Let's begin reading here in just
three or four verses. Verse 7, 1 Corinthians chapter
1, verse 7. So that ye come behind in no
gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye 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." Paul writing here to these Corinthians who were in all sorts
of difficulties and trials, and yet he writes to them of this
wonderful subject, the coming of Christ and Christ confirming
them unto His coming. If you read Paul's writings,
one of the things that you'll often notice is he's often speaking
of the end and coming of Jesus Christ. The end of our life. He often spoke of the end of
his life. I'm now ready to be offered.
The time of my departure is at hand. And he often told of the
end of the world and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen
to some of the things that he said. The Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout. The day of the Lord so cometh
as a thief in the night. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels. There is laid up for me a crown
of life, which the Lord shall give me at that day, and not
to me only, but also all of them that love his appearing. What
is my hope? What is my joy? What's my crown
of rejoicing? Are not even you in the presence
of Jesus Christ at His coming? He seemed to live in the reality
of the end of the age, the end of life, and the coming, the
day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I know, and I'm convinced
of this, and time has proved me to be right, that the Apostle
Paul did not believe the end of the world would be in his
day. He did not believe that Christ was coming in his day.
But he believed that he was coming. And he believed the end of the
earth was coming. And that man seemed to live in the reality
of the end. His days was made up knowing
that Christ the Lord was coming. And I think all of these apostles,
and even the early church lived more in the reality of that than
you and I live. Even John himself spoke of his
coming, and he said, Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly. I remember
Brother Todd Nabbert making the statement one day when he was
preaching on the coming of the Lord, and he said, If you and
I earnestly believed that our Lord was coming tomorrow, what
would we feel that we must change in our life today? What priorities
do we feel that we would have to get in order? And then he
made this statement. He said, you know, if we really
believe that Christ was coming tomorrow, we wouldn't have to
change anything. Because when we live in the reality
of His coming, we keep our priorities straight. And the Apostle Paul
was speaking of this And this is why he makes this statement
here, our subject today, because he lived in the reality of this,
and therefore he was keenly aware of the necessity of all the saints
being secured to that day, even to the day and the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And when thinking of that day,
he uses this word confirm. He says it here in verse 8. who
shall also confirm you unto the end that you may be blameless
in the day of Jesus Christ the Lord. When I think, brothers
and sisters, of the end of my life that will soon come upon
me, when I think of the judgment that's coming, the end of this
world and what all will take place in that hour, One of the
things that I feel my need of is this very thing that Paul
is talking about, being confirmed to that day. Being confirmed
unto that day. There's three things about this
little word that's very attractive to us. And first thing is this,
the definition of it. The definition of confirmed.
It means to make firm, to secure, to establish, to make certain,
and to hold fast. When you think about the end
and the coming of Christ, the revelation of Jesus Christ, ain't
this word very appealing to you? Ain't it a word that sort of
suits you very well when you earnestly think of that day?
To hold fast And the second thing that's very attractive to us
concerning this word is the person that it's associated with. He
said there in verse 7 and 8, Our Lord Jesus Christ who shall
confirm you unto the end. If he had said your pastor shall
confirm you to the end, that wouldn't be very appealing to
you, would it? Because you dare not trust your pastor to confirm
you to the end. If He said of you that it's up
to you to confirm yourself to the end, that wouldn't be very
attractive to you, would it? I just about bet, knowing you
and knowing myself, if it was left up to you to hold yourself
fast, to confirm yourself to the end of your life, and to
the judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ, I tell you what, I would
just about sell everything I had. I mean everything that I had,
and I'd borrow every penny I could borrow, and I'd put it on a bet
that you wouldn't make it. That's how much confidence I
got in you, and that's how little confidence I got in myself. But
when we read this Word, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, He shall
secure you. He shall hold you fast. He shall
make you steadfast. Then, brothers and sisters, you
can put confidence in Him. He shall not fail, Glenn, and
he shall not be discouraged. Whatever he sets his hand to,
he'll do it. He upholds all things by the
word of his power, and believe you him when he says he can uphold
you. He can confirm you unto the end. And the third thing that's attractive
about this word is not only who it's associated with, but what
it's associated with. It's associated with two things
in the Scripture that shows us how stable this Word is, confirmed. In Mark chapter 16, verse 20,
listen to this. The Lord sent His disciples out
to preach when He raised from the dead and ascended. And the
Scripture says there, the disciples went forth preaching everywhere,
the Lord working with them and confirming His Word. confirming the Word of God, confirming
the Gospel of Christ with signs following. How firm is the Word
of God? As firm as the Lord can make
it. Have you ever known one of His words to fall to the ground?
