The Security of God’s Faithfulness
Hosea 2:19-20
I went back and listened to Keith’s sermon from last week (it was really good!) and I was reminded of his words to us from his introduction. He said, “I get to remind us that when we say yes to following Jesus when we choose to follow him it is an adventure isn't it? It will bring you into unexpected and uncomfortable places and it will leave you with a tale or two to tell, but more than anything, because of the adventure, you will not be the same.”
I thought about adjusting the focus of the sermon today and then I realized that there is likely not a better topic for us to consider than The Security of God’s Faithfulness, as we conclude our summer series on The Mystery of Intimacy. Although I realize God’s faithfulness is such a huge topic that I could never do it justice in the time that we have.
In eleven more months, I will have been a follower of Jesus for 50-years. Here’s what I can tell you, God has been faithful. God has been faithful beyond my wildest imagination. In my reflections I can tell you that Paul’s words from Romans 2:4 ring very true – it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance.
I’d like to share with you an example of my realizing God’s faithfulness from just this last week. I don’t know about you but for me those intimate encounter moments with God are too few and far between – and I can’t help but think the problem, the time lapse, is more on my end than God’s… I can’t remember how much I’ve shared on a Sunday morning, but I grew up severely dyslexic. Reading and comprehension were quite challenging for me. I was diagnosed pretty early, and my parents were attentive enough to get me some help, even in my early grammar school days.
Looking back, a couple of saving graces were that I seem to have always been able to get along with a wide range of people (HS?) and I was also a pretty good athlete (which helped to develop a measure of self-esteem and maybe some leadership skills).
I eventually became a Jesus follower and by the time I was in my first pastorate as a co-church planter, I hadn’t had much of a breakthrough in my ability to read. It was just painfully slow and cumbersome. I remember in those early days I would shake my fist at God and say, “You called me to be a teacher, but I don’t know how to read!!” I had many moments of severe anger and frustration.
After a few years I made my way into grad school where I had some significant breakthroughs, yet all these years later I still get jealous of people who are voracious readers. This last week I was driving back to Hood River from The Dalles, and I was listening to a podcast. It was two men in conversation, both of whom I have tremendous respect for and who are both highly intelligent, well informed, and well read, and they were engaged in a conversation that, from my perspective, was quite profound -- and once again I felt sorrow, frustration, and if I’m honest, jealousy.
Later that day I had a few holy moments with God where I came to realize that for all these years, my dyslexia has been a gift from God. And I wept. If you can’t guess where I’m going with this, Scripture calls it a thorn in the flesh. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Paul writes, “To keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
I implored the Lord A LOT more than three times that dyslexia might leave me. To have this realization of God’s care and protection after all these years, broke my heart (in the good way) and caused me to feel cared for. I became even more keenly aware of God’s faithfulness in my life. God has been faithful to me. God has been patient with me, and He will be faithful and patient with you too.
So, by way of review, here are our summer verses: “I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion, 20 and I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the LORD.” --Hosea 2:19-20 (emphasis added)
We have been looking at each on of God’s betrothal promises and so far, we’ve looked at The Strength of God’s Commitment, The Sacrifice of God’s Righteousness, The Stability of God’s Justice, The Surrender of God’s Lovingkindness, The Sensitivity of God’s Compassion – and today we will be looking at The Securityof God’s Faithfulness.
And once again, the objective of our summer series is to grow in our capacity to enjoy greater intimacy with God. As we respond to (or surrender to) God’s initiated betrothal promises, we will grow in our intimacy with God, as the 2nd sentence states: “Then you shall know the Lord.”
As I mentioned, God’s faithfulness is way too big a topic to do any semblance of justice to it in our remaining time. We could go to any page of either the Old or New Testament and encounter God’s faithfulness. But here’s what I’ve done to prepare… I read some commentaries and sermons of some Jewish Rabbis and I went back and read chapters on God’s faithfulness from two Christian classics: The Attributes of God (a free overview is available here at an excellent study site) by Arthur Pink and Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer (a fee digital copy is available here). I’ve also reviewed my own notes on God’s faithfulness.
There are two facets of God’s faithfulness that I’d like to address in our remaining time…
1. Define God’s faithfulness.
2. Describe five aspects of God’s faithfulness. (And there are hundreds!)
We’ll look at them one at a time…
Defining God’s faithfulness
The Hebrew word for faithfulness is emunah and it used 49 times in the OT. Emunah is used of both God and people when describing faithfulness. The word emunah itself comes from the Hebrew root aman, which means to securely trust or rely upon and from which we get our word "Amen." So, whenever we conclude a prayer, we are declaring and inviting God’s faithfulness. Some passages that speak of God’s emunahinclude…
There are the verses from Lamentations that we sing often, “The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” --Lamentations 3:22-23
Psalm 37:3 (NKJ) says, “Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.”
And then we have our verse from Hosea, which declares that one day God will so transform His people and that we will go from being a wayward spouse to a people permanently and faithfully committed to the perfect Groom (Hos 2:20).
