I'd like to bring a message tonight
on God is faithful. And I'd like to bring another
message on by whom you were called. And then another message on fellowship
with his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Let's read this verse together.
God is faithful. By whom you were called unto
the fellowship of his son. Jesus Christ, our Lord. God is faithful. That's our subject for tonight.
God is faithful. God is. That is the ultimate reality.
That's more real than anything else we know about. God is. Paul said, in him, we live and
move and have our being. We read in Hebrews 11, 6, he
that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him. He is. God is. You know, something Lynn says
quite often. regarding some kind of circumstance or event, she
says, well, it is what it is. You know, you deal with it accordingly. It is what it is. You can't change
that. Well, God is as he is. There is such a thing as the
isness of God. He is as he is. He said, I am that I am. Now,
that's how he is. The reason we know his isness,
what he is, is he has made himself known. He's made his isness known
in this book we call the Bible. His holy word, he makes himself
known, his isness. For instance, the Bible says
God is love. 1 John 4, 8. Not here's love and God fits
that definition. No, that's the wrong way. Look,
God is love. The Bible reveals that God is
holy. God is omnipotent. He's all powerful. He has the
power to do whatever he wills. God is sovereign. He has a will
and he's going to make sure that whatever he wills, it's going
to come to pass. He's got the power to do it.
That's who he is. God is omnipresent. He's everywhere
at once. God is just. God is merciful. God is gracious. We can name
all these things that the scripture reveals to us that God is and
understand this. When we talk about God's isness,
he's not in parts. He's not part just and part merciful,
and those two parts balance each other out. What he is, he is
completely. He's not in parts. And according
to this passage of scripture we just read, God is Deuteronomy 7, 9 says, Know therefore
that the Lord thy God, he is God, be faithful God. What's that mean? That means
that you can trust him. Completely. That's what his faithfulness
means, it means you personally can completely rely upon and
depend upon him. He is faithful. He is utterly and completely
reliable. Listen to this scripture. Numbers
chapter 23, verse 19 says, 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? That is our God. He is utterly
faithful. You personally can completely
rely upon and depend upon Him. He is the faithful God. And His
faithfulness is such that there's nothing that can be compared
with or likened unto it. You know, I love faithful men. I love faithfulness in individuals.
Yet no faithful person can be compared to the faithful God.
He is utterly faithful. Listen to this scripture, Psalm
89, 8. Oh, Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto
thee or to thy faithfulness round about thee? His faithfulness
can't be compared with any other faithfulness. No one is like
him. God's faithfulness covers him.
Truly, he is the faithful God. God is faithful. The reason that God is faithful
is because he is immutable. What's that mean? That means
he never changes. He never changes. I want to give
you two scriptures, one from the Old Testament and one from
the New Testament regarding his immutability, the fact that he
never changes. But it's a comforting thought
to know that what he was. He is. And what he is. He always will be. He never changes. I could sooner conceive of a
round square than I could have a God that changes. He never
changes, you know, even the idea of perfection says he doesn't
change. Is God perfect? Is he perfect? Well, if he changes,
that means he'd be different, different than what he was. He
would no longer be perfect. He would either improve in his
changing, evolve in his changing, or grow worse in his changing,
and that cannot be. Now, would you turn with me to
the book of Malachi? Malachi chapter 3, the last book
in the Old Testament. Malachi chapter 3, right before
Matthew. Verse 6, For I am the Lord. I am Jehovah, I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Now, would you turn with me to
James chapter 1? I'd like you to look at this verse of scripture
with me also. Now, the reason God is faithful,
the reason we can utterly rely and depend upon him is because
of his immutability. He never changes. Look here in
James chapter 1. Verse 17. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above. And cometh down from the father
of lights with whom is no variables. Neither shadow of turning. There's no variations in him,
he never changes, there's not even the shadow of a change. He is utterly changeless. God is immutable. He doesn't
change. Now, he's immutable in his essence. Now, I don't know what God's
essence is. I don't know what God's made of, nor does anyone
else. It's impossible to grasp what his essence is, but whatever
his essence is, whatever he's made of, it never changes. Now, He is the only one who never
changes. And this is a remarkable thing
to think about. You know that you don't have
one cell in your body that you were born with. Not even one. We're continually changing. Continually
changing. All created things are continually
changing. And how many changes do you go
through in one day just the way you feel? Everything's always
changing. I mean a rock, solid as a rock,
that rock's always changing in some form. Nothing stays the
same. No material object is immutable. I don't care what it is, it's
not immutable. Only God is immutable. He does not change in His substance. You know, He even charges the
angels with folly. The unfallen angels. He charges
them with folly. Why is that? It's because they
could change if He allowed it. He's immutable. Only He's immutable. Everything else changes. But
God is immutable in His essence or in His substance. He never
changes. God is immutable in His attributes,
His characteristics, whatever they were or they are. Was He
all-powerful when He created the universe? Of course He was. He still is. And He always will
be. Was God sovereign when He spake
this world into existence? Was He in absolute control? Of
course He was. He still is. He always will be. Was He all-wise when He planned
salvation before time began? Of course He was. And He is now. Whatever He was, He is. Whatever He is, He shall be.
