The unchanging faithfulness of God

Q: What does the Bible say about God's faithfulness?

The Bible assures us that God will never leave nor forsake His people, exemplifying His unwavering faithfulness. Scripture repeatedly emphasizes God's faithfulness, as demonstrated in Hebrews 13:5-6, where it states, 'For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.' This tells us that God's commitment to His people is steadfast and unwavering, providing comfort and confidence in the midst of life's uncertainties. We also see evidence of God's faithfulness in the experiences of biblical figures such as Jacob and Moses, who received promises of God's presence and support in times of personal struggle and leadership. These examples encourage believers today to trust in God's eternal faithfulness through every trial they face.

Q: How do we know God's promises are true?

God's promises are proven through His consistent faithfulness in Scripture and the lives of believers. The truthfulness of God's promises is rooted in His character—God cannot lie. As seen in Hebrews 6:18, it is impossible for God to lie, making His promises trustworthy. The historical fulfillment of God's words throughout Scripture, from Old Testament prophecies to the New Testament accounts of Jesus Christ, confirms His faithfulness. Furthermore, personal testimonies of believers throughout history affirm that God continues to fulfill His promises in their lives, providing evidence of His reliability and love. Thus, we stand firm on the declarations of Scripture that assure us of God's constant presence and assistance in our lives.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to trust in God's help?

Trusting in God's help is fundamental for Christians as it provides strength, assurance, and guiding wisdom in hardships. For Christians, trusting in God's help is vital because it anchors their faith in the face of trials and adversities. The Bible encourages believers not to fear what man can do, as ultimately it is God who grants true security and assistance (Psalm 121:1-2). Trust in God transforms our outlook on difficulties; rather than succumbing to despair, we can face challenges with the confidence that God is with us, offering comfort and strength. This trust leads to peace, enabling us to navigate life's storms with the assurance of God's unwavering support. Hence, we find in faith the ability to proclaim, 'The Lord is my helper,' which empowers us through our journeys.

Again, once more greatly needing the help of Almighty God. Seeking the power of the Holy Spirit may come upon us. Power of the highest may overshadow us. Please turn back to the word we tried to look at this morning from the epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 13. And we read again, verses five, and six.

Epistle to Hebrews, chapter 13, verse five, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have. For he hath said, I will never leave thee. nor forsake they, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. This morning we got as far as the middle part of this fifth verse. speaking of our conversation of covetousness and that of being content with such things as you have.

The thanks be unto God for his living word, the word that still speaks. And may it speak again. May it come with almighty power. May that be that word which the Lord will apply to help and to comfort and to strengthen and to enable us to go on, that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper.

So as we come this evening, we have read these four different portions. I realise it was a long reading, but how wonderful it is to read. Those who were in need, whom the Lord saw their need, and greatly and wondrously supplied it. There are many characters through the Word of God who we have for our instruction, perhaps for our encouragement, that went through some deep and dark and difficult circumstances. And yet they could each say, the Lord is my helper. Do not fear what man shall do unto me. For he has said, the Almighty God has spoken. May that same power descend upon us here in this chapel tonight.

There may be that comfort even in distress. Yes, we may have left. some difficult things. We just read of the flame and we've read of the floods. They will not overflow, neither will they burn. And we have those wonderful examples in the word of God. The children of Israel going through the Red Sea. Now the Lord made that way. The Lord appeared for them. The Lord was with them.

You have the three Hebrew young men who went through the fire. They were in the furnace. It was turned up seven times hotter than it usually was. And all those young men lost in that fire was the the bonds that bound them up, they were freed of them. But the wondrous and the glorious truth is that even in that fire, the Lord was with them. Did not we cast three men into the fire? But we see four men, lo the fourth, is like unto the Son of God. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. They came out of that furnace. The flame had not touched them. The flame had not singed them, nor did they have any smell of burning on them. You have a wondrous and a miracle working God. who is mighty to save, who is mighty to help. They could say the Lord was their helper, their defender, their shield, and their defense.

Oh, not fear what man should do unto me, for he has said, I will never leave thee. He's just sung that hymn. No, never, no, never, no, never forsake. That is the glorious truth and the foundation of God and his word stand is sure. May the word profit us. May the word tonight be that anchor to our souls. The Lord is with us.