God's faithfulness means that God will always do what He has said and fulfill what He has promised (Num. 23:19; cf. 2 Sam. 7:28; Ps. 141:6; et al.). God can be relied upon, and God will never prove unfaithful to those who trust what He has said. Indeed, the essence of true faith is taking God at His word and relying on God to do as He has promised. –Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology
Tozer’s warning:[1] “I think it might be demonstrated that almost every heresy that has afflicted the Church through the years has arisen from believing about God things that are not true, OR from overemphasizing certain true things so as to obscure other things [that are] equally true. To magnify any attribute to the exclusion of another is to head straight for one of the dismal swamps of theology; and yet we are all constantly tempted to do just that.
For instance, the Bible teaches that God is love, some have interpreted this in such a way as virtually to deny that He is just, which the Bible also teaches. Others press the Biblical doctrine of God’s goodness so far that it is made to contradict His holiness. Or they make His compassion cancel out His truth. Still others understand the sovereignty of God in a way that destroys or at least greatly diminishes His goodness and love.
Tozer’s proclamation: “The tempted, the anxious, the fearful, the discouraged may all find new hope and good cheer in the knowledge that our Heavenly Father is faithful. He will ever be true to His pledged word.”
Five aspects of God’s faithfulness.
1. God is faithful in pardoning.
Our pardoning, or forgiveness, from sin is rooted in God’s faithfulness.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” --1 John 1:9
God’s forgiveness is given as soon as we admit our need for it, not on the basis of anything we have done to earn it, but solely because of God’s grace and faithfulness.
2. God is faithful in promising.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” --Hebrews 10:23
One of the key promises of God: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” --Romans 8:28
Tim Keller from his book on prayer: “God will either give us what we ask for in prayer or give us what we would have asked for if we knew everything he knows.”
3. God is faithful in protecting.
“But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.” --2 Thessalonians 3:3
This verse is speaking of God’s omnipotence, or all-powerfulness. The word means to watch over, to carry out the function as a military guard or sentinel. It’s also the verb used to describe the shepherds "keeping watch [phulasso] over their flock by night” (Lk 2:8), which congers up the image of protecting from savage wolves seeking to devour the helpless sheep.
4. God is faithful in providing power.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” –Acts 1:8
“Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’” --Acts 2:38
As many of you already know the Greek word for power is dunamis the same word we get our word dynamite from.
5. God is faithful in purifying.
AW Pink says there are seasons in our lives when it is not easy to believe that God is faithful. There are seasons when our faith is sorely tried. He says our eyes are bedimmed with tears, and we can no longer trace the outworkings of His love. Our ears are distracted with the noises of the world, harassed by the atheistic whisperings of Satan, and we can no longer hear the sweet sound of His still small voice. Cherished plans have been thwarted…We are staggered. We sought to be faithful to God, and now a dark cloud hides Him from us.
“Who out there fears God, actually listens to the voice of his servant? For anyone out there who doesn’t know where you’re going, anyone groping in the dark, here’s what: Trust in God. Lean on your God!” –Isaiah 50:10 (MSG)
There’s an illustration that I have found great comfort in over the years, and I may have shared it last Fall when we were working our way through the Book of Ruth. I hope you find it helpful if you’re struggling to see your current circumstances as being in the throes of God’s faithfulness.
On a guided tour of a museum the guide led the group into a darkened room. As the guide flipped a switch, a light shone on what looked like a large piece of fabric with what appeared to be random, haphazard, even chaotic, pieces of thread spreading every which way in and along the fabric. The guide asked the tour group what they thought it was...? One guest said her best guess was that it was some random, arbitrary, and distinctively unattractive form of modern art.
And then the tour guide moved them around to the other side of the fabric - and what they observed was breathtaking - a magnificent tapestry - stunning in its beauty, logical and ordered in its design. A great masterpiece created and crafted with love by a master artist.
Our view of life, our perspective, can be compared to looking at the backside of a magnificent tapestry - it appears to be random, chaotic, haphazard, and even arbitrary. Filled with questions that beg to be answered.
Someday each one of us will move around to the other side. We will see life from God’s perspective. And we will be awed and humbled by its breathtaking and stunning beauty - and by its logical and ordered design. Every thread woven into place with dedicated love, determined care, and premeditated mercy.
In closing, as I was preparing for this sermon, I came across an article entitled, “We are Gomer.”[2] The author wrote that we are all spiritual adulterers. We want to have it our way, and we are willing to reject God’s covenantal faithfulness for fleeting one-night stands with idols. While it’s hard to admit that we are no different than Gomer, it’s a truth that we can embrace with humility and comfort.
The Hosea and Gomer narrative reminds us that God loves us not because of our faithfulness, but because of His faithfulness. Jesus, through the Holy Spirit awakens us to salvation, and now continues to intercede for, the bride who covets other lovers. Until we see God face-to-face, we will continue to be drawn to other things. But for now, our gracious and faithful God fights for us. Here’s how the article concluded – and I’m thinking it would be an excellent way to conclude our summer series: We are Gomer. And we are hopeful – because of God’s grace and faithfulness.
[1] Chapter 15.
[2] TGC Website. Brandon D. Smith, Jann 26, 2015.