Mr. Richard Thompson

Sermon Transcript

May 4, 2002

The God of Faithfulness

Good afternoon everyone. It is really good to be back in Cincinnati again, and like the others, would like to say hello to all of those who are hooked up and listening to services here. A very special hello to the brethren down in Atlanta. I hope that the transmission is going well, and that if we do have our Sabbath cat, you are treating it with respect. That is one thing that we do have in the Atlanta congregation. I really don’t know how that cat gets in there every week. The first Sabbath that I ever knew that there was such a thing, that we had a converted cat, this thing walked up and all of a sudden just sat down and just started looking up at me. And I thought, boy, that’s interesting. We’ve got all kinds of members here in Atlanta.

Now what a great congregation we have here. We have gone and gathered everything that crawls or has four legs, and brought it in here to worship. I don’t think we have any four-legged creatures in here this afternoon, but we certainly do have a very good group of two-legged. I would like to say thanks, very much so, not only for the song which was sung just a moment ago, but also for the very fine songs that were sung this morning at the dedication. I know that Mr. Shoemaker has worked very hard with this group, Mr. McClain with the group this morning, but we have had some superb music so far, and it really is encouraging and quite inspiring. So thanks to all of those of you who put that music together for all of us to enjoy.

Millions of investors and employees had faith in the leadership of Enron. As events of the last few months have very clearly shown, that faith was betrayed and totally shattered. Now there are those who are unemployed. There are those who have seen their stocks fall tremendously in value. Enron has fallen on very, very bad times because there was not the kind of faith that was exercised by the leadership toward those who trusted them.

Some expressed recently a great deal of hope. The Secretary of State, Colin Powell, could broker a peace agreement of some kind in the Middle East. As you are well aware, all of his efforts have not lead to a total peace. There still is the fighting. There still is the killing, and now there are those who have lost faith in the leadership of both Israelis and Palestinians. They wonder if there will ever be even a temporary kind of peace simply because of the lack of the faith in the people towards the leaders, and the lack of the leadership to be able to provide for the people a peaceful place to live.

When you begin to look at the world news, some of which was referred to a moment ago by Mr. Seiglie, you might not find very much good news as far as national media is concerned. I was quite encouraged this past week to see something that was very positive. The Hubble telescope is showing something about our Creator God and showing signs of what our Creator God has been doing for a long, long period of time. It still amazes me how astrophysicists can say that some of the things that the Hubble telescope has been able to picture, has been able to probe into deep space, and then produce pictures that are unbelievably incredible, and even some of the newscasters on the morning shows, anyway, have just been aghast at what has happened fifteen or so billion years ago. I don’t know how they know it was fifteen billion and not thirteen. I won’t argue, you know, it’s like money in congress - a few billion here and a few billion there and after a while you’re talking about real money.

So, a few billion years here, a few billion years there, but we have seen from deep space pictures of things that happened so many millions of years ago, of galaxies that have collided, the dust that has been produced, the fact that within these dust clusters there are now solar systems that are in the process of being created. Stars are dying; stars are being created; and the one we worship, the one we look to as far as the head of our church, Jesus Christ, made it all.

I’d like to speak with you this afternoon about a subject that I think is most helpful. It has been helpful to me through the years, and that is to concentrate on the faithfulness of God. We often times refer to our faith toward God. I would like to concentrate this afternoon a bit on how faithful God has been to us.

I’d like to begin by looking back in the book of Genesis at one of the covenants into which God entered with humanity, not only humanity, but as you will see, of all creatures on earth. We’ll find out this afternoon as we take this brief look at the faithfulness of God that God is faithful to Himself; that God is faithful to His people, and that God is faithful to the individual. In Genesis 8; we rely of course, on John 17:17 for the worship of the One who is true and faithful to Himself. In John 17:17, as we know, God said there that-

John 17:17 - . . .thy word is truth. Whatever it is that God has said, He must live up to. There is nothing which God has said which He cannot back up because His character is being expressed in those things to which He agrees.

In Genesis 8, I think it is very interesting to note what God said to Noah. In this particular case the flood had come, and now Noah was an individual who had been faithful to God, and as he says in Genesis 8:1 -

Genesis 8:1 - And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged; God remembered what it was that He had promised Noah. He made a promise to this man and to his family, and now, in order to make sure that not only Noah, but God Himself would be able to look at a certain sign and remember Himself what it was that He had agreed with to Noah.

