p>Lamentations 3:19-23
19 – I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
20 – I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
21 – Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
22 – Because of the LORD’S great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.
23 – They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
If you missed last Sunday-let me get you to speed by telling you that this advent we are using our sermon time in an attempt to answer a very important question, namely: “What does Christmas teach us about God?” And we all need a correct answer to this question because a proper knowledge of God is very important. Do you remember A. W. Tozer’s statement that I shared with you last week? In his book The Knowledge of the Holy, Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Tozer is right on the money with this statement-what we think about God IS the most important thing about us because, for good or ill, our perception of God affects all of life.
The best way to gain an ACCURATE perception of God is of course through His Son so we are using the coming of Jesus as a “lense” through which we can see God more clearly. The plan is to use both Christmas and then later this spring, Easter, as platforms from which to study several of God’s attributes. Now according to Tozer an ATTRIBUTE of God is, “…whatever may be correctly ascribed to GOD…it is whatever GOD has in any way revealed as being true of Himself.” This morning I want us to study about the ways that God has revealed Himself to be FAITHFUL.
But-before we go any further let’s make sure we all understand this particular Godly attribute.
When we say that God is faithful we are saying that everything He says and does is certain. We’re saying He is 100% reliable, 100% of the time. He does not fail, forget, falter, or disappoint. When we say that God is faithful we are saying that He SAYS what He means and MEANS what He says-and therefore DOES everything He says He will do. And-I want you to understand, that bound up in the inherent meaning of this word is the fact that all this NEVER CHANGES. I mean, God never ceases to be faithful. I don’t know about you, but to me this is indeed a comforting fact because in this world of ours everything else DOES change.
Think about it. The ECONOMY changes-daily! If you’re like me you worry that if your retirement account investments don’t improve you’ll spend your retirement eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. GOVERNMENTS change every day-either by non-violent elections or by bloody coups. COUNTRIES change-borders are reconfigured; nations are re-named-world atlases and globes are out-dated almost before we get them home. CITIES CHANGE-I heard this week that Las Vegas is growing so fast, changing so rapidly, that police have to be issued newly updated maps every two weeks. A new house is built there every 20 minutes. I can’t for the life of me figure out why so many people want to live there! CHURCHES change-especially here at Redland as Uncle Sam moves people in and out of our area every couple years. PARENTING changes-just as soon as you figure out how to change diapers your babies turn into toddlers-and as soon as you figure out the best way to discipline toddlers, they turn into pre-adolescents…then when you get good at pre-adolescents these strange creatures called teenagers suddenly show up…moms and dads never catch up with all this change! One of the things that makes parenting so hard is the fact that our BODIES change such that we don’t have the energy to keep up with our kids. Over the years our muscles turn to flab. Our hair turns gray or it turns loose. Our faces sag and wrinkle. Aches and pains become common place. Once healthy bodies become plagued with disease. And then unfortunately PEOPLE change.
Spouses who’ve been married for decades and who’ve raised children together, suddenly give up on their relationship saying, “I’ve changed. You just don’t meet my needs anymore. I want something or someone new and more exciting.”
Well, all this goes to show that it’s true: the only thing that is constant in our world is change. And as I said, in the midst all this turmoil, the fact that God’s faithfulness is constant…the fact that He does NOT change is an anchor. His faithfulness is something to hold on to. Wouldn’t you agree? I mean, isn’t it good to know that God does not change…that He IS INDEED faithful to be the same today, yesterday, and tomorrow?! Isn’t it good to now that, as Spurgeon writes, “There are no furrows on God’s eternal brow. No age has palsied Him; no years have marked Him with mementos of their flight…” God is the same! In fact, since He is perfect, any change would have to be for the worse! It’s like standing on the North Pole. The only direction you can walk is south! Any change would make God less than faithful-less than perfect. So understand. God never changes. He is always absolutely consistent to His character and personhood. For example: God’s STRENGTH never wanes. I mean God never says, “I’m feeling strong today.” because He always has unlimited power. This means if we need a strong hand to hold we can know that we’ll ALWAYS find one in God.
