Faithful God

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If you have your Bibles this morning, I would ask you to turn to Deuteronomy and the 7th chapter.
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Deuteronomy and the 7th chapter. Haven't told you what verse is yet, but we'll get to it.
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I want to start this way and ask us to think about it. I would hope that you would agree with me that we all have certain things that have happened to us in our lives, whether recently or many times even further back, sometimes decades and long periods of time.
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And there are certain things, I think we would all agree, that stand out in our minds. That we can, as we begin to think about them or as we recall them, they become just as fresh and as pointed as they were when we first had those very things happen to us.
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And the reason why I say that is the text we're going to look at this morning is the first text that I ever preached, and I preached it in 1980.
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That was the first message that I ever preached and I was extremely nervous because I had never preached before.
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I want to preach that text again today and I'm extremely nervous. I don't think the nerves should ever go away.
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I know some of you who have stood in the pulpit would agree with me. But I'm nervous today, not just as I thought about it from when
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I first preached in 1980, but I would hope that I understand it better now and therefore it makes me even more nervous because the more you know, the more you're responsible for.
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And so I want to look at it this morning and ask us to think about it. It's in Deuteronomy chapter 7 and it's verses 9 and 10, but I'm going to read it from verse 7, but our main focus will be those two verses.
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And this is as Moses speaks to the children of Israel and the setting, if you don't know, is that Moses has been chosen by God to lead his chosen people out of Egypt into the promised land and this land has been prepared by God and they have suffered for a long time under the taskmaster of Egypt, Pharaoh, and they have suffered and in that way
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God has vouchsafed himself to them saying that he would not only liberate them and bring them out of the bondage of Egypt, but that he would ultimately bring them to that very promised land and that they would be used by God as, in many ways, as God's sort of justice against these ungodly nations, and which interesting if you think about it in the overall picture of the
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Old Testament, as God used Israel to bring judgment against ungodly nations, certainly as he removes all the iths out of the promised land, that God also uses those very ungodly nations as a sort of retribution to the people of God.
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And it's this dynamic that continually takes place, but at this point Moses is preparing them to enter into the promised land and the reason for it is, as we shall read, is that God has chosen these people and Israel is not only chosen, but they are dear to him.
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And so, I want us to look at it, read from verse 7 with me, as the prophet speaks, "'The
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Lord did not set his love on you, Israel, nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of people, but because the
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Lord loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, the
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Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.'"
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And here's our text, "'Therefore know that the Lord your God, he is
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God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments and he repays those who hate him to their face to destroy them.
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He will not be slack with him who hates him, he will repay him to his face.'"
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Let's ask God's blessing. Our Father in God, as we come now before your word, the living word of the living
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God, we pray, Holy Spirit, that you would come, that you would teach, that you would direct, that you would work in us in a way to take away the foolishness of our own minds and our hearts and our lives and replace it,
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Lord, with your wisdom and your truth and that we would love your word and that we would serve your word and that we would love you with all our hearts.
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So Lord, we ask you to do a great thing right now. We ask you to do what only you could do, and that is to take your word and make it real to us, and that again,
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Holy Spirit, that you would change us, that you would cause us to be more like the
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Son of God who forever and ever so loved us that he gave himself for us.
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So be with us in this time, we pray in his most glorious name. Amen. So, as I said, we're at this point now, and what's interesting to me is as we get to this point, there is something very particular that God, through Moses, wants the children of Israel to know.
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And again, they have been in bondage for many years, and they've seen the great miracles and power of God in moving them out of Egypt and all the things that took place.
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But there's something very particular that Moses mentions here, and this is where our focus will be.
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Verse 9, therefore know that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God.
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And that's the title of the message is, the faithful God. And you can imagine now as Israel is going to be moving forward and there are many, many issues that are still in front of them.
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There are many enemies ahead of them. There are many obstacles in front of them, they being in many ways their greatest obstacle because of their unbelief.
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And yet, what God wants them to know is that He is the faithful God.
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Interesting to me, and I think I've mentioned this to you somewhere in the past, that there is a phrase that is used in the
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Bible 360 times. And that phrase is, or not just a phrase, it's, do not be afraid.
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And that God continually wants us to understand that He is the one who is faithful to us, and we do not need to be afraid because He is the faithful God.
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And to me, that's something that I need very, very often.