Notice then as the chapter continues, coming into Genesis 9:9 - God is true to every covenant that He has ever made with man. He has done His part of the bargain. He has always fulfilled fully what it was He was expected to do. And then in Genesis 9:9 -

Genesis 9:9 - And behold I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you,

Verse 10 - And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.

Verse 11 - And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

Verse 12 - And then God said this - . . .This is the token of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations.

In this particular agreement, God is making a covenant not only with human beings but with all life on earth. You didn’t have to obey God to know that this covenant that He was making and the sign which He gave, as we read in Verse 13 -

Verse 13 - I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a token of a covenant between Me and the earth. One of the great covenants then, one of the great truths of God, one of the great promises that He made is not just toward human beings, but it is toward all human life. And once again, you can be an atheist, and yet, this will never happen to you. God will never flood the earth again. He is never going to cause or allow anything like this to happen ever.

Verse 14 - And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And notice what He says here; to me He gives a very special insight into what we need, and he says -

Verse 15 - I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

Verse 16 - And the bow shall be in the cloud; And notice what He says - and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. God put that bow up there, and He gives it that personal touch, that thing that - "when I see the bow," in other words, God said, "when I see the rainbow, it is a reminder to Me that the earth will never be flooded again, that the earth can be secure, and I will make absolutely certain that this is going to be carried out. This is a promise of faith, not only then to humans; it’s a promise that you can rely on whether you’re plant, whether you’re animal, whether you believe in God as a human, or whether you disagree with God as a human. God is faithful to His entire creation. Earth is special to God. God wants to do something even yet with planet Earth. He’s not finished with it. And he shows in this particular case I think a very intimate touch when he adds in verse 15, once again - I will remember My covenant every time I see the bow.

I sometimes have always thought when I see the rainbow, that’s what I remember that God said that I’ll look at that and well, God said that He won’t flood the earth again. But I think it when you really look at it, God is saying, "Listen. I look at it, and I think the same things as you do. I am with you in this covenant; you can believe in Me; you can rely on Me. This will never, ever happen again."

So God is very faithful to Himself, and even but that bow to remind, as if He needed anything to remind Him; He really didn’t need anything to remind him. I think He says that when I look at the bow I remember My agreement - that is for you and for me. For us to understand that He is very concerned about you; He is very concerned about me; He is very concerned about the life that is on planet earth.

God is also very faithful to all human beings in a spiritual and a physical way. Let’s go to Genesis 12. God is very faithful to His chosen people. He is faithful to those whom He has given certain special blessings. In Genesis 12:2 -

Genesis 12:2 - I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing:

Verse 3 - And I will bless them that bless you, curse them that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed. The Abrahamic covenant is a covenant into which God entered, and into which God has still sealed His name. His character is just as much on this particular covenant into which He has entered as He is all other of the covenants that He has entered into with man.

Let’s go over to Genesis 17. God is still faithful then to the promise that He made; there would be physical blessings to those who eventually would be the descendants of Jacob. We know, I think, enough of God’s word to realize that through Isaac and through Jacob these promises were going to be given, finally fallen on the two sons of Joseph. And primarily the English-speaking people of the world are the ones to whom the great blessings of planet earth have been given. God’s name is primarily on those descendants. But we also have the spiritual promise that God made, that all peoples of the earth were going to be blessed as a result of what God promised to Abraham.

God showed in a rather dramatic way that Abraham and Sarah could really trust Him because He was faithful to them. In Genesis 17: 1 & 2 -

Genesis 17: 1 -When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Eternal appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be you perfect.

Verse 2 - And I will make my covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly. Then in verse 5, He goes on to say -

Verse 5 - Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but you shall be named Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made you.

Verse 6 - And I will make you exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come out of you. Then in verse 15, He makes a rather staggering promise to Abraham and to Sarah -

Verse 15 - And God said to Abraham, As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.

