God's Faithfulness

We had a very pleasant hymn that we just sang just before we started this message, which is Great Is Life Faithfulness. And indeed, God's faithfulness is very great. And Abraham relied 100% on God's faithfulness, and he therefore trusted God implicitly. Paul, in the book of Romans, as we've been going through our Bible studies, presents a very clear revelation of God's unsearchable wisdom and grace in his plan of salvation. Today, brethren, I want to spend a little time looking at a few points about God's plan of salvation and ties in with God's great faithfulness, because this is a mystery that many people don't understand. And the final outcome, as we go through this exposition through the book of Romans till Chapter 11, which has got a wonderful flow. So that's what I want to go through today, and just look at that wonderful flow and that message, because in the end he says, all Israel will be saved. All Israel will be saved. And as you know and I know, God does not discriminate or makes differences between people who treats all the same way. He means that all Gentiles will also be saved. Obviously, it's provided that Israelites and Gentiles don't reject God's way. And that is a wonderful good news, which basically means gospel. It's a wonderful gospel that we have. And the Christian world doesn't understand it. Now, why doesn't the Christian world understand it? In 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3 and 4, it explains to us because Satan, and let's just read it, 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, it says, the God of this world, which is Satan, as blinded those who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. Do we really understand what we've just read? Because, oh yes, we understand that Satan is blinded people. The gospel has been blinded for those who do not believe. Do people really believe? Now, if you read just one verse before, it says, but even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. What do you mean to those who are perishing? It's because they're not believing, they are actually lost in the sins. They're disorientated and they're just completely unaware of what's going on. And that's what Satan wants to do to mankind. You and I know that Satan is the deceiver of the whole world. Revelation 12, verse 9. Now, I think it's difficult for us to comprehend that he's the deceiver of the whole world, because quite often you and I would say, you can deceive some people a long time, but you can't deceive all the people all the time. But Satan can. He's deceiving the whole world. Now, that does not mean that he's deceiving 90% of the world or 95%. That says he's deceiving 100%. And that means that you and I could also be deceived if we're not careful and if we're not watching ourselves. And you see the problem is people, as it says, they do not believe in verse 4. Well, Christianity in general will say, oh well, but I believe in Jesus. I do believe. Don't tell me I don't believe. Do they really believe? Now, there is a very simple scripture that you and I can turn to, which is crushed on the words in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew chapter 7, verse 21, Matthew chapter 7, verse 21. So let's just turn there, because it says basically man is saying, Lord, Lord, you know, I have done this for you and I've done that for you. Let's look at Matthew 7, verse 21. But they will not enter the kingdom of heaven. They will not enter the kingdom of God. But he who does the will of my father in heaven.

So, yeah, people are saying, Lord, Lord, in other words, I believe in you, Lord. But they're not doing the will of the father.

So, do people in the world obey God's voice and God's mouth? Come on.

Now, I'm putting a little bit of focus into God's voice in addition to God's commandments, because quite often we go through trials and we know what God wants us to do in words like his voice. But sometimes we question why the struggle, why and why.

And that gets back to the Hymn we're just saying, great is our faithfulness.

And we must not forget his faithfulness.

And that's why Christ says you got to do the will of my father in heaven. And they say, but Lord, I've prophesied. I gave great sermons. I preached. I went out and helped people. I cast off demons in your name.

I've done many things. People are being healed. I've anointed people.

And then Christ says, I never knew you.

Can you imagine what a shock it will be to those people and to you and I if we're not doing the father's will?

Because then he says, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.

So Christianity in general says, I would believe Lord, Lord.

But do they do the father's will?

In other words, do they listen to the father's voice?

And I'm trying to raise it up to a level that means it's more than just keeping the commands.

Great is our faithfulness. It's stepping out in faith.

Beyond just keeping the commands.

You see, the wall is full of deceptions. I don't have to go into any detail.

For instance, all you need to do is accept Christ, the immortal soul.

