Judge Not

(Matthew 7:1)“Judge not so that you will not be judged” is spouted by a lot of people who have no idea of what Jesus meant by that. And I venture to say that the people who quote this verse the most are the ones who understand it the least.  They use it to convey the idea, "You live your lifestyle and I’ll live mine. But don’t you tell me how to live, and certainly don’t try to impose your standards of morality on me."  So, isn’t it ironic that those living outside the will of God suddenly become very biblical, saying, “Judge not so that you will not be judged”? Well, what was Jesus saying in Matthew 7? I think one of the key verses to understanding this is (Matthew 5:20) "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." That means we need a different kind of righteousness from what the scribes and Pharisees had. What they did was superficial.  Ours must grow out of a heart committed to the Father. And Matthew 7 is part of that context. Jesus, here in the Sermon on the Mount, deals with two different extremes of the problem of human judgment. The first extreme is a harsh, critical spirit. The second extreme is permissiveness. This morning, we want to take a look at both of these extremes.  I. Don’t Judge (Matthew 7:1-2) "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you." As Jesus looked at the religious situation of his day, he saw that judging others had become a great religious problem. The Pharisees and scribes were quick to pass judgment on those who didn’t live up to their expectations. When Jesus was in the house of Simon the Pharisee and the sinful woman anointed his feet, Simon said in (Luke 7:39), "This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner."  The Pharisees, in their self-righteous arrogance, had created a special class of people called "sinners," as if they themselves were not and they were used to judging others self-righteously. Jesus said there are problems with that kind of judging. It’s overly critical, always going around with a nit-picking attitude, digging and searching for faults, always suspecting the worst. So Jesus says that we are not to judge. He’s not talking about judging false teachers. What he is talking about is a hasty, unloving, "holier than thou" type of attitude. We sometimes call this "jumping to conclusions". It’s at the very heart of gossiping and rumor-bearing. Jesus wasn’t saying we should never assess people with some discrimination, but rather that we should not have a harsh, judgmental spirit.  I can see your motives. I can see the way you’re thinking. I know all the things that have led you to this point in your life. That’s what Jesus wants to eliminate. Whenever we make a judgment, we do so based on what we have seen and sometimes that’s not enough to see the whole picture. Human judgment is limited to the information which we put into it and sometimes that isn’t enough to make an accurate judgment. We’ve all heard the phrase: "Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes." And there’s something to that. For example, a person brought up in a Christian home can’t really know the temptations of a teen-ager brought up in a sinful environment. The fact is that if we realized what some people have to go through, instead of condemning them, we might marvel that they have succeeded at being as good as they are.  That goes to show the limits of what we sometimes see in other people. God once made the point that "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (I Samuel 16:7). That’s why I don’t have the right to sit in judgment on someone else’s motives, because I don’t know what they are. Only the Lord knows all. It was in response to this sort of critical attitude that Paul responded, "With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you....In fact, I do not even judge myself....But he who judges me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes." (I Corinthians 4:3-5).  That’s what Paul meant when he said in I Corinthians 13 that love "believes all things" -- love believes the best. But above all, I shouldn’t be going around trying to find faults in your life. Notice that self-righteous judgment has a boomerang: "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."  If we judge others harshly and jump to the worst conclusions about others, we can be certain that we’ll be treated in the same way, I believe by both others and God. II. Searching For Specks (Matthew 7:3-5) "And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ’Let me remove the speck out of your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye." There’s another problem with Pharasaic righteousnes. Not only was it overly critical, but it was also hypocritical. It was two-faced. We like to look at people with bifocals. We use the bottom part to see ourselves, and it has kind of a rosy tint to it. We tend to look past any shortcomings. But the top part we use to look at others. And that’s the hypocrisy Jesus was denouncing.  It’s like the parable in Luke 18 where a Pharisee goes to the temple to pray. The Pharisee looks through the top part of his bifocals and says, "Oh my! I’m glad I’m not like that losers out there." And then he looks through the bottom part and says to God, "You are just so blessed to have me on your side." That’s the kind of judging Jesus condemned.  We’re not qualified to sit in judgment on others because it’s impossible to be impartial -- we’re influenced by our own imperfections. Jesus here uses the graphic example of a plank of wood and a speck of dust. I think Jesus used the illustration of a plank and a speck because he was a carpenter; that was familiar to him and it was familiar to the people around him. And I don’t think that the plank in our eyes is necessarily a worse sin. I think he’s talking about the sin of self-righteousness, appointing ourselves as the official speck inspectors. When I spend my time pointing my finger at your sin, my attention is distracted from my own sins, and that’s the real danger of judging. We’re all sinners, and we’re to work together as a family to overcome our sins. But ultimately, the only sins over which I have control are my own, and those are the ones that should command my greatest attention.  We can see so well the things in others’ lives that we want to pick on, but Jesus said we’re usually being overly critical and hypocritical when we do it.  But it’s important for us to notice that he didn’t stop there. He didn’t instruct us to stay out of other people’s business. Rather, he gave us the responsibility of helping our brother: "First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye." (7:5).  What’s the loving, Christian thing to do when someone comes to you and he’s got a speck in his eye? Turn and walk away? No! Do you say, "Oh, no. I could never take that speck out of your eye. I’ve had specks in my eye before"? Of course not! He’s got something in his eye and he needs it taken out.  Or suppose a child comes to you with a splinter in his finger. He’s crying, "Please take this splinter out!" What’s the Christian thing to do? Leave the splinter there? No! You take the splinter out. So Jesus was saying there is a place for some discernment in people’s lives. If you see brothers or sisters who have specks in their eyes, you need to help them take it out!  But first you take out the two-by-four of self-righteousness out of your own eye. Paul put it this way, ""Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness." (Galatians 6:1). You who are spiritual -- not self-righteous, but spiritual -- those of you who have the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in your life, you go restore him. Matthew 7 shouldn’t interfere with the responsibility we have to go to somebody in loving confrontation. III. The Right Way to Judge (Matthew 7:6) "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  The harsh, critical spirit is obviously wrong and some have tried to get so far away from it that they’ve gone to the opposite extreme, which is permissiveness. The holders of this position point to the first five verses of this chapter as their proof text; we are not to judge. They stress long and loud that we cannot judge. They interpret that as meaning we cannot judge in any case or in any setting, and especially don’t try to tell me I’m doing anything wrong. An interesting situation arises, though, when somebody takes this position. They believe that you can’t judge anyone else as being right or wrong and you have no right to condemn the way anyone is living. If you are doing that, you are wrong and that you shouldn’t live that way. Thus they practice the very thing they claim is wrong for others. The permissive person holds to a religion that says everything is all right with God. The motto of the permissivist is "live and let live." He’ll never condemn a practice as sin or a doctrine as false because to do such is judging, and he believes in being "tolerant". But, Jesus doesn’t end his discussion of judging with the command "judge not". He goes on to say, "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs." If you think verses 1-5 prohibit any kind of discerning in judgment, you’ve got a real problem here. Because you’ve got to use some kind of criteria to decide who those spiritual dogs and pigs are.  First Jesus says, "Don’t judge, don’t condemn." Then, in the same breath, he says, "Make certain judgments concerning people and behavior."  How can these two positions be reconciled? The two positions actually complement and limit each other perfectly. In the first statement, as we’ve already seen, Jesus condemns the critical, holier-than-thou, jumping to conclusions sort of judgment that the Pharisees were known for. In this second statement, Jesus acknowledges the need for making decisions concerning people and behavior that is detrimental to our Christian lives. Verse 6 stands as a safeguard against an extreme interpretation of verses 1-5. It’s not the case that Jesus condemns all judging. In fact, he demands that we make some judgment.  In (John 7:24), Jesus said, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." In   (I John 4:1), John tells us not to believe every preacher that comes along, but "test the spirits, whether they are of God." In (I Corinthians 5:11), Paul tells us not to associate with a brother who is "a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner." That demands that we make a judgment of some sort.  The command not to judge others doesn’t mean that we can’t see the sinfulness of certain actions. Now, we’re never to look down in self-righteous judgment on another sinner, for we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God. But we can recognize sin as sin, and we should never try to justify it. You don’t give to the dogs the sacred sacrifice reserved for the priest and you don’t feed your pearls to the pigs.  Jesus was saying there are people like that. These words are harsh, but his point is that we shouldn’t waste spiritual treasures on those who have no spiritual interest.  In Matthew 10, Jesus sent some disciples out and he said, "Look. When you go into a town, and they don’t have the time of day for you, shake the dust off your sandals and get out of there." Some people are spiritual pigs and dogs.  Paul received some rough treatment in Corinth on his second missionary journey, and Luke reports, "But when [the Jews] opposed [Paul] and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, ’Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’" (Acts 18:6). We’ve got to use that kind of discernment and not waste spiritual treasures on people who will just trample them.  Now this is the exception rather than the rule. We don’t jump on this idea and stop evangelizing. But there are some people who have no spiritual interest. They will trample the precious things we hold dear to our heart. And Jesus said to use some discernment, have the ability to make judgment in our minds. 
So what is the message of Matthew 7:1-6? I think it’s a warning for us to avoid the extremes of judgment. We need to be careful not to become harshly judgmental, looking for faults, taking the opportunity to look down on others from our position of self-righteousness.  But neither are we to overlook sin. We need to be able to recognize sin for what it is. Any attempt to overlook or justify sin on any grounds is itself sinful. If you come to him, he will also forgive your sin with the challenge to live a life of purity for him.

