NEW YEAR FEAR & GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
1 Kings 8:56
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. Some years ago, Carl Field’s dad, an attorney, took him to a fancy restaurant in New York City. When the bill arrived, there was a $15.00 charge for bread and butter. His Dad paid the bill, including the charge for bread and butter.
2. However, the next day, Attorney Fields sent a letter to the restaurant stating that the charge was uncalled for. Enclosed in the same envelope was a bill for $500 in legal services.
3. Someone from the restaurant called immediately and asked, "What is this $500 charge for? We never ordered any legal services."
4. Attorney Fields replied, "I never ordered any bread and butter either." The $15.00 was returned without delay.
B. HUMOR # 2: Bad start to a New Year
1. Alan Abercrombie was driving back to Virginia after New Years, when he saw flashing blue lights in my rearview mirror. ‘I handed the officer my license and made small talk while my wife dug through the glove compartment for the proof of insurance.’
2. "I’m usually very careful about my speed," Alan told the policeman as his wife handed him the paperwork. The officer studied it and then gave it back.
3. "Sir," he said gruffly, "this is not your proof of insurance. This is a warning ticket you got for speeding in South Carolina!” Needless to say, he didn’t have a good start to his new year!
C. TITLE & THESIS
1. The title of this message is “New Year Fear & God’s Faithfulness.”
2. As we face many uncertainties of the coming year, we have one great certainty that will never fail us: we serve an ever-faithful, never-failing God!
I. FEAR OF THE FUTURE
A. THE MYSTERIOUS FUTURE
1. Facing a New Year is usually somewhat scary. Who knows what may happen in the year; we may face blight or blessing? When we were born, we had two basic fears: the fear of loud noises and the fear of falling, but by the time we reached adulthood, our list of fears had grown a lot longer.
2. Fear isn’t limited to people who have serious fear problems; fear often effects the happiness of average people living normal lives. A lot of us are first-class actors—we put on the laughing, smiling front of perfect confidence, on the outside, while we’re tormented by fears on the inside.
3. Especially in these plague times in which we live, when Covid threatens to keep evolving and endanger our loved ones. How will we face these threats? Paul wrote Timothy, "God has not given to us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7, KJV). Paul tells us that unhealthy, debilitating fears are not from God.
4. THE FUTURE is a...
a. dark, hazy period ahead of us;
b. unknowable to man;
c. it’s mysterious;
d. it’s often viewed with apprehension/ fear, because bad times can come.
B. WORLDLY VIEW VS. CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
1. For people who don’t know God – the future looks like a roll of the dice: chance. Eccles. 9:11 mirrors this thinking; “but time and chance happen to them all.”
2. THE CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! God tells us that His unseen hand is constantly moving, guiding human events to His own ends.
3. It’s awesome to know that GOD KNOWS THE FUTURE! Isa. 46:9-10, “Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’” (see 44:8; 48:3).
4. Not only does God know the future, but HE ORDERS IT! Isa. 44:26 says God “fulfills the predictions of His messengers.” Again He says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” Isa. 43:18-19.
5. So when it comes to our security about the future, the Scriptures declare, “God is faithful!”
II. ASPECTS OF GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
A. GOD ALWAYS KEEPS HIS PROMISES
1. 1 Kgs. 8:56, “Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses.”
2. God told Jeremiah, “I am watching to see that my Word is fulfilled.” (1:12).
3. Ezek. 12:25, “For I am the Lord: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God.”
4. Jesus said, “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” Matt. 5:18.
B. GOD CARES FOR US
1. This means He feels interest, concern, He feels responsible for, etc. Jesus said in Matt. 6:31-32, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’....for your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”
2. The Bible clearly shows how God is concerned for His people. Ex. 2:25 says, “God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.”
C. GOD IS LOYAL TO US
1. Loyalty is defined as “unswerving adherence to a person or promise. Firm resistance to any temptation to desert or betray.”
2. God says, “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me” Isa. 49:16.
3. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people” 2 Cor. 6:16.
4. God told Jacob (and it applies to every one of us), “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go....I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” Gen. 28:15.
5. God sticks with us through thick and thin, even when we stumble and sin. After we have died, God is faithful to watch over our kids! How amazing!
III. WHEN IS GOD FAITHFUL?
A. HE’S FAITHFUL EVEN WHEN TRUE BELIEVERS DOUBT
1. Have you ever had a problem and almost lost faith in God? Even when we’re at our weakest, and doubt, God will still always be faithful to us! Praise God!
2. The Israelites saw all the miracles of God in Egypt and in the wilderness – yet they doubted. Did God give up on them? No! He remained faithful.
