1 Corinthians chapter 1. Stay there. I'm going to turn to two other
passages. This one's found in Exodus 34. And verse 7, it says, keeping
God, who's keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, and that will God, God wills by no
means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children and upon the children's children unto the third and fourth
generations. He will by no means clear the
guilty. So we're born in sin. So it's
not like this country, though this country, I love it. You are innocent until proven
guilty. No, we are guilty until we're
made innocent. Romans chapter three. Romans chapter three. They are, verse 12, they are
all gone out of the way. That's all of us, that's all
inclusive. They or we are together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good
No, not one. Now we're talking spiritually.
I'm not saying because a teacher, you know, everybody says, well,
that was a good D and that was good. Is that that's fine humanly,
but spiritually is what we're talking about here this morning.
And every time we gather together, we're talking spiritual. There
is none that do it's good. Not one their throat or our throat
is an open sepulcher. With their tongue, they have
used deceit. The poison of asps is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Just
go to the market, go to the store, go to your friend's house, neighbor's
house. There's cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. And the way
of peace, Christ is our peace, they have not known. There is
no fear of God before their eyes. And further down in the same
chapter, verse 24, being justified freely
by Christ's grace through the redemption or by God's grace,
that is through redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God
has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness. that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believes in Jesus. He might be the just
and justifier of him that believes in Jesus. Now this, he will not pass over in Exodus
34, the iniquity, he will deal with this iniquity and this gap,
this chasm, The profound distance between God and us is established. In the garden, Adam fell. It's
established. Woe is us, as Isaiah would say. Woe is me. The distance between
a holy God and sinful men, women, boys, and girls is immense. And no matter what we do or how
we try, we cannot gap this. It's impossible. And is this
not that statement that he made in Exodus 34? He will know why
he's clearly guilty. That's a saying in his faithfulness. He says this in his faithfulness.
He will punish all workers of iniquity. So then how then can
God be just? How can he be just to his word,
to his decree, and to his name? Uphold all these honorable things
in his name. his characteristics, his attributes,
and yet justify those of us who are so wrong and born in sin
and full of corruption. How can this be? How can he be
the just and justifier? Well, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
1. I'm going to read verses 1 through 9 and look at one verse that
arrested my attention for sure. called to be an apostle of Jesus
Christ, through the will of God, and Sothenes, our brother, unto
the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified
in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every
place shall call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, our Lord,
both theirs and ours. Grace be unto you and peace from
God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my
God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given
you by Jesus Christ that in everything you are enriched by him in all
utterance and in all knowledge even as the testimony of Christ
was confirmed in you so that you came behind in no gift waiting
for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall also confirm
you unto the end that you may be blameless in the day of our
Lord Jesus Christ." And this is the verse I want to look at.
God is faithful. God is faithful. "...by whom
you were called unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord." What an amazing verse. What an amazing verse. According
to this verse, our entire security, our entire spiritual footing,
our salvation and peace with God rests upon God's faithfulness
to us, not our puny response or responses to him. Let me read
you what William Mason said about this one verse. The faithfulness
of God is the foundation of all present grace and the security
of future glory. I like that. It's a summation
of this one verse right here. May we sing as David did in Psalms
103, bless the Lord. Oh my soul and all that is within
me. I want us to walk through this one verse and by Holy Spirit
enabling, I hope and pray to unlock its treasure trove, its
gold and all things precious. Just this one verse. We won't
take you very long. Take us very long. The first
thought, God is faithful. You could just stop right there
and just close the book. God is faithful. When we're not
faithful, he is faithful. He is faithful. This is a big
bite. This is a big bite. Chew slowly. chew fully and extract
its amazing delights. God is faithful. Oh dear low
believer in Jesus's blood and righteousness, do not let trial
or hardship dash your covenant helps because the covenant is
based upon him and his son and the Holy Spirit And he's faithful. He's faithful. He is true. He is the true and faithful witness
in Revelation 3, verse 14. And I looked up this word, faithful,
in Corinthians, and it means trustworthy or trustful. Trustworthy. We don't hear that
word very much today. Our God is trustworthy. Yes,
indeed, there's none so trustworthy as our elder brother. There is
none so trustful as our kinsman Redeemer, who daily leaves, and
I just love this illustration. I know Nathan loves the Book
of Ruth. Our faithful Redeemer leaves
us handfuls of purpose. When you think things are at
the end, And then, oh, there's something else. Now, I got to
pick it up. I got to glean it. You're not
just going to sit there and be lazy. And we have responsibility. So she had to glean. But he's
Boaz, type of Christ. You see to it, you don't harm
her, but you leave handfuls of purpose. And when she came back,
Naomi goes, what is this? What is this? How many times, if you look back
in your life, you can look back yesterday, look back, how many
times even before salvation, the Lord took care of us and
brought us to where we would hear the everlasting gospel of
the free and sovereign grace of Christ. And He's kept us. He's faithful. He's faithful. Remember the covenant
and see Him as ever faithful here as well. Look at the covenant.
Turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 7. Deuteronomy chapter 7. I've got to circle this. This is too
good. Deuteronomy chapter seven in verse nine, know therefore
that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which
keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his
commandments to a hundred generations. He is the faithful God. The faithful God. Remember, the
promises of God are what? They're all yes and amen in Christ
Jesus. That's faithful. It's not our
ability to hold on to him. It's his ability to say it in
such a way to hold on to us. It's always been that way. It
ever will be that way. Remember that we, right now,
if you're a child of God, if you are in, found in the beloved,
have access to his throne of grace right now, that's faithful.
That's faithful. Now, oftentimes we will fret
and worry and not, you know, we will not go to him. He said,
he come, come, come, come unto me, all you that labor. That's
our problem. We don't, we're not laboring.
We we've already been there. I've already been, you know,
I know what I'm doing. I've already made a decision
for Jesus. I've already done. No, no. Come
to the God of the scripture. He's faithful and only he. For
every day, and every day's trial, or difficulties, or even losses,
he abideth faithful. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 2.
2 Timothy chapter 2. If we believe not, yet he, God
in Christ Jesus, abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. That's
the whole, that's why William Mason can say this is the foundation
of our salvation. This is the future security of
glory. It's all based on him and what
he's done. And his son, who he's done it
for. Oh dear flock, our God is faithful
to support, to preserve, and to keep, and even give comfort
in the hour of our death, which he calls sleep. He's faithful. He can't deny himself. Back to
our passage in Corinthians. The second part, God is faithful
by whom ye were called. God is faithful by whom? There
is no There is no me or I as far as our doing anything for God in
this verse. It's like a harmonious circle. Everywhere, anywhere you go,
you look at this, you see the grace of God and the gospel of
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're recipients. But as
far as us being active and doing anything to secure this salvation,
it's not to be found. God is faithful. By whom? By
whom refers back to God. You were called. You were called. Well, Romans says, for whom he
did. For no, them he also did predestinate,
to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinated,
them he called. This is what he's talking about
in Corinthians, and this is Romans eight. And them he called, them
he justified, and whom he justified, he glorified. What shall we say
to these things? If God be for us, that's where
it starts. If God be for us, if God, who
is the God, now I know there's a bunch of gods out in different
churches preaching, they're small Gs. He has to wait on you and
you have to make a decision or go through somebody else. No,
what can we say to these things? If God be for the faithful God,
the true and faithful witness, the one who cannot lie, Which, if he be for us, who can
be against us? And if he spared not his own
son, he brings his son into it. Because that's the covenant,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He spared not his own son, but
delivered him up for us all. How shall he not, with Christ,
also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God,
who also makes intercession for us. That's why none shall be
able to separate us from the love of God in Christ. He goes
on to say, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness,
peril, or sword. No, no. Nay, in all these things
we are conquerors. Why? through him that loved us. It goes back to him. Everything
goes back to him, in his faithfulness. For I am persuaded, says the
apostle, that death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, height, depth,
or any other creature should be able to separate us from the
love of God. And where is the love of God?
People say, oh, he died forever. He loves everybody. That's having
a discussion with my cousin. No, he doesn't. Where is the love of God found?
Who shall be able to separate from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord? If you have Christ, you have
possessed God's love. If you don't, you don't. So that settles it. You know, Christ, he's a successful
and God is faithful. Now, can you imagine God loving
everybody the same And then, not everybody is saved. That
doesn't sound successful to me. As a matter of fact, it sounds
like a huge failure. And Henry, or one of these men, said, if
God loves everybody and not everybody is saved, what does the love
of God have to do with salvation? It does, but on the other hand,
it has to do with God's faithfulness. It's all, I don't know how to
put it, it's a, Gary Shepard said, it's harmonious. The gospel
is harmonious. It's not out of character. It's
everything within God's character. And if we can rest, R-E-S-T,
rest in his faithfulness, that he saved sinners. I'm a sinner. I need saving. I need grace. Because we may not have tomorrow.
Today may be the day of salvation. Them he called. This is what
it says in our passage in Corinthians. God is faithful. That's the foundation
by whom you were called. That's inseparable. Them he called. And if he did the calling, he
will not alter it or change it. 11 in verse 29 says for the gifts
of calling of God are without repentance He doesn't change
his mind. He can't he can't do it So this
is just one verse. It's just These are one of these
verses just he'd go to every day every morning Well the third
thing and the last thing God is faithful by whom you were
called under the fellowship of fellowship of his son Jesus Christ
our Lord. Now if you say God is faithful
and you say he's called you and you never show up. You don't
gather together with the believers. There's no spiritual mindedness.
There's no new creature. There's been a reformation maybe.