We will not fear what man shall do unto us. The very worst that man can do is to kill us. He cannot take away our souls. He cannot take away those precious promises that the Lord has given, that the Lord so kindly granted and promised to them that love him. and follow him and fear him and serve him with all their hearts, with all their mind and with all their might. Be content with such things as you have. Not to be covetous of those things that others may have, may seem like others are doing very well, doing very nicely, very comfortably. But the truth is, we never know what it is that's in a person's life.

I think it was dear old Mr. Covell, the pastor at Croydon, West Street, Croydon. And a man got up to him afterwards and spoke to him, basically telling him that he didn't know what he was talking about. He said, you come home with me. He said, here is my burden. And he took him in his home. He unlocked the door. And there was his dear son in this padded room.

So we never know what another is going through. We never know what another's walk is. We never know what is in their heart. But the Lord knoweth, and he knoweth the way that we're taken. When he has tried us, we shall come forth as gold. But he has promised to provide. He has promised to help. His promise to strengthen. And as we read these words at the end of the sixth verse, cannot but help to go to Psalm 121, that well-known Psalm. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul.

The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even for evermore. My help, David's help, the psalmist's help that came from God. Where does your help come from? Who is your helper? Who is your strength? Who is it that provides for you and has provided? Who is it that's been faithful? Who is it that has always been there? The Lord, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today and forever. So we have this boldness to the God who has promised never to leave us and nor to forsake us. So in our first reading this evening, we've read together in this 28th chapter of the book of Genesis.

Jacob had gone out from Beersheba and he was going towards Haran. And he came to this certain place and he stayed there all night because the sun was set. And he took the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God ascending and descending.

And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God. of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac, the Lamb whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land, for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. Jacob awaked out of his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And he was afraid and said, how dreadful is this place.

This is none other but the house of God. And this is the gate of heaven. Over the top of that last hymn we have sung together, there says the exceeding great and precious promises. And this is one of those great and exceeding precious promises. There are many throughout the word of God that we could have read this evening.

To his servants, to those whom he sent to this great work, we come back again to that word where Jesus sent out his disciples to preach. There he promised his word to them there was. Lo, I am with you all the way, even unto the end of the world. What a gracious God, a kind and long-suffering God we have, who is our helper, Jacob's helper, Moses's helper, and we've read a little further on in the book of the Deuteronomy.

It's again well-known verses. Beloved friends, tonight what a great and exceeding precious promise. And that great and exceeding precious promise was going to be so greatly needed. But he had an unfailing God, God who would not change, a God who would not leave him.

Just as with Jacob, I will be with thee in all places, whithersoever thou goest. Here we have in the 31st chapter of Deuteronomy. And verse six, be strong and of a good courage. Fear not, neither be afraid of them. For the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee. He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage.

He who has helped us hitherto will help us all our journey through. Give us daily cause to raise new Ebenezers to His praise. And Ebenezer, hitherto the Lord helped us. It is through His mercy, through His goodness and through His grace, He has helped us until this moment of time. how good it is to sing that song of praise and of thanksgiving unto God, unto him who has loved us and washed us in his own blood. He has sent those in the various paths and offices in the Church of God to be faithful We're here to serve.

Yes, we're going to come up against difficulties. There'll be those times when surely we know not what to do. How are we going to do it? How are we going to continue? But here said, I will never leave thee. I will not fail thee. We feel sometimes We feel most times an utter failure. We feel our great lacking. And yet in this, we feel greater the need.

We feel that drawing upon to God, from whom alone can come our help. Though we may so boldly say, the Lord is my helper. which sure and certainly proves that the Lord has been at work, for it's not what man can do. The most eloquent speaker has only been one perfect preacher on the earth, and that is our Lord and Saviour in his preaching in those years, just before his death and resurrection. and in his ascension. The Lord uses the weak to confound the mighty. So we feel and are weak vessels. Yet the glorious thing is, those whom he loves, he never leaves.

Onward, Christian soldiers, how we are brought, and I do so greatly remember dear old Mr. Partridge. I believe it was when he received James into the church here. I hope I'm right. Be thou therefore a good soldier of Jesus Christ. That's what we're called. Come into the battle. Come into difficulties. You come into those very hard places. But we are not to sit back. We are not to sit down. We have to fall down upon our knees, perhaps, and certainly and surely to cry unto the Lord. in our needs and in our failings. We seek for his gracious help, for his power and for his aid.

I know I'm hopping, but I want to, just as it's coming to, my thoughts and I hope the Lord is in it, in the 41st chapter of Isaiah that we read. We stand a living witness tonight. You realize this morning I spoke something to myself and I don't want to speak of myself, that it's me because it's not Trust it's for the Lord's honour and for the Lord's glory to show you, into you young ones, you young people, how wonderful God is, how gracious God is, how great he is, how almighty he is. We read in this chapter, these fear knots.

