Sanctified by His Word: September 2011

See word study - Faithful - pistos

God tests our faith so that we may trust His faithfulness.1Pe 4:19 (note)

C H Spurgeon reminds us that...

We must be tried or we cannot magnify the faithful God, who will not leave His people. (For more by C H Spurgeon click notes on Faithful)

Webster defines faithfulness as

firm in adherence to promises or in observance of duty

Faithfulness is God's attribute of UTTER DEPENDABILITY, the antithesis of everything fickle and fluctuating.

Ray Pritchard asks...

How many people do you know who do exactly what they say? Before you answer, let me rephrase the question? How many do you know who do exactly what they say every single time? Now before you answer, let me rephrase it again. How many people do you know who do exactly what they say every single time and do it with such thoroughness and perfection that you never have to worry about anything they say or do? Again, before you answer, let me ask it one more time: How many people do you know who, no matter what the circumstances and no matter how they feel, will always do exactly what they say they will do every single time and do it with the same thoroughness and perfection that you never have to worry about anything they say or do because you know if they say it, they will definitely do it without fail, without change and without excuse?...

God's faithfulness means that because he is the truth, everything he says and does is certain. That means he is 100% reliable 100% of the time. He does not fail, forget, falter, change or disappoint. In the words of Lewis Sperry Chafer:

He not only advances and confirms that which is true, but in faithfulness abides by his promises, and executes every threat or warning he has made.

He says what he means and means what he says and therefore does everything he says he will do. (Read the entire message Great Is Thy Faithfulness by Ray Pritchard)

Thomas Manton

The Doctrine: That in all ages God ever showed Himself a true God, and faithful in all His promises...God's faithfulness relates to some promise wherein He hath engaged Himself to His people (He 11:11-note)...His truth depends upon his unchangeable nature, but it is confirmed to us by experience (He 6:17, 18-note)... If a promise can be made out to be of God, we have no more reason to doubt of it than of the nature and being of God. Yet, it is confirmed by experience: (Ps 18:30-Spurgeon's note)...

Application - Let us be then more firmly persuaded of God's faithfulness that we may depend upon it both for His preserving the church and ourselves in the way of our duty, till we enjoy our final reward.

1. For the preservation of Christ's kingdom, God's faithfulness chiefly appears in the government of His church or spiritual kingdom, and this is a kingdom that cannot be moved when all things else are shaken: (Heb 12:28-note), 'Having received a kingdom that cannot be shaken.' Christ cannot be a head without members, a king without subjects. And we are told, (Matt 16:18), 'That the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.' Many disorders happen, but let us depend upon the faithful God. The world was well guided before we came into it, and other generations have had experience of God's faithfulness, though we complain that we see not our signs, nor any tokens for good.

2. For the preservation of our bodies to the heavenly kingdom. We have many discouragements within and without, but while we persevere in our duty, God will not fail us; his word is as sure as the earth: (2Th 3:3), 'The Lord is faithful, who shall establish and keep you from evil.' God has promised not only to give us our final reward, but to secure and defend His people by the way, that they be not overcome by the evils they meet with in their passage (Read Manton's full sermon - God's Faithfulness from Generation to Generation

William Hendriksen rightly observed that...

Divine faithfulness is a wonderful comfort to those who are loyal. It is a very earnest warning for those who might be inclined to become disloyal.

In (2Ti 2:13 - see note) Paul says that faithfulness is a corollary of His self-consistency.

Because God is faithful, His promises are infallibly reliable (see note Hebrews 10:23).

Forgiveness is rooted in God's faithfulness (1Jn 1:9), as is the child of God's certain victory over even the most difficult trials & testing (1Cor 10:13; 1Pe 4:19-note, 1Th 5:24-note).

Faithfulness exhibits God's character as worthy of the love and confidence of man and assures us that He will certainly fulfill His promises as well as execute His threats against sin.

God's faithfulness applies to His...

Temporal blessings (1Ti 4:8; Ps 84:11; Isa 33:16, Spurgeon)

Spiritual blessings (1Co 1:9)

Support in temptation (1Cor 10:13)

Support in persecution (1Pe 4:12, 13-notes; Isa 41:10 Spurgeon)

Sanctifying discipline (He 12:4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12-see notes)

Direction in difficulties (2Chr 32:22; Ps 32:8)

Enabling of His own to persevere (Jer 32:40)

Bringing to glory (1Jn 2:25).

In the Old Testament, God’s faithfulness and covenant love are closely related (Deut 7:9)

As very God of very God, our Lord Jesus Christ is fittingly designated FAITHFUL in every way...