Have you ever known the Lord's word to fail? No, and it never
shall. Some man said one time, he said,
I believe, the Word said it, and I believe it, and that settles
it. And somebody come along and said, no, that's not right. Said
the Word said it, and that settles it. Well, you believe it or not.
And that's the truth, ain't it? The Word is ever settled in heaven. It's firm. It's steadfast. It's secure. The Lord has made
it that way. And that's what this word confirm
means. How firm is the word. As firm
as He can make it. How firm are you. How firm are
you? As firm as He can make you. You
are as firm as the Word. As firm as His Word. And secondly,
this Word confirmed is associated with His promises. In Romans
chapter 15 verse 8, listen to this. I say that Jesus Christ
was a minister to the circumcision, to the Jews. He preached to the
Jews. for the truth of God to confirm
the promises made unto the fathers. He confirmed the promises. Every
promise that was made in the Old Testament concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ, His coming, what He was going to do, where
He was going to do it, what He was going to do after He did
it, where He is now, all of these promises are shared. Not a one
of them has ever failed or fallen to the ground. You know what
the Lord says about His promises? All the promises of God in Christ
are yea and amen. That's why dear old Brother Carter
wrote that song, Standing on the Promises of God. When the
storming doubts of fears assail, By the living Word of God I shall
prevail, standing on the promises of God." How sure are the promises
of God? As sure as He can make them. How sure is it that you'll be
confirmed to the end? As sure as the promise. If a
promise fails, then you may fail. If the Word of God fails, then
you may fail. But he says here, the Lord Jesus
Christ has confirmed us unto the end. confirmed us to the
end. If somebody should ask us why
we believe in the absolute and eternal security of the saints
of God, if somebody should say, why do you folks believe that
the believers will persevere until the end of their life?
We'd give them three things. Here's the three things that
we'd offer them. The first one is this, and these
aren't a few passages that you find in the Scriptures. These
aren't five or six passages that you and I use as a hobby horse,
but these are written throughout the volume of the book. We find
these three things that teach unto us the absolute security
and eternal happiness of God's saints. The first one is this,
salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Glenn
said it this morning, if salvation is of man, all right, doubt it.
Fear and quake daily because he'll fail. But salvation is
not of man. When Jonah was down in that whale's
belly, he knew if he ever got out of there, it was going to
have to be the Lord to bring him out. So he said, I'll pay my vows
that I made to the Lord. And what is it? Salvation is
of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. If it's of the Lord, those he
saved are secure then, aren't they? They're secure. Listen
to this. That eternal salvation, that
everlasting happiness of each one of God's elect has been secured
by the decree of God. They are secure because God has
purposed before the world ever was to save them. And what did
He say about His purpose? I've purposed it, I'll do it.
I've spoken it, I'll bring it to pass. My counsel shall stand
and I'll do all my pleasure. Brother Glenn quoted Romans chapter
8 and verse 29-30 to us this morning. And if you'll notice
something, and we hear this all the time, but if you'll notice
this about those two verses, everything that's said there
is in past tense. In other words, it's history.
Those whom God foreknew, And only God can foreknow a man and
a woman. You can't do that, but God can, because He's God. Those
He foreknew, He predestinated to be conformed to the image
of His Son. And those He predestinated, them
He called. And those He called, He justified. And those He justified, He glorified. That's history, ain't it? God
moved upon the Apostle Paul to write that down and it's almost
as though, well it ain't almost, it's absolutely, the Holy Spirit
said, you be sure and don't you put any of these things in present
tense. You write it as though it's already done. Those I foreknew,
I've glorified. It's all done. And one old lawyer
told me one time, he said, you can't rescind history. There
are some things you can rescind, but you can't rescind history.