Verse 16 - I will bless her, and give you a son also of her: yes, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

Verse 17 - Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? So here was God and He wanted to do something rather special for this man and for his wife, and so He made a promise with him. But He wanted to show them how faithful he was capable of being because He took two people well beyond the normal age for childbearing, and He said, "I’m going to do something extraordinary in you. I’m going to give life where there basically ought not be life. Where Sarah ought not be able to bear a child, I’m going to cause her to be able to have life." And so, and by the way, you can look through these examples here - it is interesting to me how God works in stages and steps with people. He doesn’t always throw everything out all at once for us. He gives us a little bit, then He adds to it gently. He adds to it what we can take at any one time, and He always is faithful that He has a bigger picture in mind. He knows where He always is going.

The other day when I was watching television in the morning, and they were showing one of these shots of outer space that one of the commentators, I think he is actually one of the astrophysicists who was talking. And he said that the area of the sky that the Hubble telescope had actually been able to cover, if you were to, on earth, hold your hand out, and you had like just one grain of rice, and you held that grain of rice up to the sky. He said that the area that this particular picture encompassed was about the same size as if you were to take that grain of rice, and around that grain of rice hold it up, and this one probe of the Hubble telescope was really encompassing only that much of space. They said that within that little small area, there were 6,000 galaxies.

When I came into the church, I read an article, I can’t remember where it was, which of the "National Geographics" it happened to be, but at that time, they were saying that there were only probably 10,000 galaxies in the universe. That has been expanded greatly because of our expertise as human beings to be able to probe and be able to take pictures and find out information about the universe that our Creator has given to us. He always has something in mind. He might start very small. He might start, and often times does; He begins with that which is impossible to do. Because what is impossible for humans to be able to see; what is impossible for humans to be able to comprehend; what is impossible for humans to be able to, on their own accomplish; God begins in a small way, just like that mustard seed. And as long as whatever it is with which He is working has been created or responds to what God has always done in every aspect of His creation. He has created nothing except whatever He has created is for the benefit of something other than itself.

He has not created a human being except to be a benefit to something other than itself. And in the case here of Abraham and Sarah, He did not cause this particular miracle of the birth of Isaac to happen just because it could make Abraham and Sarah happy. He was going to entrust eventually to their offspring, to their family, the great truths of God. They were to become eventually the sample nation that if they would obey God, if they would respond to Him, then all other nations would look at the house of Israel and would say, "Who is it who is your God? What great a God it must be that you worship. How is it that we can come to know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we too would wish to have Him as our God."

Of course we know that the descendants of Abraham have never really lived up to that. That’s the reason we have a spiritual church which Jesus Christ is in the process of working with, and willing to present to His Father at some time in the future because that then will be the sample spiritual nation. But God begins very small, does He not.

Every once in a while, as was mentioned by both Mr. Holladay and Mr. Smith, you look at this particular gathering and I do myself think back seven years ago. I remember that hot little room outside of Indianapolis. We say it was Indianapolis, but that first night when we met, I think it was to the west, southwest of Indianapolis. Mr. Graham, Sr., was the one who arranged all of that for us, and we showed up there, and I remember the first night going in there, and I didn’t know how many folks were going to be in that room. I thought maybe twenty, maybe twenty-five. I did know that there were certain individuals who had escaped from certain areas of the earth basically unscathed. Their names might have been defamed just a little bit, but they were there. Very encouraging, and yet you looked around, and you think, this is a rather small group of people. And all we wanted to do, to begin with, was to make sure that we provided a place where people could come to worship the God we worshipped and to hear the truths that we believed.

I had no idea that in seven years that we would be dedicating a building on a hill outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, to do the work of God. In seven years, God has really brought us a long way. I think God knew all along what He was doing. He can take care of whatever it is galaxy that’s messing around with some other galaxy out there, and it happened twelve billion years ago, and they’re just now getting to be able to see it down here. If He can take care and He knows that, and you know what really blows my mind? The Bible says that God knows every star by name. I figure that He knows all the stars that have died; all the stars that are now being created. He must have sort of a good memory. It’s hope for those of us who are getting older, that the day will come when we will have a brilliant insight such as He.

So when this promise was ultimately fulfilled in Abraham and Sarah, I don’t think they had the slightest idea of what it was that God had begun by one particular promise that He had made. Beginning, indeed, in Genesis 12 that all people of the earth were going to be blessed as a result of you. And that it was going to be through your son, Isaac, that all peoples would be blessed because a certain kind of life was going to come to earth, and that life was going to transform humanity from mortal to immortal.

In Genesis 19:19, once again, Jesus, the one who was the Lord of the old testament; the one who was the Creator, and Paul wrote of that in Colossians.

