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AN INCOMPREHENSIBLE GOD:

Grasping for an Understanding

 

A Faithful God

Lesson #10

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.    We live in a world wherein it is difficult to trust anyone.

1.      We do not trust politicians who make all kinds of promises.

2.      We do not trust companies and the claims made about their products and services.

3.      We do not even hardly trust the promises men and women make at the altar.

 

B.      Faithfulness is something that we deeply admire in anyone.

 

C.     One of the qualities of God is His faithfulness.  Let’s study this quality of God in this lesson.

 

I.                   VERSES ACKNOWLEDGING GOD’S FAITHFULNESS

 

A.    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.

 

B.      I Corinthians 1:9

 

God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

C.     I Corinthians 10:13

 

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man:  but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

 

D.    II Timothy 2:13

 

If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful:  he cannot deny himself.

 

E.      Hebrews 10:23

 

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised.

 

F.      I 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.

 

G.     II Corinthians 1:18

 

But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.

 

 

II.                WHAT IS FAITHFULNESS?

 

A.    Bible words:

1.      Aman (Hebrew)

a.      Strong (539):  to be true or certain

b.      BDB:  reliable, faithful, trusty

2.      Pistos (Greek)

a.      Strong (4103):  trustworthy

b.      Thayer:  trusty, faithful, of persons who show themselves faithful in the transaction of business, the execution of commands, or the discharge of official duties, worthy of trust

c.       Vine:  to be trusted, reliable

 

B.      Dictionary definitions:

1.      Dictionary.com:  true to one’s word, promises, or vows, reliable, trusted, believed

2.      Miriam Webster:  firm, unswerving adherence to one’s promises

3.      Gotquestions.org:  eternally reliable, steadfast, and unswerving

 

C.     There are several pictures that might come to mind of faithfulness:  a lighthouse in a storm, the anchor of a ship, the devotion of parent to a sick child, a mountain, a soldier in battle, the seasons, the rising and setting of the sun, and Old Faithful in Yellow Stone National Park.

 

III.             EXAMPLES OF GOD’S FAITHFULNESS

 

A.    The destruction of the earth by a flood in Noah’s day.

1.      God told Noah he would destroy the earth (Gen. 6:13).

 

And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me:  for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

 

2.      It did not occur immediately.

a.      Noah had to build the ark (Gen. 6:14).

b.      The longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah (I Pet. 3:20).

3.      The day came and earth was covered with water (Gen. 7:11-12).

 

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.  And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

 

B.      The three promises given to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3).

1.      The land promise (Gen. 12:1)

 

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee.

 

a.      In the book of Joshua, the land is taken by Israel (See Josh. 21:45; 23:14).

b.      In the days of the Solomon, the borders of the kingdom extend to their farthest points (II Chron. 9:26).

 

 

2.      The nation promise (Gen. 12:2)

 

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.

 

a.      At the foot of Sinai, God gave Israel His law and made them His holy nation (Exo. 19:5-6).

 

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people:  for all the earth is mine.  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.  There are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

 

b.      Israel always boasted of Abraham being their father (John 8:33).

3.      The seed promise (Gen. 12:3)

 

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:  and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

 

a.      The Messiah would spring from the loins of Abraham.

b.      Matthew 1:1

 

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

 

c.       Galatians 3:16

 

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.  He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

 

C.     The birth of Isaac

1.      God gave Abraham the seed promise before he left the land of Ur.  He was seventy-five years old at the time (Gen. 12:3-4).

2.      Two interesting events:

a.      Abraham suggests that Eliezer would be the heir of his house, but God assures him that he would personally bear a son (Gen. 15:4).

 

And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, this shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

 

b.      Sarai grew impatient and offered her handmaid Hagar to Abraham.  He bare Ishmael from this relationship (Gen. 16:1-4).

3.      At the age of ninety-nine, God appeared to Abraham and promised him a son the following year (Gen. 17:1-21, esp. vs. 19, 21).

 

And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac:  and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him…But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

 

4.      Isaac was born as God had said (Gen. 21:1-3).

 

And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.  For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.  And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.

D.    Jesus made many promises to His disciples that came to pass.

1.      On the limited commission, Jesus had promised great power to His followers (Matt 10:8).  When the returned, they rejoiced that even the demons were subject unto them (Luke 10:17).

2.      Jesus told His disciples that he would be taken by the Jewish leaders and crucified in the city of Jerusalem (Matt. 20:17-19).  This happened just as He had promised (Matt. 27:35).