You may write a history book and lie about it, but you can't
actually rescind history. And the salvation of God's elect
is already finished in the decrees of God. A dear saint of God may
quake and fear himself out of a lot of joy, You may talk to
yourself and feel yourself right out of a lot of joy and a lot
of peace, but I tell you this, all your fearing and all your
doubting will not undo the decrees of God Almighty. They won't do
it. They won't do it. Secondly, we talked about the
salvation being of the Lord, and when I say the Lord, I'm
talking about a triune Lord. It's purposed by God the Father.
And the second thing that secures this, salvation is of the Lord
in its accomplishment. When the Lord Jesus came to this
world, He came to redeem His people. Ain't that what He said?
First thing that's said about Him when He came into this world,
He said, His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His
people from their sin. And how is He going to accomplish
that? By giving Himself for them. by giving himself for them. He
told his disciples, he said, this is my blood. He offered
them that wine, that cup and that bread and he said, this
represents my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many
for the remission of their sins. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
lay down my life for the sheep. And then in the very light of
that, He said, I've given to them eternal life. In other words,
their life comes out of His death. His dying breath has bought us
life. He finished that work. When the
Lord Jesus said upon the cross, It's finished. It's finished. I'm telling you, brothers and
sisters, the salvation of His people was accomplished. Redemption
was accomplished. Reconciliation had been made
right there upon that cross. Somebody says, make your peace
with God. It's already made with God. Just bow down and receive
the peace in your heart. He made peace by the blood of
His cross. And I tell you this much, when
God saw him hang upon that cross, God said, that's enough. That's
enough. That's enough. I'll save every
one of them. That's enough. And thirdly, we talk about salvation
is of the Lord, this triune Lord, it's of God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit comes and He secures this work
in their hearts. You know, we don't just believe
in God's eternal decrees. What He decreed, now He's working
out. And now the Holy Spirit begins
His work. And I'm telling you, brothers
and sisters, Jesus Christ, by His Spirit in us, doing His work
of regeneration, doing His work of faith and repentance, working
in us to will and to do of His good pleasure, He is just as
faithful to finish that work in us as He was for us there
at the cross. What did He say about when the
Spirit came? When He come to teach us and give us the faith
and repentance and a broken heart, open and understanding. He said
when He has come, He will abide with you for how long? Forever. Forever. Forever. He will not
leave you and He will not forsake you. The saint is secured by
the will, the working and the abiding of a triune God. That's why we believe. That's
why we believe that the saints shall be secured. Salvation is
of the Lord. And secondly, we believe it for
this reason. Every child of God, every saint
shall be saved because God's glory is involved in it. God's
glory is involved in it. You know the Lord doesn't come
to us and save us first and foremost because we need to be saved.
I think that's sometimes why He lets us see people die lost.
He brings the reality home to our hearts that they needed to
be saved, but I didn't save them. And He shows us over and over
again, first and foremost, the Lord don't save us because we
need to be saved. That's one reason I know. And
if you're here this morning and you have a need to be saved,
that's a wonderful need. He saves those who have need
of being saved. But you know why He first saves
a person? For His glory. Or Rothbard used
to say, God's going to save everybody He can for His glory. For His
glory. And that's what the Lord Jesus
prayed. Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son that Your
Son may also glorify You. That's what this business of
salvation is all about. God chose a host of Adam's race. The Son of God redeemed them
by His blood. The Holy Spirit comes and regenerates
them and gives them life. First and foremost, for this
one reason, to the praise of the glory of His grace. It's
for God's glory, isn't it? And you know that's what you
and I are concerned about this morning. I hope that's what we're
concerned about. More than anything else, I hope
we're concerned about His glory. And brothers and sisters, what
if one, Brother Glenn said this this morning, What if one dear
saint, the weakest and meanest among us, and I'm afraid if you
come right down to it, that may be your poor pastor. What if
the weakest, the poorest, was lost at last? What would happen
to God's decrees? What would happen to His glory?
