Okay. All right, did you find it? Deuteronomy
chapter 7, beginning in verse 6. For thou art an unholy people
unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that
are from the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love
upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than
any people, for you were the fewest of all people. But because
the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which
He had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out
with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen
from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. 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, and repays them that hate him to their face,
to destroy them. He will not be slack to him that
hateth him. He will repay him to his face. It seems like every attribute
that we study, and I guess it should be this way, we think,
well, this is the best one. If we had to say one was better
than another one, and I realize there is a sense in which we
can't say that, but it seems like to me the faithfulness of
God, as we begin to think about it and study on it, is just so
beautiful in our minds and so confident to us. The faithfulness
of God is very confident. to us, attractive to us. Sometimes
you and I, as we've been studying the attributes of God, the power
of God, and the knowledge of God, we begin studying on the
knowledge of God, and we've realized, I think, the importance of God's
attributes. Sometimes I know we have made,
we have bore witness to things that we found out later that
weren't even so, to our own embarrassment. Maybe we didn't mean to, but
we've all told things and bore witnesses to things, and finally
we found out that that wasn't even true. And it's because we
didn't have the facts. We didn't know the facts. Aren't
you glad that God is not like that? And one of the things we
learned when we were talking about the knowledge of God, the
omniscience of God, He knows everything, and He knows it perfectly. And when He bears testimony to
something, it's true. It's true, because He's not ignorant
of any facts. If it's something that's taken
place in the past, if it's something that happens now, if it's something
that's going to happen, if it's a testimony concerning God Himself,
concerning us, whatever God bears witness to, it's true. because
He's not ignorant of any facts. He's all-knowing. And you and
I found out that was a confident attribute of God. And then, of
course, the power of God, as you remember us studying about
the power of God, how confident that is. We talked about God
making promises. And when He makes promises, He
has power to fulfill those promises. How many promises have I made?
I thought this week, and every time I think this, it causes
me anxiety, and the thought just comes to me, you've made somebody
a promise, and you didn't keep it. And I begin to think, who
did I make a promise to? I couldn't think of anybody,
but you know, we do that, don't we? We either were slothful in
fulfilling the promises, neglectful about it, or we don't have the
ability to fulfill the promises. But you know, one of the confident
things about the attribute of God's power is when He makes
a promise, He's able to fulfill that promise. Abraham was fully
persuaded that what God had promised, He was able to perform. Able, he had the ability. He's
not like us, is he? And we come here tonight to the
study of the faithfulness of God, and the reason I think this
is so attractive to us tonight is because How could God, and
why would we talk about the knowledge of God, knowing us and knowing
all things, we talk about the power of God to fulfill His promises.
What would all that mean? Or what would any other attribute
of God mean if He wasn't faithful? The faithfulness of God seems
like it's the crowning attribute of God. And that's why Moses
says here in verse 9, Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is
God, the faithful God, the faithful God. He will never suffer, David
said, His faithfulness to fail. It's His nature. When we talk
about attributes, it's His characteristic. It's His nature. We talked about
last week, I think it was, that there are some things that God
cannot do. He cannot lie. If he lied, he would deny himself,
wouldn't he? Because he's holy. He's just. He cannot lie. He cannot fail. If God ever failed
to do anything that he desired to do and purposed to do, he'd
cease to be God. Why? Because he's almighty. He
cannot fail. And if God was ever unfaithful
in the least degree in anything, you know something? He would
cease to be God. He would have to deny Himself,
because His very nature is faithfulness. That's His name. That's His characteristic. Remember that verse over in 2
Timothy. Brother Larry quoted this just a few days ago, and
I thought about this, where he said, if we believe not, if we
believe not, if we fall into unbelief in our hearts, and how
often we do that. If we believe not, yet He abideth
faithfully. He cannot deny Himself. He can't
deny His presence within us. He can't deny who He is. He cannot
deny what He is. He is faithful and therefore
cannot deny Himself. And here in Deuteronomy, I want
you to take your Bibles and I want you to see this. Here in Deuteronomy
chapter 7 and verse 8, He mentions here and gives us an example
of God's faithfulness. Here's the way He says it in
verse 8. Speaking of why that he brought the children of Israel
into the land of promise. Because the Lord loved you, and
because he would keep the oath, the promise, which he had sworn
unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty
hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the
hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Moses says here, I want to remind
you of an example of God's faithfulness. He brought you out of the land
of Egypt because He promised your fathers that He would do
that. The first promise He ever gave concerning that was Abraham. Now I want you to look back over
in Genesis. Terence has probably finished
with this in his study with the children. But look over in Genesis
chapter 15. Genesis chapter 15. The reason He brought the children
of Israel out of the land of Egypt into the land of Canaan
is because he swore, he made a promise to Abraham that he
would do it. And look here in Genesis, look
in chapter 15. And look in verse 4 first. The
word of the Lord came unto Abraham saying, Abraham said, Lord, I
don't even have any children. How am I going to have some seed
people if I don't have a seed, a son. Verse 4, And behold, the
word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine
heir, but he that shall come out of thine own bowels shall
be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad,
and said, Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be
able to number them. And he said unto him, God said
to Abraham, So shall thy seed be. A lot of people. But look
what he tells him down now in verse 13. And he said unto Abraham, Know
of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that
is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict
them four hundred years. And also that nation whom They
shall serve, will I judge, and afterwards shall they come out
with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy father
in peace, and thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the
fourth generation they shall come hither again, for the iniquity
of the Amorites is not yet full." In verse 18, "...and the same
day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, Unto thy
seed have I given this land. from the river of Egypt into
the great river, the river Euphrates. Now that's the prediction. That's
the promise. 400 years, and really it was
430 years if you go back and look where the Lord first made
this promise to Abraham. But now it's 400 years. Instead,
your seed, your people, are going to come out of the land that's
taken them in bondage, and they're going to come out with great
substance. And they're going to come and inherit this land.
Now look here in Exodus. This is very interesting, very
confident. Look in Exodus chapter 1. I mean,
time kept dragging on. Time kept dragging on. 100 years, 200 years, 300
years. Can you imagine this? 400 years. And now here they are down in
the land of bondage in Egypt, and look what's happening to
them. Look here in Exodus chapter 1, look in verse 8, Now there
arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he
said unto his people, the Egyptians, Behold, the people of the children
of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come on, let us deal
wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that when
there falleth out any war, They join also our enemies and fight
against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they
did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasured
cities, Python and Ramses. But the more they afflicted them,
the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because
of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children
of Israel to serve with harshness, rigor, And they made their lives
bitter with hard bondage in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of
service in the fields. And all their service wherein
they made them to serve was with harshness." Now, there's the
place they found themselves in. And if anybody would have been
looking to the promise, don't you think they'd have wondered,
Lord, Lord, what about the old? What about the promise? Is God
faithful? Well, look now in Exodus 12. I remind you of this because
this is what Moses was relating to in our text in Deuteronomy
7. Look here in Exodus 12. Look
here in verse 31. Here is after the firstborn had
been killed and Pharaoh's own firstborn had died, and he called
Moses and Aaron. He called Moses and Aaron by
night, right after midnight I imagine, and said, Rise up, get you forth
among my people, get out of here, both you and your children of
Israel, and go serve the Lord as you have said. Also take your
flocks and your herds as you have said, and be gone, and bless
me also. And the Egyptians were urgent
upon the people that they might send them out of the land in
haste, for they said, We be all dead men. And the people took
their dole before it was leavened, their needing troughs, being
bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And look at
this. And the children of Israel did according to the word of
Moses, and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver and
jewels of gold and raiment. You remember what the Lord told
Abraham? They're not only going to come
out, they're going to come out with great substance. Well, here
it is. Look down now in verse 40. So
the sojourn in the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt were
430 years. And it came to pass at the end
of the 430 years, even the selfsame day, it came to pass that all
the host of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. The faithfulness of the Lord. The faithfulness of God. And
that's what he said. The Lord has brought you out
of the land of Egypt and bringing you into the land of Canaan.
