And of course it's lovely to
see our friend Gerry here in the providence of the Lord so
often when we've had reasons for discouragement and wondering
why are we so few. And why are these things happening
to us? The Lord actually sends people with good news from a
far country. It's great to see you again,
Gerry. It's great to have you here to remind us that there
are brothers and sisters who love the same Lord and believe
the same Gospel that reveals that same Lord to us scattered
throughout this world. And there are flocks like us
going through exactly the same trials and troubles that we go
through and needing the same comfort of the scriptures that
we do. And the comfort that we get from one another, from looking
across the room and seeing people that the Lord has loved with
everlasting love from eternity and called miraculously called
by His grace out of this religious world and out of this pagan world
that does everything it possibly can to operate in opposition
to our great God and Saviour. Why don't you turn in your scriptures
to 1 Corinthians and begin by reading chapter 1. Paul, I love his introductions,
isn't it? Paul, not Apostle Paul, not Reverend
Paul, not Dr. Paul, not Paul the Pharisee,
not Paul, just Paul. Just Paul, just like him. Called
to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes
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, call upon the name of Jesus Christ
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 Christ Jesus, 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 come behind in no
gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
shall confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless in
the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you
were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord. Now I beseech you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the
same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, and that
you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment. For it has been declared unto
me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe,
that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every
one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos and I of Cephas
and I of Christ, is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or
were you baptised in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptised
none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest should any say that I had
baptised in mine own name. And I baptise also the house
of Stephanas, besides I know not whether I baptise any other.
For Christ sent me not to baptise, but to preach the gospel, not
with words of wisdom, lest the cross of Christ should be made
of none effect. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it
is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise, and I will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews
require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach
Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the
Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men are
to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world and the things which
are despised hath God chosen. Yea, the things which are not,
to bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh should
glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. I was going to speak, Lord willing,
in a little while about the faithfulness of God. At either end of this
amazing letter to the Corinthians, and a letter to us, it's written
to all that call upon the name of Jesus Christ in every place,
both our Lord and theirs. And it's full of the most extraordinary
promises and the most extraordinary descriptions of God's people.
The nothings of this world, the nothings of this world, made
the somethings in the eyes of God. God who promises, doesn't
it? This testimony, verse 6 of Christ,
is confirmed in you. Confirmed in you by the Holy
Spirit, so that you come behind in no gift. You are lacking nothing. Complete in Christ. Waiting for
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm
you to the end. What He begins, He completes. That you may be blameless. blameless
in holiness before his face, blameless in holiness before His face. All the blame that
we ever could have and did so rightly deserve was laid on His
Son and taken away perfectly and completely. Holy we are. God is faithful by whom you are
called into fellowship, into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord. Isn't it wonderful? That's what
church is about, isn't it? Fellowship. Fellowship with His
Son. And if we fellowship with His
Son, then we fellowship with each other. What delightful promises we have
from a God who is infinitely and eternally faithful. Simon
was going to pray for us and then we were singing and Jerry
was going to come and Come on up Gerry, it's lovely
to see you here. Gerry is just going to bring
a few words to us. It's just good news from a far
country just to see your face again, so welcome. It's a great honour and privilege
to be here. I'd love to tell you that I bring
greetings from my country. But that's just not the truth.
