1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 Thank you, Dan, for your ministry tonight. I certainly agree with your comments about 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:12,320 the songs that glorify the attributes of God. I sure wish a lot more of them were being 3 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:19,920 written than are, but we have seen several of them tonight. This evening we're talking 4 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:27,160 about another of the attributes of God, namely the faithfulness of God. If I were to ask 5 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:35,920 you the greatest sin or the most common sin that you would observe around you and in your 6 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:45,880 own life, I wonder what you might say. There are some sins that are very obvious. I think 7 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:56,080 underlying a lot of the shortcomings of which all of us are guilty is the sin of unfaithfulness. 8 00:00:56,080 --> 00:01:04,440 We see that a lot in our world today. People are not faithful to the promises they make. 9 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:10,200 How many companies are having problems because there are those who have agreed to pay for 10 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:17,600 certain goods or services and who then fail to pay for those goods or services? They use 11 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:23,000 a little plastic thing called a credit card and sign their name knowing perhaps full well 12 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:31,920 that they will never pay for what they have just purchased. It's easy to fail to keep 13 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:39,400 promises that we make to individuals as well. I remember when we were trying to sell our 14 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:47,160 home in Edina before coming over here that there were a number of people who called us 15 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:53,320 and indicated, well, we'll be there tomorrow at so and so o'clock. We would wait around 16 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:58,800 and at that time nobody would show. Time after time that would happen. You've had that experience, 17 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:04,640 haven't you? People who are not faithful to their word. It's easy to do that in an organization 18 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:11,040 too. Sometimes, especially in a volunteer organization, like a church, it gets very 19 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:15,280 frustrating for people who are in leadership when people volunteer to do something and 20 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:21,520 then don't do it and don't even call to indicate that they're going to have a problem keeping 21 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:28,220 their word. Unfaithfulness to promises is a big problem in our society. Unfaithfulness 22 00:02:28,220 --> 00:02:35,720 to partners is another problem. People not faithful to the marriage vows and unfaithfulness 23 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:41,920 to God, of course, is the greatest. How many excuses all of us have invented? Only God 24 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:50,040 knows to try to cover up our unfaithfulness to Him. Unfaithfulness is a serious sin. It's 25 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:55,360 something that we're all guilty of to some degree and it's one that we need to try to 26 00:02:55,360 --> 00:03:01,300 avoid and with God's help to seek to put out of our lives. But tonight we want to major 27 00:03:01,300 --> 00:03:05,680 not on the negative but on the positive and the fact that though that is the human characteristic 28 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:12,640 to fail, it is God's characteristic never to fail. And that's what we talk about when 29 00:03:12,640 --> 00:03:18,360 we speak of His faithfulness. For our jumping off place tonight, let's turn to two or three 30 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:24,000 passages in the Bible where God speaks about His faithfulness. First in Deuteronomy chapter 31 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:43,040 7. Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 9. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God. He is the faithful 32 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:51,120 God keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep 33 00:03:51,120 --> 00:04:01,360 His commands. Turn over a few more pages to Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 4. Moses 34 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:09,680 here composes a song and in it certainly talks about the attributes of God. In verse 4 of 35 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:20,800 Deuteronomy 32 he says, He is the Rock. His works are perfect and all His ways are just. 36 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:34,680 A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He. And then in Psalm 89 we have 37 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:41,680 some more words about the faithfulness of God. Psalm 89 reflects God's faithfulness 38 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:53,440 to His covenant with David. It was written by a man named Ethan the Ezraite. Psalm 89 39 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:58,100 speaks over and over again about God's faithfulness to His promises. We'll look at several verses. 40 00:04:58,100 --> 00:05:04,320 Verse 1, I will sing of the Lord's great love forever. With my mouth I will make known your 41 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:10,960 faithfulness through all generations. Now the King James Version says, I will sing of 42 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:15,520 the mercies of the Lord forever, and with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness 43 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:21,240 to all generations. Have you ever sung a chorus like that? Let's sing that together. I will 44 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:33,960 sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. I will sing. I will sing. I will sing of the 45 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:45,840 mercies of the Lord forever. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord. With my mouth will 46 00:05:45,840 --> 00:06:01,720 I make known thy faithfulness, thy faithfulness. With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness 47 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:18,040 to all generations. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. I will sing. I will sing. 48 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:30,120 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord. Well, 49 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:35,840 there's a chorus that was written praising God for this attribute based on this verse. 50 00:06:35,840 --> 00:06:42,880 Again in verse 2 it says, I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established 51 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:49,800 your faithfulness in heaven itself. You think about that for a moment, about the creation 52 00:06:49,800 --> 00:07:00,080 of God and how its perfect harmony, its orderliness, its dependability, all reflect the faithfulness 53 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:07,240 of God. I think it was yesterday there was a young man on the network news who had been 54 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:17,240 lost at sea in a six foot raft for 76 days and it told how he managed to survive and 55 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:25,480 the homemade navigational system that he devised to know where he was. And part of that navigational 56 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:31,720 system depended upon the North Star, that it would stay right where God has kept it 57 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:37,400 all these years as we view it from planet Earth. Well you see that's the faithfulness 58 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:44,120 of God seen in the heavens established there. Verse 5, the heavens praise your wonders, 59 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:54,720 O Lord, your faithfulness too in the assembly of the holy ones. Verse 24, my faithful love, 60 00:07:54,720 --> 00:08:03,320 God says, will be with him. That's with David and actually his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. 61 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:10,920 My faithful love will be with him and through my name his horn will be exalted. The horn 62 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:20,080 symbolizes his strength. And then in verse 33, we'll back up a verse to get the thought, 63 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:26,400 I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging, but I will not take 64 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:34,120 my love from him nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. Now let's go into the New Testament 65 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:50,240 to 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 13. There are times when all of us are deeply troubled 66 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:56,040 by our lack of faithfulness to the Lord and we wonder how that's going to affect God's 67 00:08:56,040 --> 00:09:05,160 faithfulness to us. Is God's faithfulness to us dependent upon our faithfulness to him? 68 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:10,320 Look what he says here in the middle of verse 12, if we disown him, he will also disown 69 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:19,900 us. But lest we think that that means ultimately disown us, he goes on to say, if we are faithfulness, 70 00:09:19,900 --> 00:09:26,640 he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. He cannot deny himself in what he 71 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:36,400 is. God will not allow our unfaithfulness to change his ultimate faithfulness to us. 72 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:42,600 Why? Because he is faithful. And if God failed once to be faithful, he would cease to be 73 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:50,160 God and the whole universe would respond by destroying itself, because the universe is 74 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:55,120 built upon the deity and the power of God. If he were not faithful, then he would not 75 00:09:55,120 --> 00:10:02,720 be God and the universe would no longer exist. The faithfulness of God, how would we define 76 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:08,640 this particular idea of God's faithfulness? I think it's very simple to define. It simply 77 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:20,640 means the absolute trustworthiness of God. God will fulfill his promises. God cannot 78 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:23,360 fail. 79 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:29,920 The Hebrew idea behind this word faithful or faithfulness, as we saw it in the Old Testament, 80 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:41,680 is the idea of stability. It means a stay, a prop, or a support to hold something up. 81 00:10:41,680 --> 00:10:47,040 Go back to Exodus 17 for a moment, and I'll show you the first time that this particular 82 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:57,640 Hebrew word for faithfulness is used. Exodus 17. We have recorded here the battle between 83 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:09,840 the Amalekites and the Israelites. It says in verse 10, So Joshua fought the Amalekites 84 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:18,200 as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron, and Her went to the top of the hill. As long as 85 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:28,240 Moses held up his hands, that is, in the position of intercession on their behalf, the Israelites 86 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:34,440 were winning. But whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' 87 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:41,320 hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and 88 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:49,480 Her held his hands up, one on one side, one on the other, so that his hands remained steady 89 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:56,440 until sunset. That last verb there is the verb for faithfulness. His hands remained 90 00:11:56,440 --> 00:12:04,760 faithful until sunset. That is, they were steady, stable, supported, propped up. 91 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:10,400 The idea is that even though you and I may and indeed will falter from time to time in 92 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:18,080 our walk with God, God will not leave us. He will continue to support us, to stay with 93 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:26,240 us, to stabilize our lives. The heart of the Hebrew idea in faithfulness is that of certainty, 94 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:34,280 sureness, absoluteness, something that can be depended upon. It carries with it the idea 95 00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:43,480 of the strong arms of a parent who holds his helpless infant. There are few things in the 96 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:50,440 world more helpless than a baby. A baby is so absolutely dependent upon the parent. It 97 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:57,600 gives a parent such a feeling of intimacy with the child and love for the child, to 98 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:03,520 sense that child's warmth against him, to hold that child in his arms, and to sense 99 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:11,160 that child is his and to support that child with his arms, evidencing faithfulness to 100 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:18,520 it. We are like helpless infants, as it were, within the arms of God, arms that he describes 101 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:27,400 as everlasting arms. We need never worry about God dropping us. God holds us, as it were, 102 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:36,840 close to his bosom. He senses that oneness with us because we are one with him in Christ. 