God's Faithfulness

What I want to talk about today is something I've been thinking about in terms of... it seems like so many people, we live in crisis after crisis after crisis, a never-ending series of crises. And what happens if we get so enmeshed in that, we tend to be totally controlled by our anxieties and our fear. I mean, just the world around us would drive us nuts, right? So we're driven by our anxieties and our fears. And the more we're driven by anxiety and fear, the more we become susceptible to anger. The more we're driven by anxiety and fear, which we all experience, fear is built into us. I mean, none of us here are going to go to the zoo and jump into a den of lions, right? I mean, we should have fear. We can be anxious over something, trying to make a decision. Certain levels of that are good for us. Other levels can destroy us physically, destroy us emotionally and mentally, and hold us back in our relationship with God. Once we're driven so much by those emotions, we begin to pull back from the peace that God can give to us. So what are we supposed to do? Because, you know, you wake up in the middle of the night and maybe suddenly you're just flooded with anxiety because of something at work, or because some issue you're having in your family, or some job issue, or some issue with sin. You're struggling with sin, or maybe some church issue. Issue here, issue at the larger church, you know, and we have these anxieties and these fears. And the more we are enslaved by that, the less we will respond to God. So what do we do? Well, there's a number of things to do. I'm going to start with one. Now, first thing you do is prayer. But, you say, well, where do I go to the Bible? And it says, do not be anxious, right? Paul wrote that. Oh, that helps me. I'm anxious, and the answer to it is, do not be anxious. That's said in the whole context. What I want to do is zero in on something about God. That whenever we're in times of anxious anxiety or fear, and it's leading, especially to anger, we zero in on something about God. Because I don't have faith. God's not working this out. I don't know what I'm doing. I've been out of work now for six months, and I just don't have a job. I mean, I have to admit, I was starting to have a little anxiety about a hall for Murphys' room. I spent two months looking for a hall, and the very first place I wanted to go to would not answer my emails. I sent an email, they didn't answer. I'm looking at places. The prices are exorbitant. Some of the places are so small, it'd be terrible to be in. It was just other other places. One place had a giant stained glass window behind where the speaker is, and there's about a six or seven foot tall Jesus looking down on you. I said, no, I'm not going to stand there and have the kids say, who's that behind Mr. Petty? Okay, I'm not going to do that.

Everything did work out. Finally, in desperation, I sent another email to the place, this very first place I wanted to go to, and I wrote back and said, oh yeah, yeah, they just forgot and sent me the email. So, Thursday, two days before today, where we had no hall, I sat down with them and signed the leases. We had negotiated it on Tuesday. I sat down and we signed it. So, it was down to two days before. And God said, I was going to give you what you wanted, son.

But at the minute, I was starting to get anxious. I started to get anxious. Like, what am I going to do? Well, I guess I may have to go to the little place that's going to cost $1,500 more a month than we can afford. I swear I'm just going to have to do. And I wasn't going to the giant Jesus place. I just wasn't going there.

You know, he let it go down to that point. And now we have this hall. Everybody's ecstatic. And the people that are renting it to us, it's a Methodist church. And they're not only so nice, they told us, we need you here. You know, the Methodists went through a split. We've got to have money here to keep this nice hall. So, we're renting it out to other people. We've rented it to you before. And we want you here, permanently. And it's like, how did that work? I don't know. But if you get lost in that anxiety, if you get lost in your fear, then you end up in a very bad place. What we have to do is remember something about God. You know, we talk about our faith in God. I can guarantee you, God doesn't have much faith in us. Right? But God actually talks about how He wants us to understand He is faithful towards us. Now, faithful means, I will do what I say. You can trust me because I'm faithful. If I say it, I'm showing up. If I say, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it. I'm faithful. And God actually tells you and me all the time, understand I am faithful to you. Now, we'll say, well, husband and wife are faithful to each other, right? They don't go out and commit adultery. They're committed to each other. And God uses the same terminology to say, I am faithful to you, to us. Now, we don't think about that much, but it is what He tells us. So, we're going to look at some ways that God says He's faithful to us. Philippians 1.6. Philippians 1.6.