God is immutable. in his attributes or his characteristics
and God is immutable in his decrees. Whatever he purposed before time
began is not going to be changed. You know, prayer doesn't change
his decrees. When we pray, we don't ask him
to change something. We're really asking for him to
change us and bring us in the line with his will. Isn't that
what we want? I want to be brought in line
with his will. I really mean it when I say,
not my will, but thine be done. That's the desire of my heart.
That's the desire of every believer's heart. I want his will to be
done, and I want my will to be brought in line with his will.
But he never changes in his decrees. Let me show you that from the
scripture. Turn to Isaiah 46. I love this passage of scripture.
I think it's awesome. I've quoted it many times. Isaiah 46, beginning in verse
9. Remember the former things of old. For I am God and there's
none else. I am God and there's none like
me. You know, one of the glorious things about the Lord is you
can't even compare anything to Him. There's nothing that you
can compare Him to. That's one of the reasons why
idolatry is so evil. What are you going to compare
Him to? He's incomparable. He said there's none like me.
There's none that can be compared to me. Verse 10, here's what
He does. He says he declares the end from
the beginning and from ancient times, the things that are not
yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure,
calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes
my counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. He is unchanging in his decrees
and God is unchanging in his love for his people. He says,
behold. I've loved you. With an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee. He cannot love less. He cannot
love more. And he cannot stop loving. John said we've known and believed
the love that God has to us. God is unchanging in his promises.
And in his threats, whatever he's promised, he's good to his
word. Now, you can count on this. You
can depend on this. This is not, quote, theology. This is the very foundation of
our faith. God is faithful. What he's promised, you can count
on that. And what he's threatened, you
can count on that, too. God is utterly faithful because
he is immutable. And because he's immutable, he
is faithful, he can be trusted completely. Now, I want to make
three statements regarding God's faithfulness. And here's the
first statement I want to make concerning his faithfulness.
God is faithful with regard to the past. And I think you'll
understand what I mean when I read this passage of scripture to
you. Would you turn with me in Second Timothy, chapter two?
God is faithful with regard to the past. He's faithful with
regard to who he is. Or who he was, see who he is,
is who he was, and he's faithful with regard to what he's done
in the past. Now, look at this passage of
Scripture in 2 Timothy, Chapter 2. I actually believe that I've
understood this passage of Scripture for the first time. Verse 13. Says. If we believe not. Yet he abideth
faithful. He cannot deny himself. If we believe not. Now that's not talking about
somebody who does not believe the gospel and rejects the gospel,
but they don't need to worry. They're going to be saved anyway.
It obviously doesn't mean that. Let's talk about if we believe
not. Here's what he's talking about when he says, if we believe
not, you remember when that fell in Mark chapter nine said, Lord,
I believe. And he meant that so sincerely,
Lord, I believe help thou mine, what? Unbelief. Now, that's what he's talking
about, if we believe not. This refers to that person who's
oppressed. Who's weak. who's fearful, who
wonders if they even have a drop of faith. Much like David felt,
is His mercy clean gone? I'm ready to halt my sorrows
continually before me. Has God forgotten to be gracious?