He'd be a loser, wouldn't He? What if one single soul who Jesus
Christ bled for, one of His blood-bought ones, What if at last they perish? Can you imagine such a thing? If the blood ceased to cleanse
that person from sin? If the intercession of Christ
ceased to be effectual for him? If Christ ceased to love him? Can you imagine? Can you imagine? Oh, he would be lost. But look
at the glory of Christ. What if the Holy Spirit, after
he came and sealed a soul to the dead redemption, he left
him and he come unsealed? He ceased to work in him to will
and to do. We'd be the loser, that's for
sure, but we wouldn't be as big of losers as God was. His glory
is involved in this, brothers and sisters. And Brother Glenn
said this morning, yonder in the day of judgment, If the devil
stands up there, he's down there in hell, and he holds one up
before the throne of glory and says, I've got one of those that
you died for. I've got one of those that you
began a good work in, but you left it off. You didn't accomplish
it and finish it. Christ Jesus himself, the eternal
triune God, would bow his head in shame. It'll never happen
with him. It'll never happen. This is for
God's glory. That's why we believe this. The
Lord spoke to Moses in Numbers chapter 14, and he was angry
with the children of Israel. And he said to Moses, he said,
I will smite this people. I'll smite them, I'll kill them,
and I'll make of you a greater and mightier nation. Was the
Lord going to do that? No, he wasn't really going to
do that. He had set up Moses as a mediator and he was going
to show Moses and the children of Israel and us what a mediator
is for. So Moses approaches unto the
Lord God and here's the way he pleads. He says this, Lord if
you smite this people then the Egyptians will hear of it And
they'll tell everybody else who has heard of thy fame, and they
will say, because the Lord was not able. Ain't that a good way
to plead? That's a good way to plead. Lord,
you can kill them. You can destroy them all as one
weak man, but if you do, what about your glory? And he went
right on in that very same chapter to say, do what you showed me
back yonder when you hid me in that rock. Show your glory. Forgive their iniquity. Be gracious
and long-suffering to them. This is for your glory. And it's
the same thing with Joshua. When they had lost the battle,
their AI, that little community of soldiers had defeated Israel.
And he said to the Lord, the nations that surround us shall
hear of this, and what will it do unto thy great name. That's what he was concerned
about. I'm concerned about my salvation. I'm concerned about
your salvation. I don't want to be lost. I don't
want to be lost. But there's more involved in
it than my being lost or saved. That's the glory of the triune
God. Thirdly, first of all then, salvation
is of the Lord. It's of a triune God. Secondly,
if anyone would ask us why we believe it, it's for His glory.
And thirdly, if someone asks us why we believe it, then my
answer would be this, if it's not true, if it's not true, if
they're not confirmed until the end, I feel like I'm not going
to make it. Is that the way you feel? If
the Lord don't uphold you, if the Lord don't keep you, if He
don't confirm you, do you feel like you can make it anyway?
I have a lot of free will Baptists. I was raised in a free will Baptist
organization. And I've still got some free
will Baptist friends. And I know what they preach.
I know what they preach. I've heard several free-will
Baptists preach on saints being lost. But it seems to me like
it's always somebody else going to be lost. It's never the preacher. I never could understand that.
They get up and brag and boast, you know, you better be careful.
You probably won't make it. Well, what about you, preacher?
Well, I'm more faithful than the rest of you. I'm more established
than the rest of you. I'll probably be alright. It's
you I'm worried about. Is that your attitude? Is that
your attitude? You never sang that old song,
do you? If anybody makes it all the way, surely I will. I haven't
sung that since I got out of the Free Will Baptist Day. If
working and praying has any reward, if anyone makes it all the way,
surely I will. Nobody more faithful than I am.
Nobody knows more than I am. Nobody has more ability. Nobody
is wiser than I am. That's not the way you feel,
is it? Old Charles Spurgeon, he said, you know something?
He said, if you want to know a man's theology, you want to
really know what he believes, go to the prayer room and listen
to him pray. You can learn more about a man's
theology when he's on his face before God than you will when
he's talking to you. When he talks to you, he may
talk out of his head, but when he talks to God, he starts talking
out of his heart. I love it when a man prays. I've
learned a lot about you, brethren, back in the prairie. I know how
you feel when you're before God. I listen to you pray. Listen
to Jeremiah, what he said when he prayed. This weeping prophet
went before the Lord, and here's what he said. Oh Lord, I know
that the way of man is not in himself. It's not in him that
walketh to direct his ways. That's what he said about himself.
What was he saying? Well, he went right on to say,
Lord, correct me. Teach me. Guide me. Uphold me. Confirm me. But with mercy, lest
you bring me to nothing. It's not in man, brothers and
sisters. We don't have the wisdom. We don't have the intelligence.