The Lord thy God, He is God. The faithful God. The faithful
God. That's wonderful, isn't it? That's
wonderful. As you and I study the Scriptures,
we see the faithfulness of God. As we see it in our own lives,
hopefully. Know therefore the Lord, He is
God. Great is Thy faithfulness, we
just sung that didn't we? O God our Father, there is no
shadow, no shadow, not even a shadow of turning with Thee. It is of
the Lord's mercies that were not consumed, the cause Thy compassions
fell not. They are new every morning. Great,
great is Thy faithfulness. And David said, you've established
your faithfulness in the very clouds in heaven itself. The faithfulness of God is established. And you and I can't imagine those
saints of old waiting for the promised seed, the Lord Jesus. Can you imagine when the Lord
told Adam and Eve that the seed of the woman was coming? And
how they began right there to wait on the coming of the Son
of God into this world. And the Lord Jesus said many
prophets and kings desired to see the things that you apostles
see. They longed for His coming. A
lot of them suffered. A lot of them gave their lives
because they believed and looked for the coming of the Son of
God to take to Himself our flesh and redeem them. They lived in
caves and dens of the earth and they waited for 4,000 years. And finally, in the fullness
of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman. And why did
He do it? He's faithful. God is faithful. He's faithful. You know one of
the chief characteristics of all a man is unfaithfulness. Don't we see it in our day? You
know, just almost every time anymore that I perform the wedding
ceremony for somebody, I can't help but say this. I just wonder
how long this is going to last. Men and women promise till death
do we part. And what happens? Unfaithfulness. Preachers, they have a charge
preached to them and promise to remain faithful to the truth
of God's gospel. And what happens? They leave
it. They leave it. Today is a day of unfaithfulness.
But you know man has always been that way. since the fall. Here's
the way David described it. There is no faithfulness in their
mouth. Their inward heart is wickedness. Aren't you glad then that we
can come here and get our eyes off a fallen, unfaithful man
and study about one who is faithful? He is faithful. The faithful
God. Look over here in another place.
Look in Psalms chapter 119. No, I'm sorry. Psalm 5 first.
Look in Psalm 5. Psalm chapter 5. And look in verse 9. Well, I don't know if that's
the right place or not. No, it is 119. I'm sorry. This is Psalm
119. Psalm 119, verse 89. This has to do with God's faithfulness
in preserving this earth and preserving all nature's providential
care over this earth. This is very comforting. Look
what he says in Psalm 119, verse 89. Thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all
generations. Thou hast established the earth,
and it stands. It abideth. Thy faithfulness
is unto all generations. In what sense is God's faithfulness
unto all generations? He has established the earth,
and it stands. You know, this is one of the
most confident things to me, especially the last two or three
decades. We have had men telling us that
we're going to lose our winter times, or we're going to lose
our summer times. It's going to quit raining. The
waves of the seas are going to cover us again. You know, we're
having this climate change, this global warming. And you and I,
none of us, none of us want to pollute the earth, do we? None
of us want to pollute the earth. But you know something, man is
getting very presumptuous when he thinks that he can change
the course of nature or destroy this earth. Do you know that?