My country is a deep, dark continent that is lost, just like this
country is. So I bring you greetings and
love from the Brethren, a very small remnant in America. I think I was talking with Simon
yesterday and said it doesn't matter how long we've known each
other, it's that what we share is the gospel. It's as though
we've always known each other. It's as though we've always been
family and we really have been in Christ. My church in Apopka, Florida
is very encouraged by what they hear about what's going on here. It's such a comfort to know that
God is working in his providence in small pockets everywhere. It's very encouraging. And so
they send their greetings, they send their love, and they send
their prayers. And I got back the first time, and I said, you've
got to listen to this guy. You've got to pull him up on
the internet. And so many people have heard
your sermons. And it reminds me of the verse
where it says, we have many teachers, but not many fathers. And I believe
that God has raised up Angus, your pastor, as a father. That
was the first impression I got when I was here two years ago
and I continue to have that impression. that the word that God brings
through you is done with such tenderness, boldness, but tenderness,
that it truly, when you hear it, you're hearing the words
of the great physician. And this world is a veil of tears. Angus
told me that you guys are going through struggles and trials,
and there's no comfort that we can take except in knowing that
Christ is there. You know, it's interesting, he
doesn't tell us that he's going to save us from the fiery fire,
from the fiery pit. He doesn't tell us that he's
going to keep us from it. He says he's going to go with
us through it. And that's the hope that we hold on to, that
we'll come out the other side without the smell of smoke, without
the char. and that ultimately, God is kind. I'm not a big believer in testimonies. It's just too easy to lift yourself
up. But I do want to read just one
passage from Ephesians. And this is a passage that I
believe God used through Don Fortner to bring me to truth. And it happened while we were
in the midst of, the midst of legalism, the midst of working
hard and running a race that we could never win. And in the
midst of a very legalistic church Bible conference, Don Fortner
comes in, and God gave him a message, and it's from Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1, chapter 1, verse
1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to
the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus. Grace be to you, and peace from our God and our Father,
and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will." And this next verse is really,
it really says it all. To the praise of the glory of
his grace. wherein he hath made us accepted
in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. And
so in the midst of legalism, in the midst of running a race,
we could never run. We could never win. God brought
that message, and it's the Sabbath. It's our rest. And so I just
want to encourage you all that in the trials and the tribulations
that we go through here and we go through back in the States,
that we would remember that we're accepted and beloved. And that
there are so many times that the old man doesn't feel very
dead. And the world gets to us, and
our emotions get to us, and our fears get to us. But to just
remember that we are accepted and beloved. And that's our comfort,
that's our Sabbath. Thank you. Thank you Jerry for your poem
words. It's remarkable that verse in Ephesians, we go to it often. And what a remarkable thing is
that it's actually the word accepted in the blood as used another
time in the scriptures which give us a helpful definition
of that word, to be accepted in the blood is to be as Mary
was, highly favoured. It's to be graced is what the
Greek word behind it means, to be graced by God. I have a simple task this morning,
and that is, and it's a delightful task, to talk to you about the
faithfulness of our God. God is faithful. God is eternally, infinitely,
gloriously faithful. Faithful in all he does and faithful
in all that he must do for his people. Faithful in eternity,
faithful in time, faithful in trials. I love how Job, in the
midst of those trials, where he was to learn so much, learn
so much, about himself and to learn so much about God. In verse 10 of chapter 3 he says,
But he knoweth the way that I take, and when he hath tried me, I
shall come forth as gold. What a remarkable God we have. In the midst of the trials of
this life, in the midst of living in this world, in the shadow
of death, the world where sin and other things afflict, God
counts His people worthy of suffering together with Him for His name's
sake. Our God is faithful. Faithful
is He. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we thank you that faithful is just such a wonderful description
of you in all of your attributes, our Father, and a wonderful description
of your dear and precious Son, our Lord Jesus, who rides triumphantly
with the Gospel as one who is faithful and true and is the
Word of God. Heavenly Father, we come to your
throne of grace. in times of need expecting that
you will do more than we can possibly imagine or ask because
you are gracious to your people and you are faithful, Heavenly
Father, to your people in all things. Faithful in your love,
faithful in your mercy, faithful in your providences. Heavenly
Father we pray that you would comfort us and cause our eyes
to be lifted from this world and the circumstances of this
world and even our flesh in this world and look to our precious
saviour who sits on the throne of the universe and remarkably
and wonderfully says that all of his children, all of his bride
sit together with him in heavenly places. May Your peace rest upon
us, Heavenly Father, as You speak Your Word and You proclaim Your
Son in our midst by the power of Your Spirit. We thank You
that we're in Your hands. and that you, when you tested
your people, come forth as gold, pure and bright and clean and
unblameable in your sight in holiness. What a remarkable gospel
we have to declare. What a remarkable saviour we
have as a husband and a friend. and one who is with us and promises
never to leave us nor forsake us ever, ever, ever. We thank you, Heavenly Father,
for your amazing promises signed and sealed in the blood of your
precious Son. We pray these things in his name
and for your glory, our Father. Amen. God is faithful. We read it in
1 Corinthians 1.9. He's faithful in calling, and
when he calls, he's faithful in beginning good work. And he
who is sovereign over all things when he begins a good work has
Philippians 1.6 says, what he has begun, he finishes and he
completes. And when the building is completed,
what will be the cry? The cry will be grace, grace
unto it. It will be not built by human
effort. but built by His Spirit, this
Kingdom of God. Our God reigns. And at the end of 1 Corinthians
10, He's faithful again. He's described as faithful. God
is faithful. He says, there has no temptation
taken over you such as is common to man, but God is faithful who
will not suffer you to be tempted, above that you are able. But will with the temptation
also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it."
