It is a joy to see you all. It
has been a while. It has been too long. But the
Lord's been kind to us and granted us health, travel and mercies.
But I was looking forward to hearing Brother Donnie preach.
He's got a way of asking that you can't hardly resist. I just have one verse of scripture
that I want to read to you. It's over Deuteronomy chapter
7. The book of Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 9. Just a thought
I wanted to leave with you tonight. I won't keep you very long, hopefully.
In Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 9, I want us to think of
what Moses said here about God. Here in verse 9. Deuteronomy chapter 7. 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 thousand generations. The faithful God
is the way Moses described the Lord, the faithful God. You know, ever since man fell,
this has been a sad and disappointing and dangerous world to live in.
Everywhere we turn, we face difficulty, uncertainty, heartaches, and
one of the reasons that is, is because creatures are falling. and fallen creatures are not
altogether faithful. And I think that's what sometimes
disappoints us. We're disappointed in ourselves
and we're disappointed in one another, certainly disappointed
in the world. One of the things that grieves
us often is our own unfaithfulness. on the things that probably we
pray over more than anything else. Lord, forgive me for my
unfaithfulness. Job made this statement and he
made it about his brethren, his kinsmen. He said, my brethren
deal deceitfully with me. We find a lot of that, don't
we? And so disappointed due to the unfaithfulness of men. Paul
made this statement, Demas hath forsaken me, a fellow preacher,
a fellow laborer in the Lord. I don't understand all of that,
but Paul said he has forsaken me. Will he have forsaken Christ? I don't know, but he forsook
Paul, a man who Paul obviously loved and leaned upon. But he
goes one step farther. Before he died, he said all those
who are in Asia have turned away. There had to be some good men
in there. But good men, sometimes the best of men, are men still
at their best. And man at his best state is
altogether vanity. He still cannot be trusted. The
Apostle Paul said this about the last days. And he gave this
as a reason of perilous times, dangerous times, lawless times.
He said there would be truce breakers. Men who just aren't
good to the Word. Men who will shake hands with
you and then won't live up to their promises. Micah made this statement, and
I imagine it was perilous times for him. He said, The son dishonors
the father, and the daughter dishonors her mother. The daughter-in-law
dishonors her mother-in-law, and a man's enemy shall be they
of his own house. It makes it sometimes a very
disappointing world to live in, doesn't it? And the Lord Jesus,
in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He was ready to sweat great
drops of blood, He didn't have one single choice apostle that
would stay awake with Him and watch for one hour. Could you
not watch just with me for one hour? all of you shall forsake
me and leave me alone but I'm not alone the Father is with
me and David made this statement he said I cried unto the Lord
thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living when
my father and my mother forsake me the Lord shall take me up
brothers and sisters is They're a refuge. Is there something
in this life that will comfort us and encourage us? Something
that's real and lasting? Something that will never disappoint
us? And I'm here tonight to tell
you there is. And it's this very thing. The
faithful God. What an encouraging thought to
think of in a world of disappointments. The faithful God. Devils, devils
hate us. They can't be trusted. Satan
is a liar and the father of it. We can't even put our trust in
the elect angels. They're just creatures. When
God moves His hand, they could fall. They shall not, but they
will not because God doesn't remove His hand. We can't put
our trust in friends. Sometimes our chief friends will
disappoint us. they disappoint themselves. Peter
made this statement, let them that suffer according to the
will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him and well-doing
as unto a faithful creator. A creator must be almighty to
make what we see in this universe and to make what we cannot see
beyond what we see. to make the thrones and the dominions
and power he must be a mighty creator and he's faithful and
you add those two together you've got something that will bless
your soul a faithful creator he cannot fail because he's almighty
he's the creator and he's faithful Moses here in chapter 6 and verse
20 have been reminding the children of Israel of God's faithfulness
to fulfill His promise to Abraham in bringing them out of bondage
to the land of Canaan. Look in verse 20. He said, When
thy son ask thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies,
and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God hath
commanded you? Then shall you say unto your
son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt and the Lord brought
us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord showed signs
and wonders and great and sore upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh and
upon all his household before our eyes. And he brought us out
from thence that he might bring us in to give us this land for
this reason which he swore unto our father. And the Lord commanded
us to do all these statutes to fear the Lord our God for our
good always that he may preserve us alive as it is this day. You know one of the only reasons
that Moses gives here for Israel coming out of bondage until the
land of Canaan is the faithfulness of God's promise. 400 years before
this God promised Abraham, I'll bring your seed out of slavery
and bring them into the land of Canaan. You know it doesn't
matter how much time elapsed between the making of a promise
and the fulfilling of the promise. Time means nothing when God does
it. He made a promise and 400 years
elapsed, but here they are. And Moses said you're ready to
come into this land for one reason, God promised it to Abraham and
Isaac and Jacob. If you brothers and sisters can
find the promise of God in His Word, hang on to it. Believe
it by faith because that promise cannot fail. He may have made
it 6,000 years ago. He may have made it 10,000 years
ago. He may have made it before the
world ever began. And He did that, did He not?