And isn't it confident to us to know that the Lord promised
all the way back in Genesis that as long as this world stands,
there's going to be seed time and harvest. There's going to
be heat and cold. There's going to be winter and
summer. There's going to be darkness and light. And it's been 6,000
years and it hasn't changed, has it? Why? God's faithful. God's faithful. To all generations,
He's faithful. Thy faithfulness unto all generations,
thou hast established the earth and it abided. Look with me then over here in
Isaiah Psalm chapter 89. Psalm chapter 89. God's faithfulness. Let's look
at His faithfulness here right quickly. In this covenant of
grace, if you want to look up this word faithful and faithfulness,
you'll see it mentioned different times here in the 89th chapter
of Psalms. And it has to do with a covenant
that God made with Christ, His Son. You can read through here
and you can see the different aspects of this covenant. But
look here in Psalms 89 and look in verse 3. I have made a covenant
with my chosen. I have sworn unto David my servant. Now you read the context and
what you realize, he's not talking about David at all. But he's
talking about him that's greater than David. He's talking about
Christ. Look over in verse 20. I have found David my servant.
With my holy oil have I anointed him. with whom my hand shall
be established, my arm also shall strengthen him." Now think of
Christ. The enemy shall not exact upon
him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I will beat down
his foes before his face, and I will plague them that hate
him. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him, and
in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the
sea, his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry unto me, Thou art
my Father, my God, ye are the rock of my salvation. I will
make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.
My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant
shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to
endure forever. and is thrown as the days of
heaven. If his children forsake my law
and walk not in my judgment, if they break my statutes and
keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgressions
with a rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my
lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my
faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break,
nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth. Once have I
sworn by my holiness that I will not lie to David. His seed shall
endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall
be established as the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven."
God made a covenant with His Son, and all that God would give
to Him and do for Him, He said, I'm going to do it. I'm not going
to lie to Him. I'm going to be faithful. God's part in that
covenant. And you find it all the way through
the Scriptures. God's part in that covenant.
One of it is, He's forgiven us. Why? For Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake. Whatever God has promised Christ
that He'll do for Him, He'll do it. My faithfulness, He said. My faithfulness. My faithfulness.
And when the Lord Jesus came to this world, I want you to
look over at this. Look on Hebrews chapter 3. When
the Lord Jesus came to this world, He was so faithful. He was so
faithful. Look at Hebrews chapter 3. And
look here in verses 1 and verse 2. Hebrews chapter 3 and look in
verse 1. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ
Jesus." What about him? Who was faithful to him that
appointed him as Moses was faithful in all his house? Christ was
faithful. Moses was faithful as a servant.
Christ was faithful as a son. Poor Moses blessed his heart.
He did his best and he was faithful. But he never could even bring
the children of Israel into Canaan, could he? He did not get there
himself. But Christ, He is so faithful. What was He faithful
to do? Look back in chapter 2 of Hebrews
in verse 17. Look at this. This is one of
the things He was faithful to do. Wherefore in all things it
behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might
be a merciful, and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God to make reconciliation for the sins of His people." He was
faithful as a high priest. Faithful to come. Remember Hebrews
10. Lo, I come to do Thy will, O
my God. Faithful to take upon Himself
our humanity. Faithful to suffer. Faithful
when he was despised and rejected, never did retaliate, never did
lash out. He was faithful to remain meek
and lowly. Faithful in his testimony of
who God was and why God had sent him. He was called a faithful
and true witness. Faithful to hang upon the cross
in shame and in spitting. faithful to pour out His blood,
and by these means to make reconciliation for His people. One of the cheap
ways to describe the Lord Jesus Christ, His very nature, His
characteristic, all that He was and all that He done, we describe
Him this way, He was faithful to God. And you know something,
His faithfulness as a high priest, it did not end when he said it's
finished. The atonement was made. Sin was
put away. But you know he's a high priest
now. He sits on the right hand of God now. And he's still faithful
in things that pertain to God. Everybody that comes to God by
him, he's faithful to save them. Is he not? Those that sin, he's
faithful to forgive them. And those who come to God by
him, He'll never cast them out. Everything that pertains to being
a high priest, He's faithful in it. He's faithful to them. He's a faithful mediator between
God and man. David said it like this, Lord,
hear my prayer. Give ear to my supplication.