103 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:44,460 He is intimate with us, and he holds us dear to himself. He proves that dearness by his 104 00:13:44,460 --> 00:13:49,480 faithfulness to us in so very many ways. 105 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:54,160 I'd like for us just to look at several New Testament passages that speak about God's 106 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:58,640 faithfulness. We are simply going to cite these scriptures with very little comment, 107 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:03,880 but they are worthy for your future meditation as you think about the faithfulness of God. 108 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:18,900 First, let's look in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 9. The apostle remarks about how grateful 109 00:14:18,900 --> 00:14:27,120 he is for the Corinthians before he takes them to the woodshed. He tells them that God 110 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:33,720 is going to keep them strong and establish them. In verse 9, he says, God, who has called 111 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:44,940 you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. What gave Paul such 112 00:14:44,940 --> 00:14:52,400 confidence in the Corinthians? It certainly wasn't their activity. The church was divided 113 00:14:52,400 --> 00:15:00,200 and had all kinds of moral and spiritual problems. They had drinking problems in the church. 114 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:06,120 Tough things. But the thing that gave him confidence about the Corinthian church was 115 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:12,100 that he knew that God is faithful and that he had called these people into the fellowship 116 00:15:12,100 --> 00:15:16,900 of Jesus Christ and that God was not going to let them go. He was going to be faithful 117 00:15:16,900 --> 00:15:22,720 to them. So he cites God's faithfulness as he begins this epistle. 118 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:29,320 Turn over now to chapter 10, verse 13. In this chapter of warning that we will probably 119 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:36,560 refer to later in the message, he says in verse 13, no temptation has seized you except 120 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:44,840 what is common to men. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you 121 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:51,320 can bear. When you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up 122 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:56,800 under it. Notice that his promise here of deliverance is based upon the fact that God 123 00:15:56,800 --> 00:15:59,280 is faithful. 124 00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:06,680 Now in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 24, we have another verse referring to the faithfulness 125 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:15,560 of God. In the context, he is speaking about the sureness, the certainty of God's consummation 126 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:21,680 of his salvation. That is the fact that we are going to be kept in spirit, soul, and 127 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:30,160 body until the rapture. Then in verse 24 he says, the one who calls you is faithful, and 128 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:33,000 he will do it. 129 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:41,520 Then in 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 3, he speaks in the context here of persecution, which 130 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:49,520 they were experiencing and he was experiencing. But he says in verse 3, the Lord is faithful, 131 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:55,200 and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. 132 00:16:55,200 --> 00:17:03,120 We have cited but a few scriptures which deal with this magnificent theme of the faithfulness 133 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:04,120 of God. 134 00:17:04,120 --> 00:17:11,400 Let's think for a few moments about how this attribute of God is manifested. It is manifested 135 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:17,720 in several ways. First, in the fact that God keeps his promises. May I simply remind you 136 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:27,160 of the last part of Hebrews 10, verse 23, which says, He is faithful that promised. 137 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:34,440 God's word can be depended upon. What God has said will come to pass. God has proven 138 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:39,080 that in history. He will continue to prove it until every jot and every tittle of his 139 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:45,680 word be fulfilled. It is true that heaven and earth may pass away, but his word will 140 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:51,640 never pass away. He is faithful that promised. 141 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:58,360 Now let's look at one example of this and look back in Joshua chapter 21 at the words 142 00:17:58,360 --> 00:18:05,200 here of this great man of God, Joshua, who led the people into the promised land where 143 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:08,920 they had victory over their enemies. 144 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:18,040 In Joshua chapter 21, verse 43, we have these words, 145 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:25,800 So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they 146 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:33,360 took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as 147 00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:39,600 he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them. The Lord 148 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:45,960 handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of all the Lord's good promises to the 149 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:50,680 house of Israel failed. Every one was fulfilled. 