I Will Be Faithful Series

"Relaunch 2015"

pt. 7 - I Will Be Faithful

Galatians 5:22-23

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Introduction: I want to welcome you this morning to part 5 of a new sermon series based on the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5. This series is all about life change and what God wants to do in our lives if we will let Him. Make no mistake my friends; the goal of God in salvation is Christlikeness. God wants to change us into the image (icon -- exact replica) of His Son in character, conduct and personality.

Let me also remind you that we can translate the first few words of verse 22, "The fruit of the Spirit..." to read "...the fruit that the Spirit produces..." This morning I want to you to ask yourself this question as we begin; "If I was a better person and displayed more goodness in my life and testimony would it make a difference in my life?" Would it make a difference in my family life? Would it make a difference in my Christian testimony? The answer to all of these is yes it would!

First let's consider:

What does the word faith mean in our text? This does not refer to faith as in have faith in God but faithfulness. What Paul is saying is that the Holy Spirit is working in and through us to produce faithfulness to God and to others.

To start this message I would like us to look at:

I. The Faithfulness of the Sovereign

When we think about being faithful what comes to your mind? FAITHFUL Steadfast, dedicated, dependable, and worthy of trust. The word it is derived from the Hebrew root having the basic meaning "to trust (a person)," or "to believe (a statement)." This is the same root that gives us the word "amen." The derived meaning is that the one so described is trustworthy, dependable, trusting, or loyal. In the New Testament the adjective "faithful" has the same fundamental meaning as the Old Testament word. The meaning is that the one so described is trustworthy and loyal. The root idea is that one has loyalty toward another person or toward God. The faithful person is steadfast, unchanging, and thoroughly grounded in relation to the other. This sort of fidelity, or faithfulness, is used in both the Old Testament and the New Testament to describe God's relation to the world and to describe the quality of relationship that Israel and Christians are called upon to have with God and with one another.

a. He is faithful in His character

Faithfulness is central to our understanding of the character of God.

1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalms 36:5 Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

89:1 I will sing of the lovingkindness of the Lord forever; To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.

These among many other passages tell us that God is faithful. Many other passages speak of God as faithful in order to comfort and encourage Christians.

A college man walked into a photography studio with a framed picture of his girlfriend. He wanted the picture duplicated. This involved removing it from the frame. In doing this, the studio owner noticed the inscription on the back of the photograph: "My dearest Tom, I love you with all my heart. I love you more and more each day. I will love you forever and ever. I am yours for all eternity." It was signed "Diane," and it contained a P.S.: "If we ever break up, I want this picture back."

We are going to see that God is faithful. I hope that we see that with God there is no p.s.'

2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.

Our faithlessness does not affect His faithfulness.

2 Timothy 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

b. He is faithful in His communications

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

God has kept His promises. God made promises to Abraham concerning having many descendants even though Abraham and Sarah were very old and they had no children. God kept His promises to David, Israel and Joseph just to name a few. God kept His promise to mankind that He made back in Genesis 3:15 where God promised that Satan's power would be broken; this was accomplished with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. God kept His promises that He made through the prophets. He kept His promise to Lot's wife when He told them not to look back when they left Sodom and Gomorrah. God was faithful to Jesus. Hebrews 3:2 He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. God did not send Him and then change His mind about what He was going to do.