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Now, I don't know about you all, if you see what happens when you live in the South for a couple of decades, you start saying y 'all.
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You guys, you guys might be so spiritual that you don't need constant encouragement.
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I do, and you do. And so when God continually says these things to us, we ought to lay hold of them.
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These aren't just said to fill paper, this is not just so we can make the Bible bigger or smaller.
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When God says that He's the faithful God, and as Israel is now to depart and move into this promised land, this is going to be something that they can trust.
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This is going to be something that they can rely on. This is going to be something that is an anchor to their souls.
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And that's what I want to impress on us this morning, and if you will, I have a desire this morning, and the desire is to encourage us.
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I have a desire that we would be encouraged in the very depths of our being, that we would be those who will always look and always find rest and comfort in the fact that God is the faithful God.
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In Psalm, I think it's Psalm 94, it says, in the midst of my anxieties, your comforts are my delight.
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And to me, one of the greatest comforts that we could have is the truth, the reality that God is the faithful God.
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And so this morning, I want to look at it under four different thoughts, which I believe
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I can draw out from this text, verses 9 and 10, in that, first of all, that God is the faithful God to Himself.
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God is the faithful God to Himself. And then, moving forward, that God is the faithful God to His Son.
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And I hope to show you that we can find that in this text. And then, in the third place, the faithfulness of God to His people.
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And then, finally, or as we move along, the faithfulness of God to His enemies.
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The faithfulness of God to Himself, the faithfulness of God to His Son, the faithfulness of God to His people, and the faithfulness of God to His enemies.
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And I do believe that should keep us going for a little bit.
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So let's consider, first of all, the faithfulness of God to Himself. Faithfulness of God to Himself, because that's exactly what
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Moses says, Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God.
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My friends, just think about it for a minute. What if God was not faithful to Himself?
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What if God wavered in His workings, in His purposes that He has purposed to bring to pass?
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What kind of God would we serve if God denied
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Himself? Now, you might think, well, that's rather simple.
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Well, hopefully, I want to be rather simple too. I just want to see the
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Word of God for what it is. And so, this reality of God being faithful to Himself is important. And I'm going to read some
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Scripture this morning, more perhaps than normal, and then I'm going to ask us to turn to maybe a passage or two.
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But isn't it good for us when we consider who God is and His attributes and His being to rely on God's Word more than our words?
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But God is the faithful God to Himself. Let me just read a couple of Scriptures to you to support that.
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In Isaiah 46, and you don't have to turn there. I've got them all printed out. And so, by the time you get there,
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I'll be gone. But in Isaiah 46, for I am God and there is no other.
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I am God, there is none like me, declaring again from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
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My counsel shall stand and I will do all
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My pleasure. Isn't that great? Isn't that great that God will not be unfaithful to what
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He has ordained, nor will He be unfaithful to His holy character, but He will do all
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His pleasure? In Ephesians, it says,
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We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of His grace which
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He made to abound towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which
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He purposed in Himself. And it's important that we remember
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God was not under obligation. God was not under compulsion to do anything but what pleases
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Him. And yet, having set things out,
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God is faithful to Himself to bring them to pass. In Revelation, and by the way,
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Brother Mike will be starting a Bible study on Revelation next week, and I just encourage you all to come.
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He's a great teacher, and it's a great book. So, but in Revelation, it says,
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You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.
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Now, you might say, Well, you know what, Brother Andy, we know those verses. But to me, it's important to continually go over those verses and to continually understand that God is faithful, first of all, to Himself to bring to pass according to His pleasure, that God is faithful to Himself.
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I like what Albert Barnes commented on these verses, and this is what he said, and he said,
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He cannot begin without completing. There are no abandoned minds or half -hewn stones in His quarry.
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And this is because the divine nature is inexhaustible in power and unchangeable in His purpose.
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My friends, God is faithful to Himself in all that He does, and all that He does in faithfulness is for His glory.
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And I think that's where many people stumble. I think this is where many people can't see the forest for the trees, that God is faithful to Himself because God will glorify
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Himself. See, we have this erroneous thought, many people, that the things that are formed are formed for us, that we're the center of it all.
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Everything revolves around us. My friends, everything revolves around the living and true
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God. And we are the recipients of God's goodness and mercy and kindness and compassion and holiness and sovereignty and all those things, but ultimately this world, not only this world, but any world, all worlds are here for God's glory.