Maybe that house has been swept. but it's not occupied. What happens,
the scripture says, then more demons will come in and be worse.
So there's professions all day long. People make a profession
to believe. Ralph Barnard used to say, so
I'm told. He said, I believe. And what do you think about that?
He said, well, come back and see me in 30 years. And we're
not being skeptical. But the scripture is very clear
about those who endure to the end. And Bruce and I have talked
about this forever. Those shall be saved. That's why Paul was so concerned
with the Galatians. You did run well. Who hindered
you? It was another religious person. They came in and teaching,
you gotta keep the law, you gotta do this, you can't be saved unless
you keep... No. No. There's freedom in Christ. There's freedom in Christ. And
all of God's people are the freest people in this society. They
really are. They really are. So we are called
to the faithfulness of God under the fellowship of his son and
one another, like-minded believers. God's calling, I put it this
way, has purpose and intent. Sometimes we call and we say
we're gonna do something and we can't follow up physically or
geographically. So I'm going to be there. Well,
you know, you're three states away. I may not be there. But
God's calling has purpose and intent. He does not call us and
then leave us to ourselves. Never, never. To be called of
God, by God, is to be made like unto His Son. It's to enjoy one
another's company. We are one mind, one heart, one
purpose, to glorify God in the face of Jesus Christ, being assisted
and performed by the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter 2. I love this verse. It tells what
Believers do Acts chapter 2 Verse 41 Then they That gladly received
his word. They heard the gospel. They believed
it what they do next He who believes and is baptized now baptism baptism
is not salvation and baptism isn't under salvation It's just
obedient. You're just being obedient to
what the word says Christ is believing be baptized and So
those who believe and say they believe and refuse to be baptized,
I have a big question mark. I have a big question mark. Why?
Because this is what, oh, this was hundreds of years ago. This
is the same God saved these people who saves us today. We have the
same gospel. Then they that gladly received
the word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto
them about 3,000 souls. Boy, I wish that would be more
than I could handle. I know that. And they, here's
the thought, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, when
the apostles' doctrine was Christ's doctrine, and in fellowship and
breaking of bread and prayers. That's a church, that's the church
right there. In a nugget, that is not only the New Testament
church, that's every church that says they preach the gospel.
And this other stuff gets, it really gets in the way. It's
traditions of men. That's what I was talking to Billy last night.
I think we get a little bit of tradition, get a little tradition. They continued steadfastly in
the apostles doctrine, doctrine is teachings. That's important.
Got to know whom we believe, what we believe, why we believe
in fellowship and breaking of bread. It doesn't mean you spend
every waking hour together. You've got to go to work, you've
got to do things. That's life. And fear came upon
every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles
and all that believed were together and had all things common. We do. We have a common bond
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now they sold all their possessions
and goods and parted them to all men and every man had need.
It's your property. You do what you want to with
it. But you can never, you can't out give God and you never, all
the writers said you're never a loser for giving stuff away
to God. In this country, we're hoarders. Now I'm not like the hoarders.
Yes, a lot of us are hoarders. That's our nature, is to hang
on. Well, I might need this. Is God not gonna take care of
you? Hasn't he taken care of you for 10, 20, 30 years? Yes. But I'm not, this is not, this
is voluntary. And like I said, we're of all
men and women the most free and will not be brought under bondage.
Well, you gotta do that and you gotta do this. No. He makes us willing for everything
in the day of his power. I used to think that verse in
Psalms 110 verse three was just about salvation. No, that's prayer,
that's fellowship, that's gathering together, He makes you willing
in the day of His power. And if He doesn't make you willing,
then you won't be here, or you'll be worried about something else,
or you'll be worried about padding your pocket, making money, doing
all these things to the detriment of your soul. Oh, to be of one mind and one
heart and one purpose, to glorify God. Basically that in Acts chapter
two, it's saying he's faithful and so are we. Right? He's faithful and so are we. Well, the threefold cord, God,
the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit, cannot
be easily broken. That's Ecclesiastes four, verse
12. And that's exactly right. Exactly
right. Let me close with asking this,
let me re-read this. God is faithful. There's the, that's highlighted. By whom you
were called. You didn't call, you didn't put
yourself in Christ, Christ put you in. Unto the fellowship of
his son, and where the fellowship of his son is, there's the fellowship
of believers. Where two or three are gathered
in his name, He's there in the fellowship of his son, Jesus
Christ, our Lord. So I ask us here today, do we
know anything at all about God and his faithfulness in the calling
and saving of sinners? Do we know, have we experienced
it? Do we know anything about that? If so, continue, just continue
in him and be at peace. If you don't know, Cry unto him
for mercy. And like we discussed up at Iowa,
leave it there. Cry unto him for mercy. He put that cry of mercy in your
heart. He always hear a cry of mercy,
but just those who are watching, leave it alone. God is able to
save to the uttermost. Nathan, would you close us, please?