Knowing God as a Faithful God

Job 22:21
“Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you."

Many people are not at peace. Why? Because they have not been acquainted with God; they are not acquaintances with God. An acquaintance of God is guaranteed not only peace, but also goodness in life. 

John 8:32

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

From this verse, we see that knowledge of the truth sets you free. So, what is the truth? 

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Jesus is the truth. We see that knowing the truth is actually knowing God Himself. The more of truth you know, the more free you become. The more of God you know, the more free you'll be. God is the truth you need to know!

Hosea 4:6

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me

What you and I require as Christians is knowledge of God.

Things may not look good at all, but God does not promise that everything will work good:

Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according toHis purpose.

Things may not be good, but God will use them and turn them for your good. This is what we were looking at last week, at the Holiness, Omniscience and Omnipotence of God. Today let us look at His other attribute that every Christian needs to know, which is His Faithfulness. We all need to know God as a Faithful God. 

We are living in a generation of unfaithfulness. Characterised by failed promises, untrusted employees etc., it seems that everywhere we turn we see unfaithfulness. It is at such times that we need to know God as a faithful God:

Deuteronomy 7:9

“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;"

God is faithful to fulfil His word, not only to the living, but to the dead. He keeps His covenant and shows mercy for not only the current generation, but for the next and more than 1,000 generations. His faithfulness is not limited to or determined by time. 

Lamentations 2:22-23

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

Many people cannot tell the difference between mercy and grace. Mercy is God not giving you what you deserve; Grace is God giving you what you do not deserve. With this definition in mind, we see that God's mercies are endless, meaning that He will always withhold what we deserve from us: punishment for our sins, etc. His faithfulness is so great, it cannot be measured. 

Let us look at some case studies of God's faithfulness, from the story of Abraham and his descendants:

Genesis 15:13

Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions"

Exodus 12:36, 40

And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.

God fulfilled a promise to a dead/ deceased man. The promise He made to Abram, that his descendants would go into captivity and be afflicted, was fulfilled many years later, long after Abram was dead. Not only had God promised that they would go into captivity, but He also promised that they would go back to Canaan, and that they would find strangers there:

Genesis 15:18

...the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

We see this particular promise fulfilled in Numbers 13, where the 12 spies sent to spy the land of Canaan termed these foreigners as the "sons of Anak"

Numbers 13:28-29

"Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan."

If God is faithful to fulfil a promise to a dead man, He is much more faithful to fulfil His promises to you, who is alive! 

2 Chronicles 1:20

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

Someone may tell me, "Pastor, but God promised to rescue the children of Israel after 400 years, how come it happened after 430 years?" God is never late. Let us do some Math: Moses, after murdering the Egyptian, fled and lived in the wilderness for 40 years. He came back and was used by God to deliver the children of Israel, at the 430th year. This means that he fled for the wilderness at the 390th year, just 10 years to the time God had promised to deliver the children of Israel. If he could have waited for 10 more years, then the period would have been precisely 400 years. 

By murdering the Egyptian who was oppressing the Israelite, Moses was trying to deliver the Israelites by himself (Exodus 2:12). He was trying to "help God." When this landed him in trouble, he fled to the wilderness. God did not take Moses to the wilderness, he took himself. This is contrary to what many believe. Though God did not take Moses to the wilderness, He still used it for the good of Moses, by changing him. God is still faithful, even when we are not. He stayed there for 40 years. Moses, by trying to deliver the children of Israel by his own means, extended their stay in Egypt for 30 more years. 

When you know God as a faithful God, you will not try to "help" Him. 

You will wait on Him patiently. Faithfulness comes from a Hebrew root word emeth, which as a noun means truth, and in the English it appears as an adjective and thus is translated to 'true'. When we talk of faith in the faithfulness of God we talk of depending and relying on His truthfulness. 

Going back to the story of Abraham, let us look at a statement that was made about Sarah:

Hebrews 11:11

By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

Sarah received her miracle because she judged the God who had promised her a child as faithful. In whatever God has promised you, you have to judge Him as a faithful God for you to receive it. 