Attributes of God - Sovereignty

Does God determine all things?  Does He reign supreme over all His creation?  Can anything trouble Him, or cause Him to change His plans? These questions deal with the sovereignty of God.  Notice that within the word ‘sovereignty’ is the word ‘reign’.  Is God on the throne of the universe, reigning over all His creation? As we did with all other attributes, we will look at this attribute of the sovereignty of God in the light of the declaration of Scripture.  First we must understand that the very name LORD, or JHWH, implies sovereignty.  The NASB translates ‘LORD’ 290 times as ‘Sovereign’.  Those scholars thought Sovereign with a capitol S best fit the translation.  So His very name implies He is the Ruler over all.  The Bible teaches monotheism, meaning that there is only one God.  Moses declared in (Deut 6:4-5),⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  Because He is Sovereign it is a command, not a suggestion.  Our belief in only one God is part of our understanding of Sovereignty.  If there were more than one God what would we have as a standard?  We have seen that right and wrong is based on the very character of God.  But if there is more than one god then which one is the right one?  If they are different then one is not perfect. How would you know which one?  If they are both perfect they are the same. And so round and round we would go with no standard or direction, but the Bible declares He is One.  Since He is One, He can command us – His creation – as He wills. He is the Creator, and we are but His creatures.  The Potter can do as He wills with His clay. Whatever He does will be holy, just, and righteous. No man can challenge what He does because God is Creator and we are mere creatures.  In the attempt to understand His sovereignty we should review the three ‘omni’ terms applied to God. ‘Omni’ means ‘all’. These terms separate Him from the rest of His creation. None of His creatures share these ‘omni’ characteristics.   He is omnipotent or all-powerful.  He can do whatever He wills, but He only wills to act consistently with His character.  If all the angels of heaven and all the sons of men joined together to fight God – He would laugh. (Ps 2:4) says  ⁴ He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. It wouldn’t disturb Him in the least or shake His sovereignty in the slightest. (2 Chron 20:6) "O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.” All power is His – He speaks things into existence and they remain existent by His power alone – “sustaining all things by his powerful word” that comes from (Hebrews 1:3)

