This is the manuscript of the sixth sermon in the "Doctrine of God" series. It was delivered on Juneteenth and Father's Day, June 19, 2022.
Psalm 119:90 ESV Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast. God’s laws never fail. In the physical realm, the sun, moon, stars, and seasons are dependable because God is faithful. Likewise, in the spiritual realm God’s laws never change. 1. The faithfulness of God is his protection in our temptations. 2. The faithfulness of God is his explanation of the orderliness of our physical universe. 3. The faithfulness of God is his pledge for the results of our faith. 4.The faithfulness of God is his assurance of our security. 5. The faithfulness of God is his guarantee of forgiveness.
You can watch a video recording of the entire service on the Christ Church YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/jOmK_cRp9fI
Scripture Reading:
Psalm 119:89-96 ESV Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast. By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants. If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life. I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts. The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies. I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad.
Juneteenth
In 1863, during the American Civil War, Pres. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared more than three million slaves living in the Confederate states to be free. More than two years would pass, however, before the news reached African Americans living in Texas. It was not until Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, that the state’s residents finally learned that slavery had been abolished. The former slaves immediately began to celebrate with prayer, feasting, song, and dance.
The following year, on June 19, the first official Juneteenth celebrations took place in Texas. Juneteenth became a state holiday in Texas in 1980, and a number of other states subsequently followed suit. In 2021 Juneteenth was recognized as a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.
The original observances included prayer meetings and the singing of spirituals, and celebrants wore new clothes as a way of representing their newfound freedom. Within a few years, African Americans in other states were celebrating the day as well, making it an annual tradition. Celebrations have continued across the United States into and typically include prayer and religious services, speeches, educational events, family gatherings and picnics, and festivals with music, food, and dancing. The modern holiday places much emphasis upon teaching about African-American heritage to help instill a sense of heritage and pride in black youth.
Introduction
Father's Day was inaugurated in the United States in the early 20th century to complement Mother's Day in celebrating fatherhood and male parenting.
In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972
I am always amazed at how we treat Father’s Day. On Mother’s Day we often hear sermons exalting the role of the mother in the family. Mothers are encouraged, praised and lifted up as the most important person in the home. And, we should thank the Lord for godly mothers.
Then there’s Father’s Day. Dad comes to church and hears a sermon on how he does not measure up as a father. He is told about some biblical father and the perfect life he lived, and dad leaves feeling like a failure who will never measure up as a dad.
Well dad, you are a special person too! You are just as important as mom. Many experts now believe that fathers can be just as nurturing and sensitive with their babies as mothers. As their children grow, fathers take on added roles of guiding their children's intellectual and social development. Even when a father is 'just playing' with his children, he is nurturing their development.
The Bible is full of stories about fathers and father figures who God used in different ways. Dads like Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph, who faithfully led and protected his family. Or Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, who gave wisdom and leadership advice to Moses. And Paul, who was a spiritual mentor to Timothy.
Just like the men in the Bible, the dads and those who took on the roles of dad, grandfathers and uncles, brothers and cousins, teachers, pastors and coaches and the women of our families, in our lives, just like them they inspire us in different ways.
Maybe they’ve protected you like Joseph, shared timely guidance like Jethro, or encouraged you like Paul.
Today I want to talk about God Almighty our heavenly Father and His faithfulness and what that means to us His children
Text:
Psalm 119:90 ESV Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
Today I'm reading from the English Standard Version
God’s laws never fail. In the physical realm, the sun, moon, stars, and seasons are dependable because God is faithful. Likewise, in the spiritual realm God’s laws never change.
Numbers 23:19 ESV God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Psalm 119:89 ESV Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.
God’s laws are steadfast because God is faithful.
God’s faithfulness is a rock under our feet, a strong arm around our shoulders, a sure guide, and His word is always encouraging when we are discouraged.
Our text emphasizes God’s character, including his sovereignty, his integrity, and his dependability.
Psalm 119:90 ESV Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
There is an important biblical theme in our text and that theme is God’s faithfulness.
The book of Psalms is in the Old Testament but let’s look at five places where this theme surfaces in the New Testament.
The faithfulness of God is his protection in our temptations.
The faithfulness of God is his explanation of the orderliness of our physical universe.
The faithfulness of God is his pledge for the results of our faith.
The faithfulness of God is his assurance of our security.
The faithfulness of God is his guarantee of forgiveness.
I. The faithfulness of God is His protection in our temptations.
1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
For the Christian there is an enemy or opponent, there is fight, and there is a victory. We are certain about the enemy and the fight but we sometimes doubt the victory.
Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “God is on the side of the biggest battalions.” He was right, but not in the sense he meant it. God is on the side of the biggest battalions, because his battalions are the biggest.
Here's an example
2 Kings 6:15-17 ESV When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
“If this is true,” that "God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability," then why do we get so discouraged when we are tempted? It’s because when we are tempted we generally become insecure. We know that Christians are not guaranteed immunity to temptation, tribulation or tragedy, but we are promised victory over them. God’s pledge is not that suffering will never afflict us, but that it will never separate us from his love. His love will never fail, will never let go, and will never allow us to be trampled.
Jesus said:
John 16:33 ESV I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Here’s the reason we know that we have victory
Romans 8:37-39 ESV No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God will be faithful to us to the very end of time. We are not victorious because of our will to succeed. We are not victorious because of our strength. We are not even victorious because we have faith. We are victorious because of God’s love for us.
What we have to remember is that God is our supreme commander. We must fight the battle the way he directs. If we go wandering off, if we fight in our own strength, if we use the weapons of the flesh and not of the Spirit, the enemy will pick us off one by one.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 ESV For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
We are secure in God’s peace and strength. As Paul told the Philippians,
Philippians 4:4-7 ESV Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
God will guard those who are his own and keep them safe. He is faithful.