Faithful is he, faithful in sanctifying. We'll be looking at 1 Thessalonians
on Thursday evening and it's just lovely. Paul wraps up his
letter with a prayer at the end. It's remarkable, isn't it, what
he says and what God promises. And the very God of peace, God
who is peace, God who through the Gospel has made peace and
brings peace, sanctify you wholly. sanctify you completely. There's so much talk of sanctification
in the religious world. If we just understood what the
word meant, we'd stop the discussions altogether. It means to be holy. If you think you can do anything
that's holy. anything at all. Holiness is
from God. Holiness is God's work. Holiness
is God's gift. God of peace, sanctify you wholly,
completely, through and through, and I pray, God, your whole spirit,
soul and body be preserved, blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. On what basis? Faithful is the
next word, isn't it? Faithful is he that calleth you
who also will do it. What a great comfort it is in
the Gospel to know that he who sanctifies and he who makes these
extraordinary promises also promises to do it. To do it in the lives
of his people. In the midst of the trials of
life, we need to take our eyes off them and have our sight adjusted
and fixed that we might see Him who is faithful. I love what
happened on that last night. What a remarkable evening those
disciples were led through by the Lord Jesus. given the opportunity
to boast in their will. We will. I will. Peter, of course,
boasting most of all, even of all these others. These other
ten. Judas is gone. These ten are a bit dodgy, but
I will. I'll be there. Dear, oh, dear. The Lord Jesus made a promise
to him. that Satan sought to sift him
as wheat. And then he makes this promise,
doesn't he? But I have prayed, I've prayed
for you, Peter, that thy faith fail not. What a remarkable promise. Did Peter's faith fail? It was tried and tested. It was
tried and tested and it came forth as gold because the object
of faith came forth as gold. Not only was his faith tested
and his faith preserved, But after he had repented, after
he had come back to his brothers, he was to strengthen them. How
does a failed, a failed and openly publicly failing disciple of
the Lord Jesus strengthen his brethren? That was the promise, wasn't
it? He strengthens them with the Gospel. It's not about Peter's
faithfulness. It's about someone else's faithfulness.
It's not about Peter's work. It's about someone else's work.
Our God is faithful in all things. He's faithful at all times. And that's my prayer, isn't it,
and the prayer we ought to have for each other, that our eyes
would be lifted up to Him and our hearts might be lifted up
to find ourselves in the trials of life, finding our faith resurrected
yet again in Him, that we, by grace, might be found faithful. When people ask me what they
should pray for me, I just always respond immediately. I don't
have to think about it. I just have one thing that I
wish for people to pray for me, that I would be found faithful.
It's one thing. It's all that matters, isn't
it? That I and you would be found faithful. Now, one of the apostles
said, Lord, increase our faith. And when that man came with that
seriously ill son, he said, Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief. So the people in the scriptures
are continually caused to acknowledge that faith is a gift from God. that faith is something that
God grants and gives, and He's a faithful giver. When He gives,
He ensures the reception of the gift, and He nurtures that which
is His to give, and He ensures that it does its work in this
world. There's a very challenging question
the Lord Jesus asked. In Luke 18.8, isn't it? When
the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? He will find it. He'll find it
where he's put it. And he will test everything else
that looks like faith. He'll find some faith on the
earth, and you'll find so much of this earth, in all of its
religious contrivances, in all of its human wisdom and human
schemes, you'll find ultimately that there is not faith in it. It hasn't come from him, and
no, it doesn't rest in him. Faithful is He. Our God is faithful. And like love and peace and light,
faithfulness is a glorious attribute of our God, isn't it? He says
in Deuteronomy, Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is
God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with
them that love him. And in that passage he goes on
to say, on what basis does he love us? He loves us because
He loves us. We read about it last week, didn't
we? He doesn't love them because they are more numerous than others.
He set His love upon His people. The Lord loved you because He
would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers.