Genesis 19:19 - Behold now, your servant has found grace in your sight, and you have magnified your mercy, which you have showed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil thing take me, and I die: God looked after the person of Abraham. He looked after the individuals. It was not that He simply had such a big plan in mind that He forgot the needs of the individuals.

Let’s go to another example of how God dealt with, and of how God worked with those whom He had called. Let’s go to Numbers 14. God had made this promise to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and He has said that through them and through their seed a great nation was going to be, and God was going to work with these people. But in Numbers 14:11-21, we show how it is that God worked with His servants. He was willing to listen to His servants. He did not turn a deaf ear towards them even when God made such a declarative statement as He did in this particular chapter. You’ll remember how Israel continued to provoke God to anger. God finally came to the point where in this particular discourse between Himself and Moses, a declaration of what He was willing to do was made.

Numbers 14:11 - And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke Me? How long will it be ere they believe Me, for all the signs which I have showed among them?

Verse 12 - I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a greater nation and mightier than they. God knew the man, Moses, and the man Moses’ heart. Moses was not interested in himself. Moses was a great deal more interested in how good God had been to him. That’s the reason, when in verse 15, as God had said, "I will destroy this people and make of you a great people," in verse 15, he says this to God.

Verse 15 - Now if you shall kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of You will speak, saying,

Verse 16 - Because the Eternal was not able to bring this people into the land which He sware unto them, therefore He has slain them in the wilderness. In other words, you could not do what You said You would do. And Moses was concerned that that might be the word that people got, and he was much more concerned about what happened to the name of God than what God could do to his name and with his name.

Verse 17 - And now, I beseech you, let the power of my Lord be great, according as You have spoken, saying,

Verse 18 - The Eternal is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

Verse 19 - Pardon, I beseech you, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your mercy, and as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.

Verse 20 - And the Eternal said, I have pardoned according to your word: So the same One who created the heavens; who created the earth; who still knows what what’s going on in outer space is the One who listens to one man’s appeal. God always listens to the appeal of an individual who is more concerned for the name of God and the glory of God than for himself. That is consistent, and that is how God is faithful.

God is faithful to those who respond and who do show concern more for what is His will than one’s own will; what is the desire of God and not one’s own desire. And the heart of hearts of Moses is a good heart, which is probably one reason why you could say that Moses was a type of Jesus Christ, in that Jesus Christ was much more concerned about the glory of His Father than His own. That is the reason why the Father has given Him the greatest glory of all in the kingdom, and the same could be said of you and me.

There is no difference as to how God will be faithful to you anymore than He was faithful to Moses. He will be as faithful to you and to me as He was to Moses. And we can know that as long as we are of a mind and of a heart that God’s name, the character of God and the will of God, is much more important than we, ourselves, in getting our own way, and we’re going to be the ones who will be the beneficiaries of God’s goodness. He’s going to bless us, and if we yield ourselves to Him, He’s going to exalt in due time.

But God was not only interested in those who were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In Isaiah 42:1-7; Isaiah is one of the most incredible books in the Bible. I’m not saying that it’s better than any of the others, but it certainly is a fascinating study. One of the things that Isaiah certainly was shown was something that was somewhat foreign to the people of the day in which he wrote. And that was that those who were not descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would also receive the goodness of God, the God of Israel.

Isaiah 42:1 - Behold My servant, whom I uphold; My elect, in whom My soul delights; I have put My Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

Verse 2 - He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.

Verse 3 - A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

Verse 4 - He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for His law. Also in Isaiah 49:5.

Isaiah 49:5 - And now, says the Eternal that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Eternal, and my God shall be my strength.

Verse 6 - And He said, It is a light thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation unto the end of the earth. God is concerned not only for those whom He chose, the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He’s concerned for all peoples, all nations, all races. And as we heard from Mr. Seiglie, all different cultures of the world are to receive the truth of God. A light is supposed to go to all peoples. And when we think, though, about big nations, we think of God’s truth going to large groups of people, to Israel, to the English-speaking peoples, to all the nations of the earth. We’re certainly making an effort now to have magazines, and in some way or another, to reach as many parts of the earth with the good news of God’s kingdom as we possibly can. Here is a God who keeps His mind and knows what’s happening in the deeper spaces of space. He knows what’s happening and what He plans to do in a big way for the nations of the earth, and yet He is not a God who neglects to provide the individual needs of people.