150 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:58,240 Then in chapter 3, verse 14, we have the words of Joshua as he says, 151 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:04,080 Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. He says, 152 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:10,000 You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord 153 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:18,880 your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled. Not one has failed. 154 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:25,960 What a great testimony that was of Joshua. That God is faithful to his promises. 155 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:31,720 And again, we can cite other scriptures that undergird this thought that God is faithful 156 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:35,400 to what he says he will do. 157 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:42,000 God's faithfulness is also manifested in the fact that he preserves his people. 158 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:47,360 One of the great hymns, the one with which we will close tonight, great is thy faithfulness, 159 00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:54,080 is based upon a verse in what Old Testament book? Can anybody tell me? Lamentations, a 160 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:59,800 book you would not expect it to be in. Do you know where Lamentations is? That's right, 161 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:06,480 it used to be right after Jeremiah if I ever get there. Here we are. 162 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:14,240 Lamentations, what is Lamentations all about? Well, it's a book of poetry. That is not as 163 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:19,880 clear in the English translation as it would be in the Hebrew. But it is a book of poetry 164 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:28,320 written undoubtedly by the prophet Jeremiah. In this book he laments for Jerusalem's destruction. 165 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:37,480 He grieves over the fact that the city has been sacked and its people taken away in bondage. 166 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:44,620 It is really a depressing book. But in chapter 3 there is part of this chapter which completely 167 00:20:44,620 --> 00:20:52,440 changes in tone. In the midst of all this lamentation and woe, in verse 22 he says, 168 00:20:52,440 --> 00:21:00,360 Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 169 00:21:00,360 --> 00:21:07,040 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. 170 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:12,880 Here is a guy who is a prophet at a time when it is tough to be a prophet. He is a preacher 171 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:18,760 at a time when the country has gone down the tubes. Everything that had ever been secure 172 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:25,080 in Israel is now washed out. The people are taken away in captivity. The city is destroyed. 173 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:30,760 It is smoking from the fires that burned it. He says in the middle of this chapter, Great 174 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:38,640 is your faithfulness. And indeed God is faithful to his people Israel. He restored them from 175 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:44,920 that captivity and someday will give them the ultimate restoration to their land. Even 176 00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:51,240 the Sinai desert which they gave up today to Egypt will someday belong to them as they 177 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:59,080 are spiritually converted and restored to the Lord their God. God is faithful to his 178 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:04,400 covenant people. He preserves his people. And that is not just true of Israel. It is 179 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:11,520 true of you and me as well. Let's look at an example of that in 1 Peter 180 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:23,120 4.19. There are times when all of us go through persecution. It may not be the kind that is 181 00:22:23,120 --> 00:22:28,760 physical, although some of our brothers and sisters in the world are undergoing that tonight. 182 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:37,320 But we go through persecution of mockery or prejudice. I think that we in this nation 183 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:42,680 right now are gearing up for a good time of a certain kind of persecution of God's people. 184 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:48,320 In fact, it could go either way, but I think it will probably go toward persecution. How 185 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:55,080 are we to feel in that time? Well, in chapter 4 of 1 Peter 19, he says, So then those who 186 00:22:55,080 --> 00:23:02,840 suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue 187 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:09,720 to do good. Why? God preserves his people through tribulation, through persecution. 188 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:17,400 If we do in fact go into a time of difficulty in this land, God has not forsaken us and 189 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:23,960 we must remember that. God is still with us. We should continue to do good and just commit 190 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:29,160 our souls to our faithful Creator, knowing that he has a purpose in all of this, that 191 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:35,000 it is the will of God. God is faithful. He will preserve us through persecution. But 192 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:41,120 then he will preserve us in the ultimate sense too. Back up a few pages to 2 Timothy 4, verse 193 00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:49,400 18. Again, the context here is that of persecution. 