:58,280 And we tend to judge God's faithfulness based upon those things. 363 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:02,240 In the midst of our trial it's easy to do that. 364 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,040 But let's remember, let's get beyond that point. 365 00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:12,480 Let's get to the end of the psalm and remember, blessed be the name of the Lord. 366 00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:14,920 Great is his faithfulness. 367 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:20,120 Even when we don't feel like God's being faithful, even when we don't see God coming 368 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:25,760 through, let's remember the faithfulness of God. 369 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:31,240 And finally I want to say that we should magnify God's faithfulness to all. 370 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:36,280 The psalm says in Psalm 40, I have not hidden thy righteousness within my heart. 371 00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:40,920 I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation. 372 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:47,480 We want to declare openly, publicly the faithfulness of God. 373 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:49,040 Psalm 89, 1 again. 374 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:53,320 Let's just go back there for the moment where we began. 375 00:30:53,320 --> 00:31:00,840 Psalm 89, 1 where the psalm says, I will sing of the loving kindness of the Lord forever. 376 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:06,920 To all generations I will make known thy faithfulness with my mouth. 377 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:16,080 Now Paul had his old chorus earlier this evening and I grant him it's a very old chorus. 378 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:20,600 But I have one that's older than that and it's based upon this verse. 379 00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:22,880 Do you know it? 380 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:27,160 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. 381 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:28,160 Is it in our hymnal? 382 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:31,520 Don't tell me our hymnal has it. 383 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:38,800 I'd like for us to sing that because it reminds us that we ought to magnify God's faithfulness 384 00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:44,040 to all. 385 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:45,040 It is in there. 386 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:48,040 Amazing, isn't it? 387 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:54,600 457, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. 388 00:31:54,600 --> 00:32:02,280 Let's sing that together. 389 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:03,280 A simple little chorus. 390 00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:15,040 If you don't know it, you'll catch on to it quick. 391 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:19,880 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. 392 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:29,080 I will sing, I will sing, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. 393 00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:33,800 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord. 394 00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:43,080 With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness, thy faithfulness. 395 00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:53,920 With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. 396 00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:58,520 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. 397 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:08,000 I will sing, I will sing, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. 398 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:14,400 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord. 399 00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:16,400 Let's pray together. 400 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:26,400 Father, this evening we sing from our hearts of your faithfulness, and yet all of us probably 401 00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:34,160 have struggles tonight with areas of our lives where we have not experienced as fully that 402 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:38,920 faithfulness as we had hoped to. 403 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:44,880 And we have not seen nor do we feel your faithfulness. 404 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:52,600 We grant, however, that it is true you are faithful. 405 00:33:52,600 --> 00:34:01,760 And we turn from our own experience to bow in the light of revelation and to remind ourselves 406 00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:06,960 that you are the faithful God. 407 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:10,520 You are faithful to keep and to preserve us. 408 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:15,080 You have promised to preserve us unto your heavenly kingdom. 409 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:21,080 You are faithful in our trials so that they will not overcome us. 410 00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:28,160 You are faithful in chastising us and training us by the experiences of discipline in our 411 00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:29,160 lives. 412 00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:34,680 You are faithful to forgive us our sins as we open our hearts transparently to confess 413 00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:35,680 them. 414 00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:39,080 You are faithful in answering prayer. 415 00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:42,440 And in a thousand other ways you are faithful. 416 00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:48,400 And so we worship you because you keep your word. 417 00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:56,600 We live in a culture that does not honor promises. 418 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:02,600 And we acknowledge to you that that rubs off on us and we also sin by failing to keep our 419 00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:05,000 word. 420 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:11,040 In too many ways we are unfaithful. 421 00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:16,880 But our prayer deep within our spirit tonight is that you would replace that, that you would 422 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:23,560 transform us and make us faithful. 423 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:34,640 So we might keep our word to others and to you and thus be like you as your sons. 424 00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:38,960 We give thanks to you for this evening that we've been able to study your word together 425 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:53,960 in Jesus' name, amen.