And you know, for instance, in Acts 2, verse 39 and verse 34, when Peter gave a sermon, he says, David is in the grave today. And people say, oh, well, you got an immortal soul. How can you have an immortal soul if David is still in the grave? And then there is many other deceptions you and I know. Like one of them is, well, the law of God is abolished. But God's law is, you don't have to keep it. It's abolished.

And yeah, in the sermon on the Mount, just one or two pages before in your Bible, it says in verse 17 of chapter 5, Matthew 5, 17, it says, don't think that I've come to destroy the law. Don't think I've come to abolish the law or the prophets. Because I do not come to destroy but to fulfill.

Now, the word for full is a very interesting one because quite often we focus in the point that Christ came to obey it. Correct. But to fulfill is more than a bad. Is to fulfill. Christ came to fulfill the law. What do I mean by that? For instance, isn't that in the law that you are to offer or they were to offer or a possible sacrifice? Isn't that part of the law? And wasn't that fulfilled by Christ being how possible? So Christ came to fulfill the law. Obviously, it came to obey and to fulfill it.

In the law, there were many sacrifices in the viticus. You have various sacrifices, the bird offerings and peace offerings and others. Christ came to fulfill those symbols.

And also to fulfill the prophets because the prophets prophesied about his coming and so he fulfilled it.

He didn't come to do away with the law. He came to do it. And so the wall is full of these deceptions and they are incited or maneuvered or manipulated by Satan. It doesn't matter which deception it is provided it is any deception. Some believe this, some believe that. As much as you are deceived, that's okay for Satan. But why? Why does Satan do that? And let's go back to the scripture I read a little earlier in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4. Because there it gives the answer. So let's turn to it 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4. It says, who has blinded the God of the soul has blinded those who do not believe lest it was so that the light of the good news, what good news of the glory of Christ would shine on us. Now, what is the glory of Christ? It says he is the image of God. So it's actually the glory of God. Ultimately, in God's plan of salvation is for you and I to be children of God in his kingdom. And you and I are to be glorified. We, you and I are to have the glory of God.

Now, of course, Christ said the Father is greater than what I am. And we read also that is different types of heavenly bodies, some with more glory and others with lesser glory. And that's an analogy that we will have the glory of God, but obviously much lower than God.

But we'll have of the same glory of that family. And that Satan does not want us to grasp and understand and us to live in a way that will reflect that way of life, which is what Christ exhibited for us as an example. And so today, brethren, as I mentioned earlier, I want to go a little bit deeper on this plan of salvation, highlighting a few points from Romans, because as I mentioned, ultimately, all Israel will be saved and all Gentiles will be saved.

And yes, provided they don't reject the calling and they turn away from the way. But it says, think about it, that we, the salvation is that we are to receive the glory of God. That is very big. And that is a wonderful hope and good news that Satan does not want mankind to grasp. And Paul in Romans gives a wonderful exposition that leads up to that conclusion in Chapter 11. And he goes through an intermediate stage or step in that, which he says that through faith, God's righteousness was imputed upon Abraham. And this is a thing that many of us don't fully understand. And so that is a critical step because then he goes on to how we need God's Holy Spirit.

And then we get that final end result of all Israelites being saved. So Paul begins in the first few chapters saying, everybody is sent. Gentiles have sent, Jews have sent, they're not any better. They all have sent. And particularly the Jews, because they had the law, they had the priesthood, they had the temple. To them, we made it. Not the Gentiles, but we made it. All that we need is a liberator from these Romans, a political liberator.

But we already made it. We already were there. But Paul explains and says, no, we all have sent. And then he goes on towards the end of Chapter 3 of Romans, Romans Chapter 3, verse 24. He says that all have sent, verse 23, and fallen short of the glory of God. So yes, we think about the ultimate end goal is the glory of God.

So we fallen short of that. And he says, verse 24, being justified freely by his grace, God's graciousness through the redemption or buying back that is in Christ Jesus. We are justified freely by God's merciful kind act through Christ. Oh, how this has become such a stumbling stone for so many people. Oh, therefore we don't have to obey the law and things like that. But that's not what it's saying. That's not what it's saying. Let's go back a few verses starting in verse 21, still of Romans 3. But now the righteousness of God, God's righteousness apart from the law.