We don't have the will. This is a world full of devils.
And you ain't gonna make it through it if the Lord don't keep you.
Now that's so, wait, that's so. When you and I read in verse
9, the Lord shall confirm you unto the end, to the day of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's more than just a doctrine
to us. It's a doctrine. But I tell you what, we feel
a necessity of it. We do. Notice this now back in
our text in verse 8. So you're confirmed to the end.
And here's something wonderful. Notice the end to which the Lord
confirms us. Notice it there in verse 8. Who
shall also confirm you unto the end that you may be blameless
in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Blameless in the day
of our Lord Jesus. That's the end He's confirming
us to. This is a wonderful word. It has sort of two meanings or
two senses to the meaning. It first of all means impeachable. Impeachable. It means never to
be turned out from that office or a position. Unimpeachable. Unimpeachable. He shall confirm
you blameless. What position is it? What relationship
is it that we'll never be impeached from? Well, listen to this. Now are we the sons of God. Will we be ever turned out from
that position? Will we be impeached from that position? He will present
you blameless, unimpeachable. Now ye, right now ye are the
body of Christ and members in particular. Will you ever be
severed? You are a member of Christ. Will
you ever be severed? We are the bride of Christ. I have espoused you to one husband,
even Christ. Will he ever divorce us? We are
the temple of the living God. I will dwell in them. Will God
ever vacate His temple? See what he said in this word,
he may present us unimpeachable, blameless. God has translated
us into the kingdom of his dear son and he'll never turn us out
of that kingdom. That's the end to which he confirms
us. What an end, what a glorious
end awaits those whom the Lord is confirming. But secondly,
the word means this. It means to totally vindicate. That's the end, when everything
is said and done. When it comes to die, you don't
have to be afraid of death. You know why? He's going to totally
vindicate you. When you stand before Him in
judgment, and that'll be an awesome hour, I know very little of that
day. I know we shall stand there and
give account of our deeds. But I know in that day we'll
be totally vindicated, because that's what this word means.
He shall confirm you unto the end that you may be blameless
in that day. Now listen to these scriptures.
Jude 24, Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling,
and to present you faultless, blameless before the presence
of his glory. Listen to this. Christ loved
the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it
and cleanse it with a washing of water by the word, that he
may present it to himself, a glorious church, not having a spot, not
having a wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be
holy and without blemish. You can't present yourself before
the Lord in such a manner. If you said you could, you know
that your conscience would condemn you for making such a statement.
But he can. He can. He's able to present
you holy and unblameable in his sight. We can even relate to
this, can't we? Everything I see in myself, It's
sin. It's mixed with everything I
do. I can't pray without sinning. I can't sing without sinning.
I can't preach without pride. And you feel the same way about
yourself. We can't begin to relate to what it will mean and how
in the world it can happen that a sinner like us upon this earth
can one day be presented before the holiness of God without any
blemish, without any fault, without any failure. But that's what
He's going to do. That's what He's going to do.
That's what He says He's going to do. Now, brothers and sisters,
you can't ask for more than that, can you? Dear old Augustine used
to say, we're not seeking for some new thing to believe. We've
got more now than we can believe. We can't seek for some new thing.
We're just trying to seek to believe what we already know.
And this is what we know. That there's coming a day when
He'll present us to Himself without any sin. without any wrinkles,
without any spot. I'm just seeking to believe that,
aren't you? God give me grace to believe such a glorious truth.
And that's the end, Paul said, to which the Lord is confirming
us. Now look back here again in our
text. In verse 9, we're told how this is going to be accomplished.
Look at this. Here's how he's going to accomplish
this. 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 into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus
Christ the Lord. Here's the way God does it. He's
called us into fellowship with His Son. Now if you don't understand
this word, let me explain it to you just a little bit. If
you've studied on it, you know what it means. But it's a very
deep word and it has these two precious meanings to it. Fellowship. We often think of this word as
what we have when we come together. A communion. It's communion. We call it fellowship. The fellowship
today was so sweet. Our communion today was so sweet.