194 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:54,000 Paul is writing the last few words that he ever wrote by the inspiration of the Holy 195 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:59,080 Spirit. It was not long after this that he was taken out and beheaded for the cause of 196 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:05,640 Christ. According at least to tradition, he was beheaded. He speaks about the fact that 197 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:11,840 the Lord gave him strength and in verse 18 of 2 Timothy 4 he says, The Lord will rescue 198 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:19,280 me from every evil attack, or something more wonderful than that, and will bring me to 199 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:25,320 his heavenly kingdom safely. Isn't that a great word? Wake up everybody. We arranged 200 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:31,720 for that door to slam just then. He will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom, to him 201 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:34,200 be glory forever and ever. Amen. 202 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:40,320 Folks, let me tell you something. Your salvation does not rest upon what you do to keep it. 203 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:44,680 Your salvation rests upon what God has already done to give it to you and he secured it to 204 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:51,000 you. You are going to be preserved to his heavenly kingdom, no ifs, ands, or buts about 205 00:24:51,000 --> 00:25:00,320 that. It is sure. He manifests his faithfulness by preserving his elect, his chosen people. 206 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:06,040 Then God manifests his faithfulness in another way, and that is through his chastisement. 207 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:15,480 In Psalm 119 verse 75 the psalmist says, Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. When God 208 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:21,440 sends us to the woodshed, as we said a while ago, and disciplines us, it is evidence of 209 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:28,000 God's faithfulness to us. A parent who does not discipline his child is showing his child 210 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:33,520 that he is unfaithful to him as a parent, because disciplining our children is part 211 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:38,280 of the responsibility God has given to us. If we are going to be faithful to God and 212 00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:44,640 faithful to our children, we must learn to discipline them. God is the same way. In faithfulness 213 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:47,280 he afflicts us. 214 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:53,000 Hebrews chapter 12 is a lengthy portion about this matter of God's discipline. It says 215 00:25:53,000 --> 00:26:01,240 in chapter 12 and verse 5, you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses 216 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:07,960 you as sons, says the writer. Then he quotes from Proverbs, My son, do not make light of 217 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:14,600 the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines 218 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:22,480 those he loves, and he punishes every one he accepts as a son. He says here that if 219 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:27,920 a person never knows discipline in his life when he gets out of step with God, it is evidence 220 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:35,240 of the fact that he is not saved. Because when a child of God gets out of line, God in faithfulness 221 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:40,320 will afflict him. God will bring him back. 222 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:45,720 Later on in the chapter verse 10, he says, Our fathers disciplined us for a little while 223 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:53,160 as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good that we may share in his holiness. 224 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:58,240 That is why God chastises us. He is teaching us of his holiness. He says no discipline 225 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:05,360 seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness 226 00:27:05,360 --> 00:27:10,280 and peace for those who have been trained by it. 227 00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:15,360 So remember, when God spanks you, it is a manifestation of his faithfulness to you as 228 00:27:15,360 --> 00:27:20,680 his child. There is a fourth way in which his faithfulness is manifested, and that is 229 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:25,120 in his cleansing us from our sins and our unrighteousness. 230 00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:34,840 First John 1, verse 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful, he is faithful and just to 231 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:42,840 forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When you confess your 232 00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:50,480 sins to God, you just take his word for it that he has forgiven you. There are times 233 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:56,600 when we hang on to our sins that we have committed and we hang on to them in our memory and we 234 00:27:56,600 --> 00:28:02,200 have a hard time forgiving ourselves. When we do that, we are saying that we have a higher 235 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:09,640 standard than God because if we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us. We ought 236 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:13,640 to be faithful to forgive ourselves when we fail. 237 00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:18,840 You see, faithfulness is evidence of God's character. Unfaithfulness is evidence of our 238 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:24,600 character. When we are willing to confess that, we are simply admitting, confessing, 239 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:31,240 owning up to agreeing with what God says about our activity. God says, then I forgive you. 240 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:38,120 I have never failed to do that. I am faithful to do that. I will cleanse you from all unrighteousness. 241 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:43,480 We need to claim that forgiveness. The devil does not like us to claim that forgiveness. 242 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:49,040 That is why he will bring up our past deeds and whip us. He will make a scourge out of 243 00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:53,280 them and strike us across our minds. Every time we try to take a step forward, he will 244 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:58,840 try to push us back, telling us, well, you remember what you did when he dragged that 245 00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:03,520 old sin up and put a right square in front of our face. We do not have to put up with 246 00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:08,800 that, folks, because God is faithful and he has forgiven us. Satan has no right to bring 247 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:14,000 that sin up. God has forgiven it. He is faithful to cleanse us. 248 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:19,640 And then a fifth way in which he manifests his faithfulness is by answering prayer. Psalm 249 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:26,880 143 verse 1, hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications. In thy faithfulness, 250 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:32,280 answer me. God answers prayer according to his faithfulness. He does not always answer 251 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:37,360 the way we ask him to. He is too faithful to do that, and too wise to do that, and we 252 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:44,200 are too unwise in the way we ask too often. But God is always faithful in answering prayer. 253 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:45,200 We can count on that. 254 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:50,280 Now let's talk about some application and we'll be on our way. The first application 255 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:59,520 is this. We need not fear or worry over our failures because God is faithful to us. Now 256 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:07,340 it's not that we should delight in our failures. It's not that we should simply excuse them 257 00:30:07,340 --> 00:30:19,240 but we ought not to fear our failures and worry over them. When we are unfaithful, still 258 00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:27,720 God is faithful to us. He cannot deny his essential nature. As we read in 2 Thessalonians, 259 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:36,600 the Lord is faithful who shall establish you. He shall do what? He will establish you. And 260 00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:41,920 even though there are times when I seem to take two steps forward and fall back three, 261 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:47,480 I have the promise of God's faithfulness that he will establish me. Therefore, though 262 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:53,600 I fail and I need to confess my failures and my sins, I need not fear them or worry over 263 00:30:53,600 --> 00:31:01,700 them because God is faithful. Secondly, considering God's faithfulness, I should be kept from 264 00:31:01,700 --> 00:31:07,740 murmuring against him. There has been no people in the history of the world that has known 265 00:31:07,740 --> 00:31:15,040 God's faithfulness any more than Israel. Time and again God proved himself to that people 266 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:21,280 in delivering them from Egypt and in supplying and providing for them in the wilderness. 267 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:27,420 Psalm 106 talks about this. How God was faithful over and over again to his people but the 268 00:31:27,420 --> 00:31:35,960 tragedy is that time and time again Israel murmured against God and failed him. Ultimately, 269 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:43,240 they lost out, that generation of Israelites lost out on the blessings God intended for 270 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:48,360 them to enjoy. Dear people, the same thing can happen to us. 271 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:55,700 We are in Hebrews. If you have been with me, turn to Hebrews 3. Just look at the words 272 00:31:55,700 --> 00:32:01,460 here that begin in verse 7 of Hebrews 3. He says, 273 00:32:01,460 --> 00:32:09,120 So as the Holy Spirit says, Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you 274 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:15,320 did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, when your fathers tested and 275 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:21,720 tried me, and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation 276 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:28,240 and I said, Their hearts are always going astray and they have not known my ways. So 277 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:34,040 I declared on oath in my anger, they shall never enter my rest. And of that generation 278 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:41,080 only two died, didn't they? Joshua and Caleb entered into the rest of Canaan. By the way, 279 00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:50,280 that is not a picture in biblical typology of going to heaven. On Jordan's stormy banks 280 00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:56,240 I stand and cast a wishful eye to Canaan's fair and happy land where my possessions lie. 281 00:32:56,240 --> 00:33:00,320 Now if we look at that as heaven, we have missed the whole point of that whole story 282 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:06,520 in Scripture. Entering into the promised land is not going to heaven. It is a picture of 283 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:15,120 our entering into the rest that God has provided us as his children in this life. It is a picture 284 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:21,960 of our entering into the victory and the fullness of blessing that he wants us to know here 285 00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:30,000 in this world, not in heaven. That is the warning here. The warning is that we should 286 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:35,120 in unbelief not walk with God and fail to enter into the full blessings that he wants 287 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:40,080 us to know in this life. So he goes on to say in verse 12, See to it, brothers, that 288 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:48,600 none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God, but encourage 289 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:54,680 one another daily as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened 290 00:33:54,680 --> 00:34:01,560 by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if we hold firmly till the 291 00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:07,640 end, the confidence we had at first. He goes on to talk about that in verse 19. He says, 292 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:14,320 So we see that they, the Israelites, were not able to enter because of their unbelief. 293 00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:22,160 And it is the sin of unbelief or unfaithfulness which gets us into a lot of trouble spiritually. 