The Faithfulness Of God, Even If You Falter

THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD, EVEN IF YOU FALTER

2 Tim. 2:13

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT

1. It was Saturday morning and Philip remembered that it was his wife Victoria's birthday. So he went downstairs, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and said, Happy Birthday, darling!"

2. "Thank you," said Victoria, "I'm surprised you remembered." "Well I did," says Philip, "and not only that, I want you to get dressed right now. I'm going to take you to a great new store at the mall I've heard about and you can choose your birthday present."

3. "Wow, Philip!" said Victoria. "I’m impressed! You haven't bought me a present for years." "Well things sometimes change," said Philip. "I've just been given a raise by my boss. So come on, get dressed and we'll go right away. There's no time to waste."

4. Philip drove her to the mall, parked the car and they walked in. As they approach the middle of the mall, Philip said, "Close your eyes and I’m going to lead you to the store. You can browse around and choose anything you like and I'll pay for it."

5. He led her a short distance. Then said, “You can open your eyes!” Victoria gave him a happy huge and turned around to read, “Welcome to Dollar General!”

6. NOTE: Philip had to use makeup to cover the black eye for 3 days!

B. TEXT

1. Throughout the Bible, God is declared to be a faithful God: unchanging and true to His Word.

a. Deut. 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 of those who love him and keep his commandments.”

b. Ps. 145:13, “The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.”

c. Heb. 10:23 says, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

2. Paul, at the end of one of his 5 “faithful sayings” (1 Tim. 1:15; 3:1; 4:8; 2 Tim. 2:13; Titus 3:8), says (slowly) “If we believe not, yet He abides faithful: He cannot deny Himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13. That’s our verse this morning.

C. THESIS

1. We’re going to look at when God is faithful, why He’s faithful, and hear of an amazing example of God’s faithfulness even when it looked like He’d failed.

2. The title of this message is “The Faithfulness of God, Even if you Falter.”

I. WHEN IS GOD FAITHFUL?

A. EVEN WHEN THE WORLD DOESN’T BELIEVE

1. The rulers of Jesus’ day didn’t believe in Him. “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?” Jn. 7:48.

2. Americans are usually too influenced by what the Government believes about something. We need to be thinking about what GOD says about it!

3. The Great Statue in Daniel 2 demonstrates that earthly gov’ts are generally in opposition to God! So don’t cling to the opinions of politicians and powerbrokers. Their opinions don’t affect the truth of God in the smallest degree.

B. EVEN IF THE EDUCATED DON’T BELIEVE

1. Don’t be unduly influenced by the supposedly educated.

2. God says, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise person?....Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since…the world through its wisdom did not know Him…For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” 1Cor. 1:19-21. “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” Rom. 1:22.

3. Remember, E. Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself but because it contradicts them.

C. IF THE MAJORITY OF PUBLIC OPINION REJECTS IT

Think how many times public opinion has been wrong!

1. In the French Revolution was ‘mob rule,’ where as many as 300,000 Frenchmen and women (1 in 50) were arrested and 40,000 citizens were murdered 1793-1794. Over 40 million Frenchmen supported the egocentric Napoleon, to their destruction.

2. The German people knew of Hitler’s extermination of the Jews, but didn’t even speak out against it. They continued to support the Führer.

3. Many societies have become toxic and self-destructive due to their becoming completely immoral. The Roman Empire is an example.

4. God doesn’t care what the majority says; God sets the standards for godly behavior or ungodly. 1 man + God = Major.

a. ¼ of couples in the US are cohabiting. Our culture (talk shows) say it’s “ok.” The educational establishment will tell you it’s “ok;” Your friends will tell you it’s “ok.”

b. I don’t care who tells you it’s ok, God’s Word says it’s sin! I don’t care if everybody’s doing it; it’s still wrong! Go to the ultimate Truth! (the Bible and to obey it).