I'm breaking in the middle of a thought here. I'm going to do this all through this short message because, you know, usually I'm going through everything, all of Paul's details and everything he's talking about. I just want to hit some thoughts in his incredible little statements he makes in what's a long sentence in English. It's even a much longer sentence in Greek without punctuation as we know it. But he says, verse 6, being confident, okay? You know, confidence is a nice thing. When you feel very sure about it, you know it's going to be done. Being confident in this very thing that He who has got a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. He says, I want you to be confident that He will do for you what He said and what He said He would do is He would change you. The promise God made to each one of us is that once we receive His Spirit, after we repent and we're baptized, when we receive His Spirit, He will do a work in us until the day of Jesus Christ comes and we know what happens then, we're resurrected, and we get to see God as He is. His point here is you have to have confidence that God's doing that in you because He said He would. He will complete the work. The only way the work of God won't be completed in us is we walk away from Him and say, no, I don't want you to do that work anymore because He won't take away our free will. God will, you know, if we say, no, I don't care about you, I don't want anything to do with you, I'm walking away from you, and I don't want you to do that work with me. He'll still try. I mean, God should make us do whatever He wants, but He's not going to take away our free will. So He says, if you stay with me, I will do it. It says He will complete it. Understand it is God's faithfulness. It is us staying with God in life, this whole life, this strange adventure we're on. And in that, He will do His work. I use this sometimes in funerals where there's been someone who's died of Alzheimer's. And people say, well, how can God had, you know, forgiven that person, and then they all lose, the person loses their mind so they can't be. They, God, you know, they lost their mind. They can't now be in the resurrection. No, if God allows you to get Alzheimer's, it means He's done with you. God never says, three more weeks and the person would have made it.

That's not how He, He, we have, deals with us. We have to be absolutely sure He is faithful to do what He said, and He's going to get us there if we'll just follow along. And we have to have the confidence of that. 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1.

In other words, in those times when all are lost, seem lost, you know, job situation or relationship issue or whatever you're going through, start looking up all the places where God makes a covenant or God makes a promise or God, it says God is faithful or God says, I will do this and then realize He's not just saying that. Who's He saying it to? He's saying it to human beings. That's what He's saying it to. And if we've been called by God, these promises are to us.

1 Corinthians 1 verse 4. He starts this, and it's interesting, this is all part of the introduction to this letter to the Corinthians. He says, I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God, which was given to you by Christ Jesus. And then He explains how God is enriching them. God is giving them everything they need. God is taking care of them in spite of the fact it doesn't seem like it.

In fact, in verse 8, He says, who will, okay, this is what's going to happen, who will confirm you to the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. The same thing He had said what we read just a minute ago. God is going to work in you to get this done and then to explain to them, okay, oh, this means I have to work harder. If I just work harder and I just do better, and maybe if I'm more on this or that, and He says, wait a minute, step back.

God is, verse 9, God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Yes, we have an effort that we have to do. Complete effort is complete surrender, complete commitment to God. But our surrender and our commitment can't change us. We're surrendering and committing to someone who can. It's who we submit to that matters. It's who we surrender to that matters because only God can make this change. Only God can create in us to be His children.

And that means we can find security in God's faithfulness. God is faithful. He's making that statement to the Corinthians and then to us who read that letter. God is faithful to do what He said to you, to you personally. God says, no, I told you I would do that if you'll just follow along. I will do it. Boy, there's times when God can't do it. It's my life's too terrible. I've got this problem. I've had that problem. These terrible things are happening to me. And then we struggle with our faith. But understand, God will be faithful to us sometimes when we don't even have the faith.

When we give up, it's sometimes when we see God's faithfulness. Our faithfulness to God only endures when we hold on to His faithfulness to us. Our faithfulness to God will only endure what happens in life when we are absolutely sure of His faithfulness to us. I'm in trouble. I've made a mistake. I've said I've done this. I've done that. Or I seem hopeless. My life seems hopeless. But God, then, what brings us back, God is faithful to me. I trust what He says He will do.

Now, we don't always know the outcome of His decisions. I mean, wouldn't it be great if every time we were sick, we prayed and boom, we were healed? We wouldn't have to say it. You know, God, I've been sick. Boom, I'm healed. But that's not how it works. It's part of a relationship with God. And the struggles of this life is part of what this life is all about.

I don't like that anymore than you do, but it's the truth. And so we take it to God and we know He's faithful to us. I mean, to wrap your mind around that, the Almighty God, I didn't say He had faith in us. He's faithful to us to do what He says He will do. He says, you can trust me when I say it, I mean it. That's what faithfulness is.