In Thy faithfulness, answer me. Why is Jesus Christ seated on
the right hand of God? To answer prayer. to answer prayer. He's faithful. The high priest
had no business of his own in being a high priest. He had to
deny himself. He wasn't even allowed to own
any land. He wasn't allowed to conduct any kind of business.
He had one job. He had one office. He was to
stand between God and the people. to represent the people before
God. He was to bring God to the people and the people to God.
And they met there in that high priest and those sacrifices.
Jesus Christ is not there to represent Himself. He is there
in faithfulness to God to represent those things that pertain to
God. And what is it? God's people. God's children. My son, you go, you atone for
them, and you bring them back to Me. This is what I want you
to do. And you know that's what He's
done. That's what He's doing. And in everything, everything,
Jesus Christ is faithful. He's faithful. So God our Father
is faithful. Christ Jesus is faithful. And
the Holy Spirit is faithful. He's a faithful God. Our God
is a faithful God. Think about this just for a few
minutes, and I'll not keep you much longer. As children of God,
as the Lord's people, every step that you and I walk on this Christian
journey, it should be full and unconditional
trust in our God's faithfulness. Trust. Put all your trust in
His faithfulness. And I want us to look at four
or five scriptures. If you'll turn there quick, we'll have
time to do it. Turn, and this is a good place to start. I've
mentioned this, but look over here in 1 John. We're pretty
close to that. Look over there to your right.
In 1 John 1, His faithfulness. Look at His
faithfulness. Boy, this means something here.
You're here tonight, and you're a child of God. This passage
here means something to you. Look in 1 John 1, verse 9. If
we confess, our sins. No man free from them. But if
we confess them, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He can forgive sins and be just
in doing so because those sins have been atoned for. He cleanses
us. Why does John add that? just
to forgive us and cleanse us. Well, it's not just forgiveness.
There is no forgiveness apart from blood atonement. So John
said it's not only forgiveness, but the only way forgiveness
can come is in cleansing. The blood of Christ cleanseth
us. So He's just to forgive us, but
He's faithful to forgive us. He's faithful to forgive us.
My goodness, isn't that a wonderful promise? Don't you depend then
upon His faithfulness? The next time you've got sin
upon your conscience and you're weary and you're burdened about
it, then just go to Him and take this promise with Him. Go to
the faithful God and say, Oh, my Father, for Christ's sake,
cleanse me from this sin. And confess it. And confess it. And as sure as He's God who is
faithful, folks, it's forgiven. If you feel it, I know if you
have a knowledge that is forgiven, this is enough, is it not? I'd
rather have this Word, I'll be honest with you, I'd rather have
this Word than any feeling of my conscience that I could experience.
I love feelings. I love feelings. But I tell you,
I'd rather have this Word. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful, faithful to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. Look in another passage. Look
in 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 1. And look in verse 7. 1 Corinthians 1. And look in verse
7. Well, this is another precious
aspect of His faithfulness. But all of God should believe
this and attribute it all to God's faithfulness. In verse
7, 1 Corinthians 1, 7, "...so that you came behind in no gift."
Boy, they have a lot of gifts in this church. "...waiting for
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ," look at 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 our
Lord. And in 2 Thessalonians, listen
to this, God is faithful who will establish you and keep you
from evil. He is faithful to establish you
and keep you. You say, Bruce, He ain't kept
me from all evil. Well, He hasn't either. But I
tell you what He does do. He is faithful to keep you from
that evil overwhelming you and dragging you away from Himself. You may have committed evil,
but has it got the better of you? Has it drove you to despair? Has it drove you from Christ?
No, because He's faithful to keep you from that evil. He's
faithful to keep you from the wicked one. The devil would overwhelm
us and drive us from Him and drive us into despair. Why doesn't
He? God is faithful. God is faithful. That is a wonderful
passage here. He shall confirm you unto the
end. He'll uphold you and keep you
until the end. Therefore, trust Him. Trust Him.