He is omniscient.  That simply means all knowing.  God lives in the Eternal present tense.  He lives outside time and is the Creator of time.  He sees our past, present and future all at once, for He is I AM.  He knows every thought of every creature He has made throughout time.  There is nothing hidden from Him.  Peter realized this after walking with Jesus for 3 years. At his restoration he declared, “Lord, You know all things…”  Everything that ever happened or will happen is visible to God in this very instant and always. (Psalms 147:5) says Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. He is omnipresent - He is everywhere present at once and always.  He is spirit and is not bound by location.  He is transcendent – beyond physical boundaries and yet He is also immanent, always by our side. His omnipresence and His manifest presence are different. He is everywhere and yet He was manifestly present over the mercy seat in the ball of light known as the Shekinah Glory. Hear how God describes it in (Isaiah 57:15), “For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”  Now put these attributes together – all-powerful – all knowing – all present and you have the reasons He alone is sovereign. No man or angel compares with God in these characteristics.  He is the only One who could be in charge.  He is the only One we’d want in charge. He is the One for Whom all things exist.  (Ephesians 1:11b) tells us, “He works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,” And (Rom 11:36) declares, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”  As the Creator of everything He has all the rights to determine what will be.  (Isaiah 46:10) says “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.” (Psalms 115:3) says, “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him”.

Remember He is nothing like man.  In fact, He chides us saying, “…you thought I was altogether like you.” No – He is perfect in all His attributes and acts according to His perfect character.  If omnipotence were in the hand of a man, the world would be destroyed in no time at all. If omniscience were in the mind of a man the world would end up his slave.  But God is not like a man.  He is just and faithful, loving and merciful.  He is holy.  Those attributes are evident in all that He chooses to do. These attributes of God bring us great comfort, if we are walking in obedience.  But they should put the fear of God in us if we are not.  If God were not all knowing He could get a surprise attack.  He would learn and change according to what He learned.  Then He would not be the same yesterday, today and forever.  The God you read about in the Bible would not be the same today.  If He was not all-powerful there would be rebellion within His creation that could potentially overthrow Him.  If He were not omnipresent how could He be omniscient for there would be things going on He was not aware of.  This is the mind boggling God we serve. He is unfathomable because we are mere creatures and He is infinitely greater than His creation.  When we consider these qualities of God we get a glimpse of His supremacy and sovereignty. But here we step into the realm of what is entirely impossible for man to conceive.  He gives man free will to choose or reject Him and yet what He purposes is all that will stand.  Even the rebellion of the wicked will bring Him glory.  I can choose to resist the Holy Spirit and God will use it to teach me.  When men choose to do evil, is God still Sovereign?  How could He be otherwise and remain God?  Then what is this rebellion going on with the fallen angels and the unrepentant men and women? (Psalms 76:10) says Human opposition only enhances your glory, for you use it as a sword of judgment. 

We see the examples in the Word – Joseph’s brothers sinned against God and out of jealousy they sold their brother into slavery – but God is Sovereign and used their rebellious acts as a part of His plan to save the family of Israel.  Pharaoh, in Ex 9:16, is told He is in rebellion against God so God can display His glory in just judgment on the nation of Egypt.  His hard heart was an instrument that made it possible for the fame of God to spread through the world as people talked about the plagues on the Egyptian gods. Did you know they are still finding in the secular hieroglyphic record in Egypt of great natural disasters of literal Biblical proportions, imagine that.  And look at Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednigo.  The King Nebuchadnezzer wanted everyone to worship his image, and when they would not he had them thrown into a fiery furnace.  His demands and actions were pure wickedness, but God delivered them and turned the King’s heart. And if you really want to marvel at the sovereignty of God in the midst of man’s free choice, just look at what happened to Jesus.  Pharisees deliver Him up for envy, rulers condemn Him to death unjustly, horribly murdered, and laid in a cold tomb. Through that tragic event, filled with the ruthlessness of man and Satan, God brought about the salvation of mankind.  Obviously Satan had no clue as to what was about to happen, or he would never have inspired the murder of Jesus on a cross.  What he thought was his ultimate victory over God, was the heel prophesied to crush his own head.  What a mighty God we serve!  God is on the throne of heaven even when man rebels – He works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths says (Psalms 135:6).  He can command the Red Sea to part so that His children could walk through on dry ground.  He can have the earth open up and swallow Korah and the other rebels. He can order the Sun to stand still in its place until Joshua’s army obliterates the enemy.  He can have a sundial go backward to confirm His promise to a king.  He can shut the mouths of hungry lions, and cause fire not to burn, axe heads to float, a dead Almond branch to bud, and food to fall from the sky.  He is the Creator of all you see and He can have His creation do as He pleases.

Most amazing of all His actions He incarnated Himself as a baby in the womb of Mary.  As a man He was no more limited than on the throne of heaven.  He could say to deformed bodies, “Be whole”. He could say to the sin sick, “You are forgiven”. He could feed thousands from just a picnic basket. He could tell demons to leave and quit harassing individuals.   He spoke to the wind and the waves and they were stilled.  And when men killed and buried Him, He conquered death.  He was no less than Sovereign LORD over all then, as He is both now, and forever! And you better praise Him!  You may have thought that your life was a random set of circumstances.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Even the hairs of our head are numbered.  All the days God has ordained for us are written in His book before we were even born.  He picked our parents, the place of our birth, the place we live, the people we meet, and the fact that you are listening to this message this morning at Bethany United Methodist Church in Milton, PA. It is all in the hands of the Almighty Sovereign LORD of all.  He is Sovereign over all His works. The wonder is that He allows us to rebel if we choose.  No other creatures but the fallen angels were given such freedom. I believe He gave us that freedom because He desires our willing love to be expressed to Him as He pours out His goodness on us.  You can rebel, but why would you want to?  We are just allowing ourselves to be deceived if we take that route. Every good thing comes from the unchanging God.  We find our greatest peace and fulfillment when we yield to Him by yielding to the life of His only Son in us.  What peace and joy you should have, knowing this Sovereign One is the God that has called you into a relationship with Himself!  Nothing can thwart His plans, and nothing is too hard for Him.   Whatever happens in and with the world or with those who rise against us, He is Sovereign over all.  One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess to His Sovereignty over all creation.  But you better not wait till then.  Do it now.  Bow your knee in worship for His right to rule your life every day. 