Paul told those on Crete, those saints on the isle of Crete,
he said, you have hope in God. You have hope of eternal life.
You live in that hope, which God that cannot lie promised. When did he promise? Before the
world began. Only a faithful God can promise
and never forget his promise. We make promises, and what happens?
For some reason or another, we can't keep it. We call and say,
Brother, I am so sorry. Sister, I'm so sorry. I can't
keep my promise. I'm heartbroken, and I know you're
disappointed, but I can't keep my promise. That will never happen
with a faithful God. When He promises, He'll keep
His promises. God's promises, God's faithfulness
is vitally attached to His ability, to His power, to His might. You take God's power away, He
will not be faithful. These two go together. I want
you to look on in chapter 7 and look in verse 17. Look in verse 17 of chapter 7.
If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I,
how can I depossess them? Thou shalt not be afraid of them.
Thou shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh,
and to all Egypt. The great temptations which thine
eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, mighty hand, and
the stretched out arm, which the Lord thy God brought thee
out. So shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom
thou art afraid. Moreover, the Lord thy God will
send the horned among them, until they that are left, and hide
themselves from thee, be destroyed. And look at this, Thou shalt
not be affrighted of them, for the Lord thy God is among you
a mighty an awesome God. God's faithfulness is vitally
linked to His ability. God promised Abraham a son. And
Abraham was an old man. Still hadn't had a son. Sarah was 90 years old. And the
Bible says that Abraham staggered not. at the promise of God. Being fully persuaded that what
God had promised, He was able to perform. Do you believe God
is able? Well, it goes along with His
faithfulness, doesn't it? He cannot promise Himself. We
do, but He doesn't. He promises and His almighty
arm brings it to pass. Is there anything too hard for
God? With God all things are possible. Those two blind men came to the
Lord Jesus. They followed him and said, Lord
give us our sign. Lord, give us our sight. Please
give us our sight. We've been blind. We can't see
the sun. We've got family. We've never seen their faces.
Lord, please give us our sight. He never spoke a word. They followed
him in the house. And he turned when they walked
in the door. And he said, listen, do you believe that I'm able
to do this? They said, yes, Lord, we believe.
And he said, it's done. It's done. His ability. He's almighty. There's no limit
to what our God can do. He can do everything that He's
promised. He can do everything that's consistent with His holy
will and nature. The Bible says that through faith
Sarah received strength to conceive seed and she was delivered of
a child because she judged Him faithful. Abraham said he's faithful
and he's able. Sarah said He's faithful and
He's able. Those two are vitally linked
together. Don't give us a little puny God. If you do, don't give us any
of His promises because you can't keep them. God must be the mighty
God to fulfill these promises. He brought these Jews into a
land of milk and honey and He's promised to take us to a better
land than that. And it's going to take power
to get us there. But God is faithful. God's faithfulness is vitally
attached. It's vitally linked to his immutability. If he's mutable, if he's changing,
then we don't have a faithful God. You can't be a faithful
God and change. Change and decay all around I
see. I see it outside of me, I see
it inside of me. But there is one who never changes. We just
sung that song, didn't we? Jesus never changes. He's the
same yesterday, and today, and forever. He's immutable. He knows no change. Therefore
your sons of Jacob are not consumed. And when I make a promise, I
fulfill it. because I cannot change. I don't
know exactly what those two immutable things are that Paul talked about
in Hebrews chapter 6 that by two immutable things when God
made promises to Abraham because he could not lie and he said
by two immutable things which it was impossible for God to
lie I'm not for sure it may be his immutability If you're immutable, you can't
change. My goodness, that's a strong
foundation for a man to rest upon, isn't it? God made promises
to Abraham, and he said, Abraham, I cannot change. I'll never change
my mind. I'll never go back. Abraham said,
alright then, I'll believe you. And God said, I cannot lie. I
cannot lie. Oh, He's immutable, isn't He?
And He cannot lie. God's faithfulness is vitally
attached, and I love this, to His holiness. To His holiness. He said, once have I sworn unto
David, by my holiness, that I will not He cannot lie. He is incapable
of lying. He is incapable therefore of
making a promise and going back on it. He cannot. He cannot. He is holy. Holy. Holy. All the devils can do is lie. But God cannot lie. I am not
a man. that I should lie, nor the Son
of Man that I should repent. Hath He said it, and shall He
not do it? Hath He spoken it, and shall
He not make it good? He is a faithful and holy Creator. And this is why Peter said, commit
your soul unto Him. Commit all your heart unto Him.
