Temple Baptist Church - 8-23-2009
1 Peter 4:12-19
Introduction:
A. In retrospect, we can look back through the years, the trials, the disappointments, and the heartaches—God has always graciously proven Himself to be a “faithful Creator.” I have often said that God must and will prove Himself to His children. You cannot trust a gun that will not shoot, a car that will not start, or a plane will not fly. God tells His children to trust Him and then proves Himself to them. In Malachi 3, our God said to “prove me herewith!” You step forth by faith and watch Him undergird your step.
B. Based upon God’s past proving of His great faithfulness, we now can trust our future into His loving hands.
Lamentations 3:22-26 It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. 25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. 26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
When I fall, He lifts me up!
When I fail, He forgives!
When I am weak, He is strong!
When I am lost, He is the way!
When I am afraid, He is my courage!
When I stumble, He steadies me!
When I am hurt, He heals me!
When I am broken, He mends me!
When I am blind, He leads me!
When I am hungry, He feeds me!
When I face trials, He is with me!
When I face persecution, He shields me!
When I face problems, He comforts me!
When I face loss, He provides for me!
When I face Death, He carries me Home!
C. Just how much can God be depended upon? He is everything, for everybody, in every place, in every situation, in every time frame. He is God and He is faithful! I am His and He is mine!
D. No one can deny God’s faithfulness to His chosen nation, Israel. Through the centuries, in both obedience and disobedience, the Lord has kept His promises to the Israeli people. It is amazing that we could doubt His faithfulness to us as His chosen body.
E. One of the great blessings of knowing the God of your salvation is knowing His faithfulness. Many good men of God have taken the path of doubt in trying times and, yet, the Lord recorded for us His continual faithfulness to them. These things are for our ensample upon whom the end of the world is come. In trying times, it is good to know that the Lord will never fail His children.
1. There Needs To Be A Remembrance of His Faithfulness - Psalms 36:5 Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
Psalms 89:33 Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.
2. There Needs To Be A Response to His Faithfulness - Psalms 89:1 I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
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1. He Is Faithful In His Word - Psalms 119:86 All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me.
a. His Prophecies will not fail
b. His Promises will not fail
c. His Preservation will not fail
2. He Is Faithful In His Purposes - Isaiah 25:1 O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
a. His Plan has not changed - salvation by grace
b. His Person has not changed - holiness
c. His Purpose has not changed - conform us to His image
3. He Is Faithful In His Salvation - 2 Timothy 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
a. In His Confirmation - 1 Corinthians 1:8 - Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
b. In His Sanctification - 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 - And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
4. He Is Faithful In Protection - 1 Peter 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
5. He Is Faithful In Answered Prayer - Psalms 143:1 Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.
6. He Is Faithful In His Mercy - Lamentations 3:21-22 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Psalms 103:10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
7. He Is Faithful In His Chastisement - Psalms 119:75 I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.
a. Faithful to warn - 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
b. Faithful to correct
(1) Sign of eternal life – 1 Corinthians 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
(2) Sign of eternal love - Proverbs 13:24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.
(3) Sign of eternal sonship - Hebrews 12:6-7 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8. He is Faithful In Forgiveness – 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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