Oh, you see, we don't have to obey the law. No, no, no, no, wait. The righteous of God apart from the law is revealed being witnessed by the law. You see, the law pointed in this in other words, is like forecasted or projected that Christ would come. And the prophets, you see, that's why it says that Christ does not do away with the law, but he fulfilled it and fulfilled the prophets because they pointed to Christ.

But he is talking about even the righteousness of God. And this is important for us to understand. It's God's righteousness that you and I need to seek. You know, you read the Beatitudes and it talks about hunger and thirst for righteousness. Obviously, it's not my righteousness or your righteousness. Otherwise, I wouldn't be hungry and thirsting for it because I have. You know, it's not self-righteousness, but it's God's righteousness that we got to look for. And so the righteousness of God through the faith and as it is in the King James version of Jesus Christ. So through what Christ did through that faith to all of us who believe. So Christ trusted in God.

He did this through what is done and the sacrifice is done. We now trust in turn. So it's faith on faith. So we trust God that what Christ has done, what God has done through Christ is good enough for us. And then it says for all have sinned and we justified freely by grace through what Christ has done to the redemption of Christ. But it does require something else. And now this is where people get confused. Quite often people change the word. You are being justified freely. They change the word to being saved freely. It's a different word.

It's justified. It means it's made right with God. And if you just go back one chapter in Romans chapter 2 verse 13, Paul explains that he says it's not the years of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. Now it's not a contradiction.

It's not a contradiction because in verse 24 of chapter 3, he says you justified freely by his grace. But in verse 13 of chapter 2 says the doers of the law will be justified. And so it's talking about a process that you are made right, but then you got to stay right. Let me put it in a very simple, practical terms.

Let's say that an individual has been caught driving under the influence and now he's fined, goes to jail or whatever the penalty. He was driving under the influence. What did he do? He brought the law, right? He transgressed and it's a penalty for transgressing. Now, how does he get that right? Well, he doesn't get it right by just now saying, well, I'm not driving under the influence anymore.

That doesn't pay for the penalty. What pays for the penalty is there's a fine or an imposition placed upon him or her by the courts that he has to fulfill. And so that record is clean, but so in other words, is now made right because the penalty is being paid. But now, just because he's made right, in other words, he's justified because the penalty has been paid, does not mean that now he can go on driving under the influence now.

Now he better stick to it otherwise at the end of his life or whatever he will have the same problem. So he was made right by the penalty being paid for him. But now that the penalty is paid for him or her, he has to continue doing the right thing. It's the same thing that Paul is talking about here.

We have sinned. We've been justified freely by Christ's sacrifice. The sin is paid. But now that he's paid and you quote unquote are out of jail, doesn't give you the right to continue sinning. You have to keep obeying the law, doer of the law. You will then be justified at the end. That's what it means in Romans 2 verse 13. So after Christ has justified you of past sins, now we need to stick to the law. You see, so that does require a commitment.

Does require that when Christ forgives us, there is a commitment. Yes, you've got to believe that what is done is good enough to pay for you. But you also have to repent and you also have to be baptized. In other words, make a commitment not to do it again. And then you have to walk the way till the end and prove that you are faithful till the end, wherever the end is.

You die or whatever. Christ comes or whatever Christ in God decides to be the end of your journey. So what indeed gives us this gift that our sins are forgiven? What is it? Because we say what we believe. It is very important to understand what we believe. It does not mean that now we don't have to obey God's laws. But that act of belief grants us forgiveness. And the example is the example of Abraham. And in Romans chapter 4 verse 3, we read, for what does the scripture say?