There are many that stubbornly refuse to yield to His sovereignty, thinking that they are the lord over their own life.  The Scriptures declare that we serve God or we serve Satan. There is no real self as lord.  To serve self is to become enslaved by Satan while in our delusion we think that we are “free”.  We know that slavery ends in death – death of the spirit and the body. You can see it throughout the stories of the Bible: Cain, the world of Noah’s day, Pharaoh, the evil kings of Israel, the Pharisees.  All of them thought they were free, when in fact they were slaves to destruction.  You can see it in the people in our society, driven by greed, addictions, and pride, talking about God but not letting Him be the Lord of their lives.  We can see in our own lives in the temptations to do things that we know are destructive.  When we think it through and see clearly, we realize that the momentary pleasure of sin is not nearly worth the cost it will take from our lives. When the early church said, “Jesus is Lord”, they meant He made the decisions in their lives.  He called the shots.  He was sovereign over all they did. He was sovereign over their lives and over their worship together. His Sovereignty is real freedom, freedom to be who God made us to be.

 In 2 Timothy 2:12 Paul wrote that if we endure we would also reign with Him.  How can that be?  Won’t we mess it all up?  Our Sovereign God is able to make us capable of reigning with Him.   Only the Sovereign God could make us capable. He will finish the work He started in us by making us able. He reigns!  That will never change! What a mighty God we serve!

Attributes of God – Mercy

You are here this morning because of an attribute of God – Mercy. (Psalms 5:7) ⁷ But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple. Together, as living stones, we are the temple of God, and that is by God’s mercy.  We, by His great mercy have come into His house, the family of God. We are so indebted to this wonderful attribute of God and yet we often take it for granted. Mercy – it’s more than just giving something that is much more than he or she deserves.  It is giving it to them, even though it is very unreasonable for them to have it.  How is that different from grace?  Mercy says you deserve some type of punishment but you will not get what you deserve.  Grace is a gift of something you have not earned.  Do you see the difference?  If you came this morning without shoes and I just gave you a pair out of the goodness of my heart you would be a recipient of grace.  If you threw that pair into a dumpster, but then realized you needed them and I gave you another pair, then you have received mercy. Listen to what it says in (Psalms 41:4) ⁴ I said, "O LORD, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against you."  I have sinned, and I deserve this affliction, but I ask for something that is contrary to what I deserve. That is asking for mercy. Both attributes, grace and mercy, spring from the goodness of God and are unearned by anything we do.  Yet mercy is only applied in righteousness.  God said to Moses, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” says (Exodus 33:19). It sounds very arbitrary, but we must remember God’s attributes are all one thing and never act independently of the other attributes.  Let me give you an illustration from Israel’s history. When the Children of Israel defeated certain cities they were to dedicate the possessions to God and burn them as an offering.  If someone kept them  it would stop God from showing mercy to them because God is just and righteous. To reward rebellion is not right or just or even genuine love. (Deut 13:17 & 18) “None of those condemned things shall be found in your hands, so that the LORD will turn from his fierce anger; he will show you mercy, have compassion on you, and increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your forefathers,¹⁸ because you obey the LORD your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes.”   Obedience opens a window for God to pour in His mercy. It is not that our being good deserves mercy or earns it, but that sin, and outright rebellion, blocks it. (Dan 9:18) says ¹⁸ Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Even though we can never earn it, we can close the door to mercy by rebellion.

Repentance also opens a way for mercy to be received. (Prov 28:13) ¹³ He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.   So we see God chooses to have mercy on those who are repentant and are not in rebellion against Him or not disobedient to His commands.   Obedience and repentance open a channel for the mercy of God to flow through.  They do not earn mercy but allow it to flow righteously. Numerous times through the psalms we see this expression of repentance and a request for mercy to be displayed toward the writer of the psalm or the nation. Are you unbolting the door to God’s mercy through your confession of sin, your acknowledgement that you have rebelled against God, and your willingness to change?  Some theological traditions within the church would argue that God is not moved by anything outside Himself and so repentance and obedience have nothing to do with mercy.  He just decides to have mercy on whomever (I do not subscribe to that thought process).  Not only does that contradict the examples I have just given but throws out the other attributes of God. It is saying His mercy can act independently from His justice.   Yet, man cannot find repentance and obedience in himself without the mercy and grace of God moving upon his heart.  This mercy that moves upon the heart of every man is the light that lights every man that comes into the world. When that mercy clearly reveals God calling us to Himself, we become accountable to respond. 

Before we have really received that calling of God  we are undeserving sinners by nature. We need a clear picture of what the fallen human condition is to truly appreciate mercy.  God would be perfectly justified in wiping our sin loving lives right off this planet for all the pain and havoc our rebellious hearts cause. (Lam 3:22) says ²² It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  Before that revelation of God’s love to us personally // we have not yet received that invitation from God.  We haven’t felt His knocking upon the door of our heart. It is the rejection of that mercy that places us just one step closer to impending justice.  If you look carefully at the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, you will see that the first five times he hardened his own heart.  Then God hardened it until Pharaoh confessed his sin and we see that in Exodus 9:27 and the seventh plague. Then once more Pharaoh had to harden his own heart. God gave Him another chance because of repentance and confession. When Pharaoh spurned that, God began to harden Pharaoh’s heart again.  The mercy of God is sometimes an excuse for an unrepentant life. I’ve heard people say, “What kind of merciful God would send someone to hell.” That ide-ology is a justification for not yielding to the mercy of God drawing them to repentance.  What a sad excuse for remaining in rebellion.  God pleads with each one of us to stop destroying our lives with rebellion, and some would insist on going down that path by twisting the very nature of God.  To say God is merciful without being just is to distort His integrity and make God into man’s image, and to resolutely continue down our path of self-destruction.

