Great is the Faithfulness of God

2 Samuel 7:22 ESV

“Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.”

The Lord is leading me this afternoon to look at the subject of the greatness of God, but specifically in the area of his faithfulness. And, thus, he also led me to the song, “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” by Thomas O. Chisholm and William M. Runyan, 1923 (public domain). 

“Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

    on the day of testing in the wilderness,

where your fathers put me to the test

    and saw my works for forty years.

Therefore I was provoked with that generation,

and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;

    they have not known my ways.’

As I swore in my wrath,

    ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” Hebrews 3:5-11 ESV

So, what is the message here about God’s/Christ’s faithfulness? The message is that Jesus/God/Christ is faithful to what he says he will do, but all his promises have conditions (stipulations). So, we can’t just claim faith in Jesus Christ, and then live however we want, and then expect God to be faithful to us to do what we think he ought to do, because he promised it. For, always, always look at the context of his promises. Look to see who they are written to and for, and what are the requirements for them to be met.

Then also look at all his warnings, which are a different kind of promises. For he lets us know clearly that if we live a certain way, we have eternal life in him, but if we live a different way, opposite of what he requires, then we don’t have eternal life in him. And this is not based on just giving lip service to the Lord. And context is critical here, for far too many people are teaching doctrinal passages out of context, and then they are applying those promises to people who do not meet the conditions God expressed.

So, what does it teach us in this passage in Hebrews 3? It teaches us that God is faithful over God’s house, his temple, the body of Christ, the church – over all who hold fast to the confidence of our hope in Christ Jesus, but according to the Scriptures, in context. For the Scriptures teach us that faith and hope that are of God result in us walking not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, and us dying with Christ to sin daily and us living to his righteousness in obedience to his commands, in practice.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Tit 2:11-14; Eph 2:10; 1 Co 6:19-20; 1 Pet 2:24; 2 Co 5:15; Eph 4:17-24; Rom 2:6-8; Gal 6:7-8; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

And as we continue reading in Hebrews 3, that reality becomes abundantly clear to us. If we hear the Lord speaking to us about anything in our lives, especially if he is convicting us of any specific sin, we are not to ignore him. We are not to harden our hearts in rebellion against him and continue on in what he says we are not to do. For if we do, and if we do not repent of our rebellious and disobedient ways, we also will not enter into God’s rest, i.e. we will not enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he will cut us off.

“The saying is trustworthy, for:

“If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

if we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he also will deny us;

if we are faithless, he remains faithful—

“for he cannot deny himself.” 2 Timothy 2:11-13 ESV

Now, there are many professing Christians who take encouragement from this passage. And if we are walking in faithfulness to our Lord, in practice, we should find this passage encouraging. But many are also using it to claim that even if they are faithless to the Lord that he will remain faithful to them in allowing them into his heaven. But that is because they don’t know or they don’t want to know that the Scriptures teach that if we walk in sin we will die in sin, and we won’t go to heaven, regardless of what we profess.

But he isn’t saying that we can live in unfaithfulness to the Lord and that he will remain faithful to keep all the promises he made to his faithful ones, but to us who are unfaithful. So we need to go back and read his promises, in context, for they all have conditions. And then read here what is stated right before we read about the faithfulness of God. If we deny him, not just in words, but by how we live, he will deny us, and we will not enter into his heaven when he returns. You can read about that in Luke 9:23-26, too.

So, don’t fall into this deception that teaches that we can live however we want as long as we make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, and that God is going to be faithful to us to keep his promises he made to his faithful ones, but to us, even if we are those who are not faithful to him in walks of obedience and in holy living, and in the forsaking of our sins. For we must remain faithful, not necessarily perfect in every way, but we must not be those who make a practice of sin, but we must obey our Lord and live holy lives as a matter of lifestyle (practice).

But he is faithful to those who are faithful to him in keeping his ways.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Thomas O. Chisholm / William M. Runyan

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;

Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;

As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e77lys3vhI

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