Just a few days before I was going to begin the three months as we know it, to go to the church at Abodah Street. On the Wednesday of that week, 2nd of January, 2019, the Lord took my dear dad, And in those days thereafter, I was reduced. It seemed to never end in tears. I felt completely broken. And it got to the Saturday, and I knelt down beside my bed.

I had to come before the Lord and say, I'm a worm, how can I go? And even preach the word tomorrow, how can I stand? It was one of those moments where the Lord spoke his word immediately. And it was this great and precious promise in verse 13. Isaiah 41,

13. For I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear not, I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm. Jacob and you men of Israel, I will help them. Sayeth the Lord and I redeemed the Holy One of Israel.

Still in my heartbroken state, I remember getting to the bottom of Battle Road by the roundabout. I went with three handkerchiefs in my pocket. I said to Fiona, even after the Lord has given me this amazing promise. I said, what's the point of me going? I'm just going to cry. Well, amazingly, I came to the end of that day with three dry handkerchiefs.

The Lord is good. Dear friends, he's a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows them that trust in him. Yes, we felt that weakness in our trust. Yet literally in the afternoon service, took that verse 14 for a text. And I can honestly say, I remember giving the text out. I remember saying amen. And I remember nothing in between.

That's the omnipotent hand of God. How gracious he was and how gracious he is. And he is still, and will ever be, and can only ever be, a wonder-working, almighty, and gracious God, who when he gives you a promise, you know that that promise is firm, it is sure. The devil may roar, the devil may lie, the devil may tempt, the devil may tease, but he can never take it away. He may try and hurt us, may try and knock us down, but the Lord has that promise spoken by Moses back here in Deuteronomy. He it is that doth go with thee.

Whom else can we want? Whom else can we desire? Who else do we need? If God is for us, who can possibly be against us? No man, Lord. That must be our cry. The Lord, who is our strength and our redeemer, our helper, who is our deliverer. He is a refuge in each deep distress. The Lord our God and glorious righteousness. Through floods and flames he leads us safely on to make his grace and goodness known. He is a rock. He is the church's one foundation and he is ever the same. And the Lord he it is that doth go with thee. The Lord Jesus said to Peter in the Gospel of John, in chapter 21, Jesus this three times was speaking. Jesus asked these three times this question. Verse 15, Simon Peter, son, sorry, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?

He said unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. And he saith unto him, Feed my lambs. The next verse, the second time, Lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He said unto him, Feed my sheep. Then he says to him the third time, Lovest thou me? Peter this time was grieved because he had been asked this same question the third time. And he said unto him this in verse 17, Lord thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. We then come down to verse 20. Only because time is going too quick. Verse 20.

Then Peter turning about, seeing the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, saith unto him, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus said unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou Me. We follow, we follow a leader.

I well remember going to a wedding, I think it was in Luton, and afterwards they'd given this set of instructions to get back to the reception, to go back down the motorway. And I looked and I saw a sign that was pointing with a name that I recognized near this place.

And so I turned off. Now, We had not got the instructions. We turned away from the instructions, or I had. Took us down through some very narrow lanes. Became difficult. Became stressful. We didn't know where we were going. Really, we got lost. But after we kept to the instructions that were clear, by the time I thought we were taking the shortcut, everybody else was there. Follow thou me. The word of God is our guide. God is our leader. If we try, and get along some other way. We think we can make an easier way. We'll surely and truly come into difficulty and trouble. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. I am the way. Jesus said, I am the light.

We'd gone off down this lane and it was like Well it was, it was narrow and it was difficult. But had we have kept to the motorway and gone what seemed to me a bit of a longer way round, that was the right way. Those who had written the instructions had written them for our good. And so the word of God is for our good.

We try and climb up some other way, we'll be just like a thief and a robber. Jesus said, I am the door. There's one way in to that sheepfold, and that's through the door. We try and get in some other way. There is but one way, the only way, and that is Jesus.

He will never leave his people nor forsake them, nor that we may Love and praise him more. His beauties trace his majesty adore. Lift near his heart upon his bosom lean. Obey his voice and all his will esteem. Be content with such things as you have.