God’s wrath on the wicked is mercy.  It is an exercise of His justice to turn them from self-destruction.  Hell for the unrepentant rebels who keep ignoring the love of God in giving His own Son for them is just // and is in keeping with the rebels’ demand to live a life separate from God.  God will not show mercy to those who ignore his holiness and righteousness.  For those who reject the love of God and the gift of His Son, the judgement they receive will be justice for their choices.  What they have sown they will reap. They have sown the wind and they will reap the whirlwind.  (Psalms 9:17) says  The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God.  Since they reject what the Son has done for them, they will be paid in full for their sin – which is separation from Eternal Life. Anything else would be unfair and God cannot be unfair.  It’s just not in His perfect character.  For the redeemed, it is an expression of God’s mercy in that heaven will not be defiled with the likes of the wicked. (Rev 21:27) says “There shall in no-wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither worketh abomination.” Sin being allowed in heaven is unimaginable.  Even the wrath of God is an expression of his mercy for it separates those who insist on darkness from those who have chosen the Light.  A rebel against the goodness of God might say, “Just because I want to do my own thing apart from God, surely, as merciful as He is, He would not throw me into a Lake of Fire.” Don’t count on it.  It may be the perfect expression of His mercy toward the redeemed and an answer to their insistence to live apart from Him. 

Difficulty in life, illness, trouble, and trials can be an expression of mercy as well.  David understood that, Job learned that, and Paul knew it was true.  Jonah was mercifully thrown into the sea, swallowed by a great fish and spit up on the shores of the very place he had been running from.  He probably wouldn’t have described it as mercy at the time, but later when Ninevah repented he could see that it was. In weakness we are made strong.  In difficulty we turn from self and look to the One who is our Strength. This, too, is the mercy of God.  But mercy doesn’t always come in the way that we expect it. As with all His attributes, the ultimate expression of mercy is the cross.  One problem with the Jews of that day is they did not expect mercy to appear in a form so humble. God cannot bless us with saving mercy while the justice for our rebellion against Him is not met.  In the cross, the justice of God was met, so that we could justly be the recipients of His mercy. It is by the mercy of God you are saved. We deserve the justice of eternal punishment for our rebellion against the Creator who gave us life.  But the mercy of God sent Jesus, who took what you and I rightly deserved so that mercy could be poured out on us – justly. “… saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” says (Titus 3:5). It wasn’t because we repented, or because we responded to his grace that drew us, although that unbolted the door – It is because His Son died in your place.  It delights the heart of God to express mercy towards you. (Micah 7:18) reads ¹⁸ Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.  God would love to show mercy to every soul.  It is His delight.  But some refuse to come to Him for His redeeming mercy and grace.  And like all the attributes of God, we are to exhibit this beautiful quality as the life of Christ is expressed in us. (Micah 6:8) says ⁸ He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. We are to love mercy. God doesn’t just like to show mercy - He loves to. More than any ritual we can perform or routine we can go through God wants us to express this attribute of His. (Hosea 6:6) says ⁶ For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. It was one of the three important things Jesus told the Pharisees they were lacking. (Matt 23:23) reads But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. There we see three of God’s attributes together.  (Zech 7:9) says This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.’ If you want mercy from God and others, Jesus said to be merciful.  If you show mercy you will receive mercy.  (Matt 5:7) explains Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.  How does this mercy express itself in our lives? First we are drawn to Christ and convicted by His mercy. When we repent and look to God  we are saved by it.  Then in view of that mercy given to us  we respond by presenting our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. Then through that same mercy, we are given a ministry. (2 Cor 4:1) says ¹ Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. In daily life the opportunities to be merciful are plentiful. It is most often expressed as forgiveness, patience, and endurance. 

To forgive those who wrong you again and again is mercy.  And remember the promise, ‘the merciful will be shown mercy.’  The same measuring cup you use toward others, God will use toward you.  I don’t know how that makes you feel but it makes me want to be the most merciful person in the world.  Where is the biggest mercy cup I can find?  It’s the life of Jesus Christ in me.  We must keep coming back to Jesus as our example.  His mercy is the right kind, mixed with love, yet just and holy, not self motivated, but love motivated.  His kind of mercy is always the right kind.   Is there someone in your life you are having difficulty showing God’s mercy to? You think you’ve scraped the bottom of your mercy barrel. Just when you were sure you used up all the mercy last time, there is more of the mercy of God there to meet that need. The life of Jesus in you will never run empty. It will be in you like an artesian well, flowing up into eternal life!  Let Him express His mercy through you and you will be shown even more mercy than the ocean of mercy you have already received.  If we were a little more in touch with the reality of the Kingdom of God, we could see we are all swimming in an ocean of mercy.  It reminds me of the servant who was forgiven a debt of a great amount by his lord, but refused to give mercy to another servant who owed him so little.  Be merciful – even as your Father in heaven is merciful.  Considering all the mercy He has invested in you, it is only right for you to pass it on to everyone you come in contact with – and especially to those who are close to you.  Right now the Spirit of God has probably brought someone to mind that you need to be merciful towards.  Would you like the same measure of mercy applied to you that you are showing them?  Is that how you want God to deal with you? Then you better get ready to show more mercy by the grace of God. You need to act on the conviction you are receiving right now if you believe the word of God.  I don’t mean just forgiving it, but do what the LORD does for you, in the way He does it for you.  Use the biggest measure you can find.  Determine right now before God how you need to respond to show God’s great mercy, and follow through with that plan with God’s help.  Remember (Deut 4:31) says For the LORD your God is a merciful God; and (Psalm 89:1) says I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever.     