294 00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:29,940 Sin is so deceitful. It hardens our heart against God. Sin was deceitful in the garden. 295 00:34:29,940 --> 00:34:36,700 It hardened the heart of Eve and then Adam against the Lord. Satan holds out the pleasure 296 00:34:36,700 --> 00:34:40,960 and the enticements and he says, Well, this will be worth it. This is the shortcut you 297 00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:47,320 have been looking for. This is the way to get the thing you have been after. And inevitably 298 00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:54,120 when Satan says that, it is the wrong way to get it. Sin is deceitful and it is easy 299 00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:59,280 for us to be led astray. And when we are, it begins to harden our heart against God 300 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:04,160 and that is dangerous. That is why he commands us again in 1 Corinthians 10, Neither murmur 301 00:35:04,160 --> 00:35:09,920 ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed by the destroyer. We need to be 302 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:16,120 careful folks of murmuring and complaining against God. We need to be careful of allowing 303 00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:24,920 a heart of unbelief to develop in us so that we don't trust God as perhaps we once did. 304 00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:29,800 What we need to do is go on and grow up and mature in our faith and walk with God. That 305 00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:34,320 is what the book of Hebrews is all about. So the wonder of God's faithfulness should 306 00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:39,600 encourage me to be the same, that is faithful. And finally by way of application, let me 307 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:44,880 say this, we should magnify God's faithfulness to all. I will sing of the mercies of the 308 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:51,200 Lord forever with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. The psalmist 309 00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:56,060 says in Psalm 40 verse 10, I have not hidden thy righteousness within my heart. I have 310 00:35:56,060 --> 00:36:03,880 declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation. We have ample opportunities to do that. If 311 00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:08,240 we just listen to the conversation around us, we will find opportunities to talk about 312 00:36:08,240 --> 00:36:13,160 God's faithfulness. There are people who are worrying about their jobs, worrying about 313 00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:21,280 the economy, worrying about war, worrying about a nuclear accident, worrying about this, 314 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:26,480 worrying about that. When we hear that kind of worry being expressed, we can immediately 315 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:32,040 interject a word of confidence in God's faithfulness. We say, well those things don't bother me 316 00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:38,160 because I trust in God and God is faithful to his word. He has promised to deliver us. 317 00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:42,240 He has promised to keep us, or whatever you may want to say to point to God's specific 318 00:36:42,240 --> 00:36:50,760 promise in that instance. So we need to declare God's faithfulness to all around us. 319 00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:55,960 We have touched very briefly and lightly tonight upon this marvelous attribute of God. I hope 320 00:36:55,960 --> 00:37:01,920 maybe it will prick your spirit to do some more meditation in this area. I like these 321 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:09,160 words written by someone. I cannot do great things for him who did so much for me, but 322 00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:15,520 I should like to show my love, dear Jesus, unto thee, faithful in very little things, 323 00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:23,560 no Savior may I be. Jesus said, he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful 324 00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:30,600 in that which is much. God does not ask us to be great in ability, but he does ask us 325 00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:36,800 to be faithful. Faithful doing what he has called us to do. Time and time again when 326 00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:43,200 God tapped the shoulder of a person to do a great work, that person was simply being 327 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:49,640 faithful in what he was supposed to be doing. Elisha was out there plowing. He was just 328 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:56,240 a plain old dirt farmer in the Jordan Valley. Elijah came down out of the mountains and 329 00:37:56,240 --> 00:38:03,920 threw that mantle on him, and Elisha was then called as a prophet of God. Moses was busy 330 00:38:03,920 --> 00:38:08,960 with the sheep, just a plain old shepherd, being faithful, doing what he was supposed 331 00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:17,120 to do at that time, and God chose him to shepherd his people. Peter was fishing. Matthew was 332 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:24,040 collecting taxes. And on and on it goes. It is the faithful person that God chooses to 333 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:32,840 do the greater work. God rewards faithfulness, and so may God find us faithful. Even in the 334 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:38,960 little things, the hidden things, may God find us faithful. In the big things, may God 335 00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:46,680 find us faithful. As we are faithful, it extols his faithfulness. His faithfulness is our 336 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:47,680 great example. 337 00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:57,960 Well, let's turn together to the hymn that we talked about, number 54, Great is Thy Faithfulness. 338 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:03,280 It's so easy for us to sing a familiar hymn and not pay attention to the words. Let's 339 00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:10,360 not do that tonight. Let's pay attention to the words of this hymn written by Thomas O. 340 00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:19,880 Chisholm, Great is Thy Faithfulness. We will sing the first and third stanzas together 341 00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:28,280 as we close our service and praise God for his faithfulness. Let's stand as we sing.