1 Corinthians 1.4, I want to
read a brief passage here back in chapter one. You know, we're
in our study, we're in, we've gone quite a ways in 1 Corinthians. But I wanted to go back and get
something that I've been thinking about. Verse four of chapter
one, 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 come 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. God is faithful. by whom you were called unto
the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now Paul addressing
the entire church at Corinth, of course, and he calls them
in verse two, them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be
saints. He's speaking to the believers
that are there in Corinth. And he's very complimentary to
them in these first, in the introduction to his letter, though he will
be addressing, as we know, terrible problems that existed in this
church. Even to the point that he said
that there are those that don't act like they believe on the
Lord at all, they act like they're lost people. But having a church
there which was confirmed in and by the gospel, verse six,
We saw that even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. And also, though, an element
among them that acted like lost people in chapter three, verse
three, is where he mentions that. But Paul makes a statement here
in verse nine of chapter one that explains the difference
and gives great comfort to those who are trusting God and not
men. We're never to give comfort to
anybody that's not trusting the Savior, that's trusting in the
flesh, that's trusting themselves or the commandments of men. But
to those who believe God, to those who are the saints, he
gives comfort to them and hope to those who seem to not be believers. with this one phrase, God is
faithful. If you're his and you've been
steadfast, it does say that it is required among stewards that
a man be found faithful. And the Lord's people in a sense,
in their general manner of life are faithful because God works
in us to that end. to do and to will of his good
pleasure. But there are those who are not
at times, but if you are in this church, if he's addressing this
church and he does say you're saints, the Lord has sanctified
you, the Lord has confirmed his gospel in you, if you've not
fallen into the grave errors. It wasn't everybody in the church.
Maybe most of it, maybe less than most of it. We don't know
how many. But there was a church there,
and then there were those who were doubtful. But if you had not fallen into
these grave errors that some of them had, you need to hear
this, God is faithful. He's the reason that you haven't
fallen. He's the reason that you're not
gonna fall. You're not gonna fall away forever. God is faithful
to hold you up. He's faithful to keep you from
the evil. His son prayed for that. And
he said, the father always hears me. Keep them from the evil Lord,
keep them. That's why you've resisted. That's
why you haven't gotten caught up in this trusting in the flesh
and exalting the flesh, saying I'm a Paul and I'm of Apollos
and falling into the sinful fleshly lust that many of them had. This
is why you've stood fast thus far. God is faithful. if you
are his, but you have fallen into grave error and sin, as
we know that we're not only capable of, but we're prone to do. We
see it in David, we've seen it in Abraham, we've seen it in
every servant of God, as we see their lives portrayed in the
scripture. God is faithful. even though you may act like
you don't even know him. Simon did, didn't he? He said,
I don't even know him. Cursed, got angry with someone
who identified him as a follower of Christ. Don't you want to hear this if
that's you? God is faithful even though you're not. He's faithful. Those among them who were not
carried away with trusting the flesh and indulging in the flesh,
they weren't faithful either in and of themselves. God is faithful. And those who
had fallen so far that there seemed to be no evidence at all
that they were believers. Their hope, their encouragement,
the good news for them was that God is faithful. So you see why
he puts that here. God is faithful. Aren't you glad
that your salvation doesn't depend on your faithfulness to God? Whether thus far the Lord has
preserved you from great evil or whether he hasn't, this is your hope. the faithfulness
of God. These believers, whoever among
them were the sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be saints,
verse one, whoever among them that were given grace by Jesus
Christ, verse four, and had the testimony of Christ or the gospel
confirmed in them. You see how beautiful that is?
Look at the language again. I wanna look at that again. Look
at verse three. He mentions that they were called
to be saints and had called upon the name of the Lord as many
had. Verse three, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father
and from the Lord Jesus Christ. And I thank my God always on
your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus
Christ. That in everything you were enriched
by him, in all utterance and in all knowledge, even as the
testimony of Christ was confirmed in you." Why was the gospel confirmed
in them? Because they made the right decision,
because they distinguished themselves from others by believing what
others did not. No, because grace was given to
them, verse four, by Jesus Christ. Aren't you glad that your salvation
does not depend on your faithfulness to God? Confirm the gospel was confirmed
in them, verse six, they would be established into the end.