This person feels so weak, so sinful, so beaten down. How can
I possibly be saved? How can I really even know the
Lord? How can I be saved if I feel like this? Now that's the person
that's being spoken of here when it says, if we believe not, he
abides faithful. But notice what it says, and
this is what hit me like a ton of bricks. If we believe not,
he abides faithful, he cannot deny himself. You see, because of union with
Christ, every believer is himself. He can't deny himself. It's impossible
for him to deny for him to deny me. I don't care how weak I am
and how how trembling I am and how much fear I have for him
to deny me would be for him to deny himself because of the union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. As he is, John tells us in 1
John 4 17, as he is, So are we in this world right
now. I'm united to Him. And for Him
to deny me. Now this work He did for me,
He did before I was ever born. He purposed my salvation. He's
not going to go back on that. He paid for my sins. And when
He paid for my sins, it was before I was ever born. He's not going
to go back on that. He cannot deny Himself. For Him to deny
a believer. I don't care how weak and far
away and cast off that believer feels. For him to deny that believer
would be for him to deny himself. And he's not going to do that.
Aren't you thankful for union with Christ? We read that to
him this morning. Near, so near to God, nearer
I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
Son, I am as near to God as he. Dear, so dear to God, dearer
I cannot be. In the person of his dear Son,
I am as dear to God As he cannot deny himself. Turn to 1 John chapter 1. Verse 9. If we confess our sins, That doesn't simply mean you
name them all individually because you don't know what they all
are. Most of the sins you've committed, you're ignorant of.
Did you know that? Most of the sins you've committed, you probably
thought they were good things. What it means to confess my sins is
to agree with what God says concerning me. It's to take sides with God
against myself. You're right. I'm wrong. That's what it is to confess
your sins. Now, if we confess our sins, it says he is thankful. Thankful, remember this idea
of God's faithfulness. He is thankful and just to forgive
us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It doesn't say that he's merciful and gracious to forgive us of
our sins, does it? Now he is merciful and gracious to forgive
us of our sins, but that's not what this passage of scripture
says. It says he's faithful. Faithful. And just to forgive
us of our sins. Now he's faithful to forgive
us of our sins because he had determined he was going to forgive
them. They're forgiven. He's acting in faithfulness to
his purposes, to his work, to his decree. The obvious example
of this is Mephibosheth. You remember Mephibosheth? Before
Mephibosheth was ever born, there was a promise made between Mephibosheth's
daddy, Jonathan, and David. They made this agreement. I want
you to show mercy to my kids. I want you to show kindness to
my kids, even after I'm dead and gone. And you know what David
did after Jonathan was dead and gone? And after all David's enemies
were defeated, he didn't have to worry about anything. And
yet he stops and says, is there any that I can show the kindness
of God to for Jonathan's sake? He determined to save Jonathan's
children. He is faithful, faithful to forgive
us of our sins. He's faithful because He determined
to forgive us of our sins. Christ died for our sins. He's
not going to go back on His faithfulness. He's faithful to forgive us of
our sins. And it says He's just, not merciful. Although He is merciful, but
that's not what it says, is it? It says He is just to forgive
us of our sins. If Christ died for me, God's
justice demands my salvation. It's almost scary to say that,
isn't it? But it's true. God's very justice demands my
salvation. God would be unjust if he didn't
receive me to himself. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. He's just with regard to the
past. You see, God is faithful to what
he's done in the past. What were the Lord's last words
from the cross? You know. It is finished. You know what that means? It's
history. It's history. It's completed. It's over. It's
finished. So God is faithful to what he's done. God is faithful
with regard to the present. Would you turn with me to Lamentations
chapter three? That's right after Jeremiah.
Lamentations, Chapter 3. I want to begin reading verse 18. And I said, Lamentations, Chapter
3, verse 18. And I said, My strength and my
hope is perished from the Lord. You ever said that? Remembering my affliction and
my misery, the wormwood and the gall, and I have no doubt that
this really is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking from the cross.