Look in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 at this. 1 Corinthians chapter
10 and look here in verse 13. I memorized this when I was a
young Christian. or the most difficult verse I've ever memorized
in my life. And I forget it every time I get in temptation. I forget
it. I have to go back here and remind
myself of it. 1 Corinthians 10, 13, "...there
hath no temptation taken you, but as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted to be tried, above that you are
able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that
you may be able to bear it." Now, this may not mean anything
to you until you find yourself under heavy trials and temptations. And you sometimes think that
you can't put one more step in front of another. Lord, I can't
go on. This trial, these temptations
have got me down. I have fought against them. I
bore them so long. How am I going to go any further?
Well, go to this verse right here. God is faithful. You think you can't bury any
more? Yeah, you can. Yeah, you can. He's not put too
much on you yet that you can't bury. He's faithful. He's faithful. Look in another place. Look in
Psalms 119. Look in verse 75. This deals with another aspect
of the life of a Christian. It deals with chastening, the
Lord correcting His people. If you're here tonight and you're
a parent, and your children go astray when they get a little
older, one of the things you're going to be afflicted with in
your conscience is, I wish I'd have corrected them more. I wish
I'd have known more how to teach them and correct them when they
did something wrong. That's something that afflicts
every parent's conscience when their children go astray. I could
have taught them better. I wish I had been more faithful
to teach them better, correct them better. Oh, you know something? The Lord is faithful to correct
His children every time they get by with nothing. If He lets
them by with something that they've done wrong, it's just to show
them mercy. He doesn't take out the rod every
time His people does something wrong. Sometimes He shows them
mercy, and they bless Him for it. They say, I thought the rod
was coming. Oh, bless God, He revealed mercy
instead. But you know something? He's
often correcting His people. He chastens them beatimes, the
Prophet said, often. And why? Well, He tells us here
in verse 75. Psalm 119 and verse 75. and that thou in faithfulness
hast afflicted me." Why would the Father afflict one of His
sons? Well, it has to do with faithfulness.
But why would He afflict him? Well, He tells us here in verse
67. Look up here in verse 67. Before
I was afflicted, I went astray. Why did God afflict him? He had
went astray. He had sinned. He had done wrong.
So God afflicts him, and then he says, but now have I kept
thy word. Those he loves, he chastens.
He's faithful. What should our response be to
that? Even when he afflicts his soul,
when we know that he's done it in faithfulness, our response
should be verse 68, thou art good, Well, that's not it. Verse 71,
it was good for me, it was good for me that I have been afflicted,
that I may learn thy statute. What is chastening about? I used
to think that chastening was just, all it was about was punishment. You know, I'm going to take off
my belt and I'm going to wear you out, son. But what's chastening
about? It's about teaching us isn't
it? If you whip your child and you've not taught him a lesson
by it, the whipping's vain. It's vain. David said, I went
astray, but he chastened me in his faithfulness. And it's good
for me that I might learn thy stature, a faithful God. And
you know those whom he doesn't chasten? They're not his sons. They're bastards. Not his son
at all. One more place. Look in 1 Thessalonians
5, verse 24. Turn over there right quickly.
1 Thessalonians 5, verse 24. Look at this. Faithful. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 24. Faithful is He that calls you.
He is calling you. Holleth, that means it's continuing
to happen, who also will do it. That's a wonderful verse. And
it depends upon his faithfulness. When God calls His people to
come to Christ and repent in faith, He calls them effectually
and they come. And you know something? He never
ceases to draw. He's always drawing us. He's
drawing us tonight, is He not? That's what we're doing here.
He draws us through the Word as we read it. He draws us in
His providence. He draws us sometimes in sickness.
