The Faithfulness of God

The faithfulness of God means that God will never desert us nor forsake us.

It means that He will stick by us whether we are doing well or doing poorly, whether we are on the top
of the spiritual mountain or down in the valley.

God is always available.

Walter Winchell said, A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.

And in our tough times when it seems that everyone has walked out on us because they have more
important things to attend to, God remains with us, sitting next to us, holding our hand and ready to
listen.

Gods Faithfulness is a necessity

There are many passages in Scripture that describe our sinful state.

Romans 3
We are unrighteous
We do not seek for God
We are useless
We do not do good
We are deceitful
We do not fear God
We are sinners
Ephesians 2
We are dead in our sins
We live in the lusts of our flesh
We are by nature children of wrath

When we realize what we really are then Gods faithfulness is not merely an added blessing; it is a
necessity.

God will always receive us back

Psalm 73
21
When my heart was embittered
And I was pierced within,
 22
Then I was senseless and ignorant;
I was like a beast before You.
23
Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You have taken hold of my right hand.

If there ever was a reason for God to leave us, then there never was a reason for Him to have been
drawn to us. God does not save us because we have any intrinsic value in ourselves nor does He stay
with us because we are so valuable, talented, rich, or good-looking. The assurance of Gods faithfulness
rests wholly in the One that we call Lord and Savior.

If God accepted us as unforgiven sinners then what would induce Him to leave us as forgiven saints?

God is infinitely invested in us; He bought us with His Son.

When I bought a scooter for a dollar at a garage sale for one of my girls and then ran over it with my
truck, I stood over it and thought, Oh, drat. But when I bought a new car and then accidently scratched
it with a shovel I was, AAAAAHHHHH! The difference was the amount invested. If I had paid $20,000
for the scooter then I would have been AAAAAHHHHH! when I ran over it. Our heart is where our
treasure lies and God put His greatest treasure into us. We are temples of the Holy Spirit.

1 John 1:9, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.

Why is God righteous or just when He forgives us? We associate justice with punishment; not with
forgiveness. It is because Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the entire sum of the penalty for our sins.
And then because the Father raised His Son from the dead, it showed that He fully accepted Jesus
payment for sins. The risen Christ is proof that God will, indeed, forgive us of our sins. So when we
confess our sins, God must forgive us or He will not be righteous and just.

Even in our sin God is faithful.

Why is that important?

Because no matter how sinful we may be God is always faithfully waiting for our repentance.

And when we do repent God will take us back with open arms ready to restore us.

If we commit a really terrible sin and then a year later decide to repent and come back to God we will
not cry out God? Hello? God, are You there? and hear a hollow echo coming back.

Instead there will be Gods arms eagerly waiting to embrace us and welcome us back.

Because God is faithful, He is in the details of our lives.

Do you sometimes think that God has abandoned you?

Do you wonder if you might have lost your salvation?
Do you sometimes think that youve been so bad that God no longer loves you?
Then study and mediate on Gods faithfulness. It will change your life.

We will be brought to Heaven

1 Corinthians 3:11-15

11
For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12
Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,

13
each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire,
and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.

14
If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.

15
If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Verse 11 is what this series is all about: laying a solid and proper foundation.
Not a foundation of emotions.
Not a foundation of our or other peoples experiences.
Not a foundation of positive circumstances.
But a foundation that is rooted in the knowledge and firm belief in who Jesus Christ isthat is a
foundation that will never be shaken.

Verse 15, even if a person never accomplished any good in his life, even if he never did anything that
would survive into eternity, even if he were so lazy or so uncaring that he never once obeyed God then,
if he were truly saved, then he would still be guaranteed a place in Heaven.

We are so used to an economy of give and take that it is only with difficulty that we are able to accept
the truth that God gives. Pride wants to earn divine acceptance; humility simply believes it.

Security of our relationship

2 Timothy 2:13, If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

Even when we are weak and doubting, Jesus Christ remains faithful to us.

The assurance of our relationship with God cannot be determined by including ourselves in any part of
the equation; it must be solely determined by the character of God. It rests not on our loyalty but on
Gods commitment to us.
Our Security of Salvation = (My character x 0%) + (Gods character x 100%)

Our Security of Salvation = Gods character

Hebrews 13:5, I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU."

1 John 5:13, These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you
may know that you have eternal life.

But not only is our future relationship with God secure but so is our current relationship.

Philippians 1:6, For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect
it until the day of Christ Jesus.

God will remain faithful to finish His work in us.

I know someone who wanted to build a shed. He bought all of the materials, had the plans, and started
it. That was over ten years ago. He lost interest about halfway through. So now there sits a partially
completed structure that is worthless and has so fallen into disrepair that the only thing that can and
should be done with it is to tear it down.

God will never lose interest in us and let us go to waste. He will abandon us for someone with more
talent or who is more popular or better looking. He has promised to work in our lives to bring us to
perfection and He will be faithful to that task no matter what.

2 Timothy 2:12b, If we deny Him, He also will deny us. This verse does not mean that a believer who
denies Jesus will lose his salvation since that would contradict Gods promise of always being faithful to
us. Those who deny Jesus are those who made a temporary but insincere confession and then, thinking
it all to be useless, turned away. I once shared the Gospel with a stranger and he told me that he was
once an enthusiastic, professing Christian. But he did that to get over a hump in his life. Once all was well
again he did not need Jesus anymore. He said that Jesus was like a shoehorn; once you get your shoe on
then you do not need the shoehorn anymore. And once Jesus got him over the problem in his life then
he did not need Jesus anymore.

Hebrews 6:4-6

4
For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have
been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,

5
and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,

6
and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify
to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.
We can always have joy

John 15:11, These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be
made full.

