Wayne's World...(22Feb09)

 

You need faithfulness

Wayne Duncan

 

It's of utmost importance that we understand the need for faithfulness!

 

Without faithfulness working in our lives we have no certainty of salvation!

 

Without faithfulness, we are left vulnerable, and have no certainty of hope for the future!

 

Without faithfulness we cannot grow in any way as Christians!

 

Without faithfulness, we will not see revival, and signs and wonders and miracles.

 

We simply must have faithfulness!

 

Were lost without it! 

 

Here is the good news…JESUS IS FAITHFULL.

 

Our success as Christians is not dependant on our faithfulness to God, but it's essentially Jesus faithfulness to the Father and to us, that secures our future and gives us bold hope. Even our very right standing with God required and requires Jesus faithfulness.

 

Now faithfulness is important in every believer's life, and faithfulness should flow out of Christians. BUT this faithfulness is an overflow, and a result of His faithfulness.

 

Let's examine Jesus faithfulness for a moment!

 

Jesus is faithful to His covenantal promises.

 

Now we've looked at covenants before but, just to remind ourselves. A covenant is a legal agreement, with obligations and requirements. For the new covenant to be activated in our lives, we need to believe in Jesus. That by His sacrifice we are made right with God. When we have done this God is contractually obligated to faithfully perform His end of the deal.

 

Now please see this, God is not motivated by his legal obligations, he is motivated by His love. But to help us in our unbelief, He humbled himself to make a written declaration of His obligations and responsibilities to us… Its crazy, but such is the tendency in man to underestimate the love of the Father that God had to take radical steps, to help us literally see the love of God.

 

Now God is bound by His righteousness to fulfill the covenant. God does not lie, neither can He. God cannot be unfaithful; He would cease to be God if he was unfaithful. In perfect holiness and righteousness the God of all justice will be faithful to His promises. That's who He is.

 

In Isaiah 54 we see the promise of the coming covenant of peace, called the eternal covenant of peace or the new covenant. Where God began to outline a new way he would relate to His beloved creation…now remember God is bound by His righteousness to do these things.

 

Here are some of the promises of the covenant…

 

"so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,"

 

God swore never to be angry with us.

 

and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,"

 

God promised that his state of peace would never be removed!

 

. 14In righteousness you shall be established

 

God promised to establish us in righteousness. This means that He establishes us in an eternal right standing with Him.

 

Lets look some more at the new covenant.

 

Hebrews 8

"Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 9not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. 10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 11And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." 13In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

 

Let's see some more promises here. There are many but I want to focus on just a few, but you go see what our amazing God promises us as an inheritance to all who believe in Jesus and step into the New Covenant.

 

9not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord

 

In the old covenant, God showed no concern for those who did not walk in the covenant. In the new covenant, we enter it, and He will always show concern for us, by grace regardless of the state of our lives.

 

12For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."

 

What dos this mean?

 

NIV says

 

12For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

 

NKJV

 

12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more."

 

This word here iniquities or wickedness in NIV or unrighteousness in NKJV is as follows in the Greek

 

G93ἀδικία

 

adikia

 

ad-ee-kee'-ah

 

From G94; (legal) injustice (properly the quality, by implication the act); moral wrongfulness (of charater, life or act): - iniquity, unjust, unrighteousness, wrong. 

 

"Sins" is translated from the Greek= offence.

 

The Webster's dictionary brings in an extra element of unequal.(short of the glory of God)

 

What this says very basically it that all our sins, wrong doing, offences, wickedness, moral failings, iniquities and wrongfulness will attract mercy and forgiveness from God. He promises to not count these things against us.(and as sin abounds grace abounds all the more Rom6)

 

This is confirmed again in Romans 4:7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin."

 

We see two components of this covenantal promise one is forgiveness, and the other in a favor component.

 

John Piper talks about how "Jesus was not only for our pardon, but also for our perfection".

 

Most of us do not battle with believing that our sins are forgiven, by we battle to accept that as a result of this God sees us as perfectly obedient.