What is it we're wanting? What is it we're desiring? Where is it we're wanting to go? Is there like a sheep among us who is listening? It keeps on pushing at the fence, trying to push at the boundary. You know sheep will try and get through a little hole, won't they? And they'll keep pushing and they'll keep shoving. They get fed up with what they're eating and perhaps want to break into the field next door where they think it's much greener, the other side of the fence. That grass looks lush. You're trying to push the boundary.

The good shepherd, he leadeth his sheep in and out. A natural shepherd will keep his sheep and watch over his sheep and give them that right pasture, that what they need to eat, that what they need to feed on. But how that sheep thinks he can get into that next field. What does he do? He gets entangled in the hedge where he gets his neck stuck in the fence. It has to be that bleating, that crying out, how he now needs help. He's been caught. He's been stuck. There's no getting away from it. He was trying to break free.

Be content, dear soul. I spoke this morning, didn't I, of that word, no? My dear mum said to me, in my question, can I go out? She said, no. How do young people, times when we're told no, well, we really don't like it, do we? Because naturally we want to go off and do what we want to do. We've got something set in our heart or in our mind, and that's where we want to go, and that's what we want to do. And in what I wanted to do, I couldn't see any harm in it whatsoever. I just wanted to go for a ride on my bike. But had I listened to my mum, I wouldn't have come off my bike. I wouldn't have ripped my trousers. I wouldn't have cut my knee open.

It's why we have that word, no, a little word, no. We see our parents, we have to prove it later on in our life. We are ones being pushed the boundaries. What I wanted wasn't the best thing for me, was it? And we have those no's. We have those boundaries, we have those barriers. And they're actually for our good. To make our life hard or difficult. But it was from the love of my mum that she wanted me to be kept from difficulty. There I had to prove. Hang my head in shame, I had to confess. So I'm sorry. I've done wrong. No getting away from it, what I've done, that I've been out.

It's just like that young man we spoke of this morning. What a loving welcome he received. came to the end of it all, and he turned. May that be turning tonight to the living God. Look unto me and be ye saved, or the end of the earth. For I am God and there is none else. And this great God, he says unto us, I will never leave thee. nor forsake thee. May the Lord write it by his Spirit into our hearts, whatever may before us. Let not fear what man can do unto me, if God is with us. If God is with you, he is your strength, the strength of your life. He's the helper of the helpless. He sticketh closer than a brother.

I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. If not, now a time to come to those many other precious promises. If you're able, read those passages back through, and others too, to see the great goodness of God, who is unchangeable, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

May the Lord himself be with you all. May he grant that spiritual prosperity. May he own and bless his word. May there be that unity in the bond of peace. May there be that brethren, that brethren's love one to another, all to the praise and the honour and the glory of God. May the Lord add his richest blessing and favour you each greatly, help you dear young people and children in your pathway, those that are older, may find those other difficulties, troubles and trials and temptations in your life. Thanks be unto God.

He is unchangeable and his word changes not. Trust in the Lord and wait patiently for him and he will bring it to pass. Amen. Let's sing our final hymn, number 247. 247. O Lord, I would delight in thee, and on thy care depend, to thee in every trouble flee, my best, my only friend. Hymn 247, tune 856. To thee, in every trouble flee, my best, my only friend.

British dreams are tried, thy promise is the same. May I with this be satisfied, and glory in thy name. ♪ Sure the sun may drop in ♪ ♪ Who knew that the mountain here ♪ ♪ A fountain which will never run dry ♪ ♪ Water sweet and clear ♪ ♪ When creatures can be found ♪ ♪ But they be found in thee ♪ ♪ I must handle things that are bound ♪ ♪ But what is God to me? ♪ ♪ That I had a joy of faith to look within the well ♪ ♪ To bear it on my Saviour's head ♪ ♪ As the floods can never fill the well ♪ That has made my head secure, Where'er who could provide? The crisis which I clapped before, What can I but decide? O Lord, I cast my care on Thee, I triumph and adore Thee, As for my great cause, there shall be to love and praise Thee more.

Gracious God, dismiss us with thy blessing, we pray. Be with each, be with us in the way that we take. Grant thy gracious help and presence in the way. To pardon we pray and forgive all our lackings and failings. But now may the grace of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the love of God, our Heavenly Father, the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forevermore. Amen.

The unchanging faithfulness of God

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's faithfulness?

How do we know God's promises are true?

Why is it important for Christians to trust in God's help?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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The unchanging faithfulness of God

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's faithfulness?

How do we know God's promises are true?

Why is it important for Christians to trust in God's help?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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