He's holy. And boy, don't that... there's
probably nothing in the Scripture All the things, all the attributes
of God. There is nothing that should
appeal to the saint more than the holiness of God. All the other things seem to
rest upon that, doesn't it? He's holy, holy, holy. He said, I swear by my holiness
I will not lie to David and listen to this. Here's the promise he
made and swore to it by his holiness. His seed shall endure forever,
and His throne as the sun before me." And who was that speaking
about? Who is the seed of David? It's
Jesus Christ. He came out of David's loins
according to the flesh. And He said, I swear by my holiness,
I'm going to raise Him from the dead. I'm going to set Him on
a throne just beside us. until I make all His enemies
my footstool. And brothers and sisters, where
is Jesus Christ tonight? He's on His throne. And He'll
sit there and He'll reign until He's made all His enemies His
footstool. If He doesn't, then God is not a holy God. That promise
and the faithfulness that God promised His own dear Son rests
upon the holiness of God. God's faithfulness is attached
to the honor of His name. He's determined to give Himself
a great name. He will not suffer His name long
to go dishonored. He will not. When Israel went into the land
of promise, they sinned. Remember when they sinned and gold and the garments there before
the walls of Jericho fell down. And the Lord chastened them. His rod fell on them. And they
went up to the little city of Ai and just sent a few men and
said, we can whip this little town. And boy, Ai whipped them,
killed some of them. And Joshua fell on his face and
said, Lord, what's happened? You promised us this land. And now we fled before our enemies. What's going to happen if the
enemy destroys our name? And then he made this statement.
What will that do to your great name? If we're destroyed, yes, we'll
suffer. But what will it do to your great
name? Oh, there's something more important,
is there not? Even more important than our
salvation. And that's the honor of our God. His name. John Jasper. He was an old black
slave. And he's filled with assurance. Everywhere
he went, he talked about the faithfulness of the Lord. The
Lord's given me these promises and I'm cleaving to these promises.
I'm going to heaven, he said. He talked so much about that.
Rejoiced. And somebody asked him one day,
said, John, what if you get up to heaven and the Lord won't
let you in? He said, well, if that happens,
if I'll get up there and the Lord won't let me in, he said,
I'll be in trouble. There's no doubt I'll be in trouble.
I'll be a great loser because I'll lose myself. But He said,
I tell you this, after me putting my trust in the Lord, He'll be
a bigger loser than I am. After I put my hope in Him and
my trust in Him, and if He doesn't fulfill His Word in bringing
me to His house, He'll be a bigger loser than I am. He'll lose His
honor. He'll lose His character. And
brothers and sisters, that will never happen. That will never
happen. That's what we pray about this
community. That's what we pray about the community where I pastor. Oh Lord, magnify your name. Get yourself a great name in
this community. Bow men's hearts to fear you
and worship you. That's what we pray, isn't it?
I don't want, I don't want to do anything. I bet there's nobody
in this house, I know there's nobody, no believer in this house
tonight that wants to cause anybody to lose confidence in you. You
wouldn't do anything to have somebody to say, boy that person,
oh my. And it's vitally linked to His
faithfulness. He's going to honor His name. And you know this as well as
I do. His faithfulness is vitally linked to the security of every
last believer. We're secure tonight. More secure
is no one ever. than the loved ones of the Savior.
And why is that? Because He's faithful. One of my favorite passages I
found over in 1 John, where it talked about forgiveness of sins,
and I'm concerned about that. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. I don't know of a single saint
that ain't worried about his sins sometimes. David even stopped
one day and he said, Lord, please don't remember against me the
sins of my youth. It bothered him. Does sin ever bother you? Oh, it does. It's a burden to
us, isn't it? But over and above that, in spite of all of that,
here's the confidence and the assurance that you and I can
have. If we confess our sins, He's faithful to forgive us.
And He's just to forgive us. And He's merciful in forgiving
us. Because He forgives us on the
basis of the blood of His dear Son. He not only is faithful
to forgive you, but cleanse you. That's the cross isn't it? Don't talk about forgiveness. God is so faithful, and that
faithfulness is vitally linked to the keeping of His people
in this evil world. Boy, this is an evil world. It's
an awful world we live in, isn't it? It seems like to us it's
getting worse, but it's not, I guess. It's always been this
way. We just haven't seen it. God keeps His hand on it and
restrains it, but it's an evil place. It's a corrupt place. and you and I are right here
in the midst of it. And God has been pleased to leave us here.
You'll not escape the evil of this world. You just will not.