The attributes of God – Love

⁸ The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

¹⁶We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

God is love.  Language can confuse us, especially when we translate it. In these 2 verses ‘love’ is the agape love.  It is a love freely given that expects nothing back. Often, we think of God as love, and then we confuse it with our modern usage of the word ‘love’. We think of love as a sentimental or gushy feeling.  This is where we need the truth of Scripture to change our thinking and give us the real definition of love.  That is found in (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) and you can read that on your own.  Often it is cited at weddings and it was at mine too.  Here is a love that denies itself for the one loved.  The love of man is often conditional upon others returning our love, but God’s love does not seek the returning of love for His own benefit.  We should always keep this in the front of our minds:  We love Him because He first loved us. (1John 4:19) If we were to describe the love of God without the Word of God we would fall short. (1 John 3:16) says¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. Love is a giving up of your life for another.  (John 15:13) says Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. What more could anyone give for another?  (Romans 5:5-8) tells us ⁵ And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. ⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Did you notice the theme of death as the ultimate expression of love as I read from the Scriptures referring to the love of God? If we are to look at a picture of this attribute there is but one perfect picture – it’s the cross.  It is in Jesus Christ loving us so much that He willingly laid down His life for us.  That is the love of God demonstrated for us so that we might be able to understand it. For God so loved the world He gave his only begotten son… A laying down of one’s life or that dearest to him for another is the love we are talking about.  This is the love that God has for you.  Our flesh does not like us dwelling on this subject because ¹⁹ We love because he first loved us  says (1 John 4:19). Remember what love we are talking about? Love that lays down your life.  We see the love He first had for us in laying down His life for us, and as soon as we let the power and reality of that through our hard exterior and into our heart, that same type of love will be born in us.  The NASB has a more accurate rendering of the Greek, for there is no pronoun that is the object of love in the Greek.  It doesn’t say we love HIM or we love OTHERS. The text just says, “We love because…”

You can’t have that agape love in you without loving God and in turn those who He loves.  And again, that love is death to self, laying down your life.  Please take a look at what John writes in (1 John 4:7-21). In verse 9 it says God showed His love – it has been demonstrated by sending His only Son into the world.  Why?  That we might live through Him.  God loves us so much that He wants to rescue us from our spiritually dead condition.  We don’t deserve to be rescued, but He loves us, and He wants to rescue us and give us life.  The only way it could be done was through the highest price He could pay. He loved you that much.  If you ever have a question about the love of God toward you, look to the cross.   Medical professionals will tell you they have to become somewhat insensitive to the pain of others because it hurts too much to deal with it every day.   They have to do that to keep from getting ulcers and constantly hurting for others.  I think we do the same thing in regards to this expression of the love of God in Jesus.  When we take communion we try to re-sensitize ourselves to the love that He showed us, but often, even then, we will only go so deep.  We need to let it grip our hearts, for His love begets love.  His love will produce in your heart a love for Him and others.  ⁹ Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love says (Psalms 48:9).  Any Christian would say they want to love God more, but few will let the power of the love of God break their heart and bring them that same kind of love.  We must have the love that shows we are willing to laying down our life for Him and others.  That is our first love. As we just sang “At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light...”  If you want your first love back you have to return to that place you got it and let the pain of that display of God’s love grip you afresh. It will renew your desire to lay down your life for Him.

(1 John 3:1) says ¹ How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!  I like that word ‘lavished’.  God’s love doesn’t just get distributed sparingly, for God declared Himself to Moses as the One abounding in love. What a need there is for us to know how much we are loved.  We need the love of God in abundance.  James chapter four tells us how jealous God is over us.  The world looks at jealousy as a negative virtue, but we must understand the desire of God is that we be completely His.  What else is there?  If we belong to anything else, it is the world – and that is sin – and sin destroys. God’s jealousy is holy, unlike man’s.  It is a desire to see us pure, kept from evil, walking in His life and light, completely His.  The love and faithfulness of God are ever preceding Him, but remember that his rule and reigning is established on a foundation of righteousness and justice. (Psalms 89:14) declares Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. The love of God will not ignore justice or keep from disciplining those He loves.  With love comes some painful chastening.  God will do, in love, whatever it takes to keep His child from going astray. He wants us to know the consequences of sin. Sometimes we will have to speak the truth in love to our family in the Lord, even though it pains them and us. Love speaks what is most helpful to the one loved. Did you ever notice how some unbelievers don’t seem to suffer from sin and you always do? Your Father is not going to let you slide.  I know I can’t get away with anything, and I thank God for it.  I consider that an expression of His love for me.  If you want to walk closely with God welcome that consistent discipline from His loving hand.  When God allows those painful experiences in life it helps me to remember what Christ suffered. He was beloved of the Father but He experienced humiliation and persecution.  The fact that men were allowed to spit on Him and punch Him didn’t mean that God didn’t love Him.  And so we, too, should not question the love of God when we are rejected, afflicted or in a trial.  He had nowhere to lay His head, but He did have the Spirit without measure.  Understand that spiritual gifts and spiritual comfort are gifts of God’s love that are worth more than wealth, more than pleasure, more than all the world can offer.

If we will see the love He puts into planning each day of our lives // we will be more in love with Him more than ever. (Psalms 89:15-16) reads ¹⁵ Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD. ¹⁶ They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness. I was thinking about these verses and, what it means to learn to acclaim or praise God.  We praise him for what He does in our lives.  Some eyes see the works of God all around them throughout the day.  The more I walk in the Spirit the more I am tuned into those things in which He expresses His love to me and I praise God for them.  The more I walk in the world the more readily I see things as discouraging and praise is missing from my lips. When I do this, my focus is off the love of God. It is like I’m looking for something to complain about instead of things to praise about.

