Deuteronomy 7:9

This verse tells us that God is faithful. He has the substance of faithfulness. God is as
good as His word and His word shall become true. All that God does is out of His
faithfulness, His beauty and goodness. As to those who love God, keep His
commandments, listen to and obey Him, God extends love and mercy and blessings at
any time. Take Abraham, for example, he was able to follow God’s words and obey His
arrangements: returning his only son to God. Thus, he gained God’s blessings and
promise: God would make Abraham the father of nations, and would make his progeny
as numerous as the stars of heaven, and as plentiful as the sand on the sea shore. As
long as we can love God, follow His words, obey His orchestrations and arrangements as
Abraham, God’s love and mercy and blessings will come upon us.

GOD’S FAITHFUL PROMISES TO HIS PEOPLE

A. He Is Faithful Because Of His Name - God is called “God,” “the Lord thy God,” and “the
faithful God.”

1. He is called God - This word identifies Him the One Who is over all. It encompasses all
of His power, His glory, His influence and His wonder.

2. He is called The Lord Thy God –

** The name “Lord” is God’s covenant name.

** He is the “the eternal, self-existent One.”

** He is the “One Who keeps faith with His people.” In other words, “He is One Who will
do whatever He says He will do!” ** The pronoun “thy” reminds them that He is their
God!

3. He is called the Faithful God -

The God we serve is faithful!

• His faithfulness is unlimited. PS 36:5 “…thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds,”

• His faithfulness is unfailing. PS 89:33 – He promised that he would not let his
faithfulness to fail.

• His faithfulness is unchanging. Malachi 3:6 6 For I am the Lord, I change not;
•

B. He Is Faithful Because Of His Nature –

** He can be nothing but faithful because that is His nature!

• Friends will fail, but God is faithful - Ill. David and Ahithophel,. Ill. Jesus and Judas,

• Family will fail, but God is faithful – Ill. David and Absalom

• Funds will fail, but God is faithful - Ill. The feeding of the 5,000.

• Feelings will fail, but God is faithful

Once an older man, was walking the beach at dawn, and he noticed that the beach was
literally covered for miles with starfish. He also noticed a young boy ahead of him who
was picking up starfish and flinging them into the sea. Catching up with the youth, he
asked him what he was doing.

The boy replied, “I am picking these starfish up and throwing them back into the sea so
that they do not die.”

“But the beach goes on for miles and miles, and there are millions of starfish,” countered
the man. “How can your effort make any difference?”

The boy looked at the starfish in his hand and then threw it to safety in the waves. “It
makes a difference to this one,” he said.

My point - I cannot help everyone of you like I would like to and meet all of your needs.
But I am going to be faithful to do what I can. However my faithfulness even with best
intensions may fail you.

Summary: This faithful God has proven His faithfulness through a Faithful Passion, a
Faithful Performance, and through Faithful Promises!! He was faithful in the past, and He
will be faithful in the future.
Deut 7:9 “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping
His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his
commands.”

Faithfulness is a continuous, unrelenting devotion to a faithful God.

• Our faithfulness is anchored upon a faithful God. Our life is built upon the
trustworthiness of God. Without that, there can be no basis for faithfulness.

• We cannot be faithful to someone that is fickle and disloyal. There will be no ground
for faith and faithfulness.

We can be faithful today because we know of a God who is absolutely faithful.

• His faithfulness is the reason we can be faithful today.

(1) REST IN GOD’S FAITHFULNESS

God is fully dependable. God is fully trustworthy. That must be a conviction.

• You cannot possibly be faithful to someone I distrust. If I allow unbelief or doubt to

take root in my heart, faith in God will diminish and so goes faithfulness.

• Feed on God’s Word and build up your faith. Look at God’s works and remind yourself
of His goodness.

Faithfulness of God is greatly celebrated in the Bible, especially the Psalms.

• Ps 145:13 “The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.”

• Ps 57:10 “For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to
the skies.
• Ps 100:5 “For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues
through all generations.”

Heb 6:17-19 “Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very
clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so
that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have
fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this
hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”

• His PURPOSE is sure. God’s will does not change; it need not because it’s perfect. If He
needs to make corrections to His plan, then He cannot be all-wise and all-knowing.

• His PROMISE (oath) is sure. When He speaks, it is eternal. “You can have MY WORD!”
He says.

• God’s PURPOSE and PROMISE, God’s WILL and WORD will not change.

You see the extend God goes to, to assure us of His faithfulness.

• I am now on a reading plan going through the OT in 2-years, and I came to Jeremiah
31 the other day, and I’m captivated by the way God assures His people:

• Jer 31:35-37 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,"
declares the LORD."I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be
their God, and they will be my people. 34 …"For I will forgive their wickedness and will
remember their sins no more."

35 This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees
the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar - the
LORD Almighty is his name: 36 "Only if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the
LORD, "will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me."

37 This is what the LORD says: "Only if the heavens above can be measured and the
foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel
because of all they have done," declares the LORD.”

God highlights the impossibility of His plan ever-changing. God cannot go back on His
Word!

• 1 Thess 5:24 “The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it.”
• What we have is an eternal security. We can be faithful because God is faithful!