If we rely on our own strength, we will fail. But remember, God did not call you to fail. God called you because He said, if you trust, I will be faithful to you. And you know, sometimes when we don't trust, He's still faithful to us. Even when we do fail, He's faithful to us. That's the amazing thing about God. When He sells you, He will do it. Except when we absolutely rebel and reject Him, then that's something different. But in our weaknesses and our struggles, He's always faithful to us. You know, boy, that child is up. That is a problem child. But it's my child. That's God's response. It's mine. And I'm faithful to that child as long as they will stay in this relationship with me.

A second promise is in 1 Corinthians 10, 13. He says, Paul writes, no temptation has overtaken you, except such as this common demand. Okay, in other words, whatever temptation we have to sin, somebody else has the same temptation. It's sort of funny with us as human beings, we tend to see our temptations as, oh, you know, that's just, you know, it's just a terrible temptation I have to fight. You look at somebody else's temptation and say, how are you tempted to do that? You know, if you never drink and you see an alcoholic that's tempted to get drunk, it's like, what's your problem? I don't have that problem, but you may have a temptation to lie or slander or gossip. Oh, well, that's your temptation. And that person may say, well, I don't, I don't slander anybody. We always see other people's temptations as worse than ours. But the point he's making here, every temptation we have, somebody else has the same temptation. And every human being has a lot of temptations. Here's what's amazing though in this statement. Because he says, here's, here's, this is all one sentence, but okay, what? You have temptations, but God will punish you. God will, whatever, no, but God is faithful. So when you're tempted, God will do something. But when you're tempted, you'd give in, God's going to punish you. He's faithful to punish you. That's not the point he's making. Although God will punish us, this isn't the point of this verse. Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Now he's not talking here about grief. He's not, you know, people say, well, I don't know. I had this trouble in life. My, I lost my job and, and it was just beyond more than I could bear. No, he's talking about temptation to sin. I will give you a way out. We have to be sensitive enough and believe that he's faithful, that we're in temptation. When we're tempted, we look for the way out. We usually don't. And then we slip into the temptation. But when we're tempted, God's always going to give us a way out. That's part of his promise. He didn't say, I'll take away the temptation. He said, I will give you a way out. I told this story before, but it just, it's such a great story. And it proves the point. There was a man who was trying to lose weight and the guy would eat a half dozen doughnuts every day to work, put his way to work. It was hurting his health. And he'd done pretty good for a while. He just took a different route. So he went down a few blocks and went around the bakery and he came home and he said, I gave in the temptation. I stopped on eight and a half dozen doughnuts. And she said, what made you give in the temptation? He said, it was funny. I was driving to work and I was thinking about something else and I forgot to take the detour. And I'm driving along and suddenly I smell the doughnuts. And I look over and there's the doughnut shop. And I drove by and thought, I resisted temptation. Boy, that smelled good. So I drove around the block again so I could smell the doughnuts. And it was great. I smelled the doughnuts and drove on. But you know, man, the sixth time around, there was a parking space open right in front and I drove in and went and bought the doughnuts. He had the way out. He drove by the place and he turned around and went back. See, that's what we do. God gives us a way out. He says he will. God is faithful to give us a way out.

But we drive around and around until the parking space opens because we like smelling the doughnuts.

A third point. Once again, I'm not going to... Each one of these could be a sermon, and I'm just trying to give you some promises. You find your own promises, but I want to show you where God is faithful to you. And you have to go pray about this and ask him about this and say, God, I've come here to ask you to give me your promise. You know, you could go ask God for the promise that he made, the promise you can go say, but you promise me. Give me what you promise, because I can't do it myself. 1 Peter 4. 1 Peter 4.

And verse 12.

Give you the context here. He says, Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing had happened. He explains to them that there's something terrible that's going to be happening in terms of persecution on the church. And he says, but he tries... He encourages them. Verse 13 says, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's suffering, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. So he says, look, you may be made fun of by people. You may be beat up by people. You may lose your job. You may even be persecuted and you may be beat up. Maybe even some people be killed. He said, that's what happens to Christians. And he's trying to encourage them. And then in verse 19, he wraps up this train of thought. Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to him in doing good as a faithful creator. God, when you were baptized, when you received God's Holy Spirit, God made you a promise. You are a flawed creation. We are a creation that we're not, you know, when we, God gets ahold of us after this birth, we are, we have a corrupt human nature. We're a flawed creation. And his promise is, I will recreate you into my child.

