God Is Always Faithful

Genesis 21:8–21 ESV

8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” 11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13 And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Romans 6:1–11 ESV

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

1. God is always active in our lives.

Psalm 86:15 ESV

15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

That is difficult to believe but it may be even more difficult to accept.

God gave Hagar and Ishmael everything they needed as strokes in the mural of his redemptive history.

That is encouraging! First, God's provision for you will never be less than adequate and will never be late. Second, God's purpose for you is not merely for survival but a daily experience as the bride of Christ, an heir of the Creator. Family matters do not have to be bitter or blistering. Abraham and Sarah's experience enables you with three winning family principles: jealousy always infects relationships, the purposes of God prevail in spite of our circumstances, and God's provision is always adequate to accomplish his exalted purpose for our lives.

2. In Christ, God has made the decisive action for our salvation.

Colossians 2:14 ESV

14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Rising from the dead confirmed Jesus' identity as our Savior and Lord. We are assured of eternal life through faith in him as our Savior (vv. 5, 8-10). We are committed to honor him through our lives and ministries as our Lord (vv. 2-7, 11).

We are baptized into or marked off for him (vv. 3-4). That's why we confess with Paul, "I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith" Rom. 1:16) . Confidently and courageously, we confess his preeminent place in our lives as Savior and Lord. Within our confessional context, we order our lives and ministries in response to three questions. First, do we honor the name of Jesus alone through what we say and do? Second, do our priorities, plans, and programs promote his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven? Third, what would Jesus say about our lives and ministries?

One of the saddest indictments against the church comes from children. When asked what they think of church, they will invariably blurt out, "It's boring!" The visitor to a rather staid congregation comes to mind. He became excited during the sermon and exclaimed, "Praise the Lord!" An usher rushed to him and said, "I'm sorry, sir, but we don't do that here." "But I've got religion," the man explained. "Well," huffed the usher, "you didn't get it here." It's like the fellow who said, "I would have become a preacher if they didn't look like undertakers."

Countenance confirms confession (v. 11). How we look is the enfleshment of what we believe. Or as we've heard, "The only gospel that some folks will ever hear or see is the gospel according to you and me." When we know who he is, we look like we know him. We are "alive to God." Our confession is confirmed rather than concealed by our countenance. It's like the song, "If you're a Christian and you know it, then you really ought to show it."

3. By faith, God’s work raises us from death to life.

1 Peter 2:24 ESV

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Behavior measures belief (vv. 2-7, 11). Conduct confirms confession and countenance. "Good works do not make a good man," wrote Martin Luther in The Freedom of a Christian (1520), "but a good man does good works." John Calvin concluded people who know Jesus as Savior and Lord show the signs of their salvation: "Briefly, the more earnestly any man measures his life by the standard of God's law, the surer are the signs of repentance that he shows" (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1536).

Living like Jesus rose from the dead is as simple as the ending refrain of an old gospel favorite: "You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart."