Sermon Central
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The Faithfulness Of God Series
Contributed by Christian Cheong on Feb 16, 2012 (message contributor)
Summary: God is faithful in His character, in His Word and to His people. God shows His faithfulness in many practical ways in our lives. He will come through for you always. We want to change to be like Him. We are to be faithful, as He is faithful.
God does not change, not even for a moment. He can be trusted completely because He is faithful.
• In the midst of all these news about infidelity, adultery and scandals, God is reminding us today that He is faithful, and we are called to be faithful.
• God is constant and consistent, always, and for eternity! The Bible shows us
(1) God is faithful in His CHARACTER
Exo 34:6 “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”
Deut 32:4 “He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He.”
God is 100% reliable, 100% of the time.
• He does not fail, forget, falter, change, or disappoint.
• He does not compromise, He does not contradicts. He is immutable.
This is our greatest assurance today. A. W. Tozer:
Our heavenly Father never differs from Himself. In coming to Him at any time, we need not wonder whether we shall find Him in a receptive mood. He is always receptive to misery and need, as well as to love and faith. He does not keep office hours nor set aside periods when He will see no one. Neither does He change His mind about anything. Today, this moment, He feels toward His creatures, toward babies, toward the sick, the fallen, the sinful, exactly as He did when He sent His only begotten Son into the world to die for mankind.
God never changes moods or cools off in His affections or loses enthusiasm.
God will not compromise and He need not be coaxed. He cannot be persuaded to alter His Word nor talked into answering selfish prayer.
James 1:17 says God “does not change like shifting shadows.”
• Shadows are never still, not even for a split second, because the earth is constantly rotating around its axis and moving around the sun in its orbit at the same time.
• You are never still actually. Shadows are constantly moving… but God is constant!
• “In God's faithfulness lies eternal SECURITY.” [Corrie ten Boom, 1892-1983]
(2) God is faithful in His WORD
Deut 7:9 “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations…”
• It is a covenant; a promise made on God’s side. It is not a contract, which ceases to be binding when one party defaults.
• In God’s Word, we have His promise. And it is an everlasting promise.
Num 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfil?
• He says what He means and means what He says and therefore does everything He says He will do. It is God’s faithfulness that gives us HOPE.
(3) God is faithful to His PEOPLE
Josh 21:45 Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.
James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Who sees and tastes the faithfulness of God? Man. We are the ones, the beneficiaries.
• God proved His faithfulness in His dealings with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua… All that He has promised came true, and will continue to come true for us.
• Despite man’s failures, God did not fail him. Despite man’s infidelity, God remained devoted.
God shows His faithfulness to us in very practical ways:
(a) When we are tempted, by providing us a way out.
1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
(b) When we repent, He forgives and restores us.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
(c) God is faithful in protecting you.
2 Thess 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
(d) God is faithful in helping you grow to be like Christ.
1 Thess 5:23-24 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
Erwin W. Lutzer: “God's investment in us is so great he could not possibly abandon us.”