There's no question about that. If the Lord has sanctified you,
you're holy in his sight and that don't change. They would
be held blameless, verse eight, at the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Why? Verse nine, God is faithful. God is faithful. Children of
wrath, even as others, prone to every sin that anybody has
ever committed. A bunch of little Hitlers running
around waiting to happen, apart from God's grace. You might have been a member
of the church at Corinth, but it was those who were called
unto the fellowship of the Son of God, verse nine, that were
safe, kept by the power of God unto salvation. He said, you'll
be confirmed to the end. Those are the ones he's talking
about there. If God saved you, as described in this whole introduction,
then your security is the faithfulness of God. Now, if you got saved
in some religious meeting where people are getting people saved, and the matter of salvation was
left up to you, then your security is up to you. If you were on your own, if God
had done all he could do, that means he's not gonna do anything
today. If anybody's gonna do anything, it's gonna be you.
If you're left on your own then, then you're on your own from
now on. And you're a goner. You're a
goner. God is faithful here is stated
just as in 1 John 4, 8, it states that God is love. God is faithful. It's who he is. He can't be anything
other and faithful. It's more than just the way that
he conducts himself. Though he is faithful in deed,
he is faithful in character, in his person. David looked to
God who is faithful. When he wrote this, think about
who David's looking to. The God that's described in our
text when he wrote this, the Lord is my rock. Pendable, steadfast,
unmoving, unchanging. What else is it about a rock
and my fortress? My unchanging, safe haven. The Lord is my rock and my fortress
and my savior, my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I
will trust. my buckler, the horn or the power
of my salvation, and my high tower. David believed and knew that
God is faithful. When David said, in whom I trust,
that is a direct effect of the faithfulness of God. Faithful
means trustee, and David said, I trust him. By his grace, I trust him. Now, Paul saying that God is
faithful here to these believers is an appeal to them, the true
believers at Corinth, to trust in God and not look to yourselves.
If maybe you haven't outwardly fallen into some of the things
others have, don't look to yourself and distinguish yourself that
way by that. This is an appeal to them to
not glory in themselves, in their flesh, in their ability. And it's also an appeal to those
who had fallen. Don't glory if you haven't, and don't despair if you have,
because God is faithful. He won't leave you to yourself.
If he sanctified you, if he called you, he did not do so in vain.
Trust him, trust him. Your hope and your confidence
is not that God will give you another chance. That's all religion
seems to want is a chance. You know, that's their objection
to the doctrine of predestination and the doctrine of election.
Well, I believe everybody's got a chance. Is that what you want? There's no hope. There's no confidence
in God giving you who have always rejected him from the beginning
of time a chance. Your salvation is that
it was never a question of chance to begin with. You're saved because God is faithful.
He's faithful to his covenant. The covenant of grace between
the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. We'll talk about that a little
bit more in a minute. The one who saved you cannot
fail. and he leaves no part of your
salvation up to you. Think about those two things.
None of it's up to you, it's all up to him and he can't fail. There's your security, trust
him. And none of it's up to you beginning
or end. He doesn't set you on the right
path and then hope you won't stray from it. That would be
a vain hope and God is not naive. Christ is the author and the
finisher and the object of our faith. Look to him, trust him,
he is faithful. That's the appeal here, it's
who he is. Faithful to what? We've hinted
at this. Faithful to what? Well, the Lord
is faithful to himself. He's faithful to his own character.
That is, if ever he cannot be trusted, in other words, if he
says, my sheep shall never perish, I will not lose one, and then
he does lose one, If anybody that he loves, chose from the
beginning, redeemed on Calvary, saved by his Holy Spirit, regenerated
and gave life and faith in himself, ever ceases, then he ceases to
be God. He must be faithful to himself,
faithful to his word. By the same measure, if he ever
speaks, if he ever makes a promise, His person is expressed in his
word. Who he is is manifested in what
he says and what he does. In his promises, and he's faithful
in both, his person and his promises. If he says, I'll never leave
thee or forsake thee, then you're as secure as his throne. because
he must be faithful to himself and his promises, or he ceases
to be God. God's faithful to us. That's an amazing thought. He's
faithful to us, to whom he has made his precious promises. And this needs to be made clear.