Abraham believed God and he was accounted to him for righteousness. God's righteousness, not self-righteousness. God's righteousness. So what did Abraham believe? Let's go back to Genesis 26. Because in Genesis 26 we see that Abraham listened to God's voice and kept his commandments and laws and statutes. Genesis 26 verse 5, he says, because Abraham obeyed my voice. And as I mentioned earlier, I'm emphasizing this point about listening to God's voice.

And this is because quite often we all go through big trials and we may ask why. Why? Why? I don't understand. You and I need to have faith and listen to God's voice. Because great is his faithfulness and he knows what he's doing. Even though you and I do not have the wisdom to understand why all those things. But he knows. He knows what he's doing. And besides that, Abraham kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws.

So let's go back a little bit earlier in Genesis 12 to see when is the first time that we can see recorded that Abraham obeyed God's voice and did what God told him to do in absolute faith, in absolute trust. In Genesis 12 verse 1, he says, God said to Abraham, get out of your country, from your family, from your father's house to a land I will show you. I'm not telling you yet where you're going to go. And I'll make you a great nation. How about you and me? You're 75 years old. That's what Abram was. Yeah, 75 years old. Basically had accumulated various things, whatever it is. And how God says, hey, leave your home, leave everything and go.

Where? I'm not telling you. Just go. What? Abraham listened to God's voice. I mean, it's not one of the 10 commandments. It's something else. I mean, I encounter people in other countries where it's very difficult to keep the self. And it isn't too easy for them to reason around to say, well, because life in this country is so difficult, God will understand.

And I don't have to keep the self. I can go and work because God will understand. Well, that's not listening to God's voice. That's not walking in faith. Oh, yeah. No, these people go through difficulties. Sometimes they can't eat. Literally, I mean it. They don't have food. They don't have anything to feed their family. It's hard in other countries. Really, it's hard. And it's hard for me as a minister to tell them, you've got to do this because my heart. But I go to them and says, have you prayed about it?

Yes. Have you fostered about it? Oh, I haven't fostered that. Well, we need to announce God and God does provide somehow, some way. But we have to when we have big trials in our lives and we ask why, why in this case, Abraham didn't know why or where he was going.

He just said he packed up and he went. He says he gave him a promise. I will make a great nation of you. You will have a lot of children. Whoever blesses you will be blessed. Whoever curses you will be cursed. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you. In other words, pointing that through his descendant, Christ, spiritual blessings will come.

You see, Abraham, at that time, was still Abraham. Abraham left his house. His security is everything in absolute faith. Trust that God will provide to rate his life for this.

Now, about 10 years later, in Genesis 12, the paper of Genesis 15, he says, well, now he's had a child through his servant, Ishmael. And then he says, well, or will I have will be a child from one of my servants or whatever, will be the heir. And God says to Abraham, now it will be one of your own children through Sarah. Now, understand, Abraham now was 85 years old about and Sarah was about 75 years old. Now, if you are 75 years old and you never had a child, you probably in your mind would have said, I'll never have children.

And God said to him in Genesis 15, verse four, he says, no, the one that will be your heir will come out of your own body. My own body means him and Sarah. The two are one flesh and therefore out of his body, out of that union.

And what did Abraham do? He listened to God's voice and read that in verse six, and he believed. He trust God.

But look at what it says because of what he trusted. That's not because he kept a Sabbath. That's not because he kept one of the Ten Commandments. It's because he trusted God in a promise God gave him that will have an inheritance and through his child, through his body, he's and his wife, which in the way of the wall was already dead. The child bearing capability was there and he believed. And that belief, that trust says God accounted it to him for righteousness. God considered that to be God's righteousness in Abraham.