It's all around us. But here's what the Lord Jesus
Christ prayed for us. He said, Father, I would not
ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from
the evil Does the Father hear the Son? He hears Him always. And so Paul took that up in his
heart and he said, He will keep me from every evil work and preserve
me into His heavenly kingdom. Why? Because my high priest who
ever lives has prayed to that end. And is he not a merciful and
faithful high priest over the house of God? He asked that when
He was upon this world that His children be kept from the evil
of this world. And He's there in the presence
of God. And He still pleads the same
thing. He ever lives to make intercessions for us. When you
go through this world, you're going to get your feet dirty.
You sure are. We're going to get our feet dirty,
aren't we? We go out in the world, especially when we go out and
have to work, and hear the filthy language, see the awful deeds
that grieves your heart, and you come home that night and
you just feel so dirty. And taking a shower won't help.
It's a conscious thing. And sometimes you feel like you
deserve to be condemned with the world. But you're the promise
that you have that He who is faithful will keep you from the
evil of this world. Whatever it takes, He's faithful. When I talk about our salvation
resting upon the faithfulness of our God, brothers and sisters,
I'm talking about the entirety of our salvation. Brother Henry
used to say, if our Lord got us within 10 feet of heaven's
gate and said, now listen, I'm going to leave it to you to find
your way on. He said none of us would make
it. None of us would make it. When we talk about the faithfulness
of God and our salvation, I mean every step of the way, from start
to finish, from first to last. before the world was to when
this world is no more. Every one of us who are saved
will be saved by the faithfulness of our God. I preached one Sunday a poem
and I mentioned that little poem
or whatever it is about footsteps in the sand. Some of those aren't
fit to read but one or two of them is a good version and it's
good. I talked about when I was in trouble, Lord. I was walking
along, but I saw just one set of steps. Every time I got in
trouble, there was just one set of steps. And the Lord said,
that was because I was carrying you. And I got out of the pulpit,
and one of the dear brethren came up to me, and he said, you
know, I've never seen but one set of footsteps. I've never
seen two," he says, and I don't want to. There's been one set
of footsteps and those are his and he's carried me every step
of the way. Why? Because he's faithful. He's
faithful. That's why we'll be saved now
and in the end. Faithful is he that calleth you. who also will do it. He came
to you when you were dead in sins, His enemy, and what did
He do? He called you. He sent the Gospel
home to your heart. He sent light into your darkness,
and He called you to Himself. It may have took a long time,
or He may have did it suddenly, but He did it. And He's still
calling you today, is He not? What are you doing here tonight,
brothers and sisters? You're tired. Some of you worked
hard all day. Some of you are old. And you'd like to be home sleeping.
Why are you here tonight? He's calling you. He's calling
you to prayer. He's calling you to sing. He's
calling you to worship Him and serve Him. And He's going to
call you soon home to be with Him. And then at the end of day,
He's going to call this old body out of the grave and change it
and make it like unto His glorious body. Faithful is He that calleth
you. He will do it. He will do it. Because He's a faithful God. Boy, you can go home and rest
your head against your pillow. God is faithful. In the midst
of this world of disappointments and heartaches and danger and
uncertainty We have a faith for God. A couple of verses in closing,
the Apostle Paul made this statement. He said, Let us hold fast, therefore,
the profession of our faith without wavering. Hold what God has revealed
in His Word and don't waver one step from it. Don't let conscience
make you waver, don't let your own heart, don't let the church,
don't let the world make you waver from what God has revealed
to you in His Word. For He is faithful, who promised. Hang on to it, brother Don. He's
faithful. And Peter said this, brothers
and sisters, he said, gird up the loins of your mind. And be
sober. And hope to the end. Keep on
hoping. For how long? Till the end. Till I get out of all this trouble?
No, you'll never get out of your trouble. Hope to the end. Just keep on hoping. Hope. Go to bed tonight hoping. Get
up in the morning hoping. Lord, we thank you, gracious,
gracious, faithful, faithful Father in Heaven. We thank you
for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the blessed
Spirit of promise. Oh, our Father, our Savior, blessed
Holy Spirit in the Trinity of your sacred person, you are a
faithful God. This encourages and strengthens
our poor hearts. When we look within us and look
around us, when we look up, oh, it changes everything. We praise
you, we bow before you, we worship you, we adore you, we trust you,
our faithful, faithful God. Thank you for Brother Donnie
and thank you for Sister Shirley. Thank you for these dear saints.
Oh, would you increase your grace here in each heart. Would you
bless this community in this place? Would you magnify your
name? Would you reveal your grace,
reveal your power in saving and adding to this congregation?
We ask this for the glory of your name. Amen. Thank you, Brother Donnie. Thank
you, brothers and sisters. Looking forward to seeing you
Thanksgiving.