Philippians 1:6 ESV And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
II. The faithfulness of God is his explanation of the orderliness of our physical universe.
Romans 1:19-20 ESV For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Psalm 19:1-6 ESV The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
The apostle Peter also talks about a faithful Creator.
1 Peter 4:19 ESV Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
The more that we consider the words faithful Creator the more excited we should get.
God is faithful in that there is spring, summer, fall, and winter every year. The order of the universe is evident in the way that the earth and other planets maintain their orbits around the sun, the way that the moon maintains its orbit around the earth and the way this is repeated throughout our solar system and the innumerable number of solar systems in the universe that God created.
Here are some of the lyrics from the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”
Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.
Plus God is faithful to provide for every living creature he has made.
Matthew 6:25-34 ESV “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
God is the faithful Creator. It is logical, therefore, that his faithfulness should be a theme of the Bible.
Peter, when he spoke of a faithful Creator, was writing to persecuted Gentile Christians, reminding them that they are chosen by God and have a future hope in Jesus, and he was emphasizing God’s faithfulness as Creator. God is faithful. His physical creation, therefore, is orderly and dependable. Well you may ask, if that’s the case then why is this world so messed up? Why are there floods , hurricanes, cyclones, and other natural disasters?”
Think back several thousand years. Humans, by their sin, have upset God’s perfect environment, his balance of nature.
Genesis 3:17-19 ESV And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
What has happened to our physical environment is a part of God’s judgment, a part of mankind’s penalty. What is wrong with our physical environment? Nothing, except people themselves, and their thoughtlessness and sin in upsetting the balance of nature. Still God is faithful.
III. The faithfulness of God is his pledge for the result of our faith.
Because God is faithful, we can trust him. Here's what Paul told Timothy,
2 Timothy 2:11-13 ESV The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.
The value of any faith is in its object. We are faithless again and again, we disappoint God, we betray others, but let’s look at 2 Timothy 2:13 again
2 Timothy 2:13 ESV if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.
We can put our confidence in God because he is faithful.
IV. The faithfulness of God is his assurance of our security.
A. Because God is faithful, we know that he will never desert us.
As God told Joshua;
Joshua 1:9 ESV Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
And as the writer of Hebrews wrote
Hebrews 13:5-6 ESV Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
Why will God never desert us? Because he is faithful.
2 Thessalonians 3:3 ESV But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.
Because God is faithful, the security of his children is absolutely assured.
Ephesians 1:13-14 ESV In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Philippians 1:6 ESV And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
B. Our salvation through Christ has three features.
1. It is personal, the rescue and redemption of a person by a person—and that person is Jesus Christ.
Acts 4:12 ESV And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
2. It is planned. God’s plan of salvation was no afterthought. It is the plan of the ages.
1 Peter 1:20-21 ESV He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
3. Our salvation through Christ is personal, it’s planned and it is permanent. A Christian life begins at salvation; it continues on and on; and one day it will consummate in glory.
1 Peter 1:3-7 ESV Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Our Lord is faithful; therefore we his children are secure.
Romans 8:28-30 ESV And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
V. The faithfulness of God is his guarantee of forgiveness.
1 John 1:8-9 ESV If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Confession of sins is God’s condition of forgiveness; his faithfulness is his guarantee. By confessing our sins to God, we admit their reality, their enormity. Confession to God drags the sin into the light and shows it to us in all its ugliness.
The attributes of God that lead to the punishment of those who will not repent lead to the forgiveness and cleansing of those who do. God meets free confession… with free forgiveness.
Conclusion
The faithfulness of God—how wonderful is this truth! Let us thank God for it! Let us exult in it!
God's faithfulness endures to all generations; He established the earth, and it stands fast.
Prayer
Thank You Father that You are the faithful, good and righteous God. You are the Lord who always keeps Your promises. You are the God who is gracious and merciful in salvation, even as You are just and wrathful in Your judgments.
Of all the words that come to my lips when I try to describe You, ‘faithful’ is one that means so much. It’s easy to look back and see time after time, when You have shown Yourself to be exactly, that, so wonderfully faithful.
You are worthy of all trust and faith. You are the One constant in our lives. No matter what happens, no matter what we go through, or whatever may change, You are still there, and You stay the same. You are constant, dependable, and always reliable. I’m thankful that You are these things and so much more, Lord. We are completely dependent on You – even for our next breath. You are exactly who You say You are – Faithful and True. Thank You, Lord.
Amen.
To those of you who have never confessed your sinfulness to God and acknowledged His Son Jesus’, who never sinned, sacrifice taking the penalty for your sinfulness remember what I just said. The attributes of God that lead to the punishment of those who will not repent lead to the forgiveness and cleansing of those who do. God meets free confession with free forgiveness.
You don’t have to be controlled by your past. And you don’t have to be crippled by it, either. You can put it behind you. You can become a new person in Jesus Christ.
This is your moment to come into a relationship with the God who loves you. He loves you so much that He sent His only Son Jesus Christ to come to this earth, die on the cross for your sin, and rise from the dead. Now He stands at the door of your life and knocks.
Are you worn out and exhausted? Are you filled with sadness and depression? There is hope. But this hope is not in religion or in rules and regulations. It is hope in Jesus Christ coming to live inside of you.
Let me encourage you to confess your sins today so that you can receive the forgiveness of God which will result in eternal life. A life filled with power and protection because God is faithful to His promise to you. Admit that you are a sinner and ask for forgiveness then do what it says in Romans 10:9&10
Romans 10:9-10 ESV because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Sermon Audio
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