What It Means That God Is Faithful

A. Heb. 10:23. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who
promised is faithful.” When we are tempted to worry about the uncertainties of an
ever changing world, it helps to remember that the entire universe was created by a
God who is eternal. Never forget the words of Rev. 1:8. “I am the Alpha and the
Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
But, the comforting thing about God’s eternal nature is not merely that He exists eternally, but that His character is eternal: God is unchangingly faithful. Did you ever stop and just spend an hour contemplating, thinking about what that means? What does it mean when we say, “God is faithful”?
a. It means, first of all, God is never fickle. The gods of paganism were thought
to be fickle and capricious. In contrast, the true God has a faithful, unchanging
character. Mal. 3:6. “I am Jehovah, I change not.” Heb. 13:8. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Jas. 1:17-18. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.” God created and loves us and blessed us and brought us salvation through the preaching of the Gospel. And that has not changed.
(A) God’s Word is always true. Like God that Word has not changed. God is just
the opposite of Satan. Jno. 8:44. “There is no truth in him. When he
lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
(1) In contrast to Satan, Ps. 146:6. says, “God keeps truth forever.” It is
contradictory to the nature of God to not speak truth. Titus 1:2. “Our
faith and knowledge and hope of eternal life, rests in God, who does not
lie.” Heb. 6:17-18.
Truth and trust are inseparably tied together. God’s word is true not only in the sense of being accurate — it is true in the sense of “tried and true” (proven to be dependable). Because God’s word is always absolutely true, we can place our complete trust in all He says ? Ps. 119:138. “The statutes you have laid down are righteous; they are fully trustworthy.”
Therefore, God is always a righteous Judge. It is essential that any judge adhere to a standard of justice and not be partial to certain persons — Judges in America are partial and crooked and Ignore and break the law. God is perfectly and eternally just and righteous ? and will not violate or ignore His law. = Dispense justice equally to all people upon the earth. That is both a sobering and a comforting consideration, Rom. 2:9?11. God is predictable, thus we can know what His standard of judgment will be.
(2) God always keeps His promises. 2 Pet. 3:5-18. And Heb. 11:11, tells us to trust God’s faithfulness because of His promises.

(1) God’s Word and history tells us that God always fulfills His promises. Man can ignore and violate God’s will, but he cannot obstruct or defeat the fulfillment of God’s purposes. If a man is lost it is because of his lack of faithfulness to God. It’s Not because of God’s unfaithfulness.
(2) God will never forsake us. Heb. 13:5?6. “God has said, ‘I will never leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.”
(3) He is an eternal God who is faithful to us. Phip. 1:6. God tells us, “Being
confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to
completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Commit yourself to God and He
Will stick by you and complete your salvation.
(1) God is not like us and the people around us. God is not fickle, deceitful, changable. He can be trusted in all things. Deut. 32:4. God is “the Rock...a God of truth.”
(1) Rom. 8:35?39.
(2) Acts 20:32.

Spur - 01/12/03 pm