You know, when it says in verse one, I am the man that has seen
affliction. He's truly the man that has seen affliction. This
is the words of the Lord from the cross, but it's also the
words of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is telling us exactly how he felt
and he felt cut off. He felt like the Lord had separated
him. He said, remembering my affliction and my misery, the
wormwood and the gall, my soul hath been still in remembrance
and is humbled in me. This I recall the mind. Therefore,
have I hope. It's of the Lord's mercies. That we're not consumed. Because
his compassions. Fail not. They are new every
morning. Always in the present, always
new. Great, he said. Great is thy
faithfulness. You know, when we sing that song,
that hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness, this is the verse that inspired
it. Great is thy faithfulness. Would you turn to Hebrews chapter
10 for a moment? Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 18, now, where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. What's he talking about? Well,
in verse 14, he said, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. That's what he did on Calvary
3. He perfected forever. Those that he died for, those
that were set apart by the grace of God. Now, where remission
of these, these sins, where it is, there's no more offering
for sin. Don't try to bring one. Don't try to bring one. That's an insult to what the
Lord Jesus Christ did. Now, let's go and read from verse
19. Having therefore, right now, present tense. Remember, he's
faithful to the present. Having therefore, brethren, bold
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way. It's new. It's not old. It's
new. And as a matter of fact, that
word means, you can look this up in the dictionary for yourself,
that word new means freshly slaughtered. How is it that God could forgive me of
the sins I've committed today when I committed the very same
one the day before, and the day before, and the day before. How
can He continually forgive me? Because the blood of Christ is
always new. It's just as if it was freshly
slaughtered before the Lord. You think of how sensitive the
Lord is to the blood of His Son. Oh, it's hard to even imagine.
Freshly slaughtered, let's go on reading. By a new and living
way, which he had consecrated us through the veil, that is
to say, his flesh and having right now present tense, having
an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with
a true heart in full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water,
let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.
And here's why. And all this is done in the present
tense. For He is faithful. That's why. That's why I can
come in right now. Isn't it amazing when you have
sin fresh on your conscience? And you feel so bad, and you
think, well, I can't pray right now. I need to wait. I can't
really come into the Lord's presence right now. I need to wait until
I feel better, until I feel my praying is better, or somehow
I'm more spiritual, or something like that. No! If I'm a believer, I come. I'm
to come right now. Because I'm always welcome through
the blood of His dear Son. Always welcome, because he's
faithful to the present. Here's another scripture regarding
this. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. This scripture used to scare
me a lot because of the way I heard it preached. 1 Corinthians chapter
10. Verse 13. There hath no temptation taken
you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful. who will not suffer you to be
tempted above that which you are able, but will also with
the temptation make a way to escape that you may be able to
bear it. Now, I've looked at that scripture before and I thought,
well, what that's saying is God won't allow me to be tempted
above that which I don't have the ability to say no to. He
won't put on me so much temptation that I can't take it. I mean,
if I will, I can say no to that temptation. Does that ever work? Does that ever work? I mean,
could you honestly, well, I was strong enough to take care of
that one. That's really not what that passage of Scripture is
saying. It says God is faithful who will also make the way of
escape. What is the way of escape? The
gospel. He's faithful always to make
that way of escape, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the
way temptation is dealt with, and this is the only way temptation
can be dealt with, it's not, I'm not going to give in. I'm
not going to give in. I'm not going to... I'm saying
no. I'm not going to give in. Well, I wish you could. I hope
you do. Does that work? The only way I escape temptation
is by looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. It's looking to Him that I escape
temptation. My efforts to beat it down won't
work. But he is faithful, that way
of escape, that looking to the Lord Jesus Christ is always there. God is faithful with regard to
the present and God is faithful with regard to the future. Would
you turn to First Thessalonians chapter five? Let's begin reading verse 16. Rejoice. Evermore, you know what that
means right now. Under all circumstances, no matter
what you're feeling, it's just a rejoice evermore. Pray without
ceasing. In everything, give thanks For
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. That thing
that you have such difficulty thanking God for. You feel so
burdened about it. You don't like it. It makes you uncomfortable. It's
a burden to you. It's a thorn to you. It presses
you. You think, oh, if I didn't have
to deal with this, things would be so much better if I didn't
have to deal with this. You know what Paul says to do?