Max Lucado writes. “Think of it. God never pauses to eat or asks the angels to cover for Him while He naps. He never signals a time-out or puts the prayer requests from Russia on hold while He handles those from South Africa. Catch God in a bad mood? Won’t happen. Fear exhausting His amazing grace? A sardine will swallow the Atlantic first. Think He’s given up on you? Never. Ever worry that if you go to Him you’ll find Him in a non-receptive mood? Not God….Lovers call you one today and scorn you tomorrow. Companies follow pay raises with pink slips. Friends applaud you when you drive a classic and dismiss you when you drive a dud. Not God. He is always the same. As James 1:17 says, ‘There is not even a shadow of a change in God.'”
Even the name for Himself that He gave to Moses proclaims this fact. God is “I AM” not “I will be” or “I was” but “I AM” -a declaration to both God’s self-existence and eternal changelessness.
But you know, oddly enough this fact that God’s great faithfulness never changes is something that we tend to take for granted. Mark Buchanan writes, “Faithfulness is by definition, the predictable, the habitual, the sturdy, the routine. It is the evidence of things SEEN, but seen so often we’ve grown BLIND to them. It’s the substance of things EXPECTED, expected so unthinkingly that we now TAKE THEM FOR GRANTED. [Frankly] faithfulness BORES us. [Think of it] Who among us leapt up this morning as the sun rose, exclaiming, ‘Look! Look, everybody, look! The sun! Here it comes! Wow!..Or who ran through the house shouting, ‘Ha! AIR! Behold! AIR! Clean air, fresh air, air to fill my lungs, air to shape my words, air to move the clouds, air to lift the birds! [Who does this?] Not me-[This morning] I woke up [like I usually do,] groaning.”
I don’t know about you-but Buchanan’s insights convict me of the sin of ignoring God’s faithfulness-a faithfulness that I depend on being all around me every day. I mean, I’m not near as thankful as I should be. I should be in AWE of God’s faithfulness but most of the time I’m not. Are you?
In a Christianity Today article back in 1994 Philip Yancey tells of a time he observed this principle first hand. He writes: “I remember my first visit to Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park.
Rings of Japanese and German tourists surrounded the geyser, their video cameras trained like weapons on the famous hole in the ground. A large digital clock stood beside the spot, predicting twenty-four minutes before the next eruption. My wife and I passed the countdown in the dining room of Old Faithful Inn overlooking the geyser. When the digital clock reached one minute, we, along with every other diner, left our seats and rushed to the windows to see the big, wet event. I noticed immediately, as if on signal, a crew of busboys and waiters descended on the tables to refill water glasses and clear away dirty dishes. When the geyser wet off, we tourists “oohed” and “aahed” and clicked our cameras; a few spontaneously applauded. But, glancing back over my shoulder, I saw that not a single waiter or busboy-not even those who had finished their chores-looked out the huge windows. Old Faithful, grown entirely too familiar, had lost its power to impress them.”
Well, Yancey is right-the familiar DOES lose it’s power to impress. Faithfulness is so routine it DOES bore us. As Buchanan says, “It is one divine characteristic that we rest on so completely that our rest has become apathy.”
Well, how can we avoid this mistake? How can we rest in God’s faithfulness but not fall asleep doing so?
1. First we need to realize that this particular attribute is the CORE of Who God is.
I mean, I think we’ll be less likely to take this attribute for granted if we understand that God’s very ESSENCE is faithfulness. And it is-you see, faithfulness is not some minor or secondary part of God’s character that we can chose to ignore-because if God wasn’t faithful, He wouldn’t be God.