God cannot be obligated by anybody. He has no obligation to be faithful
to you except in that he has obligated himself. You can't
obligate God. You can't say, well, it's not
fair if you don't do this. You deserve nothing. In fact, if
God does anything but throw you in hell, it's not right, except
for Christ and what he did. That's what would be unjust.
That's what would be not according to his law and righteousness
is if he did anything for you at all. He can't be obligated by anybody,
but he's obligated himself plainly in his word. He's plainly revealed in his
word who he is, a just God and a savior. So unless he can be
just and save sinners, then he's not God. Can I trust him? He said, he's
promised, I'm a just God and a savior. Can I trust him? He's plainly stated that I am
hopelessly and helplessly evil, and those are key words. hopelessly
evil. I have no hope in myself or anybody
else. And helplessly, there's not anything
I can do about it. I can never know the depth of
that myself. I can never know that. No sinner's
ever gonna know that except by this. He's gonna have to trust
God about it. Can I trust him? He has revealed so beautifully
in the scriptures His Son, and His Son has revealed Him and
what He accomplished with His death on Calvary. The promise
of that, look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the
earth. There is no more precious promise
than that. Come unto Me and I'll give you
rest. Look and live. He has written now plainly that
sinners are redeemed at Calvary. They're not given another chance.
They don't need another chance. They're redeemed, that Christ
crucified himself is salvation. Can I trust him? He is trustee. I don't trust
a preacher that contradicts him, do you? He has written that I am saved
by grace through faith, and that that is not of myself, it's his
gift. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Can I trust him? Can I say with
Jonah, salvation's of the Lord? Can I say with Paul, it's not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. Is that my testimony? And I've been asking this, can
I trust him? But here's another question altogether,
do I trust him? Being able to is one thing. But do I trust him? Do you believe on the Son of
God? That's the question. To believe in him is just to
be Educated. Satan believes in him, but to
believe on him, that's something else. And that's just a matter of semantics.
It's just what we usually mean. When we say we believe on him,
that means we trust him. We trust him. I can also mean
that if I say I believe in him. That's the way he put it when
he said, you believe God, believe also in me. Clearly he's not
saying believe that I exist, he's standing there talking to
him. He's saying believe in me, trust me, trust me. He's faithful, he's trusting. and do you believe on the Son
of God? Have you committed your soul to him like Paul and are
you persuaded that he's able to keep it and that that's salvation? That's salvation, his ability
to keep me. John was given a revelation of
the Lord Jesus and it goes this way in Revelation 19 if you turn
over there with me Revelation chapter 19 Keep our
text in mind now As we read this God is faithful Revelation 19 in verse seven. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him, for the marriage of the lamb has come, and his
wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me,
write, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, these are
the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship
him, and he said unto me, see thou do it not, I am thy fellow
servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus.
Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sat
upon him was called faithful and true. You think of all the
things that he could be called and he is called many, many other
things. But when the angel said, don't
worry, don't do that. Let's worship God. Let's worship
God. Then he appears on his white horse And he that sat upon that horse
was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood, and his name is called the word of God, faithful
and true. His person and his word Let's ask a question and see if we can't answer it
from the scriptures. How dependent upon the faithfulness
of God are we? How important is this to us?
What does it mean to you that God is faithful, that Christ
is faithful, that he's steadfast, that he's dependable, that he
doesn't change? Listen to 2 Timothy 2.13. Here's
how dependent we are on the faithfulness of God. If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. When God gives faith to a sinner,
he doesn't take it away. But we're still sinners. We still
live in this flesh. We can't even say, Lord, I believe
without saying help. Faith in Christ is God's gift,
and we can't lose that, but does that mean that we always in our
flesh exhibit faith in the Lord Jesus? or enjoy the benefits of that
gift all the time. In a sense we do, but we don't,
we're still full of unbelief. But even when the Lord must say
to us, how is it that you have no faith? Is there ever a situation where
the Lord says that to you? In your heart, how is it that
you have no faith? He said that to his disciples. Yet even then we're safe because he is faithful. Let's look at the place in the
scriptures where the Lord said that to his disciples and maybe
learn a couple of things there and we'll be through. Mark 4.35.