3. God’s people have often backslidden. Peter denied his Master, but Christ remained true!
4. God is our Rock, and not quicksand.
B. WHY IS GOD FAITHFUL?
1. GOD’S NATURE CAN’T CHANGE
“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.” Heb. 13:8. “...the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” James 1:17, NKJV.
2. HIS WORD CAN’T CHANGE
a. “….The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God endures (stands/exists) forever.” Isa. 40:6,8.
b. ILLUS.: Like the atheist who asked the minister, “Do you really believe the Bible’s statement that “Jonah was swallowed by a whale?” “Sir, I’d believe it even if it said that Jonah swallowed the whale!” (Because God can’t lie!)
3. GOD’S SALVATION CAN’T CHANGE
a. God can’t withdraw His salvation. Once Jesus shed His life was shed, once He suffered for our sins -- that sacrifice can’t be taken back! It’s available to us today!
b. His atoning blood has been put on the Mercy Seat; it can’t be removed. It’s there forever! If we cry out to God in the Name of His Son Jesus, He will hear us and answer – He will forgive us because of that Blood!
4. IF GOD IS FAITHFUL EVEN IF WE AREN’T BELIEVING, WON’T HE BE FAITHFUL IF WE ARE BELIEVING? YES!
IV. GOD’S FAITHFULNESS DEMONSTRATED
A. THINK WHAT GOD PROMISES IN PSALM 103:
1. Vs. 3, “forgives all your sins”
2. Vs. 3, “heals all your diseases”
3. Vs. 4, “redeems our life from destruction”
4. Vs. 4, “crowns us with lovingkindness”
5. He gives us prosperity, Jer. 29:11.
6. Vs. 6, He takes up for the oppressed.
7. Vs. 8, Merciful, slow to anger.
8. Vs. 10, doesn’t reward us according to our evil deeds.
9. Vs. 12, Removes (indefinitely) our sins from us.
10. Vs. 13, He pities us.
11. Vs. 17, He loves us & favors us. Praise the Lord!
B. YOU ARE BEING FOLLOWED
1. The story is told about a little boy who had been invited to a friend’s birthday party. He was so excited and started counting the days until the party. But the morning of the party he was devastated when he found that a blizzard had struck their little town. The snow was falling in wet, heavy flakes, and the wind was howling. “I don’t think you should go to the party,” his father said. The little boy was so disappointed.
2. He began to plead with his father, begging to be allowed to go. Finally, much to his surprise, his dad said, “All right, you can go to the party.” The little boy bundled up in his hat and coat and mittens and started down the street to his friend’s house. When he got to the door, he turned around and saw his father turning to walk back home. It was then he realized that his father had been walking behind him all the way to make sure he was safe.
3. There may be times when we feel like we’re alone, but in truth we are always surrounded by the love and goodness of God. There’s never a time when we’re truly on our own. Even when we do not believe Him as we should, "he abideth faithful" (2 Timothy 2:13). [ministry127.com]
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: God is Faithful
1. I’ll never forget the story of when Robert Moffat, the Scottish missionary to South Africa, came back to Great Britain to recruit workers for his African mission.
2. He was greeted by the fury of a cold British winter. With difficulty he arrived at the church where he was to speak and found only a very small group there.
3. What disturbed him the most was that the entire congregation were only ladies; there was NOT one man present. Why did this disturb him? Because God had given him a specific message to share with them from Proverbs 8:4, “Unto you, O men, I call!”
4. Dr. Moffat felt hopeless as he gave the message, because he knew that few women alive could endure the rigors of the jungles of Africa where he labored. When he called for volunteers, he wasn’t surprised when no one stepped forward. Had God failed or had he misunderstood? But we serve a God who never fails and whose ways are deep and beyond our understanding!
5. What may have escaped his notice was a small boy up in the organ loft who was pumping the organ for the organist. When this boy heard the message to go to the mission field, his heart was set on fire, and that night in the loft he dedicated himself to go to Africa.
6. He grew up, attended medical school, and spent the rest of his life ministering to the unreached tribes of Africa. His name is David Livingstone and his call proves that no matter what it looks like right now, GOD IS FAITHFUL! [Paul Tan, Encyclopedia of 7,700 Illus., #1881]
B. THE CALL
1. Are you going through a tough time right now? Are you facing fear of what 2022 may hold?
2. How many of you would like to cast off the sadness of last year and ask God for a bright and successful New Year?
3. If you’d like prayer please come to the front and we will pray for you. PRAYER.
[Part of section one drew on thoughts of Harold Sala in his “Who is Afraid of the New Year?” 12.31.21]
