TEXT: Various
TITLE:
TOPIC: God’s faithfulness
OCCASION: Burnside Christian Church, May 17, 2009
PROP.: God is faithful to His promises and his people and he shows his faithfulness through his power, his plans and his purposes!
INTRODUCTION: Our sermon series is called: “Lessons learned from God’s people” We spent a lot of time learning the lesson - “How to be Holy”
Now we are spending some time learning the lesson - “How to be faithful!”
Last week, we focused on the faithfulness of you and me. We primarily looked at the example of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and I pray that last week’s sermon increased your desire to want to be faithful! That as we studied and heard about the flat out refusal of these three men to bow down or to serve any other god except Jehovah, your desire to be faithful to God increased!
ILLUSTRATION: Stories of faithfulness always inspire us! And stories of betrayal don’t. What comes to mind when I say the name: Benedict Arnold? Traitor? Back-stabber? Egg inventor? No. Eggs Benedict was not created by or in honor of Benedict Arnold. That’s another story for another day.
Benedict Arnold V was a general during the American Revolutionary War who originally fought for the American Continental Army but switched sides to the British Empire. As a general still on the American side, he obtained command of the fort at West Point, New York, and attempted unsuccessfully to surrender it to the British. After the plot failed, he served with British forces as a loyalist. (kind of an oxymoron, huh?) (Wikipedia.com)
Stories of betrayal do not inspire us. If anything, they disgust us. When talking about your favorite disciple of Jesus, does anyone mention Judas Iscariot? No. Probably not. Why? Because he betrayed Jesus for some silver! We don’t like stories of betrayal.
(((((WHY are we so disturbed by that story? Because we wonder how someone could be so unfaithful to after they were showed kindness, love and compassion?????? It doesn’t make sense to us, does it? I can’t fathom why Judas did what he did. (How he could sell his friendship to Jesus Christ for such a small fee. Oh wait. Don’t you and I do the same thing? Don‘t we betray Christ each time we choose to sin?))))))
It is my aim this morning, to have you realize , you will be inspired by God’s faithfulness to you and to me.
This week, I want to continue to learn the lesson of faithfulness, but the lesson that we will learn this week is: that God is faithful!
I. God is faithful!
I know what you’re thinking: “That’s all he’s got? That’s his first point? I woke up early, dragged myself out of bed, to hear the preacher say, “God is faithful.” - YEP!
You see, I believe this first point is a message that you and I either tend to forget, take for granted or really don’t believe.
--Winding the world up and leaving us all alone
There is a philosophy that is out there that believes in God, but has some messed up opinions on how God works. You see, they believe that God created the everything that you see in 6 days, but then He has left us to our own demise. LIKE A CLOCK THAT HAS BEEN WOUND UP AND LEFT ALONE.
They basically are saying, that God doesn’t care for us and isn’t involved in our lives! I am here to show you that God is indeed involved in our lives and that He is indeed FAITHFUL!
DEFINITION OF FAITHFUL: What exactly do I mean when I say that God is faithful?
Max Depree, in an article on church leadership stated: “A friend of mine described a colleague as great at running the “ninety-five-yard dash.”
Faithfulness means seeing it through till the end. “Seeing what through?“ Whatever you are committed to. Marriage. Christianity. Sports. Lacking the last five yards of anything makes the first ninety-give pointless!”
God is not a 95 yard dasher. He completes the whole thing! He’s faithful to the end!
First, God is faithful…
A. to His promises (to His word)
If there is one lesson we learn from God‘s people, it’s that God keeps his promises!
This whole thing started with Abraham. The Israelites are the result
God promised Abraham - Genesis 17:4 "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.”
And so God took this child-less man and was faithful to His promise and during the time of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, Abraham’s descendents numbered 1 - 2 million. GOD IS FAITHUL TO HIS PROMISES!
Joseph remembered God’s promise - You remember Joseph’s last request to his brothers right before he died? Genesis 50:24,25)
24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." 25 And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, "God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place."
It has been 441 years since the Israelites first came to Egypt, (400 years of slavery…1 year at Mt. Sinai…40 years of wandering in the dessert) but finally they entered the Promised Land! With the bones of Joseph.
GOD IS FAITHFUL TO HIS PROMISES!
The Prophets talked about God’s promises - talked about this promised Messiah that was to come. That this Messiah would be the savior of the world. They were merely writing down what God was promising! And God did bring His son into the world. Just as He said He would!
...and you may be thinking, “well, those were promises to the Israelites. I want God‘s promises to be a little more personal to me!” Ok. Fair enough. So let me give you evidence that
God is faithful…
B. to His people (you and me)
--some promises that God WILL keep for you and me
--JESUS WILL RETURN
Jesus will come again - Hebrews 10:37 - “For in just a little while, ‘He who is coming will come and not delay.”
This is a promise AND a threat! It’s a promise for those who are followers of Christ! We will have nothing to fear when Christ returns. Our hope will be realized when Christ returns and we then will face no more death! So it’s a promise that will be highly anticipated for you and for me. But it’s also a threat for those who aren’t for Christ! It’s not going to be pleasant for those outside of Christ. But “Christ Follower” or not, Jesus’ return is a promise that will be realized!
Another promise is this:
--NO MORE WORLD WIDE FLOOD!
In Genesis 9:14-16 God makes an important promise that He has faithfully kept even to this day! The promise was made to Noah, and Noah’s descendents afterward, and every living creature that was with Noah in the ark. Never again, would God allow there to be a world wide flood.
And God has sealed this promise! - sealed with what? A rainbow!