He just loves His people because He loves them. He's faithful
in His love. He's faithful in all of his attributes,
he's faithful in his holiness, without faithfulness, without
him being faithful, we have no ground, we have no assurance. And he would not be God if he
who makes these promises and says the things that we have
read about in this Word and talked about this morning, if he is
not faithful, it is just empty vanity, isn't it? It's all backed
up by him. It's an essential attribute of
him, isn't it? He could not be God and he would
not be God if he wasn't faithful. In Lamentations, in the midst
of that extraordinary book where Jeremiah charts the troubles
and the trials, In chapter 3 he says, Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. It is great faithfulness, it's
essential faithfulness. He cannot deny himself. says
Paul in 2nd Timothy, he abideth faithful. He remains faithful. He stays faithful. If we believe
not, he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. Psalm 89 tells us that his faithfulness
is like a garment. He's robed. It's a robe. O Lord God of hosts, who is a
strong Lord like unto Thee? All to Thy faithfulness round
about Thee." This faithfulness is established in the heavens. I love the picture in Revelation
of that throne of grace, that throne of grace and around the
throne, encircling the throne, is a rainbow. It's a great picture
in many ways of rainbow, isn't it? Here we have light coming
in here, but you take a prism and that light is broken up into
these extraordinary colours and we're captivated by rainbows. I remember driving to Wollongong
many years ago and there were just black, black clouds out
to sea. And then in the front of them
was this rainbow and it was so bright you almost needed sunglasses
on. It was just extraordinary. But
we're captivated by the beauty of God just putting in the sky
that sign of His covenant, that sign of His promise that He's
kept for all these years. Seed, time and harvest. Don't
worry about global warming. We shouldn't be destructive of
this precious gift of creation that He's given us. But seed,
time and harvest will continue to the end. He's made a promise. He's not going to flood the world
again with water. Seed time and harvest will continue. But in the throne of heaven,
there, that sign of the covenant surrounds the throne. What a
wonderful, wonderful picture. Nothing can come from the throne
out. to all of this creation, to all
of his people without it going through the covenant. It only
ever comes to us as a result of the eternal covenantal promises
of God and nothing can go back to the throne of God except through
the covenant. He surrounds himself, he's clothed
in faithfulness, it's established in the heavens. His faithfulness
like himself is unchangeable, it's unvariable, it's unchanging,
it's immutable. It's unfailing, it cannot possibly
fail. In Psalm 89.33 he says, Nevertheless,
my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer
my faithfulness to fail. He will be faithful. He's faithful
to His covenant, He's faithful to His promise, He's faithful
to His words. In Nehemiah with that little
remnant group that came back, there they were under God's instruction
and God's grace, this little gathered community with enemies
inside and surrounded by enemies outside, building that wall,
building that place for God to be worshipped again. building
that temple which typified the sacrifice and the work and the
reign of our Lord Jesus. And Nehemiah in chapter 9 prays
and he says, Thou hast performed Thy words. Thou hast performed
Thy words. He performs all of His words
all of the time. For Thou art righteous. He ceases
to be righteous and He ceases to be God when one of these words
ever fails. They cannot fail, brothers and
sisters. He's faithful. He's faithful
to His Word. He's faithful to His Son. He's faithful to His children. What a faithful father our God
is. What a remarkably faithful father. We try as earthly fathers to
be as faithful and loving as we can and we struggle and fail
and are exposed. Our humanity and its weakness
is exposed again and again and again. But our father, our father,
who are in heaven. He is faithful. His faithfulness
is the ground, it's the rock upon which we can have our confidence,
we can rest, we can hope at all times and in all circumstances.
As David did in 2 Samuel 23 verse 5, We know the verse well, but it's
good to be reminded, isn't it? Samuel, an old man, looking back
on his life and looking around at his house, and whether his
house is Nation Israel, whether his house is his family, whether
the house is his own life. He says, Although my house be
not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure, all things, every little tiny
thing, big things and little things, all things, and sure,
sure, This, for this is all my salvation, God's eternal covenant
of love and grace, a covenant in the blood of His Son, is all
my salvation and all my desire, although He maketh it not to
grow." And I kept struggling with what that word was. Why
that sentence at the end of it? It's order and all things ensure. It doesn't need to grow. It was
perfect when it was formed. It doesn't have to change, it
doesn't have to grow. It's always going to be perfect,
isn't it? Order and all things ensure, even though we make it
not to grow. Order and all things ensure.
Now Lord Jesus, as I said earlier, He rides out on that triumphant
horse in Revelation. 19, and he's called Faithful
and True. That's his title, Faithful and
True. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. A faithful son. Righteousness
shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of
his reins. Faithful is our Lord. Our God
knows all things. He rules all things, He works
all things for His glory and the good of His people. As Pink
says, He never forgets, He never fails, He never falters, He never
forfeits His word. Great is Thy faithfulness. He even draws these amazing words
out of the lips of Balaam when Balaam sought to curse God's
people, he was forced by God to say, God is not a man that
he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. He has said, hath he said and
shall not do it? Has he spoken and shall he not
make it good? He speaks and it is done. He spoke a word and this creation
came into existence. He speaks a word and the new
creation comes into existence. He speaks a word into the hearts
of his people and there is life where there was death. There
is hope where there was no hope. His compassions fail not. They are new every morning, great
is thy faithfulness. His faithfulness is the ground
for our faith. He's faithful to give faith in
his Son, and he's faithful to sustain faith in his Son in all
the storms of life. I said on, I think it was a couple
of weeks ago, I just checked on my little computer to see
how many times God says in the Old Testament, I will, or the
words will and shall and must, and there are many other words
that are used to describe Him making a promise. And there was
over 11,500 of them in the Old Testament. It's remarkable, isn't
it? 11,000. There were more, that
was just the tip of possibly an iceberg. And again and again
we read in the scriptures, and it came to pass. What's the it? And it came to
pass. Everything that he had determined
in eternity comes to pass. Everything that he had promised
to his people comes to pass. It is a big word in the scriptures.