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Now, you know, I'm not a Presbyterian, but I certainly like what the Presbyterians say, that we've been created for what?
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To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. At least they got that right.
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But just consider it. He is faithful to Himself, seeing He is ultimately concerned for His glory.
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Now, as I said, I'm not going to ask you to turn to too many scriptures this morning, but this one I would like you to look at.
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And if you would, and you could, go to Ezekiel for a minute. Ezekiel, the 36th chapter. And this is, of course, one of the great promises of the establishment of the new covenant and what
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God was going to do through the person and work of His Son and the sending of the
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Holy Spirit. And we read that throughout the scriptures. But as this promise comes down,
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I want you to notice something. And I tie this together with the faithfulness of God, because I will pick it up in Ezekiel 36 and in verse 20.
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And we're going to read just for a little bit. And I want you to focus on two things.
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One, how many times God says, I, and how many times
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God says, for my holy namesake, that you and I would understand, again, that God is faithful to Himself.
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Read with me as He says this. When they came to the nations, wherever they went, and they profaned
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My name. Again, speaking of Israel of old, when they said of them, these are the people of the
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Lord, and yet they have gone out of His hand. Now look and listen. But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations, wherever they went.
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Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do not do this for your sake,
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O house of Israel, but for My holy namesake, which you have profaned among the nations, wherever you went.
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And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst.
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And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I am hallowed before their eyes.
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And I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of the countries, bring you into the land.
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And I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. And I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
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And I will give you a new heart and put My Spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
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I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes. And you shall keep
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My judgments and do them. And then you shall dwell in the land I gave to your fathers.
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You shall be My people. I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleanness.
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I will call for the grain and multiply it and bring no famine upon you.
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I will multiply the fruit of your fields so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations.
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Then you will remember the evil ways that were not good.
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And you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake do
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I do this, says the Lord God. Let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways,
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O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord God, on the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities,
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I will also enable you to dwell in the cities and the ruins shall be rebuilt.
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And you can continue to read. As a matter of fact, what's interesting, if you read in Ezekiel over and over again, that's what
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God continually says. I'm not doing this necessarily just for you, O Israel.
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I'm doing it for My holy namesake because I have promised to do it. And that promise first went out if we could go all the way back to where?
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We can go all the way back to the garden, when ultimately God said that the seed would crush the ungodly seed.
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You see, friends, that's what really history is all about. It's about the faithfulness of God to Himself in revealing and unraveling and displaying the person and work of His Son.
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And I don't want to get ahead of myself, but these thoughts this morning, they tie together the faithfulness of God to Himself and then the faithfulness of God to His Son, which leads to the faithfulness of God to His people and ultimately faithfulness of God to His enemies.
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As I say, the men of the world, many of them don't like that idea. Well, who is
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God that He gets to do whatever He wants? Shall the thing form say to Him that formed them,
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Why have you made me thus? Has not the pot a power over the clay?
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Oh, boy, you start talking to people about the sovereignty of God. Never mind the Arminians.
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You start talking to some people out there in general public, that'll get them riled up.
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God is faithful to Himself. And in that way, does it matter what you and I think, friends?
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I don't know about you. I am glad that God is faithful to Himself. Aren't you?
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That He doesn't change? That He doesn't waver? That He's not moved by all the gobbledygook that moves us?
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Gobbledygook is a very intricate word, by the way. I don't know if it's
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Greek, brother. You know, Brother Mike, not too long ago, preached on Psalm 46.
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That was a little while ago, but it wasn't that long ago. And I thought about what it says in that.
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It says, Be still to know I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted on the earth.
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And before we leave this point, I just want to stress how, if you think about it, there's truth about faithfulness to oneself.
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In this point, God. But I wanted you to just think how we live in a world where, in so many ways, faithfulness really doesn't mean a whole lot anymore.
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Now, I know, I guess I'm getting older, and, you know, I'll get into the one when
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I was young. But just think back not too long ago when people would actually keep their word.
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When you could shake hands with another man over just about anything, and that because his desire was to be faithful to his own words, that when you shook his hand, that pretty much ended it.
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Well, you ladies shook hands. Friends, we don't live in that kind of a day anymore.
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We live in a day when faithfulness to one's purposes and one's plans and one's promises, it just doesn't hold up.