And so Peter says to the church, when you suffer for obeying God, remember, he's a faithful creator. He doesn't say he's a faithful God who will never let you suffer. That's for following him. He's a faithful God who will never let you be persecuted. That's not what it says. He says he's a faithful creator. He's actually fulfilling what he said he would do in you. You know, a lot of times after baptism, we're so surprised how hard this life gets. Yeah, that's a faithful creator for you. That's a faithful creator. Ad doing what he said he would do.

Number four, let's go to Hebrews 10. When you give a sermon and you follow a sermonette, it's not too bad. But two splints are sometimes hard. I know that. So we'll try to keep this focused. Hebrews 10, 19. Therefore, brethren, having boldness who entered into the holies of holy by the blood of Jesus. So the whole point here is we get to go to God because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. By a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. And let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Jesus Christ promised us, I will die for you and I will be resurrected for you. And you accept that, you accept that, then I will present me myself, he says, to God as your sacrifice for your sins. Do you believe that? Because that's what he tells us. You know, you can only experience forgiveness for your sins when you believe this statement here, that he is faithful. He says, I will forgive you, and he means it. Oh no, I remember what I did 10 years ago. I remember what I did 20 years ago. Is he faithful to forgive that, or is he still holding out over you? You know, we can only truly live with the freedom of being forgiven if we believe God is faithful to have forgiven us. If we don't believe in God's faithfulness to forgive us, we can never really experience life as a forgiven person. We always believe God somehow is waiting to punish us, and he's not. Now, we mess up. You know, guys, this child, this is gonna hurt. You're wrong here, and I'm going to deal with you, but remember, that's a whole different thing, then. I want to hurt you. A father says, I want to help you, and it may take a little punishment here to get you where you're supposed to go. That's a whole different viewpoint than I wish to punish you. I wish to hurt you. That's a whole different viewpoint, and we have to believe that God is faithful to forgive us when we repent. And if you believe that, you can repent and know he's forgiven you. And then be absolutely overwhelmed and amazed. How great is God to forgive me. How good is God to forgive me? How righteous is God not to be offended by me for what I am? And he is faithful to say, you accept Christ, and I will work with you, and yes, I am faithful. I do what I say, which means I actually forgive you. That's a promise. And our last point, 1 Thessalonians 5.

So you can start looking up promises from God, covenants from God, faithfulness of God. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23. I really like these two little verses here. Sort of the end of this letter he writes. He says, now may the God of peace. The whole point here is God is creating peace between him and us. Because we were estranged from God. We're the enemies of God. God is creating peace between him and us. So the God of peace himself sanctify you, make you holy. That's what sanctification is. You completely, may he make you completely holy because this is what he's doing. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved, blameless, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. Paul tells the Thessalonikean, the people of Thessalon- The Thessalon- No-leans. Yeah, the people in that city there in Asia Minor. You ever start saying something and then you stumble over and you can't go back? Say, okay, I'm just going to go on.

He tells the Thessalonians that he- you have to be faithful in God, or believe in God's faithfulness, so that he will resurrect you and he will do it. Because you can't resurrect yourself, can you? God promises us his kingdom. God promises us the resurrection. Only we can give it up. He'll let us do it, but he won't give it up. God is faithful. We can decide we're unworthy, or we can decide God is unfair, and we can decide to go out and live, you know, against him and rebellion against him, and he'll still be faithful until we absolutely get to the place we can't be renewed, and that can happen. But even, you know, people say, I don't know what happened to me. I left the church, left God for five years, lived this totally terrible life and rebellion against God, and then came back one day, woke up and said, what am I doing? I've had more people tell me that. What am I doing? Where am I? What am I doing? And then come back to God. He thinks, how did they do that? Because God is faithful. God's faithful. He didn't give up on him. He didn't stop them. He kept being there. Now a person gets to the point where they never come back, but God will always be there saying, come back. He'll always be putting something in their head, come back. He'll always bring about something to encourage them, come back, or maybe knocking them down, come back. Because he's faithful. That's who he is. If we can accept that he is faithful and we look at what he says, we look at what he teaches, we look at what he promises, our anxieties and our fears can begin to be dissipated instead of us becoming meshed in them. Because we trust in him. Because we know we're not always faithful to him, right? But he's not like us, and God is always faithful to us.