Let’s go to John 9. The setting here is the last fall feast of Jesus’ ministry on earth, and I think that this particular example helps us to understand several factors about the ministry of Jesus, because in John 9 God shows that He is faithful to provide individual needs.

John 9:1 - And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from his birth.

Verse 2 - And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? The misunderstanding of the day was that if there was a grievous problem, a grievous physical problem of some type, then there must have been a grievous sin that preceded it. And what Jesus did was to correct that false understanding, and He said -

Verse 3 - Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. And there’s several things, several works that God intended to do in this man’s life, and I think that John 9 covers just about everything good that can happen in one man’s day.

If you have ever had a child born, and that child was born with a malady of some type, a sickness or disease. In this particular case I think that all of us who are parents can certainly appreciate the day of the birth of this young infant when he was born blind, and of the day that his parents must have had knowing that here was a little boy who was never going to see the light of day, and the grievousness and the hurt and the pain that they must have gone through as parents. And so keep that in mind as we go through this because there is going to be a squadron of phylactery flailing Pharisees who are going to fly into this man’s life and his family’s life, and they are going to totally ruin what should have been a day of great joy. There are always people who know how to destroy the best times that God provides, and these guys did it in John 9.

Verse 4 - I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night comes, when no man can work.

Verse 5 - As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. And so He told this man, and you’ll remember the account, He told them in verse 6 -

Verse 6 - . . . He had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,

Verse 7 - And He said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) And so the man went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. So here was someone born blind, and here was a young man, or a man, we don’t know really what his age was, but at least he had never seen the light of day, and all of a sudden he could see. Finally his eyes were opened.

Verse 8 - The neighbors therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? The only way that he could earn a living was to beg a living, because the blind were looked upon as the product of those who must have committed sin. And if you had a horrible malady such as this man, then it must have been either you or your parents who had committed some great sins. So basically they were semi outcasts from society even from the beginning in many people’s minds.

Verse 9 - Some said, This is he: others said, no, it is just someone who looks like him.

Verse 10 - Therefore said they unto him, How were your eyes opened?

Verse 11 - And he said to them, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received my sight. Now that‘s what happened. He just came up, and He told me to do this. He took this clay, and He spat on it and, put it on my eyes, and I did what he said, and I just did what the man told me to do, and now I can see.

Well -

Verse 12 - When they said to him, Where is he? He said, I do not know. They didn’t know where Jesus was.

Verse 13 - They brought to Him the Pharisees, him that aforetime was blind. Boy, you’ve got to bring in these guys to make a Sabbath day complete. A Sabbath day was rarely complete in the ministry of Christ without a Pharisee, a Sadducee or some other kind of a rare "cee" that was just going to make hay of God’s Sabbath day because these guys were really good at ruining the best of parties.

Verse 14 - So it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.

Verse 15 - Then again the Pharisees asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them (same story - this man is very consistent,) He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. Now the word had gone out before this particular feast season that if anyone knew anything about Jesus, that, you know, there was a bad word out for Him. They already had a bad reputation that had preceded him. If you remember this particular Feast, even His brothers said, "Well, if you’re going to do some great thing, why don’t You go on down there and do it and show Your signs." He didn’t even have much support from His own family. So when He came to the Feast at this particular time in His ministry, He was certainly not going to be well received by the Pharisees. And so after they said this, the Pharisees said -

Verse 16 - . . .This man (meaning Jesus,) is not of God because He doesn’t keep the Sabbath day. What Jesus had done was to start the process of healing. And according to Pharisaical law you could help that which had already begun to be healed, but it was breaking the Sabbath to begin the healing process. They had so many different rules and regulations that it was absolutely astonishing. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.

Verse 17 - So, they went and said unto the blind man again, what sayest you of Him that He has opened your eyes? Then He said, well, He is a prophet. He has to be a prophet. How else could anybody do such a great sign?

Verse 18 - But the Jews did not believe him. So what they did as they went out and they found his parents. And because the parents were so absolutely afraid that they were going to be put out of the synagogue, they really just sort of put off the questions of the Pharisees because they ruled by fear. So here were these individuals, these parents, who instead of being able to rejoice that from the day of this little guy’s birth until the day that he had been healed, they as parents, had probably suffered and wished like everything that their son could see again. But could they rejoice? Absolutely not because they feared being put out of the synagogue. And so they said, "Look, if you want to know what happened to him, you go back and you ask him." So they put it back on their son again.