Thank God for it. This is God's will in Christ
Jesus concerning you. This is His will for you. This
is exactly what you need. Quench not, verse 19, quench
not the Spirit. Don't dampen out His influence
by your sin, by your unbelief. Despise not prophesying, despise
not preaching. That's what he's talking about,
preaching, true gospel preaching, despise not prophesying. Well,
we're in a mess when we get a critical ear, aren't we? We can't hear.
He says, don't don't get a bad attitude about preaching. Prove
all things, test what you hear by the word of God. Hold fast
that which is good, hold on to it, it's a blessing. Abstain
from all appearance of evil. If it smells bad, stay away from
it. If it seems inconsistent with the truth and with the gospel,
stay away from it. You know, you can smell error.
You might not even be able to tell exactly what it is, but
you can smell it. Somehow it's not consistent with
the truth. He says abstain from it. Abstain
from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly. And I pray, God, your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless under the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when I read that passage
of Scripture, how do you feel like you do? Rejoice evermore? How do you do that? Pray without
ceasing? How do you do that? In everything,
give thanks? Even the stuff that's so difficult
and so troublesome, give thanks for it? Boy, these are Difficult
commands, aren't they? Very difficult. As a matter of
fact, they're impossible to the flesh. But look what he says in verse
24. After making all these commands, he says. Faithful is he that
calleth you. Who also will do it. Every one of these commands, everything God commands you to
do, and you must do it. He is faithful to cause you to
do it. He's faithful to his promises,
so there's nothing here that should discourage us. Faithful
is he, utterly reliable is he that calleth you. Who also will
do it, turn a few pages over to second Thessalonians, chapter
three. Verse three. But the Lord is faithful. Who
shall stablish you, you may remember from a couple of weeks ago, we
considered this thing of being confirmed and established, it's
the same word. Stablished. To establish means
to be kept from falling, to persevere all the way to the end. Now,
I must persevere. I will not be saved if I personally
do not persevere all the way to the end. The Lord said that. He said, he that endureth to
the end, the same shall be saved. Now, how in the world am I going
to endure to the end? Faithful is he that calls you,
who shall establish you, who will cause you in his faithfulness
to persevere all the way to the end. This is not something I
fear. He's going to cause me to. Faithful
is he that calls you. You haven't persevered to the
end yet, but he's faithful to make sure you do. Paul said to
the Philippians, being confident Be confident. It's wonderful
to be confident in it. Being confident of this very
thing that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it, will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ. I think
of what is said of our Lord in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2.
He's called the Author. That's the Beginner. He's the
Author and the what? Finisher of our faith. He is faithful to cause you,
to cause your faith to persevere all the way to the end, to cause
you to persevere all the way to the end. So God's faithful.
God's faithful to the past. God's faithful to the present.
God's faithful to the future. God is faithful. And because
He is faithful, you and I can completely depend upon what He
said. I'd like to look at one last
Scripture. Turn to 1 Timothy. I know that this is my favorite
verse of scripture. I've got a lot of favorite scriptures,
but this is my favorite. This is the favoritest of the
favorites right here. 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 15. Paul says this is a faithful
saying. It's a saying that is utterly
and completely reliable. You can count on this. You can
completely depend upon this because God is the faithful God. He doesn't
change. This is a faithful saying and
it's worthy of all acceptation. Everybody ought to have this
verse as their favorite verse. That's what it means. This ought
to be everybody's favorite verse. It's worthy of all welcoming
this as the best news they've ever heard. Is this your favorite
verse? It ought to be. What's he say? This is a faithful saying and
it's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. Did he do it? He surely did. And here's the
other question. Are you a sinner? I'm not asking
you right now if you're a believer. I'm not asking you if you're
a Christian. I'm not asking you if you have faith. I'm not asking
you about anything that you know, except this one question. Are
you a sinner? Beloved, if you could answer
yes to that. Jesus Christ died for your sins. You are a saved individual. Are you a sinner? Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, and this is an utterly faithful
saying. And I will stand amongst the
redeemed in His presence in that great heavenly choir singing
His praises worthy as the Lamb. And there's only one reason why
I shall. He is thankful. Thank God for His faithfulness. Let's pray.