The late Bill Bright, President of Campus Crusade for Christ once compared the attributes of God to an AUTOMOBILE ENGINE. An engine is of course made up of pistons, fan belts, water pumps, and thousands of moving parts that all whirl around within a small space, making power for us to drive our car. These various parts all work together harmoniously as components of the engine. Well, that’s the way God’s attributes function. Each attribute is a NECESSARY part of God. For example: If you were to take away LOVE, God’s character would be incomplete. God’s love works with all the other attributes, like justice, to produce the right kind of results. A. W. Tozer puts it this way, “All of God’s acts are consistent with all of His attributes. No attribute contradicts any other, but all harmonize and blend into each other in the infinite abyss of the Godhead.” So, each of God’s attributes are an essential part of Who He is. Well, we could compare God’s faithfulness to the oil in the engine that keeps each of the internal parts running smoothly, because God’s faithfulness is what allows each attribute in His character to work at full capacity at all times. For example: When does God’s love fail? Never, because He is faithful. When is God less than holy? Never, because His character is pure and He is always faithful to Who He is and to what He says.
I could go on and on citing example after example as to how God’s faithfulness affects each of His attributes. I won’t do that for lack of time but I hope you see that God’s faithfulness is not something to take lightly-it is foundational to His nature. He is knowable, holy, the Creator, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, just, sovereign, and loving precisely BECAUSE He is faithful to His own character. His faithfulness shines through all His other attributes so you can’t leave it out.
I guess you could say that God’s faithfulness is seen in the fact that in everything He says and does, GOD IS TRUE TO HIMSELF.
Now, think about that for a moment. When we say that someone is true to himself or herself we usually mean to pay that person a compliment. We’re saying they are individuals of integrity, but there’s a problem when it comes to using this phrase to describe a human like you or me. You see, most DESPOTS are true to themselves. So are predators, swindlers, and sexual deviants.
And-before you point the “aha” finger of blame at those people of “authentic” character, examine yourself. You see, most of our sinful acts come from our being true to our self-our sinful self! Don’t they? Every day we are true to our fallen nature as we show in word and deed that we are sinners. Well, as Buchanan puts it, “The good news is God is DIFFERENT from you or me. God is faithful to Himself-He is true to Himself-and the Self God is true to is true!”
So, God’s faithfulness is not something to take lightly. To ignore it is to misunderstand God completely. And then a second thing we need to remember in order to not take this attribute for granted is this…
2. …CREATION displays the faithfulness of God.
As Psalm 119:90 says, “[God], You established the earth and it endures.” And it does-thousands of years after those words were first penned. In spite of how we abuse it, the earth DOES endure-the seasons still come and go-a testament to the faithfulness of God. With telescopes like the Hubble we discover far-flung star systems and give them names, but they were there all along, carefully placed by our Heavenly Father in their exact location. In fact, the faithfulness of creation’s design when it comes to stars and planets has been illustrated by ancient civilizations who discovered their precise order. Structures like ziggurats and temples were often positioned by the astronomical observations of their long-dead builders. And they still work. We can still see their results because at certain intervals, often measured in years, these structures cast shadows, display the alignment of stars, or demonstrate some other constant universal rule. If the tilt of the earth were off by just a little, not only would these kinds of architectural tributes to an exact Creator be impossible-the world itself would be a hostile place-the north pole would be hot, the equator would be cold…and we’d all be dead. Chip Ingram writes, “We see consistency in nature because the God of the universe is utterly consistent. The result is a creation full of laws-gravity, the speed of light, thermodynamics, and the like-that you can bank on. The cause (God) created the effect (creation) to reflect His character.”