Loved ones, if we are going to touch our community, we must be willing to allow God to change us from whiners to winners!  Winners realize they have won.  They don’t focus on the little errors of others.  They are focused on the victory of Jesus Christ.  Because God loved you so much He made you a winner in His Son.  When He said, “It is finished!”  He was declaring His victory for you.  When He rose from the dead He rose victorious over death and hell.  If you’ve risen with Him you are a winner!  His abundant love is upon you.  Why dwell on some little fault in your brother?  You’ve got bigger things, better things, to dwell on.  Dwell on the God who loves you.  Dwell on how to share Him with others. What would this church look like if every one of us would do that?  What would people see when they came to visit?   They’d see the love of God because you are willing to keep your eyes fixed on Him as He changes you!  Please read (Eph 3:16-19) about His power.  We need His power to see His love in the world around us.  When we are willing to receive it and see it, His love establishes us and roots us in Him. Nothing can separate us from it. I pray that all of us would start to see the dimensions of the love // that God has for us, so that we might be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Just as with all His attributes, God expects His life in you to express His love, His unconditional love to Him first.  That is the great Commandment, and then to others as His love flows through you.  John said, if that isn’t happening, we probably don’t know God, because GOD IS LOVE.  The invitation is to open our hearts once again to Calvary and our eyes to His love expressed to us in so many ways every day. Then we need to return that love and let it flow to others.  Keep your eyes open to His love as you go through each day and your ears open to His words of abounding love toward you.

Attributes of God - Faithfulness

We are going to start looking at the attributes or the character of God for the next few Sundays.  First, who is God?  He is the sum of all His attributes.  Each attribute or characteristic we find perfected in God.  In fact, all other expressions of that attribute are mere reflections of that characteristic that is perfected in God.  Faithfulness is one of God’s attributes.  All the characteristics of God are perfect and in perfect harmony with one another.  Just like the facets on a diamond, each cut makes a surface on the diamond, and light goes in and out of all the surfaces making a sparkle.  If one surface is marred you do not have a diamond that will sparkle like a flawless diamond. Each perfect surface is like one of the attributes of God.  If God was faithful but He was not totally righteous, what is it that He would be faithful to?  If God is love but is not just then what does He love?  You see how the attributes of God interact and are perfected by the other attributes?  If anyone were missing, none would be perfect. Today we will look at His faithfulness, and the Lord willing, in the coming weeks we will look at the other facets of the diamond of His character such as sovereignty, mercy, grace, love, justice and maybe a few others.  It is very important that we understand God’s character.  It is His character that sets the standard for right and wrong.  It is because He is faithful that we should be faithful.  Have you ever thought about what makes something right or wrong? It is not just because God says so, for anyone can make a demand.  It is right because it is godly, like God.  This concept is almost lost in today’s society.  Abortion isn’t wrong just because God says “Thou shalt not kill”, but because in Him is Life.  Lies are not wrong just because God tells us not to lie, although that is reason enough.  The greatest reason is because God is true. As we enter this subject we are standing on holy ground.  We are not walking on the disputable territory of the opinions of men but the Word of Scripture.  How do we know God is faithful?  The word of God tells us so, and He cannot lie.  He has proven Himself faithful in the lives of the characters throughout Scripture. You will see that when His faithfulness is mentioned often another characteristic of God is mentioned alongside it.

(Exodus 34:5-7) reads ⁵The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD. ⁶ Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; ⁷ who keeps loving kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

Here God declares Himself to be abounding in faithfulness.  The Hebrew word used here for faithfulness is emeth. It is used in Genesis 24:27 when the servant of Abraham looks for a wife for Isaac and is led right to her; he declares that God has been emeth with Abraham. God answered Abraham’s prayer and provided a wife for Isaac.  That was an expression of God’s abounding faithfulness. Faithfulness is translated ‘true’ in the King James.  Strong’s concordance says emeth means: firm, sure, reliable, and stable.  That is what God declares Himself to be.

Hasn’t He proven Himself emeth with you? Has He answered your prayers and provided for your needs?  Have you found Him to be reliable?  Then you have experienced His faithfulness.  I can certainly tell you He has been faithful toward me.  Even when I was faithless, ignoring His warnings, fighting His Holy Spirit, He was faithful. He was faithful to discipline me, faithful to continually to convict me when I walked in rebellion, faithful to provide a way to escape, faithful to bring brothers and sisters to help, faithful to teach me. He has been nothing but faithful (emeth) to me.  (Deuteronomy 7:9) says ⁹ Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His loving kindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments.  In this passage the Hebrew word we look at is aman: To support, confirm, and be faithful – It is used of the support pillars for a door. Here it is used in connection with His covenant of love. He is the One that confirms it and supports it. “He is the faithful God,” means you can count on His love continuing in your life. Where do you run when the earth shakes?  Between the door pillars, the faithfulness of God! Where do those who do not know God run when there is trouble?  There is no one else that can support us like God can.  (Deuteronomy 32:4) says ⁴ “The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.  Here the word ‘faithful’ is Emunah – firm, steadfast – You can count on God to do what is right with consistency. He is never one way this week and another way the next week.  He is steadfast!  When you go to Him, you always know what to expect.  He’ll never be out to lunch, sleeping on the job, not ready to hear your need.  No, our God is steadfast.  He is always on the side of good because He is good. (Psalms 36:5) states ⁵ Your loving kindness, O LORD, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  His love and faithfulness are always bigger than our need.  I’ve been tempted to doubt God’s faithfulness and His dependability.  I think we all have doubted.  If we did not doubt we would believe every word of Scripture as if it was a contract with the most capable, most dependable person to ever live.  Come to think of it, it is!  Has there ever been anyone more capable, more dependable than Jesus?  Then why do we not utterly trust His every Word?  We certainly should.