Verse 23 - Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.

Verse 24 - Then again called they the man what was blind, They just wouldn’t leave him alone. They could not stand what Jesus Christ had done, and they somehow or another, they had to get to the bottom of all that Jesus Christ had done. They were furious at Him. And so here they come again. I mean that poor man, he says, "Man, if I had known that seeing was having to put up with these guys, I think I might ask a reverse process." Because here come the Pharisees again. They’d already beat him up one time. They had reviled him. They had ridiculed him, and then they had gone after the parents, and finally they came up and said - Give God the praise: . . that this man is a sinner.

Verse 25 - He answered and said, Whether He be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

Verse 26 - Then said they unto him. . ., What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?

Verse 27 - And he said, you asked me that awhile ago. Who do you work for? CNN? I’ve already answered that question. He said - I have already told you, and you did not hear: Are you guys deaf? Why don’t you go get Him to open your . . .well, he didn’t say that. That’s not in the Greek. That isn’t in the Greek, but he probably thought it. . . .wherefore would you hear it again? Will you also be His disciples?

Verse 28 - Then they reviled him, and notice what they did. This is always the antics. You are His disciple; and we are Moses’ disciples. Thinking themselves to be superior.

Verse 29 - We know that God spoke to Moses: as for this fellow, we do not know from whence He came.

Verse 30 - And the man answered and said. . . ,Why herein is a marvellous thing, that you know not from whence He is, and . . .He has opened my eyes.

Verse 31 - Now we know that God does not hear sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and does His will, him He hears.

Verse 32 - Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.

Verse 33 - If this man were not of God, He could do nothing. I daresay that this man had thought in his blindness many times of the nature of God and of what God was like. He must have had a good upbringing as far as who God was and especially of the love that God had for individuals.

Verse 34 - They answered and said to him, and notice what they said. You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us? In other words, you were born as a result of the sin of your parents. Once again, a very false statement, and a hideous thing to say. And they cast him out. Meaning they put him out of the synagogue.

What’s interesting to me is this: When Jesus heard that this man had his whole life changed; he had been blind at the beginning of the day. At the end of the day, he could see. But basically, he had no place to worship. They had put him out. They had sent him away. He couldn’t go to the synagogue any longer; he was pretty much by himself. His parents were even afraid to have anything to do with him for the fear that they would put them out of the synagogue as well.

Here is a man who pretty well was isolated. He was alone. Jesus knew what being alone was all about. He knew what being alone later was going to be all about as well. And so what did He do? Well, typical of God. It is amazing in God’s word, you can find this in both Old and New Testaments, of how many times God went out after somebody. Let’s face it, He went out after Abraham. He had to go out to the desert to get Moses. He had to go get somebody from here and somebody from there. He even had to go get Jonah out of a big fish’s mouth. God will do anything including fishing to get His servants. And so -

Verse 35 - Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, to me, this is one of the more interesting personal aspects of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus knew that this man needed something more than physical healing. He needed a place to live; he needed a place to hang his religious hat; he needed a place to worship God. And it was Jesus Christ who made sure that he had such a place. . . .when He had found him, He said unto him, Do you believe on the Son of God? Now there is a progression of this man’s understanding of what had happened to him and this example.

Let’s go back, for example, to verse 11. The first time that this man was asked, "Who did this to you?" He said, "A man called Jesus." In other words, the first depth of his understanding was that this Man had done it.

Now the second time that the Pharisees came back, and they began to ask him and talk with him, in verse 17, they said, "What do you say that He has opened - Who was it who did this." And he said, "Well, He must be a prophet."

And so He went from a man to being a prophet. And this man’s understanding, his comprehension of what had happened to him was indeed a miracle. But more important to the man was who is was who had done it for him. And then we hear, in verse 35,

Verse 35 - Do you believe on the Son of God?

Verse 36 - He answered and said, Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?

Verse 37 - And Jesus said unto him, You have both seen Him, and it is He that talks with you.