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I think about it so often in marriages. My goodness, we got prenups, we got postnups, we got renewable marriage licenses, and yet we'll stand at the altar or at the podium and we'll say, till death do we part, as long as I still get to keep what
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I got when I leave you. We live in an unfaithful world.
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I'm not even going to go down the road of politicians. Which one of us really in our hearts say, well, so -and -so is running for office and so -and -so said they will do this, and we usually go, yeah, okay.
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But we don't believe them in their faithfulness. We see so many things in our day, friends, and yet we read in God's Word, and God says,
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I will not alter the words that have gone out of my mouth. Isn't it great that God is faithful to Himself?
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Isn't it great that we serve a God who doesn't change? Well, you might say, well, yeah, that's encouraging,
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I guess. No, it is. It's encouraging, friends. Listen, if we can't trust the character and being of God, we're lost.
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I often wonder, and I think we're singing great is thy faithfulness this morning. I often wonder when we sing great is thy faithfulness, if we're doing nothing more than what
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Israel did, just do lip service. Yeah, great is your faithfulness.
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Oh God, my Father. It ought to be, and maybe it's a plug for the last song,
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I don't know. We ought to sing it with reality, shouldn't we? Great is your faithfulness, oh
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God, our Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
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God is said to be, by Moses, the faithful God.
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And then, if you will, let us consider a little bit further, go back to Deuteronomy, and I think
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I'll let you stay there for the remainder, and I'll just quote a couple of Scriptures, but that's the first point.
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God is faithful to Himself. The second point that I wanted to stress this morning was that God is faithful to His Son.
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Now, you might say, well, I don't see the Son in this text, brother.
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Therefore, know that the Lord your God, He's God, the faithful God who keeps covenant mercy for a thousand generations to those who love
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Him and keep His commandments, and He repays those who hate Him to their face to destroy them, and He will not be slack with him who hates
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Him. He will repay Him to His face. You might say, well, where's the Son in this? Well, I'll put it to you this way.
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In order for God to be—I want to be careful how I say this—God is faithful to Himself, and we're going to see that God is faithful to His people, okay?
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And then we need to first understand the person and work of the Son, and that God is faithful to the
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Son in order that He could be faithful to His people. So, I do believe
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He, the Son, can be considered here, because He is the what?
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He's the mediator between God and men, isn't He? And we say it all the time, there is only one name under heaven given among men whereby we must and can be saved.
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But that is—it needs to be understood even in this context that God is faithful to His Son.
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Now, you might think in your mind, well, wait a minute, Jesus Christ is
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God come in the flesh. Amen? Okay. Glad we're not Jehovah Witnesses.
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But in the economy of salvation, it's given to us that the
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Son is the One who was sent by the Father. And as you look through the
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Scriptures, did not the Son trust in the faithfulness of the
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Father towards Him? Let me remind you of some of those passages given to us.
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And a couple of them are from Isaiah, but you could read… Listen, my friends, you could read in any messianic context in the
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Bible, particularly in the Psalms, and you will always see the faithfulness of God to His Son, the
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Messiah, who was to come in Isaiah 42.
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And again, I'll read it to you. Behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights.
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I have put my spirit upon him, and he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. And he will not cry out, nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
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And a bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench. And he will bring forth justice for truth, till he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands shall wait for his law.
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Thus says God the Lord who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it,
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I the Lord have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand.
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You could read through the book of Isaiah from beginning to end, and you will find in those great prophecies of the one who was to come, you could read them in all the prophetic writings that this faithful God would be faithful to his son.
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Again in Isaiah, listen, O coastlands, to me and take heed, you people from afar. The Lord has called me from the womb.
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From the matrix of my mother he has made mention of my name. He's made my mouth like a sharp sword in the shadow of his hands.
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He has hidden me and made me a polished shaft in his quiver. He has hidden me and said unto me, you are my servant,
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O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain.
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Yet surely my just reward is with the Lord and my work with my
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God. And now the Lord says who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring back Jacob to him so that Israel is gathered to him.
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For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my strength. Indeed, he says, it is a small thing that you should be a servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel.
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I will give you as a light to the Gentiles, that you shall be my salvation to the ends of the earth, that the faithfulness of God to Himself in the truth of what the triune
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God in eternal counsel had purposed to do. And then the reality of the one who is sent by the
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Father and of the Father's faithfulness to Him. One of those verses that really just rose in my mind is the one when
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Jesus said, you know what? If I wanted to,
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I could call my Father and He would send legions of angels because He knew that His Father would be faithful to Him as He was faithful to His Father.
