Faithful: Week 1

Introduction

Key Theme of this week: God is faithful to His promises… every single one of them. Before we can understand God being faithful to His promises, we have to understand why God is faithful in the first place… The reason is because He is good, just, and faithful by nature. These are His attributes. God cannot be unfaithful to His promises.

God reveals Himself to His people through His Word. As we read the Bible we see things about our God.

What are some things that we know about God through His Word?

Why are these things helpful for us to know about Him?

One of the key things that we see in the Bible are covenants between God and His people.

What is a covenant? Is a covenant different from say a contract?

Covenant is a promise between two parties and these were common in Biblical times as they legally brought the two parties together. A contract can be eliminated whenever one party fails to uphold their end (think of a work contract between an employee and an employer that can be terminated if the employee fails to uphold their end of the contract) while a covenant is personal relationship. One might fail to do their part, but in that covenant the other party seeks to restore the other party rather than terminate them.

Interesting that in Scripture God is the initiator of covenants with His people. He establishes the covenant with humans, not the other way around. This is SO important because God already factored in our sinfulness and stupidity whenever He made His covenants. He promises to be faithful even through He knows that we are unfaithful humans.

Let’s look to God’s Word to give us an idea about His covenantal faithfulness

Romans 8:31–39 CSB

31 What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? 33 Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. 34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. 35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God! Why? Because God is for us - His adopted children. He has saved us and He promises to protect us.

Romans 8 began with a covenantal promise in verse 1 as Paul shares this glorious truth

Romans 8:1 CSB

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,

Why is there no condemnation if you’re in Christ? After all, you’re still a sinner! The reason there is no condemnation is because of God’s covenant and faithfulness to declare you righteous because of the substitutionary death of His Son in your place. Every single time we see God’s covenants at work in the life of His children, we see something good. We see something that God has done to give us His mercy and grace.

As we study these different covenants in the coming weeks, we’re going to see how Jesus is the fulfillment of them. Jesus is the better Noah, Moses, David, and Adam who fulfills them perfectly so that we can benefit. Even in the worst of days and times in our lives, we can rest knowing that Jesus has accomplished everything necessary for our redemption and salvation! How does this truth give you hope in difficult moments in this life? How is God’s faithfulness helpful for you in moments of suffering and doubt?

The theme of God’s faithfulness is evident throughout Scripture as we see one common theme from start to finish. Pages 17-18 talk about the main storyline in Scripture: Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration. Everything in Scripture falls into one of these 4 parts and we see that one of the main ways that God communicates and reveals Himself to humans in Scripture is through covenantal promises. Even though Adam and Eve plunged humanity into sin, God made a covenant to redeem sinners through His Son and Jesus’ sacrifice in the cross in our place. It is so important for us to see the covenants that God makes throughout the Bible. Briefly touch on these main 4 scenes in Scripture and ask for participation to think about how God demonstrates His faithfulness in each scene

Creation - God creates all things good for His people

Fall - God makes a promise to send a snake-crushing Savior to save sinners

Redemption - God sends His Son to die in the place of sinners and Jesus imputes His righteousness to all who place their faith in Him

See Romans 3:23-25

Restoration - God promises to perfect His people and bring about a new heaven and a new earth as He will dwell with His people for all eternity

God began these covenants long before creation as Ephesians 1:4 shares. This truth doesn’t need to divide because it’s Biblical - we are saved by grace through faith in Christ and we are individually responsible to respond to God’s grace! The good news about God’s plan is that it is secured! If we were only saved because of our works, we’d be in trouble. Because we are saved by the finished work of Jesus Christ, we are secured in Him. “My sins cannot outdo His work on the cross” - This is His promise. As a Christian, He has adopted, sealed, saved, and redeemed us. We cannot be taken away from His hands!

This is good news because if we were only saved by our works we would have to be perfect. This is what God’s Word tells us

Genesis 2:17 CSB

17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”

This was God’s command and disobeying God’s command, sin, results in a consequence. We know that sin continues to have consequences today as well. Why are God’s standards so high? Because He is holy!

God is so holy that even 1 sin makes us deserving of eternal separation from Him. This is what the Bible shares with us and this is why His covenants and faithfulness are so important in the Bible! We see the implications of this covenant between God and Adam unfold in Romans 5 as Paul shares this

Romans 5:12–19 CSB

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned. 13 In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a type of the Coming One. 15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many. 16 And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification. 17 If by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. 18 So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone. 19 For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

The good news, as we’ll discuss next week, is that Jesus fulfills this covenant of works just as He fulfills the covenant of redemption. This means that we are not saved because we deserve it or because of our goodness… Instead, we are saved because of God’s grace in saving sinners out of His mercy and kindness. He truly is faithful.

Conclusion

God is holy and just. Because He is holy, He is separated from sin. Because He is just, He must punish sin. Due to our sin, we are called sinners - this means that God not only will punish our sin but He must punish us. The good news in Scripture is that God doesn’t leave us where we are at. He made us. He loves us. He is for us. He established these covenants because He knew we would not uphold our end perfectly. He is faithful to His promises even when we are faithless. Our response to His covenantal promises should be to obey His Word and follow His plan for our lives as best we can. While perfection is impossible, faithfulness is our goal. If He has redeemed you, He is currently restoring you to be more like His Son.