Review the first 6 attributes.
God’s faithfulness is hard to define, but it is helpful to think of it as the ribbon that ties together all of God’s attributes.
A. W. Tozer:
All of God’s acts are consistent with all of His attributes. No attribute contradicts any other, but all harmonize and blend into each other in the infinite abyss of the Godhead…God, being who he is, cannot cease to be what He is, and being what He is, He cannot act out of character with Himself. He is at once faithful and immutable, so all His words and acts must be and must remain faithful.
Chip Ingram:
God is faithful to his Word, to his promises, to his people, and to his character because he cannot be otherwise. You can depend on him 100 percent of the time. He will never let you down. He may not do what you want him to do exactly when you want him to or even how you want him to. He may not orchestrate it in a way you can understand it now, or perhaps ever. But he will never let you down.
How does God reveal His faithfulness?
• Through His creation
Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures.
Psalm 119:90 (NIV)
We see consistency in nature because the God of the universe is consistent and faithful. His creation reflects His character.
• Through His people
Examples:
o Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3)
o David (Psalm 132:11)
o Peter (Matthew 16:18)
• Through His character
We can have complete faith in God’s integrity.
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 fulfill?
Numbers 23:19 (NIV)
O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.
Isaiah 25:1 (NIV)
• Through His Word
The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
Isaiah 55:10-11 (NLT)
God reveals His faithfulness through the truth of His covenants, His promises, and His prophecies. He never breaks a promise or covenant and every one of His prophecies has either already come taken place or will one day take place exactly as His Word proclaims.
• Through His Son
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.
Revelation 19:11 (NIV)
Of all the titles that Jesus could have chosen at the end of time, He chose to be revealed as the one who is faithful and true.
• Through His relationship with us
Perhaps more subjective that the objective evidence above, but it is also the most personal. God reveals his faithfulness by shaping our lives:
1. When we are weak
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
2 Corinthians 12:7-9 (NIV)
Illustration: Harold Grimm
2. When we are tempted
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.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)
We can overcome temptation 100% of the time, not because we are strong, but because God is faithful.
3. When we sin
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 (NIV)
Many of us have a hard time forgiving ourselves. We think that what we have done is beyond God’s ability to forgive. But the Bible is clear that when we confess our sins – any sins – God will remove them as far as the east is from the west, not because we deserve it, but because God is faithful.
4. When we fail
Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him.
If we disown him, he will also disown us;
if we are faithless, he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.
2 Timothy 2:11-13 (NIV)
The first 3 lines are pictures of God’s faithfulness:
o If we died with him, we can count on His faithfulness to live with Him
o If we endure, we can count on His faithfulness to reign with Him
o If we disown Him, God will disown us – talking about our blessings or rewards, not our salvation. Here God’s faithfulness is displayed along with his justice. In 1 Cor. 3:12-15, Paul makes the same point. Believers are assured of salvation, but the consequences of their wood, hay and stubble are also clear.
o
The 4th line contains a big surprise:
o We expect it to say that when we are faithless, God will be faithless. Instead, God promises to be faithful even when we fail Him.
o That brings us to the question of our response. If God is faithful, even when I am not, what is my role in the relationship?
How do I respond to God’s faithfulness?
• Put my past behind me today
o Confess any sin
o Move on to freedom
I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward – to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.
Philippians 3:12,13 (Message)
• Bring my present problems, pain, and failures to Jesus today.
Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you.
1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
Matthew 11:28-30 (Message)
• Place my hope for the future in the God who will never let me down
Several months ago, I shared a series of messages on the life of the prophet Jeremiah. If anyone had the right to doubt the faithfulness of God, it was Jeremiah. He spent his whole life serving God without ever witnessing even one person turn his or her life over to God. In Lamentations 3, Jeremiah unloads on god and pours out his heart. It is the picture of a man who is totally disillusioned and beat. But then he stops to ponder God’s faithfulness and he writes these words:
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
Lamentations 3:21-24 (NIV)
No matter what you’re facing in your life today, the secret to your hope for the future is to meditate on the faithfulness of God. Every other basis for hope will eventually let me down – other people, my job, my possessions, my skills and abilities. Only God has promised to come through for us 100 percent of the time.
• Tell someone each day how God has been faithful to me
I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself.
Psalm 89:1-2 (NIV)