 

This is what it means when God declares "in righteousness you will be established"…

 

You see we are not only declared not guilty, but we are also declared worthy to receive all the blessings of heaven.  That's what Ephesians says. You've received every spiritual blessing, and He has given us everything for life and godliness.

 

Now this is true weather you believe it or not, why? Because God is faithful, it has to be true, God says so.  

 

So Faithfulness here sets us up for a guilt free life of no condemnation. This inspires and invites us into intimacy with God, the place of love and strength and power.

 

Can you see how no-one in the new covenant is disqualified from any of Gods blessings? There is nothing you can do to remove the blessing and favor of God from your life, because He is faithful to His covenant.

 

If God were to be angry with you, condemn you, or count your sins against you in any way, he would become unfaithful to His covenant, and cease to be a righteous God!

 

Now unfortunately you always need to address this little issue.

 

"Wayno if you preach this people will just go out and sin"

 

If your hearing, well I can go wild and do what I want, you do not understand Grace. Gods plan is to love us to wholeness, and give us every way of being victorious in life, so that we can be free from everything that hurts us in life. Sin is destructive, sin hurts and sin has negative consequences. Sin is bondage.

 

A born again Christian wants to please God, now that we are set free from sin and the law, we can live out our hearts desires. It's not just the removal of one thing, but it is the replacement with an infinitely more powerful and effective way.

 

So we see here God is bound by His faithfulness to keep you in right standing with Him. 

 

Now I want to point out another part of Gods faithfulness. Please look for promises, statements and declarations Jesus makes, and deals the Father and the son make…this will give tremendous insight to the deal, between the Father and the Son regarding what Jesus was to accomplish by His life, death and resurrection…

 

Look at these scriptures.

 

John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."

 

John 10v27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me,(Some manuscripts What my Father has given to me)  is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30I and the Father are one."

 

Phil 1:6 "He who began a good work in you will carry it out to completion"

 

Ok so here it is. The father gives people to Jesus. His sheep.

 

Jesus must be faithful to the will of the father. Jesus was faithful to the will of the father and perfectly did, and is doing all the father desires.

 

. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day

 

What was Gods will…that Jesus would loose none of all he was given.

 

The Father asked Jesus to not loose 1 of all He was given by the father, but raise them up on the last day.

 

Here the Father asked Jesus to be a perfect savior for man, to guard and protect the salvation of every true believer, and to keep them and to raise them up on the last day.

 

Friends here Jesus made a promise to the father to keep you and I saved forever! Jesus is now bound by His faithfulness to the Father to keep you saved.

 

40For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."

 

We have eternal life. Saved forever!

 

Is this true, can it be?

 

Lets look further…

 

28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me,(Some manuscripts What my Father has given to me)  is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand

 

We have been given eternal life…not "perhaps", or "if" or "maybe"…it's a done deal were given eternal life.

 

No one can snatch you out of the father's hand, and God is greater than all, so watch out anyone who tries. 

 

So here we see that Jesus wants to keep you saved, the Father wants Jesus to keep you saved… but can Jesus do that.

 

Jude 24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.  

 

Here we clearly see that He is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the father.

 

So He is able, and Jesus is willing, for its his desire that none perish, and the Father told Jesus to keep you and save you, and Jesus had agreed, and He has faithfully completed all the father gave Him. You are already saved forever. God has to be faithful to His promise to save you.

 

Friends God is faithful. His faithfulness never ends, never fades, never diminishes…

 

Look at this ridiculous scripture.

 

II Timothy 2:13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself.

 

Even when we are faithless, He remains faithful, wow what an amazing God. Gods faithfulness sets us up for victory. His love never fades, He loves you perfectly all the time. He is always for you and never against you. He will uphold you by the power of His hand, watch out anyone who comes against you.

 

You are blessed, you have great power, you can do anything..heal the sick, raise the dead, perform signs wonders and miracles. He has positioned you for success through His faithfulness in every area of your life. In marriage, in business, he Loves you he is with you in a powerful way, he will never leave you or abandon you or forsake you. You are His, bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus in which we now stand.

 

Thank you Jesus, thank you for being a righteous God faithful to His word. Thank you for the glorious new covenant! Thank you that you  are always faithful. Praise you Jesus.