(1) THE FAITHFUL ONE

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war (See note Revelation 19:1)

(2) THE GREAT HIGH PRIEST

Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (He 2:17-note)

(3) THE APOSTLE

Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; 2 He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. (He 3:1-See notes He 3:1; 2)

(4) THE WITNESS

Jesus Christ, the faithful WITNESS, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood (Re 1:5-notes)

The Amen, the faithful & true WITNESS, the Beginning of the creation of God (Re 3:14-note)

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John MacDuff...

THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - "Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds." Psalm 36:5

It has been well said, that "the universe around is a parable of grace." "Just as the mountains surround and protect Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds and protects his people, both now and forever." But more stable than even these types of immutability in the kingdom of nature, is the word of a Covenant-keeping God in the kingdom of grace. These mountains (nature's best emblems of steadfastness) may depart, and the hills be removed, "but," says their almighty Maker, "my kindness shall not be taken from you!" We can look upwards to the stars of night, and see the "faithfulness" of God "established" in the material heavens- "They continue, to this day, according to your plans; for all are Your servants." But these are feeble types and symbols of brighter constellations in the spiritual firmament- the declarations of an unchanging God- "Your word is forever settled in heaven!"

What a gracious assurance amid our own unfaithfulness, "The Lord is faithful!"- that the unfaithfulness of the believer never alters, and can never alter– the faithfulness of God. My soul, anchor yourself on this rock of the Divine veracity. Take hold of that blessed parenthesis which has been, to many a tossed soul, as a polar star in its nights of darkness- "Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end." He loves them in life- loves them in death- loves them through death- loves them into glory!

Are you not at this hour a monument of God's faithfulness? Where would you have been, had not the magnet of His grace kept you, and drawn your fugitive affections towards Himself? From how many temptations has He rescued you- laying hold of you on the precipice, when about to plunge headlong down; employing, sometimes constraining grace, at other times, restraining grace- making this your brief history– "Kept by the power of God," and overruling all- ALL for His own glory, and your own good?

I love to think of Your faithfulness, O "Tried stone," "laid in Zion." You were tried by the Law- by Justice- by the fierce assaults and temptations of Satan- by the mockings and revilings and cruelties of wicked men; and yet You remain faithful! You have been tried in another sense by Prophets and Apostles; by Martyrs and Saints; by youthful sinners, and aged sinners, and dying sinners- and You have been found "faithful," by all and to all; and You are faithful still!

Reader, never suppose, amid the faithlessness of earth's trusted friends, that you are doomed to thread your way in loneliness and solitude. There is more than one 'Emmaus journey'. The "abiding" Friend is still here! He is always the same. "He faints not, neither is weary!" His faithfulness is a tried faithfulness. His word is a tried word. His friendship is a tried friendship. He is always better than His word. He pays 'with interest'!

"Oh! who could bear life's stormy doom,
Did not Your word of love
Come brightly bearing through the gloom
A peace-branch from above!
Then sorrow touched by You, grows bright,
With more than rapture's ray,
As darkness shows us worlds of light
We never saw by day!"

When I think that at this very moment the eye of that faithful Savior God is upon me– "I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8 (From - THE NIGHT WATCHES by John MacDuff)

TORREY'S TOPIC:

GOD'S FAITHFULNESS

PART OF GOD'S CHARACTER
Isa 49:7; 1Cor 1:9; 1Th 5:24
Dt 7:9, 9:5 1Ki 8:56 Ps 36:5, 89:1, 105:8
1Cor 1:9 Hebrews 6:18 1Pe 4:19

DECLARED TO BE
Great - Lamentations 3:23
Established -Psalms 89:2
Incomparable -Psalms 89:8
Unfailing -Psalms 89:33; 2 Timothy 2:13
Infinite -Psalms 36:5
Everlasting -Psalms 119:90; 146:6

Should be pleaded in prayer -Psalms 143:1

Should be proclaimed -Psalms 40:10; 89:1

MANIFESTED
In his counsels -Is 25:1
In afflicting his saints -Ps 119:75
In fulfilling his promises -1Ki 8:20; Ps 132:11; Mic 7:20; He 10:23
In keeping his covenant -Dt 7:9; Ps 111:5
In executing his judgments -Je 23:20; 51:29
In forgiving sins -1Jn 1:9
To his saints -Ps 89:24; 2Th 3:3
Saints encouraged to depend on -1Pe 4:19
Should be magnified -Ps 89:5; 92:2

All Christians rest upon the faithfulness of God. Our unchangeable God who never falters, never fails in His promise (cp Josh 23:14, 21:43, 44, 45!) is the very foundation of our faith and the ground of our security. That is what gives stability and strength to our faith; we can count on it. We have the same God that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had, that David prayed to and wrote his Psalms in praise of -- all this constitutes for us the bedrock of security that we rest upon it in every single day. Ray Stedman (from sermon "God's Faithfulness: Israel & the New Covenant")

Great Is Thy Faithfulness from The Joy of Knowing God by Richard L. Strauss, Ph.D. published in 1984 by Loizeaux Brothers, Inc.