John said we have fellowship with the Father and with His
Son. And our fellowship is with you. David said how good and
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. That's
one of the meanings of this word. It means communion. I'll send
my Spirit into you, and my Father will come to you, and I'll come
to you, and we'll make our abode in you. We'll commune with you,
and you'll commune with us. That's fellowship. But this word
means more than just communion, and this is the way it's taken
here. And here it means Participation. Participation. God has called
us to participate in the things that belong to Jesus Christ.
This is the way He makes us blameless. This is the way He won't reprove
us and find us guilty. We're partaken of those things
which belong to Jesus Christ. Listen to 1 Thessalonians 2,
13, 14. We're bound to give thanks to
God for you, brother. God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, were unto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of Jesus Christ the Lord. To the obtaining of
the glory of somebody else. In other words, God has called
you for this very purpose. to give to you what somebody
else has earned, what somebody else has accomplished. What has
Jesus Christ accomplished? Well, I'll tell you this much.
He accomplished redemption from the law and from the curse. And
don't He give that to you? He's redeemed us from the curse
of the law. He's brought in everlasting righteousness. And don't He give
that righteousness to His people? We're called the righteousness
of God in Christ. On the cross, He sealed my pardon. Is that what the songwriter said?
Does He not now pardon me? He shares that with me. He made
peace through the blood of His cross. Does He not now give me
His peace? The grace that fills the eternal
bosom of the Son of God Has He not given that grace to us? That
eternal life which is in the Son of God, has He not now given
that life to us? What's He saying? Everything
that Christ possesses, everything that Christ has accomplished,
everything that Christ is as a mediator, He gives it to His
people. They share with Him in everything
that's His. That's what God has called us
to do. Does Jesus Christ have a God? Ain't that strange to
say that He is God, but yet He has a God. Well, His God is our
God. I send to my God and to your
God. Does He have a Father? I send
to my Father and I send to your Father. Does the Son of God have
a Kingdom? Yes, He does. He shared that
Kingdom with us. I appoint unto you a kingdom,
even as my Father appointed me a kingdom. That's the kingdom
of His dear Son. Does the Son of God have a throne?
Then He shares that with us. Come, ye blessed in my Father,
Him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne. What is it that He has as a mediator
that He doesn't share with His people? Nothing. Nothing. You know what he said? The glory
that you've given me, I've given them. They're just as loved of
the Father we are as He is. Do you know that? We're just
as accepted as He is. We're just as righteous as He
is. Because everything He is, He shared it with His people.
And that's how we're made blameless. God has called us unto the fellowship
of His Son. And when your spirit leaves this
life, you know where you're going? You're going to the Father's
house. He's given that house to His Son and He's sharing it
with you. In my Father's house are many mansions. And where
I am, you're going to be. I'm going to share it all with
you. We don't marry the thing, do we? We've never earned a thing
from God in all our lives, brothers and sisters. We have hope. We have a good hope because He's
called us to share these things with us. One more point and I'll
close. Notice what's at the bottom of all this. The faithfulness
of God. Do you notice that? He shall
confirm you until the end because He's faithful. You'll be blameless. Because he's faithful. Look at
it again in verse 9. God is faithful. God is faithful. I've always
said someday I'm going to do this. I'm going to take nothing
else but read Pink's book on the attributes of God. And I'm
going to write them all down. Copy them all down. And right
underneath them I'm going to put a big line and I'm going
to put the chief one right on the bottom. To me, the chief
attribute of God, because it upholds all the other attributes
of God. The grace of God, the mercy of God, the goodness of
God, the justice of God. There's one thing that upholds
and supports all those other things. And you know what it
is? God's faith on us. God's faith. Don't talk about
God's grace if he's not faithful. Don't talk about His justice
if He's not faithful. Don't talk about His mercy if
He's not faithful. Don't talk about His love if
He's not faithful. The faithfulness of God undergirds and it supports
all His other attributes. Faithful is He that calleth you
who also will do it. Commit the keeping of your soul
unto Him as a faithful creator. Hold fast the profession of your
faith without wavering, for He is faithful, that promise. It
is of the Lord's mercies that were not consumed, because His
compassions fell not. They are new every morning. Great
is thy faithfulness. Yea, thy faithfulness, David
said, is established in the very heavens. The very heavens. There
is a sin that you and I are guilty of, and we don't even know it.