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That great passage in Isaiah 53, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
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Him. He's put Him to grief. When you make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see
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His seed. He shall prolong His days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
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He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied. God was satisfied in Christ.
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Friends, if that don't break your heart, I don't know what will. He shall be satisfied.
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By His knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many for He shall bear their iniquities.
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Therefore, I will divide Him a portion with the great and He shall divide the spoiled with the strong because He poured out
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His soul unto death and was numbered with the transgressors. And He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
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Peter says, Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth, who when
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He was reviled did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten but committed
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Himself to Him who judges righteously. That this servant, this one who is both the
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Son of God and the Son of Man, that God was faithful to Him and in return, the
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Son was faithful to the Father in obedience.
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And we talk about it all the time, but do we really understand it in His active obedience or in His passive sufferings or whichever way you want to term it?
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He cast Himself upon the Father's will because He knew the Father's will in faithfulness would cause
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Him to prosper. When He was reviled,
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He did not revile again. You know, when we talk about being
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Christ -like, that's an aspect of it that I wonder if we fully understand or if we're growing in, to rely on the faithfulness.
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Listen, I'll say it this way because this is me talking, and these are things that work in my own heart.
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I believe that God is faithful to take me to heaven. I really do.
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I believe that God is faithful to keep me for all eternity. I do.
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I struggle that God will feed me tomorrow. I struggle at times that God will keep me, that God will provide for me, that God will take care of me in this life.
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But, oh, I'm sure that God is faithful to save me for all eternity.
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What in the world is wrong with me? I know some of you are so spiritual you don't have these problems.
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But if you don't have these problems, please let me know. I need to come to your house, have a glass of tea, and you can explain to me how it is that you never struggled with the faithfulness of God towards you, but I will submit to you that the son never struggled believing that God would be faithful to him.
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And again, I got to get my shot at the young people here.
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You kids, you can always trust the faithfulness of God.
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You can't always trust the people of this world. You can't always trust your friends. You can't always trust your teachers.
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You can't always trust people who seem to be role models.
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You can always trust God because God is the faithful God. And that leads me to take a minute or two and talk about the third point.
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And it's there in Deuteronomy 7 verse 9. And that is, and you see these things are linked together, right?
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There's a faithfulness of God to himself. There's a faithfulness of God to his son. And now think about it, faithfulness of God to his people, faithfulness of God to his people.
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Look at it in verse 9. Therefore, know that the Lord your God, He is
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God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love
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Him and keep His commandments. And again,
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I could say a lot of things, but I really thought about just letting the
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Word of God speak to us this morning under these thoughts. And let me read to you this. The faithfulness of God to His own people.
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In 1 Corinthians 1, it says, "...who will also confirm you to the end that you may be blameless in the day of our
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Lord Jesus Christ, God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our
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Lord." You do a concordance study, if you will, if you want. Of that word, faithful or faithfulness, and you'll see that it is constantly intertwined throughout all the
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Bible. And certainly, it's prominent in the New Testament. And that, you know, friends, again, there's nothing really new under the sun.
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And the struggles that they had thousands of years ago, guess what? We still struggle with them today.
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What has been will always be until that day. God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son.
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In Philippians chapter 1, Paul says, "...I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, making request for you all with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now."
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Then he says this, "...being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."
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I've been through some fires in my life, haven't you?
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Brother Mike was talking about this morning as we went over Daniel. Three young men thrown in the fire, and if that wasn't enough, then they decided, let's throw
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Daniel in the fire, see what happens, see if he burns. Well, no, into the lions' den.
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But here's my point. We all have fires in our... We all have lion dens in our lives, don't we? We all have obstacles.
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We all have things that distract us. We all have things that put us on the sidelines.
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Listen, friends, God is faithful. He who began a good work in us will what? Will continue it until the day of Christ.
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It says a mother might forget her child, but God will what? He will never forget us.
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This is the one that says He's written our names on the palm of His hands. You know, some people do that.
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They get their wife's name tattooed on their arm. Hopefully, they don't get divorced, so they don't have to do another tattoo.