It is finished. It comes to pass. His faithfulness
is the reason for confident expectation. We can expect Him to fulfil His
promises. We ought to look to Him to fulfil
His promises. We ought to rejoice when He does
fulfil those promises. And we need to wait with expectation. Wait with hope. Wait and hope
in patience, but wait with expectation, brothers and sisters. He's promised. He'll do it. He must do it. He cannot deny himself. Hebrews
10 says, He is faithful that promised. we can commit everything
to him. This external covenant was based
on faithfulness. It has seemed ever since the
world began, doesn't it, that God's purposes are just going
to be overwhelmed. They seem as if they're being
overwhelmed in this world we live in. Man in rebellion against
God, building and building and building and becoming more and
more proud of what he's built. We have achieved in Western civilization
something that the world has never seen. We're building and
building and building, and it seems as if we are extraordinarily
successful as a society in building without God. But it's just a
mirage, isn't it? It is just a house of cards that
the bigger it gets, the more unstable it becomes. He can destroy
it with a word. He's promised to bring it to
its knees with a word. It seems so often from our sight
that it's just overwhelming, isn't it? Where are the people
of God? Where is the God of Israel? It seems as if Satan has been
let loose for a little season and he's deceiving and he seems
to hold the whole world in bondage and he draws them and allures
them to himself as he did in the garden. Allures them in all
sorts of ways, in religion and out of religion. His enticing
subtlety still seems to have the sway and we say, where is
God in all of this? Where is he? The church seems
so small. Where is he? And we seem so weak
and powerless. We are put in situations again
and again, aren't we, where we're just overwhelmed. Overwhelmed
by the circumstances. I love what Moses was told by
God to do in Exodus 14. There they were, an Egyptian
superpower's army behind them. I think someone said it's 9 miles
of water in front of them. There they are. They've got the
jewels of Egypt, the treasures of Egypt. They don't seem to
have any of the swords of Egypt. How do you do battle? How do
you survive in that situation? God says these beautiful things. Moses said unto the people, fear
ye not. stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. He will show you today, and the
Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again
no more forever." And he makes a promise. The Lord shall fight
for you, and you shall hold your peace. Was he faithful? He drowned them
all in the Red Sea and his people walked through as if on dry land.
They went into a situation where he led them there. They had another
way to go and he led them back there purposefully. He led them
to that place where he would, in the midst of trials, reveal
his glory. What an assurance, what a great
assurance it is to know that that is the God that watches
over His people, is jealously guarding His people, is protecting
and preserving His people. is honouring again and again,
honouring that eternal covenant that we love to speak about,
that was made before the world again. As we read David say,
it's ordered in all things and sure and it's dependent entirely
upon the faithfulness of God and not the faithfulness of man. the Father's faithfulness. Faithful
is He that called you into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ
our Lord. Fellows in the same ship as Jesus
Christ our Lord. The father trusted his son's
faithfulness. Jerry took us to Ephesians chapter
1. It's a remarkable verse in Ephesians chapter 1. And our
friend Robert Hawker, when he lay dying, had his family gathered
around him and he read and expounded on his deathbed. His last message
to his children was to expound Ephesians chapter 1. These early verses. And again
and again, it's to the praise of the glory of His grace, to
the praise of the glory of His grace. But in verse 12 it says
that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted
in Christ, the Father. was the one who first trusted
in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He trusted the Lord Jesus with
everything. He trusted the Lord Jesus with
all of His covenant promises. He trusted the Lord Jesus with
all of the glory of His name. He trusted the Lord Jesus with
those who are His precious treasures that he gave to his son. He entrusted
them into his son and he trusted his son. Turning your Bibles
to Romans 3, there's a really interesting verse in Romans 3.
