Learning to Trust the Faithfulness of God

Hebrews 10:23

MP3 AUDIO

 

June 8, 2014 PM     20th Anniversary

Pastor Craig Ledbetter

Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland

www.biblebc.com

 

I.       Introduction (Heb 10:23) 

 

A.    Why do people give up on God?

B.     Because they do not understand the faithfulness of God!

C.     Faithfulness is the rock-solid foundation of His character – the fact that he doesn’t change!

 

1.      Dependable, reliable, dedicated to us, committed to doing what He sets out to do in us

2.      It all makes it possible for anyone, strong or weak, to know they can fully trust and lean wholly upon Him (Rev 19:11; Deut 7:9)

 

D.    Tonight, this is a reminder of just how faithful our God is – how he will never change, and how he seeks us to lean hard on His faithfulness towards us, no matter how hard we may be, or how far away we may go

E.     Our God is faithful! You can depend upon Him

F.      The Failure of All Other 'gods'

 

1.      Cannot stay the same - must evolve and change and develop

2.      Cannot promise/predict/prophecy the future

3.      Cannot work all things together for good

4.      Cannot love you back

5.      Cannot die for you

 

G.    But, God IS Faithful

 

1.      Always the same – the Eternal One

2.      Knows the end from the beginning

3.      Works ALL things together for good

4.      Loves the whole world, but especially His children

5.      Took on flesh to die in our place!

 

H.    That’s the character of our God!

 

II.    Message – God is Faithful

 

A.    God is Faithful First in Attracting Us – Calling Us to himself (1Cor 1:9)

 

1.      He didn’t just set out to attract us, and then got tired of it when we didn’t respond - He, thankfully, stays on us until death

2.      God is faithful in trying to get people to realize He is there, and trying to save them (Rom 2:4)

3.      He is like a Coon-dog – He will not stop going after a racoon until he has caught it. Same with God!

4.      You can depend on Him to go after sinners, just like He did you!

5.      Why don’t you get involved with what He is actively involved in? AMEN

 

B.     God is Faithful In Saving Us (1Tim 1:15)

 

1.      He is THOROUGH in saving us (Heb 7:25) – didn’t overlook any detail,  didn’t leave anything to chance, or even up to US! He took care of every debt we will ever owe!

2.      Saves us from our Past, present and our future (2Cor 1:10) – hallelujah!

3.      That’s a faithful Saviour!

 

C.     God is Faithful In Keeping Us (2Tim 2:13; Jude 1:24) – Protecting us

 

1.      Thank God he didn’t waste His time saving us, only to lose us!

2.      He keeps us from losing what we have, by sealing the Holy Spirit of God in us – glued Him in us!

3.      He keeps us on course by keeping us in His hand (John 10:27-29)

4.      He keeps us safe in times of temptation and troubles by never letting anything be more than we can handle (1Cor 10:13; 1Pet 4:19; 2Thes 3:3; Heb 11:11) – we really need to believe this!

 

D.    God is Faithful In Loving Us (Jer 31:3; 2 Thes 2:16)

 

1.      God Stays on Our Side – is FOR Us (Heb 2:17)

2.      Because he really does love us, and will stay in love with us

3.      That’s what a marriage is supposed to be like – dependable, constant love

4.      Faithful love!

 

E.     God is Faithful In Using Us (1Thes 5:24)

 

1.      What God wants anyone to do, He will always enable them to do it

2.      Here is a great truth - God is always using a person

 

a.       Yes, a Moses

b.      Even Pharaoh, with all his stubbornness, was used by God

 

3.      Now one of them rejoiced in doing great things with God, and the other experienced great shame for going against God

4.      The key is to be right with God so that God can use you for right, instead of for embarrassment!

 

F.      God is Faithful In Forgiving us (1Jn 1:9)

 

1.      On a day to day basis, we go against the Lord, and we sin against Him, and people

2.      After salvation, we are expected to be more than conquerors

3.      Yet we fall, and fall and fall some more

4.      When another person might give up on us, and no offer forgiveness, Jesus remains faithful – he cannot wear out!

 

G.    God is Faithful In Revealing Himself to Us (Philp 3:10)

 

1.      God is constantly trying to reveal Himself to the world, but especially to His children

2.      God is faithful in not hiding, but revealing Himself as we are able for it

3.      He reveals Himself in every page of this Bible, and in every season of prayer, and even in every circumstance of life – just look for Him!

 

III. Conclusion

 

A.    What does that do to you?

B.     I’ll tell you what that helps me with – it helps me in the following areas:

 

1.      Believe Him more – trust

2.      Do whatever he directs us to do

3.      Be trustworthy ourselves – worthy of people’s trust

4.      Be dependable, reliable

5.      Be faithful to my commitments