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Or some will even have their wife's name instead of a ring tattooed on them because of the way they use their hands at work.
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Listen, God is faithful to us. I will not leave you.
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I will not forsake you. Why? Because I'm the faithful God. Why? Because I sent my son into the world, and in faithfulness,
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I kept him, and he's seated on a throne now, and he reigns forever. And you and I can trust in the
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Lord. Again, we say it all the time. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean on Him in your own understanding, in all your ways, acknowledge
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Him, and He shall guide your paths. See? I remember that one. Do we really mean that when we say that?
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Here's what it says in 2 Thessalonians. This one, I use the word cool, so I hope you understand.
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When I say things are cool in the Bible, I mean it in a reverent way. But this one is cool.
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2 Thessalonians is where he talks about God's faithfulness even in the midst of great sorrow and trial and tribulation, and it says this in 2
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Thessalonians 3, 3, But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.
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What a faithful word to us, isn't it? What a mighty God we serve.
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Peter says this, 1 Peter 4, Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.
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Again, friends, we live in such a world of unfaithful people, unfaithful promises, unfaithful things that take place in the relationships of life, and yet we have this word from God that He's faithful.
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Are you sick? God is faithful. Are you struggling? God is faithful.
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Are you hurting? God is faithful. He is the faithful Creator.
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And I'll tell you this, I can quote Scriptures from now until tonight about the faithfulness of God in His Word towards us, and I wouldn't even have scratched the surface.
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And I wanted to ask us this morning to think about this. Who's this
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God that we serve? Who's this God that we say we love? Do we love
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Him because of His glorious, righteous, holy, faithful character and being?
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You know, so many men and women, and I say men, I mean it generically, but so many people's perception of God is that God is just like the genie in the bottle, and that when you need something and you rub the lamp or the bottle, that genie is supposed to show up.
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It's His job to be faithful when you rub that bottle. And when you put your request before Him, He's to answer it.
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And you know, so many people think of God as nothing more than that. And then when you're done with the genie, you put him on the shelf till the next time you need him.
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God is faithful to us, and it's so foolish of us at times to think that He has forsaken us.
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Have you not at times thought that God had forgotten you? Aren't there times when you think that God is avoiding you?
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And there are times that you and I think that God has abandoned us. I will never forsake you.
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When you walk through the fire, when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
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I will be there. When you're in the lion's den, I will be there. When you're in the fiery furnace,
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I will be there. When you're in the valley of sorrow, I'll be there. When you're on the heights of the mountains,
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I'll be there. I am faithful to you for my holy name's sake and for your own internal good.
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Wait till we sing great is our faithfulness. I want to hear some voices this morning. And here's a side shot.
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Some of you don't sing, and I don't know why. We'll shout at a football game.
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We'll shout at this and that. Shout to the Lord. Sing. Sing like a frog, because we're all a bunch of frogs except a few.
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You ever hear the frogs in the morning? They sound glorious when there's 100 ,000 of them.
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What a mighty God we serve. Listen, it says in the Scriptures that curse be the man who makes his arm his strength.
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You want to know why curse is the man who makes his arm his strength? Because he can't trust his arm, because his arm is going to wither.
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Going to wither, Tim. You go pump that iron, and good for you.
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I'm trying to do a little bit, but we're still going to wither, brother. Not God.
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What a mighty God we serve. All right, I need to finish. Although I can't really see that clock, so it doesn't matter to me because I can't see it.
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But in the final point, and it's in verse 10 of Deuteronomy chapter 7. And this one might puzzle some people when
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I say it this way. God is faithful to his enemies. And the reason why
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I say it might be a little bit confusing to some is that we often assume, and maybe even rightly so, when we speak about faithfulness, we think of it in the positive, in the uplifting, in the triumphant, in the joyful.
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And I'm not saying we shouldn't, but listen, there's a reality in which God being faithful to Himself, God having been faithful to His Son, God in being faithful to His people,
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God is faithful to His enemies. There it is in verse 10. He's merciful to a thousand generations, to those who love
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Him and keep His commandments, and He repays those who hate Him to their fate, to destroy them.
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And He will not be slack with him who hates Him. He will repay him to his face.
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I'm going to say this this morning to all of us. If you are not, if you have not surrendered to the
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Lordship of Christ, if you have not repented and in faith turned to Him as Savior and Lord and Master and Captain and High Priest and Mediator, my friends, you ought to be scared to death.