We looked at it a couple of weeks ago and the more I've studied
it, the more I'm intrigued by it and the more I am comforted
by it. Romans 3 is the great culmination
of Paul's Holy Spirit's description of all men in this world, for
all have sinned and come short of the glory of His grace. And
then he talks about this justification in verse 24 of chapter 3, but
being justified freely by His grace without any cause in us. All of the cause of justification
is in Him, justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. And then verse 25, whom God has
set forth, and we can leave those next two words out and say, God
has set forth a propitiation through faith in His blood. Whose faith in his blood? I put it to you that I think
what it's saying is that the father trusted his blood, his
son's blood. He first trusted him and then
he trusted that his shed blood would be the propitiation, would
be that which takes away any reason for wrath and leaves nothing. between us and God except love
and grace and mercy and acceptance. He trusted in his Son. We are led to trust in His Son
as well, that there must have been something that happened
beforehand. Faithful is He that called you into fellowship with
His Son. Faithful. Faithful is He who
did it, who performed it all. He was our faithfulness. He is
our faithfulness. Our Lord Jesus is our faithfulness
before God, our Father. All we have of faith is by grace. No wonder they say, Lord, increase
our faith. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. He was faithful in eternal covenant
promises. He was faithful when He came. He says, Sacrifice and offering
thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened, burnt offering
and sin offering thou hast not required. Then I said, Lo, I
come in the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight
to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not reframed my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared Thy faithfulness
and Thy salvation I have not concealed Thy loving kindness
and Thy truth from the great congregation." The Lord Jesus
came in the volume of the book, delighting to do the Lord's will,
revealing the faithfulness of our God. How does Isaiah describe
him in chapter 50? He says, The Lord has opened
mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave
my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off
the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting, for the Lord
God will help me. Therefore I shall shall not be
confounded, therefore I have set my face like a flint, and
I know that I shall not be ashamed." Our God, our Saviour, was faithful,
perfectly faithful to the will of His Father, perfectly obedient
to the law, every jot and pittle. completely, completely satisfied
until, when he said it's finished, it is completely and perfectly
finished in the sight of God. I love how Romans chapter 1 describes
this. It says, for what the law could
not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh for sin, condemned sin
in the flesh, the result of it, verse 4 in chapter 8, that the
righteousness of the law, the righteousness of the law might
be fulfilled not by us or by our deeds. How is it fulfilled?
It's fulfilled in us. who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you, the righteousness
of the law completely fulfilled. Before God, perfectly just, legally
just, openly justified, freely justified, declared by God himself. to be holy and spotless and blameless
in his dear and precious son. He was faithful. He's a faithful,
faithful husband, brothers and sisters. A faithful friend. Made righteous. Romans 5. Remarkable verses at the end
of Romans 5. As by one man's disobedience,
verse 19, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. His obedience makes his people
righteous. My righteousness is not in anything
I ever do or ever will do. My righteousness now sits in
heaven. Glorious. A man in heaven, flesh of our
flesh and bone of our bones. Glorious. Sitting on that throne
and we are there together with him and he is here. Now I can't
see that. And so often I don't experience
what does faith say? He says it. His word is sure. His word is true. Moreover, the
law entered that sin, that the offences might abound, but where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. I need abounding
grace. I love the idea of grace abounding
to the chief of sinners. that as sin reigned unto death,
what a world we live in where sin is reigning unto death all
around us. Even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. It reigns, doesn't it? Grace
reigns. Grace abounds. Much more. All the promises. All the promises
are yes and amen. A promise to have the nations
for His inheritance. A promise fulfilled. This world
is His. He now sits on that throne and
He does have sovereign dominion over all things. He does rule
all things. He does reign over all things
in this world. They have a president, but there
is a God who sits above the throne, Mr Obama, and rules all things. And we do here, don't we? In
these last days, He's spoken by His Son, whom He's appointed
heir of all things, in Hebrews 1. He owns all things. He has
the right of inheritance by His perfect obedience. who being
the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person
upholding all things by the word of His power. The only reason
the sun is shining, the only reason this earth is turning,
the only reason we are standing here on solid ground is that
He is upholding all things by the word of His power and when
He had by Himself. What a great word for sinners,
by himself purged our sins, cleansed them, they are no longer in God's
remembrance. He's forgotten them, justified,
justifiably forgotten, they are taken away. That's what he says,
that's what he's promised. purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of the Majesty and High, faithful, our faithful
saviour, sovereignly rules all things. The Holy Spirit, our
great comforter, our great advocate, is extraordinarily faithful. is bringing all the elect, every
single chosen sinner is being brought, brought by a sovereign
hand of an Almighty God into the Kingdom of Grace. into the
fellowship of God's people. Jerry said he's a bit embarrassed
that we're making such a fuss over him. If we could see God's
saints as God sees them and as the angels see them, we'd be
making a very big fuss over God's people, brothers and sisters.