Mark 4.35. And the same day when the even
was come, he saith unto them, let us pass over unto the other
side. And 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 handier part
of the ship asleep on a pillow. And they awake him and say unto
him, master, carest thou not that we perish? 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
you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly and
said one to another, what manner of man is this that even the
wind and the sea obey him? Everybody and everything obeys
him. Now in verse 38, this is what
our lords are talking about when he said, why were you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith? And they still were when he said
that, but in verse 38, they wake him and say, master, carest thou
not that we perish? The Lord called that no faith. Has anybody ever been guilty
of that? Today? Since you've been here? Let me ask you this, in the moment
where the Lord described them as having no faith, were they
in any trouble? Was there even the remotest possibility
that they would perish. Why not? That's our text. He is faithful. He's faithful. The minute they
cried to him, this is a picture of our whole lives. It's our whole lives. We forget
who he is. If you get puffed up about that
and say, well, I don't forget who I want, then you're just
proving my point. You just forgot how needy you
are and dependent upon him. This is our whole life. We're
afraid. We're scared. We think the worst. and we forget who's on the ship
with us. But then we cry out. They had enough sense at least
to cry out to him. But I suspect it was when all
of their skills as sailors were failing them. A lot of times
we do everything we can in the flesh Solve our problems and
they just get worse But they cried out to him and
immediately He arose and rebuked the wind
and said into the sea peace be still he's gonna teach him some
things but first he's gonna take the cause of their fear away
and You see, until we realize who we're dealing with, we can't
learn anything about God. We can't possibly know the first
thing. It's knowing who he is that opens
up all of the scripture to us. If you don't know that he's sovereign,
If you don't know that everybody and everything obeys him, then
you can't learn the first, you can't learn the ABCs of the gospel.
You gotta see who he is. And then that's the beginning.
The fear of God is what? The beginning of wisdom. They feared the storm there for
a while, didn't they? But then when it says after that,
they feared exceedingly They feared it looks like more than
they did before. It didn't say exceedingly up
there when they were afraid of the storm, but they feared exceedingly
and said, what? Man, that was a close call. No.
Who in the world are we dealing with here? Now you can begin
to learn something. How is it that you have no faith? Why are you so afraid? They weren't in any trouble at
all, they just didn't know it. That's us, that's our whole life,
the Lord. How many times has the Lord saved
you? It's all one, I understand that,
but it's never ceasing. And consider the result, the
end result of all of this experience. When the Lord's faithfulness
is not just a doctrine anymore, it's reality, it's your experience. You've lived it. What's the final outcome of that? What manner of man is this? Let him look to the seas or the
sky for an answer to the man, Christ Jesus. That's our whole
life. He's gonna keep us looking to
him one way or another. We can forget a million times
who he is. and a million and one times,
he's gonna bring us back. He's gonna reveal to us again
who he is. The Lord proves his faithfulness
to us over and over and over again. And we say, who in the
world is this? Do you think you know him more
than you did a year ago, 10 years ago, 30 years ago? Some of you definitely know it
more than you did 30 years ago, because you weren't born then. But who is this? Who is he, Lord,
that I might believe on him? Who is he? In all of my circumstances, I may be subject to my circumstances,
but my circumstances are subject to him. They obey him. Remember the clash of wills in
John 13 and 14 when Simon said, I will go with you to the end. I will not deny you. I will die
with you. And the Lord in effect said,
no, you will not. You will fail. You will betray
me. You will deny me. Then what did
the Lord say next? After teaching Simon of his inability,
of his impotence, of the vanity of his pride and
his self-confidence, what did he say next? I will. I will go to prepare a place
for you. I will come again. I will receive you unto myself.
That where I am there, you may be also. We are forever safe. We are uncondemnable. We are
secure. We're un-pluckable. Because He, God, our Savior,
is faithful. Never look away from him. May
we not forget him and who he is. The beginning,
the end, and the object of our faith. Let's pray.