A colored banner that hangs in the sky for all to see. And when does a rainbow usually appear? After a rain! It’s as if God is winking at us reminding us - “hey don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten my promise!”
Another promise we have
--YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FORGIVEN
1st John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is FAITHFUL and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.“
What a faithful God we serve! He never tires of forgiving. He never gets irritated over our repentance from foolish choices we’ve made!
Your sins will always be forgiven
And one more promise
--YOU WILL ALWAYS BE LOVED
Romans 8:35-39
35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."[l] 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God’s love for you is HIS promise! That’s why he created you in the first place. That’s why He sent His son to die for you. That’s why he forgives you time and time again. You are loved.
You will always be loved
Are you getting the picture here? God is COMMITTED to you! How does that make you feel? He’s not going to stab you in the back. He’s not going to let you down. He’s not going to abandon you. He’s not too busy. He’s not annoyed with your requests. There is NO question about it - He will be there.
GOD IS FAITHFUL TO HIS WORD. GOD IS FAITHFUL TO HIS PEOPLE. This, in part, is what separates God from us. We live in a world of broken promises don’t we? We live in a world where people aren’t true to their word. Marriages end. Politicians lie. People forget.
But faithfulness is something that separates God from you and me. God has never broken a promise or failed His people!
So how is God able to be so faithful?
I’m glad you asked. Because now I’m going to show you…
II. How God achieves His faithfulness:
A. Through his plans
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV Read this chapter
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Hey did you know something about God? His plans are PERFECT! He knows EVERYTHING! He knows what will happen to you tomorrow at work or tomorrow at school. He knows when you are going to need him the most. He knows when you’ll succeed at following Christ. He knows when you’ll fall flat on your backside at following Christ…and through it all, God will be faithful!
I gotta tell ya, it would make my job as a minister really easy if I could pencil in on my calendar when you were going to have a crisis come up in your life. “Ok, I see that I’m going to be needed at the hospital on June 23...so I’ll want to keep that date open.” But it’s impossible for me to know that. It’s impossible for you to know that. But God’s plans are perfect. He knows everything and can plan accordingly.
God doesn’t get surprised! Surprise is not an emotion that God feels! And because God’s plans are perfect, He WILL be faithful!
God is also able to achieve faithfulness
B. Through His purposes
--God is very purposeful! He doesn’t do things without thinking. He doesn’t just accidentally get it right. He is purposeful! He is intentional.
God’s ultimate purpose is to spend eternity with you! Everything that has been done since sin entered the world through Adam and Eve has been done to reconcile the relationship between himself and mankind!
And his purposes are PURE! There is no false motive. There are no strings attached to God’s purposes! He just loves you! And that explains everything!!!!
We may understand why God allows everything to happen to us in this life…but that doesn’t mean that God is cruel or mean.
Proverbs 20:11 NIV Read this chapter
Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right.
And when you compare God’s conduct to who He is, you will see He is FAITHFUL TO HIS WORD AND HIS PEOPLE!
God is faithful, and his purposes are pure!
C. By His Power
Ephesians 3:20 tells us that God is able to do IMMEASURABLY more than we could ask or imagine…
That takes some SERIOUS power! God never grows weary of being faithful. For you and for me, we become discouraged. We grow tired.
You see, one of the reasons you and I aren’t 100% faithful all the time is because our plans are not perfect, our purposes are not pure and our power is limited.
We serve a God who is able to keep His promises because his plans are perfect, his purposes are pure, and his power is unlimited!
CONCLUSION: I want to leave you with a couple of reminders that you can take home with you today…
REMINDER #1
1. God’s faithfulness leads to predictability - I may not know how, I may not know when, I may not know where…but God will be faithful to me! How do I know? He’s always faithful to me!
ILLUSTRATION: The guy who eats a big mac everyday.
FOND DU LAC, Wis. - Talk about a Big Mac attack! Don Gorske says he has eaten 23,000 of the burgers in 36 years.
“I enjoy them every day,” said Gorske, 54. “I need two to fill me up.”
He used to order fries every day in the 1980s but began to cut back in the ’90s, now eating them about once a month. He eats two Big Macs and two parfaits a day. Gorske has written a book about his experience.
What do you think he’s having for lunch today? I’m going to go ahead and go out on a limb and say…A BIG MAC!
His actions have become predictable and so are God’s. He is always faithful! He never changes.
REMINDER #2
2. God’s faithfulness is not contradicted by his delays.
(2nd Peter 3:8-9)
8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
When something doesn’t happen as quickly as we think it should then it can seem as though God isn’t going to keep His promises. But just because God is taking His time to fulfill his plans and purposes and promises, don’t mis-interpret that as God not being faithful!!!
“God’s faithfulness means that everything He says and does is certain. He is 100% reliable, 100% of the time. He does not fail, forget, falter, change or disappoint. He says what He means and means what He says and therefore does everything he says He will do! THIS is the faithfulness of God! I’m not sure about you, but that brings great comfort to me as I faithfully look to serve him!
Before we sing our song of decision, I want to flash some scriptures up on the screen for you to read. Take some time to quietly ponder the FAITHFULNESS OF OUR GOD!
Scriptures to encourage you as we ponder God’s faithfulness
Exodus 34:6 “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”
Deuteronomy 7:9 “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations…”
Deuteronomy 32:4 “He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He.”
Joshua 21:45 “Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.”
Psalm 25:10 “All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful.”
Psalm 89:8 reminds us, “O Lord God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O Lord, and your faithfulness surrounds you.”
Let’s stand sing. If you have a decision that needs to be made, won’t you please come forward and make that known to us this morning?
