Christian teaching

Series: Faith in God

Well we’ve come to the end of our series on faith in God. And in this last message the point is quite simple – when you act in faith on God’s word, God will not fail you. Another way to say this is that when you have all three parts of faith: 1) a word from God, 2) trust in God and God’s word to you, and 3) appropriate action, God will come through for you to fulfill his promises.

Let’s look at this.

It is God’s very character to be faithful

That is, faithfulness is a part of God’s nature or essence. Listen to how God describes himself: “Yahweh, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness . . ..” – Exodus 34:6

Listen to the Psalmist, “Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds” – Psalm 36:5. God’s faithfulness is great in scope. Listen again, “For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. . ..” – Psalm 117:2. God’s faithfulness never ends. Indeed, it’s impossible for God not to be faithful to his word and promise.

Even when everyone else is unfaithful, God is faithful to what he has said he will do. In Romans 3:3-4 Paul asks, does human unfaithfulness “nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar. . ..” (NASB) God will be true to himself, even if everyone else is false. As Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:13 – “. . . God remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.” It is who God is.

Did you know that this is why we are forbidden to test God? Deuteronomy 6:16 says, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test . . ..”  We don’t test God because God’s faithfulness is not in question, ever. It is outrageous to even think that we as humans would ever try to make God prove himself. The ones whose faithfulness is in doubt is us. And that’s why God tests us, to see if we will be faithful.

Let’s look at some scriptural –

Illustrations of God’s faithfulness

As we have seen, God made a promise to Abraham that he would have a son and an heir (Genesis 12:7). Now, Abraham had to wait. He went through many trials. He even got off track at points. But Abraham believed, and after 25 years God gave him a son. God came through for Abraham and God will come through for you.

Now to make this more personal I would like for you to say this, all together: God will come through for me! whenever you see this. And I would ask that you say it loudly and with passion. Let’s try it: God came through for Abraham and “God will come through for me!”

And then there is the story of Moses. God said to him, “Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3:10). Moses didn’t want to, but he did. And it was a long and arduous struggle with Pharaoh and with the Israelites at times.

But sure enough, through mighty acts and displays of wonder God led them forth out of Egypt. And when the Egyptians changed their minds, and sought to take them back, God opened the Red sea and let his people pass through, while the waters destroyed the Egyptian army. God came through for Moses and “God will come through for me!”

God said to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them” (Joshua 1:6). And they went forth, and God went before them and they received the promise of land and rest. After some 400 years, God answered the promise. God came through for Joshua and “God will come through for me!”

God called Gideon to save Israel from the oppression of Midian (Judges 6:14). But he thought he couldn’t do it. And God had to confirm it to him several times. Finally, he set out with his army. And God said to him he had too many soldiers (Judges 7:2). The army went from 32,000 to 300. But God gave them the victory. God came through for Gideon and “God will come through for me!”

Jonathan was bold and full of faith. When Israel was trembling and hiding because of the vast number of the Philistines who came out against them, he decided to act. Knowing that his father Saul was raised up to defeat this very enemy, he climbed through a mountain pass and attacked a Philistine outpost, believing that God can save “by many or by few” (1 Samuel 14:6).

And God acted to confuse and defeat the mighty Philistine army. God came through for Jonathan and “God will come through for me!”

David, who was anointed to one day be king, was incensed that Goliath was taunting Israel, and more importantly the one true God. All the soldiers of Israel were afraid of Goliath and wouldn’t accept his challenge to fight. And so with faith in God, David went out to face the giant. He went with five stones and a sling. And he killed that giant, even though he was only a shepherd boy. (1 Samuel 17). God came through for David and “God will come through for me!”

King Jehoshaphat was faced with a vast horde of an army only 25 miles from Jerusalem. They were coming to wipe away his kingdom. This was an impossible situation. But he turned to God in prayer and did just what the Lord said. They went out to meet the army singing praises to God and God’s faithfulness.

And God fought for them that day. They didn’t have to do the work. And it was a great victory. (2 Chronicles 20). God came through for Jehoshaphat and “God will come through for me!”

Daniel was not liked by many in the court of king Darius because of his success. And so they conspired to do him in. They told the king to pass a law that no one was to pray to any god for 30 days, except the king.

But Daniel continued to pray to the Lord God. And so the men caught him and brought this to the king’s attention. Although the king liked Daniel, he was thrown into the lion’s den to be killed. But Daniel trusted in God, and God sent an angel to shut the mouths of the lions and Daniel was saved. But his accusers were thrown in, in his place. God came through for Daniel and “God will come through for me!”

And then we have Jesus, who knew that it was God’s will for him to die on the cross. And so he went, entrusting his life into God’s hands. He was treated unjustly, he suffered and he died. But God didn’t let him stay in the grave. God raised him up on the morning of the third day; he was bodily raised from the dead. And he was given a place at the right hand of God. God came through for Jesus and “God will come through for me!”

In one way or another, God will come through

It might be when we are out our weakest point; when only God can fix the problem; after much waiting on our part; after much testing; or at the last minute. But God will come through.

And God might come through in way that we don’t anticipate or can’t even imagine ahead of time. Like resurrecting someone from the dead before the final day, in the case of our Lord Jesus. Or who would have thought that God would part the Red Sea as a way of escape for his people? And God often uses poetic justice, for instance Daniel is saved and his accusers end up in the Lion’s den. And also, God loves to use the weak and the lowly. Think of David facing Goliath.

But, however God does it, God will come through. And that’s the message for today.