Verse 38 - And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him. That man in one day, and obviously God knew not only the failing eyesight, but He knew the heart of this individual. But he started by calling Him first a Man, then a Prophet, and then the Son of God. There was a growth process in the relationship that Jesus saw from this miracle. It is one thing to give physical sight. It is another to give spiritual sight. Jesus Christ did both to this man, and you know what? This man came sort of on his own to the first two, that first that He was a Man, and then that He was a Prophet. But Jesus had to be the one who said, "I am the Son of God." And Jesus went back to make sure that he knew that. That "I am the Son of God." I am the one who did this for you. And immediately the man knew that he was in the presence of God and he worshipped Him. This is the way God sometimes does things. He starts out; He’s headed in one direction; and a step at a time, He brings us to Himself. You can always guarantee that God is that way; He is faithful to provide the individual needs of people.

Let’s go to I Corinthians 10:13. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth this particular

verse -

I Corinthians 10:13 - There is no temptation taken you but such as I common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.

God has the steps figured out ahead of time. He knows what is ahead. He knows what the future holds, and He is faithful that when we do have trials and difficulties, very stressful situations, that He is always there for us. He is faithful to help each and every one of us with our individual needs. And it could be that we’re blind to see what it is that God has in mind. That if we turn it over to God, and say, "God, this is in Your hands; I worship You the Son of God that came as a Man; Who is the Prophet that is talked about in the Old Testament, but whom I worship as Jesus Christ and who is my Savior. Also, in Hebrews 10:19 -

Hebrews 10:19 - Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

Verse 20 - By a new and living way, which He has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, by His flesh;

Verse 21 - And having an high priest over the house of God;

Verse 22 - 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.

Verse 23 - Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for He is faithful who promised;) There is a God, and He is absolutely faithful to what it is that He has given His life towards, and for whom He has given that life.

Verse 24 - Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

Verse 25 - Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.

God is quite capable of taking care of all of humanity, of all life on planet earth. He is quite capable of taking care of His physical house of Israel, and He certainly is quite capable of taking care of His spiritual house of Israel. And more than that, and I think encouraging to all of us, He, when He builds each of us as an individual offspring of His, just like He went after His little brother whom He had just given sight for the first time, He will come after us. There are times when perhaps we won’t necessarily know we need Him to come after us. God is faithful to come after us when we don’t even know we need Him. This man did not understand that there was something yet again which God wanted to do beyond what it was that He had already done. But God knew; Jesus Christ knew. Here was a man who was ready to worship the true and the living God. And he was faithful to that man’s needs at the most important moment of that man’s human life. And that’s the same God you and I worship.

Let’s go back to Isaiah 57:13-16. We worship the God of faithfulness. We, as a church strive as best we can to preach the gospel of His kingdom to the world, and to care for those to whom God has given His Spirit. We worship the God Who inhabits eternity as we read here -

Isaiah 57:13 - When you cry, let your companies deliver you; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he that puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain;

Verse 14 - And shall say, Cast you up, cast you up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of My people.

Verse 15 - For thus says the high and lofty One, the One who inhabits eternity, God inhabits a dimension so far beyond the outreaches of the known universe that it really

is incomprehensible to the human mind. This is the God who is faithful to you and me, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. So here is a God who Himself is inhabiting eternity. He rides the heavens. He stretched them out with His mind, and with His love, He gave life. His greatest creation is the human being. His greater creation, spiritually speaking, is a family of sons and of daughters, of young individuals to Him because He is the one who has always been.

When Isaiah wrote these words, it’s sort of in one verse, Isaiah 57:15, if you realize it, here is the greatest power, the greatest life, the perfect love that inhabits eternity. And with whom does He wish to reside? Those who are humble, those who are of a contrite spirit, those who are willing to worship Him. I really did appreciate, not only the quality of the singing that the choir did this morning at the dedication, and the ABC choir did this afternoon, but I borrowed from Rebecca Evans a copy of "A Journey of Faith." This is the last song that they sang this morning, and I’d like to leave you with these words, "Our faith in Christ will not be broken; we will walk in the light of His Word. And with the love and grace we find in this place we will go and serve our Lord. Faithful servants forever, we will go forth hand and hand facing challenges together as we follow God’s command. Our faith in Christ will not be broken; we will walk in the light of His Word. With the love and grace we find in this place; we will go; we will serve our Lord."

When we begin to think then about the faithfulness of the God that you and I worship, God has shown Himself to be very faithful to us. May He help us to continue to show ourselves faithful to Him.