It's in our subconscious. But we often commit this sin
to our own shame and confusion. And it's this, that you and I
think God is like us. We get it in our heads that God
is like us. And you know what kind of God
that is? That's a God of free will. You know what the God of
free will is? He's a God like us. You don't
have to study the Bible to find out what the God of free will
is. Just look within you and look around you. That's the God
of free will. I was talking to my sister one
time. I told you about this before. She's a year and a half older
than I am. And she's a free will Baptist preacher. She never got
into pulpit, but she's a free will Baptist preacher. And she
can preach better than any free will Baptist I've ever seen.
I was talking with her one day about the Lord and what He's
done. And I'm telling you, she started talking, and I sat and
listened to her. And you know what? When she got
finished, when she got finished, I said, Sis, I said, that's a
wonderful message. But there was only one thing
about it. You can't find any of that stuff you just said in
the Bible. And you know what she said? I'm not talking about
the Bible! I don't know anything about the
Bible. I'm telling you what I know in my heart about God. That's the God of free will.
That's the God of free will. They look within themselves and
if they're honest, all they see there is failure. All they see
there is weakness and loss and confusion. And then they get
to thinking, that's God. They look around them and all
they see around them is failure and unfaithfulness. What's being preached to us today? When we look around us, what's
being preached? Unfaithfulness. Husbands and wives unfaithful.
Children unfaithful. Relationships unfaithful. Everything
man does, everything he is, unfaithful. Weak and contemptible. Failure
and loss. And we look around us and here's
what we think. That's just the way God is. That's
just the way God is. But you know what He says? My
thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. As
high as the heaven is above this earth, so are my thoughts and
my ways above your ways. If you and I want to know who
God is, there's only one place to go to find it, and that's
right in this pub. That's right in this pub. He's
not like us, brothers and sisters. He's eternally different than
you are and I are, and that's why we have a good hope. That's
why we can look to death and beyond and have a sure and steadfast
hope, because God is nothing like us. And the cheap way He
differs from you and I and everything around us, He's faithful. He's
faithful. Children of Israel used to have
this saying and the Lord reproved them for it. Why saith thou,
O Jacob, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed
over from my God? Have you not known? Have you
not heard? The everlasting God, the Creator
of the ends of the earth, He fainteth not, and He is not weary. There's no searching of His understanding. But who does think? Well, we
do. Who does grow weary? We do. But He's not like us. He's not like us. Can a woman forsake her suckling
child? That she should not have compassion
upon the son of her womb? Yes, she may. But I'm not like
her. I will never leave thee. I have
graven thee upon the palms of my hands. I'm faithful. I'm faithful. You'll confirm
to the end, because I'm faithful. You'll stand blameless in the
day of the Lord, because I'm faithful. When it's said to the
wicked, depart from me you cursed, you'll stand right there by my
right hand, and nothing will remove you. Heaven and earth
shall pass away, but you'll not pass away, because I'm faithful.
I'm faithful. Now, brother, you can go take
that and set it out at the table and chew on it a while. And digest
it. You can. That's food for your
soul. God is faithful. I'll read one
scripture to you. Turn to one scripture and close.
Look at Numbers chapter 23 and verse 16. Numbers chapter 23
and verse 16. Balak, the king of Moab, had
called Balaam, this false prophet, to curse the children of Israel.
And the Lord appeared to Balaam, and put a word in his mouth what
to say. Look in verse 16. Numbers chapter
23 and verse 16. Balaam was going to curse the
children of Israel, the seed of Jacob. And here's what the
Lord said to him in verse 16. The Lord met Balaam and put a
word in his mouth and said, Go again unto Balak and say thus,
And when he came to Balak, behold, he stood by his burnt offering,
and the princess of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him,
What hath the Lord spoken? And he took up this parable and
said, Rise up, Balak, and hear, hearken unto me, thou son of
Zippor. God is not a man that he should
lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said
it? And shall he not do it? Or hath
he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received
commandment to bless, and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse
it. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is
with him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brought them
out of Egypt, He hath, as it were, the strength of a unicorn.
Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob. Neither is there
any divination against Israel. According to this time, it shall
be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought? And you know why He wrought it?
Not for their sake, but because He's faithful. He's faithful. Bless His Holy Name.