That is amazing. I mean, we know that later he was circumcised. So this was before he was circumcised. And then we know that when that son Isaac was grown up like a later teenager or young adult, then he was asked to offer him and he had great faith. And God said, now I know that you fear me. You see, Abraham obeyed God's voice. With a lot of faith, with a lot of trust. And so if we go back to Romans chapter four. And now in verse four, because in verse three he says, Abraham believed God and he was accounted to him for righteousness. And that's what you and I read in Genesis 15. But now to him who works, the wages not counted as grace, but as as a salary. So if you do a job and you get something because of what you've done, that's an income. It's not a gift. But yeah, it is imputed into his quote unquote spiritual bank account. It's imputed. It's credited as God's righteousness. Graz. Free. And so he says, verse five, but to him who does not work, but believes on him, who justifies them, Godly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. You see, so it's not that you don't have to work, but what it's saying is this justification is a gift. And and it's a gift when we have absolute trust in God, absolute faith in God. And that is attributed or accounted or imputed into your spiritual bank account. Let's just call it that as God's righteousness. Not my own self-righteousness or your own self-righteousness. That's what the world doesn't understand. And the world twists that around and says, oh, well, therefore I don't have to go back. No, it's not talking about that. But it's talking that justification is given freely. And if back to the example I said about I gave about a person driving under the influence, the justification or the paying of the penalty is gratis. But once the penalty is paid, that person still has to stick to the law. And so he continues, verse six, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness, it was God's righteousness, apart from others. Not saying you don't have to work, but it's like that righteousness is a gift. Verse seven, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, whose sins are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. In other words, will forgive you.

This is an amazing gift. An amazing gift. By no means is it saying that you don't have to obey God. I mean, just look, for instance, at this example that Christ described in Luke 17. I just mentioned to you as a brief example in Luke 17 verse nine. Luke 17 verse nine, we have a situation where the apostles came and said increase our faith. And then, and really, it's actually talking about faith, as you can see in verse five. And then he gives the example of a servant going out and working and doing what he's supposed to do. And then he comes in and then he's got to do more. And he says, verse nine, does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded in?

He says, no, I don't think so. So likewise you, when you've done all those things, in other words, keeping the law, keeping the commandments, which are commanded, say we're an unprofitable servants. We've done what is our duty to do. Keeping the law, keeping the commandments is the minimum basic requirement. We've got to go over and beyond in absolute walking in faith, in trust, beyond that.

You see, so the promise to Abraham was not because of the law or because you kept the commandments or you've done this. In fact, you and I know that even after that, Abraham lied when he went to Egypt about his wife. So it was not his self righteousness, but the promise was given to him, not because of the law, but because of God's goodness, faithfulness, that God made a promise. You do this and I'll bless you. And he'll bide and listen to God's voice. And therefore he received that promise that was imputed to him as righteousness. So if we look at Romans chapter four verse 23 through verse 25, he says, Now it was not written for his sake alone. It was for for Abraham because he says in verse 22, he says it was accounted to him for righteousness. It was not written for his sake alone, but it was imputed to him, was credited to him, but also for us. That was written for you and I because it shall be imputed to us. If you and I walk in the same trust, it will be imputed to us who believe we trust in him. We listen to his voice on him. That's the father who raised up Jesus from the dead, who has delivered up, who was delivered up because of our faces and was raised up because of our justification. Have you missed the point? And actually talking about two things here in verse 25. One, he was delivered for our offenses. Christ gave his life for our sins and he died. But he was raised, resurrected for our justification.

Christ was resurrected for our justification. Therefore, we are justified, chapter five verse one, by faith. We justified by faith.

And therefore we stand, it says in verse two, through whom also we have access by faith into this goodness, this mercy, this kindness of God in which we stand. We hold on, we stand firm in what we believe and he says and rejoice in what? We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

That is the ultimate end goal for you and I, that God's got for you and I, that you and I will have the glory of God.

Wow, what a great hope. And you know it's a gift. It's a gift. And then he goes on to explain the love of God has been poured in our hearts by his spirit.

And then in verse nine, that's Romans five, he says much more than having now been justified by his blood.

So when he died and because of that, because he was sinless, he resurrected, we are made right with God by what he did. He paid for our sins.

We shall be saved. You see justified does not mean saved. We shall be saved.

And then he says at the end of verse ten, we shall be saved by his life.

You see, so we reconcile. Our sins are forgiven because of Christ has done as it says in verse ten through the death of his son and he resurrected.

