This is my Friday message from this past weekend where I spoke at a ladies retreat about the Faithfulness of God!
Show Notes:
Define faithful
strict or thorough in the performance of duty: a faithful worker.
true to one's word, promises, vows, etc.
steady in allegiance or affection; loyal; constant: faithful friends.
reliable, trusted, or believed.
adhering or true to fact, a standard, or an original; accurate: a faithful account; a faithful copy.
Schedule of topics
Tomorrow we’re going to look at the ways in which God is faithful,
and Sunday we’re going to dive into what that means for us,
but tonight I want to examine what it is about God that enables Him to be so perfectly faithful. We’re going to fill in the blank for this statement: Because God is ________, He can be faithful.
What is it that makes UNfaithfulness possible?
With the best of intentions: Forgetfulness
Not enough strength
Things come up/lack of control over schedule or time
Being finite
Not being able to see the future
Without the best of intentions No plan to follow through in the first place
Fickle emotions/lack of commitment
Selfishness
Omnipotent: there is nothing God cannot or does not do for lack of strength
Omniscient: God knows everything there is to know
Brief background of Job.
Job 38:1-42:6 1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, 7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, 9 when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10 and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, 11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
12 “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, 13 that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? 14 It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment. 15 From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.
16 “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? 17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? 18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.
19 “Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness, 20 that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home? 21 You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, 23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? 24 What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
25 “Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt, 26 to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man, 27 to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?
28 “Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? 29 From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven? 30 The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
31 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? 32 Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children? 33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?
34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you? 35 Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’? 36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind? 37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, 38 when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together?
39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, 40 when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket? 41 Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?
“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does? 2 Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth, 3 when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young? 4 Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them.
5 “Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey, 6 to whom I have given the arid plain for his home and the salt land for his dwelling place? 7 He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver. 8 He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.
9 “Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger? 10 Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you? 11 Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor? 12 Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?
13 “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love? 14 For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground, 15 forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them. 16 She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear, 17 because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding. 18 When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.
19 “Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane? 20 Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying. 21 He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons. 22 He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword. 23 Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear, and the javelin. 24 With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet. 25 When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26 “Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south? 27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high? 28 On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on the rocky crag and stronghold. 29 From there he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it from far away. 30 His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he.”
1 And the Lord said to Job:
2 “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”
Job Promises Silence
3 Then Job answered the Lord and said:
4 “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. 5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.”
The Lord Challenges Job
6 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
7 “Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. 8 Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? 9 Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?
10 “Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor. 11 Pour out the overflowings of your anger, and look on everyone who is proud and abase him. 12 Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked where they stand. 13 Hide them all in the dust together; bind their faces in the world below. 14 Then will I also acknowledge to you that your own right hand can save you.
15-24 Behemoth (10 verses)
1-34 Leviathan (34 verses)
1 Then Job answered the Lord and said:
2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 4 ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ 5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
I don’t know about you, but I am forgetful. Anybody? I have to attach my keys to my wallet and put my wallet in the same place every day when I come home from work, or I will be in trouble. Same thing with my glasses. I take them off when I come home and try not to need them so that they never have to move from their place, because if they do, there is no telling where they might end up, and then I’m stranded because I am blind and can’t drive without them.
I forget that God is as big as He is. I know in my head that He made the universe, but I lose it. That fact gets tucked away somewhere and becomes irrelevant. Pretty soon I’m worried about this or that because I don’t remember how big my God is. But He is so big.
Because God is omnipotent, He can be faithful.
Because God is omniscient, He can be faithful.
Sovereign: God has total control over what happens and when
Isaiah 46:8-11 8 “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ 11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.
Proverbs 21:1 The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.
Psalm 135:5-14 5 For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. 6 Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
Ephesians 1:11-12 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
Romans 8:28-30 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
I used to try to reconcile the sovereignty of God in my mind as God knows all things and because He knows all things, He can manipulate people and their actions and responses, but He doesn’t actually cause everything to happen. But that’s just not true.