In his book, The Holy Wild, Mark Buchanan points to the fact that God’s unchanging faithfulness can even be seen in something like a common leaf. Listen to this excerpt from his book:
“Behold a single leaf. So fragile, it tears like paper, crushes in your hand to a moist stain, sharply fragrant. Dry, it burns swift and crackling as newsprint, pungent as gunpowder. Yet a leaf may withstand hurricanes, stubbornly clinging to its limb. Hold it open in your palm. It is perfect as a newborn’s smile. Pinch its stem between thumb and forefinger and hold it to the light. Eden bleeds through. It’s veins are like bone work in silhouette. This single leaf, joined to the tree, drinks poison [carbon dioxide] from the air, drinks it serenely as Socrates downing his cup of hemlock, and refuses to return in kind, instead spilling out life-giving oxygen. This leaf tilts to catch the sun, its warmth and radiance, to distill the heat and light down to the shadows, down to the roots, back up to limbs…to shade the earth…to feed you and me. A leaf. God makes these season after season, one after the other, billions upon billions, from the Garden to the New Jerusalem, most for no eye but His own. He does it faithfully, or else I would not live to tell about it , or you to hear.”
Buchanan does a great job here in reminding us that even in a common every day leaf we can see the faithfulness of God.
This reminds me of our mission trips to New Hampshire-one year as is our custom-we took a hike up into the mountains, guided by a member of Valley Christian Church. At the beginning of the hike that day, Bill and Sandy decided to photograph every mushroom they could-and we found hundreds! I mean, those two were clicking away with both cameras. It kind of became a contest to see who could photograph the most. And the thing that amazed me was how beautiful even something like a mushroom is in God’s created order. Over and over again Bill would say, “Sandy-look at this one!” A few steps later Sandy would say, “Bill, come look! You won’t believe the beauty of this toadstool!” I looked at all of them-and was blown away by their seemingly infinite variety in color and texture! You should see their slides. But-even something like a mushroom shows God’s faithfulness-His consist beauty. Even over-grown mold displays this aspect of our Heavenly Father that loves beauty and is faithful to express it in His creation no matter what part of it you study! I mean, no one who truly looks at this world and how it’s made and how it works and ever take God’s faithfulness for granted.
3. And then a third fact that helps us not ignore this attribute of God is this: From the beginning to the end the BIBLE teaches us that God is faithful.
Way back in Exodus 34:6 God described Himself this way to Moses saying, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, is slow to anger, abounding in love and FAITHFULNESS.” Deuteronomy 32:4 says of God, “He is the rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A FAITHFUL God Who does no wrong, upright and just is He.”
Psalm 25:10 says “All the ways of the Lord are loving and FAITHFUL…” Psalm 36:5 says, “Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your FAITHFULNESS to the skies.” 1 Corinthians 1:9 says, “God, Who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord is FAITHFUL.” And then Deuteronomy 7:9 says, “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.”
Please note: this verse from Deuteronomy spotlights one PROOF of God’s great faithfulness. It reminds us that God keeps His promises. He keeps His covenants. In fact, as Joshua 21:45 says, “Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.” And, the Biblical record shows us that God has indeed always done what He said He would do. Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Mary, Joseph, Peter, Paul, the disciples-each of these people would testify that God has been absolutely faithful in keeping His promises.
So, we know God is faithful and has been faithful because the Bible tells us-but God’s written Word doesn’t just SAY that He is faithful it tells us SPECIFICALLY how He is faithful.
A. For example, it tells us that when we ask, God is faithful to FORGIVE our sins.
1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins God, “…is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This and other verses tell us that God never tires of extending forgiveness to us. He is faithful to forgive. I mean, God doesn’t give up on us when we fail. We’ll never come to Him and say, “God I was wrong. I sinned. Please forgive me.” and hear Him reply, “Sorry, you’ve used up all your forgiveness coupons.” No, when we repent God will ALWAYS be faithful to forgive us and cleanse us and restore us.