So we justified that sin is paid. But much more having been reconciled, having been made right with God, have been made justified.

We shall be saved by his life.

How? Because he's now a high priest, he's now our defense advocate and he's our judge.

And when the accused, the Satan says, look and put your name down. I'm going to put mine. Look at what George said or how he reacted to some himself. That is not how he should have been.

Satan is doing that in front of the father, accusing me, accusing you. And Christ says, if, if, as we read in Hebrews chapter ten, if we approach him in a new and living way, having repented and asking for forgiveness, he will then forgive us.

Because you and I today have access beyond the veil for Christ's body and we have that forgiveness.

And so we saved by his life. Why? Because he's living today and he's intervening for us and, and when he went up to heaven, he sent us the Holy Spirit.

The power of God to help you and I overcome, to help you and I become different than the world. It was the sanctification of the Spirit.

And you and I, therefore, need God's Holy Spirit to grow. And that's what he then describes it because in Romans chapter seven, he says, hey, I've got, I've got sin in my body.

You read that at the end of Romans seven. I've got sin in my body. But then he says, who would rescue me?

Romans seven, verse 24, oh, wretched man than I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Why? Because he sends us his Spirit to help us. And then in chapter eight, explains how God's Spirit helps us and provided we have God's Holy Spirit and provided we led by God's Holy Spirit.

You and I allow ourselves to be led, we use God's Holy Spirit to change, to cleanse us, then we become more like God.

And that is God's faithfulness and how you and I can reach that glory. And then in chapters nine, 10 and 11, he shows God's faithfulness because God gave the Israelites a promise.

You can see that in chapter nine, God gave the Israelites a promise to be their people, to be God's people, and they disobeyed.

They disobeyed. But nonetheless, because they disobeyed, God's promise through the seed was to the Jew first, but then to the Gentile.

The Gentiles started responding and made the Jews jealous.

And the time will come when the time of the Gentiles will be finished as we read in Romans chapter 11, verse 25. It says, they are blinded.

Thank God they blinded because they're doing it, not understanding it. And so God can show their mercy later when God reveals them the truth.

But they blinded until the fullness of the Gentiles has come, until the end of the time of Gentiles, which is when Christ is going to come.

And then all Israel will be saved because they will understand this promise and they'll be given opportunity with God's mind, with God's spirit, and they will repent.

And so all Israel will be saved. And not only all Israel, but because God is the same to Israelites and Jews, to everybody, to the whole mankind.

You know, brethren, this is a wonderful truth. It's a wonderful truth. And that's why then at the end of chapter 11 says, in verse 32, For God has committed everyone to disobedience, that he may have mercy on everybody, Jew and Gentile.

Verse 33, out of depth of the riches, of the wisdom and knowledge of God, God is faithful. Great is thy faithfulness. We have to trust God and what he said when you and I go through difficult times. We have to listen to his voice and we have to trust.

Then is righteousness, God's righteousness, who be imputed upon us. Not our self righteousness. Am I saying that you can break God's law now? But that God's righteousness is imputed by grace because we believe in it. Now, why is that so important to God? Why is it so important that we just have to trust him?

I believe God has got some amazing things to do with you and I once we spread beings, then we will have to trust him completely.

And wow, what things will be achieved in the new heavens and new earth and the glory that we'll have and what we'll do, God will do through us as spirit beings in new heaven and earth. It will just be my body, but he needs to have beings that are fully trustworthy because he doesn't want another Satan.

And he has to test us completely like a test of a fiery trap. But you will know when you and I are made spirit beings, you will know and you will know that he knows. Like he said to Abraham, now I know that you always follow me.

You'll know the same thing for you and I. But in the meantime, we have to go through these trials. We have to understand that God's got a great plan for us and we have to trust him. Just trust him.

And that is a mystery of the kingdom of God, which is amazing. And there's a wonderful good news that the Christian world does not understand. And that's why it says in verse 36 of Romans 11 for of him and through him and to him are all things.

To whom be the glory forever. Amen.