God tells us that He wants to see the same joy in us that He has in Himself. This is clear enough, yet the
paradox lies in what happened in Jesus life.

He proceeds to speak of how the world hates Him, rejects Him, and persecutes Him and when He has
finished the Upper Room Discourse, the Prince of Peace is then betrayed, tried, and crucified. The One is
truly meek and humble of heart is mocked and spit upon by the criminals for whose crimes He is willfully
paying. Is this the joy God wishes on us?

The issue lies not upon the circumstances but in an attitude of delightful dependence upon a faithful
Father. Situations will change. There will be times on the mountain with the glory of God surrounding us
and times in the valley filled with doubt and confusion.

Psalm 91:2, I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!"

A fortress is a fortified place of exceptional security; a stronghold.

A fortress is beyond a fort or a city with walls. It was considered to be an impenetrable place of safety.
Towns may be overrun and burned down but a fortress would withstand any attack. Its walls were thick
so that they could not be broken down, they were tall so that they could not be easily scaled, and they
were complete in that they offered protection from all sides.
God is faithful in providing us with opportunities for persecution and
affliction

Psalm 119:67, 75, Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. I know, O LORD, that
Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.

An often overlooked aspect of Gods faithfulness is His constancy in shaping our lives to become more
like the character of Jesus Christ.

All of the promises of a trouble-free life without hurt are reserved for heaven when we shall be without
sin. It is then that we shall forever rest from our labors. Till that time, however, we must be prepared to
suffer persecution from men and to suffer discipline from men and to suffer discipline from God.
Through this means, perhaps more than any other, He refines stubborn people such as ourselves to
become more like Himself. The Lord is good to be so faithful to us. We strongly tend to grumble and
complain. Instead, we should believe and obey.

Escape from temptation

As you read the Scriptures with your mind focused on one or more of Gods attributes you will see how
crucial it is in so many ways.

1 Corinthians 10:13, No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is
faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will
provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

No one can ever make us sin. When we sin it is always our choice, our decision.

Proverbs 7:22 is a classic version on how we are tempted, tempted, tempted and then suddenly give in.
A man went to a place that he should not have. That was his first mistake. It shows that he already had a
desire to sin. And so many times in our own lives we really want to sin and so we place ourselves in a
position to do so. Then a woman approaches him and tempts him with many words. And he listens and
he listens some more. He should have run. Then comes verse 22, Suddenly he follows her As an ox goes
to the slaughter, Or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool. Suddenly, at one decisive point, he made
his decision to sin. The man in this story had many chances to avoid sin, but he did not avail himself of
any of them.

Someone was trapped on a rooftop from a flood.

First someone in a boat came by but the person refused to get in because they were waiting for God to
rescue them.
Then someone came by in a helicopter to rescue them but they refused because they were waiting for
God to rescue them.

Then they drowned.

When we are tempted we do not have to wait for some spectacular, supernatural guidance or rescue.
Sometimes the best approach is to just get away from it.

But no matter how God does it, it is always the faithfulness of God that allows us to escape from each
and every temptation.

2 Timothy 4:18, The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly
kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
What does Gods faithfulness mean to us?

He is in the details of our lives.

When we think of a faithful friend we think of someone who is devoted to us and who cares about what
is happening in our lives. God is our Lord and our King, but in John 15:15 He announces a relationship
that is startling, No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but
I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. God
wants us to be intimate with Him. He has shared a great portion of His heart, thoughts, and desires with
us in the Bible. As we read the Bible we quickly discover that it is not a manual but an autobiography and
that its author is calling us to share ourselves with Him at all times and in all ways.

God is always ready and available to comfort and protect

God is a constant presence in our lives. He does not go away to attend to more important business. He is
always ready to hear our personal prayers, to comfort our intimate pain, to strengthen us when we falter,
and to guide us when we are confused. The phrase I am with you or a close variation is repeated over
20 times in the Bible. Psalm 91:4 provides us with a strong promise, He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

Lamentations 3:20-23
20
Surely my soul remembers
And is bowed down within me.
21
This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
22
The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
23
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.

Discussion Questions
1) In addition to the ones discussed above, what are some other assurances that Gods faithfulness
means to us?
2) How does knowing that God is faithful help us through difficult times?
3) Is God still faithful to us when we are in sin or does He leave us only to return when we repent?
4) What are some ways that God has proven His faithfulness to you personally?
5) Who are some people in the Bible that God proved His faithfulness to?
6) If God is so faithful then how come some people claim that in their darkest hour they felt as though
God were not there at all?
7) If God has promised to be faithful no matter what then why cannot we use that as an excuse to do
whatever we want?
8) What is the difference between Gods faithfulness (God will never leave nor forsake us) and Gods
omnipresence (God is everywhere)?
9) What are some practical ways that we can be faithful to other people the way that God is faithful to
us?

Situation
Elizabeths father abandoned her family when she was eight years old. As a result she has had a hard
time keeping friends. When she feels that someone is getting too close to her she will say harsh things to
that person and become distant. She is often lonely and many times it is obvious that she longs for a
close friendship. You have been getting close to her and you are starting to see her doing the same thing
to you. The other day she insulted your clothes and you have left several friendly but unanswered
messages in the last two weeks. When you started to get to know her you knew that she is like this and
you promised yourself that you would stick it out and show her that you are a loyal friend. You know that
she is hurting and that her behavior is a defense mechanism to avoid being hurt, but it is difficult to
endure the growing insults and cold shoulder. You decide that rather then pull away from her like
everyone else you will talk to her. What will you say to her and can you incorporate Gods faithfulness
into your discussion?