B. The Bible also says that God is faithful to help us resist the TEMPTATION to sin.
1 Corinthians 10:13, says, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is FAITHFUL; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
Now, we’re all tempted every day-millions of times over the course of our lives we’ll be tempted to do something contrary to God’s will. And this text tells us that one hundred percent of those times, you and I can overcome temptation-not because we’re strong-but because GOD IS FAITHFUL. He will always provide a way of escape…but you know the Bible also says that…
C. …God is faithful to us even when we’re UNFAITHFUL to Him.
2 Timothy 2:13 says, “If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.” This verse promises that God’s steadfast love for us will never stop-even if we reject it. And the history of the church shows this-God has been faithful to scoundrels, to murderers, to adulterers. I mean, no matter what we do, God remains FOR us. My favorite seminary professor was Dr. Clyde Francisco. I was fortunate enough to have him for both semesters of Old Testament Survey-and he was an excellent teacher-a very Godly man. In fact, Dr. Francisco was the only professor I had who consistently received standing ovations after his lectures.
I remember our study of Proverbs-specifically that day when we came to Proverbs 22:6 which you may remember says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” When we came to this verse Dr. Francisco told us about his son, Don. Now at that time Don Francisco was a very popular Contemporary Christian musician. He had written several “top ten” Christian songs-almost always in the form of ballads-stories. If I had time, I’d sing a few and I’m sure you’d remember them. Well earlier in his life, Don, had rebelled against God and his parents’ teaching and had fallen into a life of drug and alcohol abuse. After years of “living in the Far Country,” Don finally responded to the persistent loving guidance of His father and others who constantly prayed for him and urged him to repent. With God’s help he left his addictions and began his music ministry-a ministry that God richly blessed. Dr. Francisco told us this story-and he teared up as he said,
“God is faithful. He was faithful to my son, even when Don was not faithful to Him. I want all you young ministers to hear this. As a father I have found that just as God promises in His word…train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”
A few weeks later Don Francisco did a concert on campus and I still remember, Dr. Francisco hobbling down the aisle toward his front row seat, with a special smile of thanksgiving and pride on his face. This father had learned that God is faithful-He knew that His faithfulness doesn’t stop when ours does! And this leads to a fourth way that the Bible says God displays His faithfulness.
D. It tells us that He’s faithful to use every experience of life to SHAPE us into the image of Christ.
Now, it’s easy to see God’s faithfulness in the good He brings us-our homes, food, cars, children. But His faithfulness extends to the point of even using the bad in life for our good.
Romans 8:28 promises that, “…in ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.” And then it goes on to specify that purpose-the good He’s working for us. In verse 29 it says, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.” This text tells us that God is faithful to use every circumstance of life-good and bad-to shape us to being more and more like Jesus. In the same way that Michelangelo removed all the stone that encased the “David” by chipping away all the marble which surrounded that striking form, God is in the process of hammering the chisel of blows against the stone of our human nature. The “hammer” He uses is often DIFFICULTY and the “chisel’ is TRIAL. God uses temporary pain for our eternal gain-making us more and more like Jesus. He does this because as our Creator He sees in each of us that which is beautiful, much as Michelangelo saw David in that rough piece of marble.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 talks about this principle when it says, “May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of your Lord Jesus Christ. The One Who calls you is FAITHFUL and He will do it.”
In our text for this morning from Lamentations we can see that the prophet Jeremiah understood this aspect of God’s great faithfulness. In spite of his affliction-in spite of the bitterness of his life experience-Jeremiah clung to God’s unchanging love-His compassions that never fail. This was the “default” setting for Jeremiah’s mind-when trials came He instantly credited it to God lovingly working for His good. Like St. Augustine, Jeremiah learned to, “trust the past to God’s mercy, the present to God’s love and the future to God’s providence.”
So, creation shows us God’s faithfulness…the Bible tells us about it…but one of the best ways to not take this attribute for granted is what we do at this time every year, because…
4. …CHRISTMAS is itself a celebration of the faithfulness of God.
You see, the coming of Jesus was not some last minute plan of God to save the human race.