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Oh, brother, you're not going to encourage people. Listen, at this point, I'm not looking to encourage you.
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I'm looking to warn you. We live in a day when churches are so afraid to talk about the judgment of God because people will go to a different church.
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Well, if you want, go to a different church. God says
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He will repay them to their face. And so many men and so many women and young people, and they'll say something like, well, you know what,
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I'll repent, but just not today. You fool! What happens if your soul is required of you tonight?
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Oh, that's not so. Let me ask you a question. Even this week, do you think that those four people in Georgia got up in the morning and knew that they were going to lose their life that day?
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God says He's faithful to repay those that hate Him to their face.
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And you might think you're safe from judgment. You might say, well, you know what, that's not me because I've been coming to church now for, oh, doggy,
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I can't even remember. What is the saying you guys use? High as a grasshopper or some crazy thing like that?
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Knee -high to a grasshopper? Have you really looked to Him as Lord?
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And so I say these words should unsettle you. They should cause you to be so fearful.
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As sure as God is faithful to Himself, faithful to His Son, faithful to His people, as sure as God has written their names on His hands,
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God knows you and your rebellion. Listen to Amos, because it's vivid.
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It just jumps out. Listen in Amos 5, it says, Woe to you who desire the day of the
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Lord! And for you who sit here this morning and say, oh, I think
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I'm right with God. Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the
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Lord to you? It will be darkness and not light. It will be, listen, it will be as though a man fled from a lion and a bear met him.
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And that's a rough day. But it gets worse. He ran from a lion and a bear met him or as though he went into his house and he leaned on his head on the wall.
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Man, I can't believe I escaped that lion. Man, I had to run awful fast to get away from that bear. And he leans on his wall and guess what?
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He gets bit by a serpent. Do we not believe that God is faithful when
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He says your sin will find you out? We think
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God is kidding. Do we think God is like us in that way?
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Listen, when God shoots His arrow, He never misses.
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I'm going to say that again. When God shoots His arrows,
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He does not miss. When Jesus said, if you're not for me, you're against me.
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You might think God's not aware of you this morning and you're hardened heart, but I assure you
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He is. And you might be sitting here this morning and say, well, you know what?
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I'm pretty young, so I think I got some time to work through this. You have no guarantees.
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I've got kids that don't know the Lord. I've got grandkids that don't know the
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Lord. I've got great -grandkids that don't know the Lord. Do you?
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Do you know the condition that they're in? God is faithful.
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Listen, my friend, you might even live a very long and prosperous life, and I pray you do.
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I really do. But God is faithful to His enemies.
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As sure as God sent His Son to Calvary's cross, you can be sure of two things.
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God will save His people. God will punish
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His enemies. Well, brother, that's not really the best way to close the message.
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Well, if you're not a Christian, run to Christ.
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Don't walk. Don't jog. Run! Flee the wrath to come.
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Find in Christ your all in all. Why do you spend money for that which does not satisfy?
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Look and see Him high and lifted up. Come to Him. Jesus said, come unto
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Me, and I will what? I will give you rest. He's faithful. God will punish
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His enemies because God is faithful to Himself, and God is faithful to His Son, and God is faithful to His people.
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And so, I pray this morning, friends, that none of us will leave this place until we truly rest in Him, because you and I have no guarantee to be back here next week.
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And you and I will find in Jesus, and I so like to say this, find in Me, as the hymn goes, find in Me your all in all.
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Let's pray. Our Father in God, thank You. Thank You, Lord.
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Thank You, Lord, for being faithful to Yourself, and that what
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You have said You will bring to pass, and that Your holy name will be exalted and lifted up.
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Thank You, Lord, for sending Your Son and Your faithfulness to Your Son to raise
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Him from the dead and to have Him sit on the throne of judgment.
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Thank You, Lord, for Your faithfulness to us, You people. Oh, God, we are so unworthy, and You are so worthy.
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Thank You, Lord, for the truth that You will even be faithful to Your enemies. As we come to the supper this morning, may we be those who come and remember this memorial as something that You have in faithfulness done for us, and that is that You, Lord Jesus, came, died, was buried, rose, ascended, seated on high, and one day coming again, in Jesus' name, amen.
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So each week, one of our deacons stands before us, and he does this with the express purpose of giving us instruction on who should partake of the