The sovereignty of God means that God causes all things. Everything that has ever happened to you has been in His plan. Nothing He plans to do goes undone. Nothing that happens catches Him by surprise or ruins His plans. We may never fully understand why, but Adam and Eve’s sin and the Cross was not a “Plan B.” God intended it from the beginning.
He has total control. When you first realize this, it makes you really grapple with the question of “why.” Why would God put me through my parents’ divorce? Why would God take my friend in a car crash? Why would God allow all sin and pain in the world? Those who don’t believe in the total sovereignty of God solve this problem by basically saying that God is too weak. He loves us and wants what’s best for us, but we’ve screwed things up so badly that He just can’t fix it in this world. We’ve gotta hang tight and wait for Heaven, where He stared over, and fixed all the bugs in the first version.
Does the God from Job sound like there’s anything we could do that would mess this world up badly enough that He couldn’t fix it? Do you think He didn’t see all this coming? It was intentional. Somehow, it’s for His glory and our good. We know that because the bible promises it. He will work ALL things for good. All of them.
I love this truth. It’s probably my all time favorite aspect of God’s character. If you want to learn more or have questions about it, I’d love to talk with you. Right now, I have to move on, or I’m going to have you hear all night.
Because God is sovereign, He can be faithful.
Omnipresent: God is fully present in all places in the same capacity
Jeremiah 23:23-24 23 “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.
Psalm 139: 1-12 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
What is this number? (read off) That’s big, right? What’s half of this number? If you continued to halve that number, you would eventually come down to one or less than one.
What’s half of this number? You can’t halve that, can you? Half of infinity would still be infinity.
How many of you have ever tried to split your attention between two or more things? Are you ever as effective at the things you’re trying to do as if you were doing just one thing?
We tend to think everyone is like us. We anthropomorphize animals and give them emotions and thoughts like we have; we assume other people think and feel like we do until proven otherwise. And we tend to think God is like us, too.
We know He has more capacity for attention than we do. Like if our capacity is represented by the number 5, then His is that 10 billion some. But God has a lot of things on His plate, right? How many people are there on the planet? How many animals? How many other things to think about? Even at 10 billion some capacity for attention, He still must be pretty busy.
But that’s all wrong. God is infinite. He can’t be busy. He can’t be stressed or pressed for time. He can’t be rushed. He can take however much time you want to spend with Him on an intimate level…and do the same thing with 2 million other people at the same time. How cool is that?
Because God is omnipresent, He can be faithful.
Immutable: God is steady, not subject to changes of mood or mind
Malachi 3:6 For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Numbers 23:19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
God isn’t fickle. He doesn’t love you more one day and less the next. He doesn’t have a plan for your life that is fulfilling and designed to make you more like Him and then the next day decide you’re not worth it. What he has started, He’ll finish.
Because God is immutable, He can be faithful.
Holy: God is “other”—perfect, pure, greater, not like us
1 Samuel 2:2 There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.
Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
Isaiah 6:1-7 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
Right now, the full glory of God is veiled. We can’t see Him as He is. If we did, we’d die. One day, though, we’ll be able to see that and worship God while beholding all of His majesty.
Because God is holy, He can be faithful.
Just: God follows and upholds a perfect standard of right and wrong in all His actions and judgements
Psalm 89:14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
God’s justice means He can’t fail us. He can never promise something and not follow through, because that would be unjust. And He cares when things that are unjust happen to us.
Because God is just, He can be faithful.
Loving: God desires our best in all things and has an emotional connection with us
John 3:16 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Zephaniah 3:17 17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
Romans 8:37-39 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am a thinker
Because God is loving, He can be faithful.
I know that was a lot. I just threw so much scripture at you; there’s no way you can possibly process all of that. That’s okay. I want you to zero in on one characteristic to think about tonight. Everyone has one or two of these that they have a hard time believing. I want you to pick one of these and spend a few minutes tonight asking God to help you believe it.
God…
is all powerful
knows all things
is present everywhere
is sovereign
does not change
is holy
is just
loves me
Comentarios