No-this was the plan all along. In the Garden of Eden immediately after sin entered the world, God promised that Satan’s power would be broken by Someone Who would be virgin born-the “seed” of a woman. Then over and over the Bible records the fact that over the millennia God repeated His promise to send a Redeemer/Messiah. Through His prophets He told where the Child would be born…what He would do…how He would die for our sins…and even that He would rise, conquering death on our behalf. So, Christmas reminds us that God has been faithful to keep all these promises…that from the beginning of time God has been seeking us-that He’s always been working to secure our salvation-to RESCUE us from sin. This is what we celebrate each year at this time-we celebrate the fact that God has been true to His Word. When we were buried in our trespasses and sins-finally, when the time was right He came in the form of His Son to seek us and save us.
One morning back in 1988 in the nation of Armenia, two proud parents-Samuel and Danielle-sent their young son, Armand, off to school. Before he left Samuel squatted before his little boy, looked him in the eye, and said, “Have a good day at school Armand, and remember, no matter what comes in life, I’ll always be there for you.” Father and son embraced and the little boy ran off to school. Hours later, a powerful earthquake rocked the area. The radio announced that there were thousands of casualties. In fact the death toll would eventually reach 50,000. Samuel and Danielle huddled around the radio for news-but in the midst of all the pandemonium they could not get specific information about the area where their son’s school was located. So Samuel grabbed his coat and headed for the schoolyard. When he reached the area, what he saw brought tears to his eyes. Armand’s school was a pile of rubble. Other parents had already arrived and were standing around the huge pile of debris crying. Samuel refused to give in to despair so he found the place where Armand’s classroom used to be and began pulling a broken beam off the pile of rubble. Then he grabbed a rock and put it to the side, and then grabbed another. As he did one of the other parents asked, “What are you doing?” “Digging for my son,” Samuel answered. The man said, “You’re just going to make things worse! The building is unstable,” and he tried to pull Samuel away from his work.
But Samuel would not be dissuaded. He kept working. As time wore on, one by one, the other parents left. Then a firefighter came and tried to pull Samuel away from the rubble. Samuel looked at him and said, “Won’t you help me?” The firefighter shook his head and left. Samuel kept digging. All through the night and into the next day, Samuel continued his back-breaking work. Other parents came and placed flowers and pictures of their children on the ruins. But, not Samuel. He just kept working. Finally, as his strength was almost exhausted, he picked up a beam and pushed it out of the way, and as he did he heard a faint cry for help. Samuel listened but didn’t hear anything. Then he heard a muffled voice say, “Papa?” This gave Samuel new strength and he renewed his efforts digging furiously. Finally, a few minutes later he had removed enough debris to see Armand crouched in a small crawl space with several other children. “Come on out, son!” he said with relief. “No,” Armand said. “Let the other kids come out first because I know you’ll get me.” Child after child emerged until, finally, little Armand appeared. Samuel took him in his arms and Armand said, “Papa, I told the other kids not to worry because you told me that you’d always be there for me!” 14 children were saved that day because one father was faithful to keep his promise.
Well, Christmas is a celebration of the fact that BILLIONS have been saved because God kept His promise-and sent His Son to rescue us from our sins.
LET US PRAY
Father God,
Open our eyes this morning-both spiritual and physical-so that we can see Your great faithfulness all around us. Help us to rest in this attribute but never so much that we ignore it.
Convict us, Your children, of our need to respond all we have learned this morning by living in ways that are pleasing to you-becoming truly faith-FULL people.
I ask all this in Jesus’ name. AMEN
This morning as we sing our closing song I would like us all to make it into a song of praise to God-praise for His great faithfulness to us as individuals and as a church. You may even want to come to the altar offering a prayer of thankfulness to God for His faithfulness to you. And if you’re here and you aren’t a Christian then I would ask, Would you like a relationship that you could cling to-one that can give you strength and hope-no matter what? Then decide today to accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord. God has promised that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Claim that promise today. God may be leading you to join our church….but come now as He leads.