3.      Jesus promised His apostles that they would receive power from on high in the city of Jerusalem (Luke 24:49).  This happened just as He has promised on the day of Pentecost (See Acts 1:12, 2:1-4).

 

IV.             GOD’S PROMISES TO US

 

A.    To forgive our sins (Heb. 8:12)

 

B.      To hear and answer our prayers our prayers (Matt. 7:7)

 

C.     To deliver us from our adversaries (II Pet. 2:9)

 

D.    To not allow us to be tempted above that which we are able to bear (I Cor. 10:13)

 

E.      To never leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5)

 

F.      To raise us from the dead (John 5:28-29)

 

G.     To give us a home in heaven (Col. 1:5)

 

H.    To give us eternal life (Tit. 1:2)

 

I.        We shall not come into condemnation if we walk after the Spirit (Rom. 8:1).

 

J.        If we confess our sins, He will forgive us our sins (I John 1:9).

 

K.     We have an Advocate with the Father (I John 2:1-2).

 

L.      God will give us wisdom (James 1:5).

 

M.   Nothing can separate us from the love of God (Rom. 8:38-39).

 

N.    God will give us the necessities of life if we seek His kingdom and righteousness first (Matt. 6:33).

 

O.    God will triumph over Satan (Rev. 20:10).

 

P.      God will comfort us in our affliction (II Cor. 1:3).

 

Q.    Jesus is coming again (John 14:1-3).

 

R.     He will bear our burdens because He cares for us (I Pet. 5:7).

 

S.      If we resist the devil, he will flee from us (James 5:7).

 

T.      All things work for good to them that love the Lord (Rom. 8:28)

 

U.    Jesus came to give us an abundant life (John 10:10).

 

V.     If we give, He will give unto us (Luke 6:38).

 

W.   The Lord gives grace to the humble (I Pet. 5:5).

 

X.     Since God has begun a good work in us, He will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6).

 

Y.     God will avenge all evil (Rom. 12:19).

 

Z.     We have a High Priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Heb. 4:15).

 

V.                GOD’S FAITHFULNESS VERSUS MAN’S UNFAITHFULNESS

 

A.    Man cannot always be trusted.  This is especially true when promises continue to go unfulfilled over a long period of time.

 

B.      This is not the case with God.

1.      This was an argument made by scoffers in the first century concerning the promise of the Lord’s return (II Pet. 3:3-4).

 

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?  For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.

 

2.      Peter reminds his readers that God is not like man (II Pet. 3:8-9).

 

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that a day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some man count slackness…

 

a.      Time, when it comes to the promises of God, means nothing.

b.      A day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 

c.       The Lord is not slack concerning His promise.

1)      Strong (1019):  to delay

2)      Thayer:  to be delay, to be slow, to render slowly

3.      There is coming a day when God will fulfill His promise about the Second Coming of Jesus (II Pet. 3:10).

 

For the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night…

 

VI.             WHY DOESN’T MAN TRUST GOD?

 

A.    He has never taken the time to look at the evidences God exists.

 

B.      Perhaps he blames his troubles and struggles on God.

 

C.     He just does not want to believe.

 

D.    He is like the scoffers who believe the passage of time lessens the truthfulness of God’s promises.

 

E.      He has never tested God’s faithfulness (See Mal. 3:10).

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.    God’s faithfulness is a huge part of our Christianity.  He has promised so many things to His children.

 

B.      If we believe in God, and, if we believe the Bible is the Word of God, we must put our complete trust in God’s faithfulness.

 

C.     II Corinthians 1:20

 

For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Faithful God

Lesson #10

Homework

Victor M. Eskew

 

1.      Has our society changed from a trustful society to a distrustful society?  If so, why?

 

2.      T – F    Faithfulness is something you deeply admire in a person.

 

3.      How would you define faithfulness?

 

4.      What picture comes to your mind when you think of faithfulness?

 

5.      Complete this statement:  “If God is not faithful…”

 

6.      What impresses you most about the faithfulness of God?

 

7.      Can you think of an example of in the Bible of God’s faithfulness that was not mentioned?

 

8.      Have you ever doubted the faithfulness of God in your life?

 

9.      What three promises of God mean the most to you?

 

10.  Time means nothing when it comes to the promises of God.  What does this mean?

 

11.  We listed five reasons man does not trust God.  Can you think of any other reasons?

 

12.  There is an interesting verse we did not discuss.  It is found in II Thessalonians 2:11

 

And for this cause God shall send them a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.

 

            How does this tie into the faithfulness of God?

 

13.  T – F    You completely, fully trust God in all things.