(Psalms 86:14-15) reads ¹⁴O God, arrogant men have risen up against me, And a band of violent men have sought my life, And they have not set You before them. ¹⁵But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in faithfulness and truth.  Abounding faithfulness!  When we are under attack, when it seems like everyone is against us, we can count on the abounding love and faithfulness of our Father. He is seeking our best, in contrast to those that seek to harm us. Compassionate and gracious, abounding in love and faithfulness, what an awesome God! (Psalms 89:1-2) says  ¹ I will sing of the loving kindness of the LORD forever; To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.  ² For I have said, Loving kindness will be built up forever;  In the heavens You will establish Your faithfulness.”  David wanted to tell every generation of God’s faithfulness. The youth can trust Him to raise them up to be men and women of God. The adults can trust His faithfulness in guiding them into the ministry He is leading them into.  The aged can count on His faithfulness to see them through to their heavenly home.  He says the foundation of this faithfulness, this eternal love of God, is fixed in heaven itself, not here on this changeable realm.  He is faithful to you because He has set His love on you.  (Psalms 91:4) says ⁴ He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.  (2 Thess. 3:3) says ³ But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.  His faithfulness protects you. You must realize that Satan would destroy you in a minute because he came to kill, steal and destroy, but the Lord is faithful to protect you!  Take that protection away for an instant and we would be gone.  Thank God for His faithful covering. Don’t step out from under it. Walk in obedience.  (Psalms 119:75) reads ⁷⁵ I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. Illness can be an expression of His faithfulness.  If there is something we need to learn or somebody treating us needs to learn through us, His faithful love will bring us into affliction and through it if it is His will and the lessons have been taught. (Isaiah 25:1) says  ¹ O LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness. All He does is in perfect faithfulness.  You will notice that perfection is applied to all His attributes.  There is not a flaw in His faithful acts.  All that God has planned will happen, and it is all planned in consistency with His perfect faithfulness. We are  used to thinking of God as being like man that sometimes we have a hard time  grasping how perfect and wonderful He is.  He is utterly trustworthy.  Where are you placing your trust?  

(Lamentations 3:22-23) reads ²² The LORD’S loving kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. ²³ They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.  His love and compassion are always new every morning – what great faithfulness! (1 Thess 5:23-24) ²³ Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. We wonder if we are ever going to be made into the image of the Son of God.  Well, this passage declares that the One who called you is faithful, and He will do it.  He will present you faultless before the throne of God.  Thank God it is not up to my faithfulness or yours, but His!  Whew!  What a relief! Turn to the person sitting next to you and say, “I’m glad it’s not up to you.”  Now tell them, “I’m glad it’s not up to me.” The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it.   (1 Cor 10:13) ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

God is faithful to limit our temptations to what we can bear, and in our temptations to provide a way out. He doesn’t leave us in there to be clobbered in our weak areas.  He provides an escape in His faithfulness, but we must chose to enter the escape He provides. He has always provided a way of escape for me.  He always has and always will for you too. (1 Peter 4:19) says ¹⁹ Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right. Troubles in this fallen world and persecution from the ungodly may cause us to suffer, but remember God is the faithful Creator. Commit yourself to Him and keep on being obedient. Count on His presence and His promises to see you through. He’s never failed me yet, and He never will. He may not always do things according to my wishes, but He will be faithful to do what is good.  (1 John 1:9) says ⁹If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When we confess our sins, He does not debate forgiveness, hold a grudge or put our past works on a scale, NO; He faithfully forgives us because of what his Son did for us.  (Rev 19:11)  ¹¹ And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. Jesus name is Faithful and True.  The Old Testament word for faithful was often translated true.  He is truth, and because of that He is also faithful.  Here faithfulness is mentioned alongside justice.  God’s love is His faithfulness toward those who receive what Jesus has done for them, and His wrath is His faithful justice toward those who reject Him and all the goodness that He is. From these passages we have a clear picture of faithfulness how it is displayed toward our lives.  Let me go over these Biblical implications of the faithfulness of God as declared in these passages. He is dependable to answer our prayers and to meet our needs.  We can count on His love continuing in our lives. He will always be consistent. In every thing He does and in all His ways, faithfulness is displayed. It is limitless.  It never changes.  It seeks what is best for us.  It protects us. Sometimes it afflicts us to teach us.  It assures us that all God’s promises will be kept.  It is perfect.  It brings new compassion each morning.  It will see us to be made complete, blameless in body, soul and spirit. It limits our temptations, providing a way out of temptation.  When we confess sin it applies forgiveness and cleansing.  It is inseparable from truth and it should be a part of our character.

We may believe God is faithful but do we act on it?  To act on His faithfulness means not to worry about tomorrow.  It means fretting and fear have no place in our lives, for God is entirely trustworthy.  It should give us a sense of peace regardless of our situation.  We will all face times when it will be hard to see His faithful love in circumstances in our lives, but if we believe what we know of His character, we can praise God in the midst of the trial, knowing He is faithful.  In the Psalms, David pours out his complaint to the Lord and then says, “But in the past You delivered me and I know You will do it again.” Then he begins to praise God. That was His confidence in God who is always faithful. He has delivered you in the past and He will deliver you in the future. Today, faithfulness has hit an all-time low in our society in almost every area you can think of.  Since God is calling us to the faithfulness that is His own character, how does this work in your life?  How can you express His faithfulness to your  spouse, children, employer or employees, and those you see every day?  Can they see God’s faithfulness in your actions? Is God calling you into a deeper walk of faithfulness today?  And how will you let Him express it in you? He is faithful and He will help you to live in an expression of His faithfulness if you are willing.  When I look back on my life, I see many times when I doubted the faithfulness of God. HE was faithful, even when I was not.  If you are in a time of wondering, let me encourage you that one day you will see that God has been faithful.  I say that with all certainty. One day you will see that His faithfulness has never wavered.  It never has and never will. Just as God is good all the time, He is faithful all the time.   I have shared with you these Scriptures and some of their implications so you can examine how God desires to work into your heart and life.  He wants sons and daughters that look like Him.  Be a godly expression of faithfulness in the world in response to His faithfulness to you.