We are called to be just like Him - faithful.

(2) VALUE FAITHFULNESS, NOT RESULTS

This is how God spells success. Faithfulness is what God is looking for.

• A successful Christian is actually a faithful Christian, because success is not based on

results but on faithfulness.

• Results are the gracious works of God. Faithfulness is what we can offer Him.

Jesus emphasized this in the Parable of the Talents in Matt 25. The context is very
enlightening:

• Matt 24A – He starts to talk about the Signs of the End of the Age.

• Matt 24B – The Day and Hour of His return is unknown. 24:45-46 “Who then is the
faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his
household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant
whose master finds him doing so when he returns.”

he Parable of the Ten Virgins – be prepared. He will surely come back. He said so. You
can trust His Word. REST IN HIS FAITHFULNESS

• Matt 25B – the Parable of the Talents – in the meantime, put to good use what God has
entrusted you. When He comes back you will hear this “Well done, good and faithful
servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.
Come and share your master's happiness!'” (Matt 25:21)

• Matt 25C – about the Sheep and the Goats (we talked about 2 weeks ago) – He
identifies us by our kind deeds because that how true faith is being shown.

It is very clear from the Scriptures that God is looking for faithful men.

God told NOAH to build an ark according to detailed specifications, and it took Noah
more than 100 years to build that ark on completely dry land.

• It takes faith in God and faithfulness to God. Noah has never seen rain and there were
no signs of it coming, for a long time. People mocked him, but rain did come.
• When the Bible mentioned MOSES in Heb 3:5 “Moses was faithful as a servant in all
God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future.”

JEREMIAH prophesied and preached to the same people for about 40 years.

• Very few people listened to him but he continued to do what God had told him to do
and say what God had told him to say.

• In our modern time, we can easily conclude that he was failure. But success in the
world’s view may not be the same success as defined by the Scripture.

God wants our faithfulness, not our success.

• We are not responsible for the results; we are responsible for our faithfulness.

Paul tells Timothy: “what you have heard from me… entrust to faithful men who will be
able to teach others also.” (2 Tim 2:2 ESV)

• We’re not called to be successful; we’re called to be faithful. Can God depend on you?

To be faithful to God is to do the thing that God wants you to do, and does it well.

To be unfaithful, is to do your own thing, and keep doing your own things.

APPLICATIONS:

(1) DISCOVER what God wants you to do

I say DISCOVER because God has a calling on your life. You need to discover it.

• People do not think about it. We don’t usually care about what God wants; we are
concern only about what we want.

• Paul says in Eph 4:1b “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”

To be faithful, we need to invest what God has entrusted to us.

• So seek God. Listen to His voice. Start serving. Be involved in ministry.

• It’s a journey of discovering God’s design for your life, the passions, the interests, the
gifts, the opportunities that He has given you.
• Rick Warren says God has given each of us unique S.H.A.P.E. for His purpose – Spiritual
Gift, Heart (passion), Abilities, Personality (interests) and Experience.

We are not called to do everything. If you try to do everything, chances are you’re going
to miss doing the particular something that God wants you to do.
 Devotion: Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth
covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand
generations;

A. He is called The Lord Thy God –

** The name “Lord” is God’s covenant name.

** He is the “the eternal, self-existent One.”

** He is the “One Who keeps faith with His people.” In other words, “He is One Who will
do whatever He says He will do!” ** The pronoun “thy” reminds them that He is their
God!

B. . He is called God - This word identifies Him the One Who is over all. It encompasses
all of His power, His glory, His influence and His wonder.

C. He is called the Faithful God which keepeth covenant and mercy

The God we serve is faithful!

• His faithfulness is unlimited. PS 36:5 “…thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds,”

• His faithfulness is unfailing. PS 89:33 – He promised that he would not let his
faithfulness to fail.

• His faithfulness is unchanging. Malachi 3:6 6 For I am the Lord, I change not;

Ps 145:13 “The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.”

• Ps 57:10 “For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to
the skies.

• Ps 100:5 “For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues
through all generations.”

God is as good as His word and His word shall become true. All that God does is out of
His faithfulness, His beauty and goodness.

D. with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations

* As to those who love God, keep His commandments, listen to and obey Him, God
extends love and mercy and blessings at any time.
Abraham, for example, he was able to follow God’s words and obey His arrangements:
returning his only son to God. Thus, he gained God’s blessings and promise: God would
make Abraham the father of nations, and would make his progeny as numerous as the
stars of heaven, and as plentiful as the sand on the sea shore.

In Conclusion:
* As long as we can love God, follow His words, obey His orchestrations and
arrangements in our life, God’s love and mercy and blessings will come upon us.

Remember if we obey God he is true to His promises;

Genesis 22:18 NIV) and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed
me.”
(Deuteronomy 11:26-28 NIV) See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse– {27} the blessing if you
obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; {28} the curse if you disobey the
commands of the LORD your God
(Proverbs 3:1-6 NIV) My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, {2} for they will
prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.
Deuteronomy 5:29 NIV) Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always,
so that it might go well with them and their children forever!
(John 15:7-14 NIV) If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given
you.