He draws us by blessing us. He draws us by chastening us. He draws us. He calls us and
He calls us. And you know something? When
the saint lays his dying head on his pillow, the Lord will
call him to heaven. You come up here and you'll be
with me. And there is where he'll stay
in his soul. And his body, his body will be
waiting for another call. The body will be waiting for
another call. How was it Job said it? I don't
know if I can remember this or not, but he said something to
this effect. He said, if man die, shall he live again? He said, all my days will I wait
until my change comes. He said, I know I'm going back
to the earth. The skin worms are going to eat this body. But
in thy flesh I shall see God." Job, how is that going to happen?
He shall call. He shall call. And I will answer
Him. He shall call. Aren't you glad
He's calling you now? And aren't you glad He'll call
you on that day? How can we have any confidence
to lay down and give ourselves up to death if we don't believe
in God's faithfulness? to call us someday out of the
grave. And Paul said, He's calling you. And He will also do it. He will also do it. I'll quote this one to you if
I can. 1 Peter 4, verse 19. What should our response be to
God's faithfulness in all of these things? 1 Peter 4, verse
19. I'm not sure if I can quote this.
You'll have to go over there sometime Let them that suffer
according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls
to Him, and well do it, as unto a faithful Creator. If you are
His, maybe you are suffering, maybe you are being persecuted,
you are surely suffering within. Commit your soul unto God as
unto a faithful Creator. And I tell you, when we learn
to do that, and as we learn to trust Him fully, to trust Him
in His faithfulness, you know something? We'll experience this
quietness of our souls in all the providential way that
God leads us. If we'll learn to commit ourselves
to Him, the faithful Creator, you'll be quiet in your soul
as you do that. Just leave all things with Him.
He's faithful in everything. One last look at our text. I
must say this before we go. In Deuteronomy chapter 7. Deuteronomy
chapter 7. He not only said here in verse
8, the Lord brought them out of the land of Egypt to fulfill the promise that He sworn
to Abraham. But look in verse 9. Look here
in verse 9. When He said, Know therefore
that God, He is faithful God, keeping covenant and mercy to
them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.
He's faithful to do that. He's faithful to His promises.
But look in verse 10. He's faithful to this. He's faithful
to repay them that hate Him to their face. to destroy them. He will not be swiped to him
that hateth him. He will repay him to his face."
God is faithful to His promises, but you know something? He is
faithful to His threatens. He will fulfill all of His promises.
He will save His people. He will keep them. He will uphold
them. He will bring them out of the
grave and bring them up to heaven. But you know what else He will
do? He'll confront that unbeliever with his sins. He'll confront
an ungodly man or woman with a rebellion against him. And
he says, I'm going to repay you to your face. You denied me. You wouldn't come to me. You
wouldn't give yourself up to me. You wouldn't believe me.
And now I'm going to repay you. You sinned against me. You live
in rebellion against me. You wouldn't receive my authority.
You hated me. And now I'm going to repay you
to your face. I sent preachers to you. I made a Bible accessible
to you. I was good to you. I warned you
of this day. And now, because you didn't take
heed, I've threatened you. And now I'm going to fulfill
my threat. And you know, as sure as he's faithful to his promises,
to fulfill them. He'll be faithful to his threatening.
If he doesn't, he'll cease to be God. He'll cease to be God. If you're here tonight and you
haven't given yourself up to him, he will repay you. You'll give account, he will
repay you. There's no getting out of that.
He's not a man that he should lie. He's not an earthly parent. that He can tell something and
not come to pass. He's God. He's God. And He's faithful. So I would
encourage you children, I would encourage you with all my heart,
come to God. Come to Him in His Son, the Lord
Jesus. Come and get down and call on
Him. And ask Him to forgive you, to save you, to be merciful to
you. Because you've got to come to Him sometime. You've got to
come to Him. where you want to or not. You
may be here this afternoon and you don't even want to be here.
You'd rather be at home. You'd rather be in the bed. But
you're going to have to come sometime. If you don't come here
for mercy to Him now, then He'll bring you, Yahweh. He'll bring
you and stand you right face to face before Him. And then
He'll repay you to your face. God help you to come now. God
help us in grace to come now.