Romans 4:17-22

...(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

The womb of Sarah was dead. Still, Abraham was persuaded about the faithfulness of God to perform that which He promised. You have to be persuaded, through His faithfulness, that what He has promised in His word will come to pass. You do not have to beg God for something He has already promised; you just have to judge Him faithful. If He promised, He will fulfil it:

2 Corinthians1:20

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

Nothing in the natural has to agree with what God has promised. Abraham's body was already dead , and so was Sarah's womb (Romans 4:19). The condition of Abraham's body and Sarah's womb did not have to agree with what God had promised, for Him to fulfil it. If you agree with what God has promised, just wait on Him; He will show up!

Still on the story of Abraham, we see how He judged God faithful enough to agree to go and sacrifice his only son, whom he loved. This is the son whom he had believed God for, and who everyone knew was from God. If Abraham did not know God as a faithful God, then he would have ignored the voice telling him to go and sacrifice his son, or even condemned it as not being God's voice! (Genesis 22:2). Instead, He knew God to be faithful, and obeyed without even letting his wife know. 

Abraham knew God to be faithful, which is why he said this to his servants:

Genesis 22:5

“Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

God had told him to sacrifice his son, but he still knew that even if he did it, God had promised him descendants through his seed (Isaac - Genesis 14:4), and was faithful to fulfil it. He knew that even if he killed him, God would resurrect him and they would be back, as God still had to use Isaac to give him descendants. 

Abraham knew God to be faithful, which is also why he told Isaac that God would provide a lamb for Himself, for a sacrifice:

Genesis 22:8

And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.”

Because Abraham judged God as faithful, all of us can now enjoy God's blessings:

Galatians 3:9

So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

From Abraham we are blessed because he judged God to be faithful. 

Let us look at the story of another man who judged God to be faithful: Joseph. 

Joseph began having dreams at an early age, at 17 years. These dreams were not received well, by his family. Still, he knew that this would come to pass, as he knew God as a faithful God. This is why the Lord was with him even at Potiphar's house, as a houseboy (Genesis 39:3). Because he knew God as a faithful God, he would not sin against Him by sleeping with Potiphar's wife, and said:

Genesis 39:9

"...How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"

From his story, we learn that it does not matter where you find yourself; God's faithfulness will show up there. Even as a houseboy, the Lord was with him, and made everything he touched to prosper (verse 3). God was still with him in prison, which is why Joseph found favour in prison, with the prison guard (Genesis 39:21-23). Even here, everything he touched prospered. 

The chief butler, after being restored to his position in the palace in alignment with the interpretation of the dream he had by Joseph, forgot him (Genesis 40:23). Still, God never forgot Joseph. He was faithful to fulfil the dream he gave him at 17 years of age, by making him the Governor of Egypt. He fulfilled this dream, 13 years after promising him (Joseph became Governor at the age of 30 - Genesis 41:46). Believe in God to be faithful, no matter where you are in life. Whether you are a houseboy or a prisoner, believe in His faithfulness to fulfil that which He spoke over your life. 

Psalm 89:8

O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty like You, O Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds You.

God is surrounded by faithfulness; it does not matter where you find your self -- His faithfulness is still there. There is no "waking up on the wrong side of the bed," with God. Whichever side of bed you wake up on or wherever you find yourself, His faithfulness is still there. 

Psalm 89:33

Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail.

Anything else may fail: the economy, your counsellor, your pocket, your driving skills, your car's brakes, the weather, your memory etc. God's faithfulness will NEVER fail. 

2 Timothy 2:13

If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

Psalm 77:8

Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore?

Paul also knew God as a faithful God:

1 Corinthians 1:9

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Thessalonians 5:24

He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

1 Corinthians 10:13

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

What you are going through is common and normal. When you know that God is faithful, you will go through the battles of life knowing that His faithfulness will never allow you to be overwhelmed. 

The faithfulness of God obligates Him to do what He has promised in His word. When we know of God's faithfulness, we will never waver in unbelief. Knowing God as a faithful God will kick unbelief out of your life. 

If does not matter where you find yourself; you can always count on God. 

God is faithful!

Amen. 

-- Apostle Dr. David Karanja. 

-- Apostle Dr. David Karanja. 

(14/4/13 Sunday Service Sermon, Africa Transformation Mission. At Pramukh Plaza, 6th Floor)

Apostle Dr. David Karanja is the Senior Pastor at Africa Transformation Mission, a ministry under Christ Harvesters Ministries.