We don't want a fuss over the flesh of men. and we want to
keep anything that exalts it out of our fellowship, but we
want to be thankful to our God. We've got a very good reason
to be thankful to our God. The Gospel is a rare and precious
thing, and those who are brought to life by the Gospel are rare
and precious in God's sight. They are His jewels. It's not that we make too much
of them, but we don't make enough of them. Here's Jules. The Holy Spirit brings these
people and He gathers them together and as He promises in John 16,
He takes the things of the Lord Jesus and He reveals them to
us. He makes them part of us, doesn't
He? He shows us again and again,
as He opens up His Word, He shows us again and again the glories
of our dear and precious Saviour, the wonders of what happened
on the cross. what He did and why He came and
where He came from, what He achieved and what He's doing right now.
Again and again the Holy Spirit shines a light on our Saviour
and we see another glimpse of Him, we see another glimpse of
our faithful God. He reveals Christ in you, the
hope of glory. Christ in you. He's been faithful
in preserving this word for thousands of years. He's faithful in illuminating
this word that it becomes life, spirit and life to God's people. And we go again and again back
to this word and we are amazed. We are continually amazed by
things that we discover. It is a living and active word.
So many people shy away from it because it's a revealing word. But God's people are happy to
be exposed in the presence of their God, and so they come to
His Word expecting it to be that double-edged sword and exposing
us. But being exposed before Him,
robed in the righteousness of His Son, is a good thing for
us, isn't it? The glory in Him and we find
His Word speaks the most extraordinary truth and the most extraordinary
comfort. He's faithful to His Word. We
see it fulfilled and we see it performed again and again. Thy
testimonies which Thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful. We are so often in our flesh
led to judge God's faithfulness by the circumstances and the
situation we're in and the things that we experience. But it ought to be the other
way around, by the grace of God, that we ought to judge our circumstances
and experience by His faithfulness. Take them to His Word. Take them to His Word. have as much as His grace would
allow, have Him in view. He's faithful in His providence. He's faithful in His discipline. He's faithful in the afflictions
that He brings. Our Heavenly Father never afflicts
without a reason and He never causes His child a needless tear. He actually keeps them in a bottle,
He says, the tears of His children. And when He afflicts, It's in
faithfulness. He is faithful. I know, O Lord,
that Thy judgments are right and that Thou in faithfulness
has afflicted me. As Isaiah says, in their afflictions
they will seek me early. The trials of life are there
that we might be caused to see that this is not our home. The
word Hebrew means a people from another place, a people passing
through. This world is not our home. This world is not a place to
build our nest. This world is not a place to
establish ourselves in any way. God is faithful. God is faithful
in providence. Mr Cooper wrote that amazing
hymn, God Moves in a Mysterious Way. I think I'm right in saying
that the story behind it was that he suffered from very, very
chronic, serious depression. It was something that his family
suffered with as well, other members of his family. It was
so serious. I think for the last eight years
of his life, even though he lived next door, very close by and
under the care of John Newton, he was so depressed that he couldn't
come to church for eight years. In one of those earlier times
of depression, he was suicidal and he called a carriage to come
and take him to a cliff nearby so he could kill himself. And
there was a heavy fog that night and the coachman got lost. And
finally they came to a house and Cooper, Cowper got out and
he found that the horse had taken him back to his own house. And
he was preserved by God. All of his depression was in
a way he was preserved by God that he might write some hymns
for us. God moves in a mysterious way,
he wrote that night. His wonders to perform. And then
he speaks wonderfully of his sovereignty, doesn't he? He plants
his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Deep in
unfathomable minds of never failing skill, he treasures up his bright
designs and works his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh
courage take. The clouds ye show much dread. Are big with mercy and shall
break. in blessings on your head. Judge
not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace.
Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err
and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter and
he will make it plain. He will interpret and he will
make it plain. We are so often like those apostles
in the boat in Mark 4. You know the story well, don't
you? They were to cross over the Sea
of Galilee that night. When they had sent away the multitude,
they took him even as he was in the ship. and there were also with him
other little ships. And there arose a great storm
of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now
full. And he was in the hinder part
of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him and say unto
him, Master, careth not that we perish." I don't know if you've
heard of those words. So often we've echoed those thoughts,
haven't we? And he arose and rebuked the
wind and said unto the sea, peace be still. And the wind ceased
and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, why are
ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? So often we are like those apostles. One of the beautiful things about
this story is that the Lord Jesus at the beginning of this made
a promise. He said a word to them, didn't
he? It's a beautiful word. It's a word that he says again
and again in promise to his people. He says in verse 35, he says,
he said unto them, let us pass over unto the other side. He said he made a promise to
them. He made a promise to them. Let us pass over. If he's made
a promise and he's a fellow in the ship, I can rest easy even
if he seems asleep in the back, even if he seems, even if all
the circumstances that I can see with these human eyes and
think of with this human wisdom, even if all of those are causing
me to doubt, he is faithful. He is faithful in preserving
his elect. It doesn't matter what the storms
are. The storms are nothing to he
who rides upon the storms. The storms are nothing to he
who has to just say a word and it is done. He gives grace. He gives faith. He gives trials to test that
faith. He gives trials to deepen that
faith and to strengthen that faith. He gives trials that there
might be another opportunity for Him to exhibit how faithful
He is to His promises and to His people. We have, as 1 Peter
says, an abundant mercy. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
has forgotten us again into a living, a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance, incorruptible
and undefiled, that faded not away, reserved in heaven for
you, who are kept kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein you
greatly rejoice, for now for a season, it's just a season,
if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptation,
that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than
of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might
be found unto the praise and honour and glory at the appearing
of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom having not seen your love in
whom though now you seem not yet believing, you rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your souls." God's will and purpose is that
His people will be put through trials, be put through trials
with Him standing beside us, with Him in us, with Him with
us. They must come through many trials
and tribulations. Anyone who wants to live a godly
life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Our God is faithful. He gives He who promises the
grace of faith, promises His presence, and promises His glory,
and promises that it will be good for us. He is the God of
peace. We might finish with 1 Thessalonians
1, those amazing verses in chapter 5. And the very God of peace,
sanctify you wholly. And I pray that your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved, blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you,
who also will do it. We suffer according to the will
of God. We suffer according to the purposes of God. We suffer
in the presence of God, with the comfort of our God and assurance
for us. He will make it plain. He will
make a way through the Red Sea. He will make a way in the little
storm-tossed boat to be at peace and to get to the other side.
Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we do thank
you for who you are. You are the God who is faithful. You are the God who remains faithful
always. Oh, our Father, we do thank you
for your promises are signed and sealed in that faithful one,
the one who is faithful and true, the one who is the Word of God,
the one who suffered hell's wrath, that we might be called the children
of God. Heavenly Father, what a saviour.
What a saviour your children have. What a husband we have.
What a remarkable saviour that we have, who carries his little
ones in his arms and holds them close to his heart. Oh, Heavenly Father, what a great
shepherd that you have appointed for your dear and precious children
in this world. Heavenly Father, we pray that
we would be given opportunity again and again in the midst
of the struggles of this life to take our eyes off the things
of our world, the things we see, even the things that we experience,
our Father, and cause them to be fixed on the Lord Jesus, who's
both the author and perfecter of faith, the author and finisher
of faith. What He has written, what He
has written, He will finish. to the praise of His glory, Heavenly
Father, we thank you that you cause your people to find themselves
again and again in places where we have nowhere else to go but
to Him, no one else to cling to but to Him. We praise you,
Heavenly Father, for His work of grace in our brothers and
sisters. We praise you for your church Around this world, Heavenly
Father, we praise you for your angels encamped around it, for
your preservation and protection of your people. We praise you,
Heavenly Father, for the blessings that you bestow on us in the
midst of trials, that you might reveal again and again something
more of the depth and the wonder of your love and your faithfulness
to your people. Heavenly Father, grow our faith.
help us in our unbelief, our Father. We thank You for Your
faithfulness and Your truthfulness to Your people. We commit ourselves
into Your hands, Heavenly Father, and as we take these emblems
that remind us that all of Your promises and all of these blessings
were bought by that crushed body and that shed blood of the Lord
Jesus. By his stripes we are healed. Heavenly Father we thank you
for the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray that we be found people
who are found faithful in him and continually look to him.
Thank you for bringing our friend from all the way from the other
side of the world to be with us to encourage us, Heavenly
Father, and to remind us that the victory of our Lord Jesus
is an immense victory and covers people from every tribe and kindred
and nation in this world. What a Savior. Help us to find
ourselves rejoicing in Him, Heavenly Father, and trusting and looking
for Him to be faithful to what's been promised. We commit ourselves
into your hands in His precious name. Amen.