Since God’s faithfulness is part of His essence, it affects everything He says and everything He does. Several specific applications of His faithfulness are made in the New Testament. First of all, He is faithful in assuring our salvation....Secondly, He is faithful in providing for our victory. God wants us to enjoy victory over sin and triumph through trials, but He has not left us on our own to achieve it. He offers us help....In the third place, He is faithful in forgiving our sins. Unfortunately, most of us only use God’s resources for victory intermittently, and as a result we sin. But God’s faithfulness reaches us even then....Finally, God is faithful in sustaining us through suffering. One of the times we are most tempted to doubt God’s faithfulness is when suffering strikes our lives. It often makes no sense to us and we see no reason for it. We may search our lives, and although we find some sins which we have previously overlooked, we still cannot believe we deserve what God has allowed to happen to us. We begin to think that He has forgotten us or really does not care about us....God will not only be faithful in assuring our salvation, providing for our victory, forgiving our sins, and sustaining us through suffering, but He will also be faithful in keeping every promise He has ever made. That is the greatest encouragement we could possibly have. The Bible contains thousands of precious promises from God, and at least one of them will have application to every conceivable situation we can possibly encounter—financial reversal, terminal illness, the loss of a loved one, family tensions, or anything else. A faithful God can be trusted to keep every promise. The writer to the Hebrews encouraged his readers with these words: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (He 10:23-note)." (See Great Is Thy Faithfulness for full discussion) .

Action To Take: Think back to a time in your life when you doubted God’s faithfulness. Now list the ways He has since proven Himself faithful, the things He has done which He promised in His Word He would do.

God's Faithfulness:
Do you have a "Rushmore Reminder"?

These stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever. --Joshua 4:7

In 1941, sculptor Gutzon Borglum completed his work on Mount Rushmore. The 60-foot-high granite heads of four US Presidents now stand like sentinels of democracy over the Black Hills of South Dakota. The imposing likenesses of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt remind visitors of our nation's heritage and history. God told Israel's leader, Joshua, to take 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan River for a similar purpose (Josh. 4:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,20, 21, 22, 23, 24). The Lord wanted future generations to have a memorial to their national history. He wanted them to remember that as He parted the Red Sea to get them out of Egypt, He also parted the Jordan to get them into the Promised Land. He wanted them to live not only in the present, but with the reminder of the values, faith, and experiences of their founding fathers: Moses, Aaron, and Joshua. God understands our human nature and knows that "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" occurs all too often in our spiritual lives. We need physical reminders of spiritual truths. We need to pile up stones, write journals, and tell family stories to help us remember the miracle of God's provisions that neither we nor our children can afford to forget. --M R De Haan II (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Think About It -- How has God shown Himself to be faithful to you and your family in the past? How can you make sure you'll remember? With whom can you talk about it today? Precious memories of yesterday can be precious moments today.

Man's Fickle Feelings &
God's Forever Faithfulness

"Your lovingkindness, O LORD, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies." - Ps 36:5

When I was in college, my roommate was engaged to a woman who lived 800 miles away. He was a worrier and a pessimist, so he was constantly questioning the closeness of their relationship. He would worry that they were drifting apart. If a day came without a letter, he would convince himself that she didn't love him any longer and was about to break up with him. I would get so fed up with his worrying that I would insist he call her. He always discovered that nothing had changed and that she was not wavering in her love. Greatly relieved, he would kick himself for having doubted, and he would promise not to worry again--which lasted about 3 days! Although we sometimes falter in our faith and question God's love for us, He remains faithful. Even when we doubt His promises, or don't feel close to Him, or choose to sin, His faithfulness still "reaches to the clouds" (Ps 36:5). We can be sure God will do all He said He would do (1Th 5:24; 2Th 3:3). His promises are backed up by His flawless character. In those times when you don't feel close to God, remind yourself that His feelings for you haven't changed. It's not a matter of how you feel at the moment, but the fact of the rock-solid faithfulness of God. --D C Egner (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Our God is God--He does not change;
His truth and love remain the same.
He's faithful to His matchless name,
For God is God--He does not change. --DJD

Trusting God's faithfulness dispels our fearfulness.

NAVE'S TOPICAL BIBLE: For the greatest benefit from the following Scriptures, read the text, not passively but instead consciously and actively "interrogating" the text (interrogate with the 5W'S & H), making a list in your life journal of what the Spirit of Christ (Ro 8:9-note) teaches you (1Jn 2:27, Jn 14:26, 16:13) about God and about man. Obey any instructions or commands you encounter, as you allow the Holy Spirit to renew your mind and to "cultivate faithfulness" (NAS, Ps 37:3-see note). Then offer prayers and praise to your Father for graciously teaching you these profitable, eternal truths (cp 2Ti 3:16, 17-notes).