God's Heart is Still Faithful

Exod. 34.6-7—God’s Heart is Still… Faithful—5/5/24

Michael Hinnen

God can always be trusted.

FQ: How can we know God is faithful and worthy of our faith?

How many of you have seen the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? I had never seen it! So, in preparation for this sermon, I got to watch as Indiana Jones adventured with his dad to find the Holy Grail. But there’s one scene in the movie where he’s getting close to the grail, and the map tells him to go forward, but there’s a huge gap between where he’s at and where the grail is. We’re talking a canyon-sized gap! There’s no way to get across, but he hears his dad’s voice say, “Just believe.” So, Indiana Jones closes his eyes, takes one step forward, and instead of falling to his death, he steps on to an invisible bridge, that leads him straight to the Holy Grail (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-JIfjNnnMA). We might call what Indiana Jones did “blind faith.” He just closed his eyes, believed, and took a step of faith.

Unfortunately, I think that’s what a lot of people think about when it comes to trusting in Jesus. It’s a blind leap of faith! In fact, because of this phenomenon a well-known atheist philosopher from NYU, Paul Boghossian says that religion is a mental disorder! He says, “Belief in God(s) is not the problem. Belief without evidence is the problem. Warrantless, dogged confidence is the problem. Epistemological arrogance masquerading as humility is the problem. Faith is the problem.” You know what? I’d agree with him if our faith was just blind and unreasoned. But… I don’t think that’s at all what the Bible talks about when it says that we have faith. Instead, we have faith, we trust, we believe because God has proven time and time again that He is faithful, that He is reliable, that He can be counted on. Today, we are going to talk about how God’s heart is still faithful.

Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Exodus 34.6-7. We are finishing up a series on God’s heart, where God proclaims to us in his own words who He is and what He is like. Exodus 34:6–7 (NIV) — 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” We have talked about how God’s heart is compassionate, gracious, forgiving, and loving. Today, we are going to focus on how God’s heart is faithful. This is the perfect summary to our series because it highlights that everything we have talked about so far will always be true. Faithful comes from the Hebrew word “emet” (say it with me). Emet is used 51x alongside the word “hesed,” which Warren talked last week, to emphasize the loyal love and faithfulness God has for His people. Emet comes from a root word that means faithful, steady, and true. This is actually where we get our English word “amen” from. Amen isn’t a signature at the end of our prayers. When we are saying “amen” we are saying, “Let this be. Let this be true.”

When we are saying God is abounding in “emet” we are saying that God is always trustworthy & true. God is always steady. God is always faithful. That’s why one of the most prevalent images of God in the Bible is that He is a rock.

In a beautiful song, at the end of Deuteronomy, as the people are about to enter the Promised Land, Moses teaches them a song about their God, the one who fulfills His promises to them. He says, Deuteronomy 32:3–4 (NIV) — 3 I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! 4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.” God is our faithful, dependable, trustworthy rock.

When we go out to NYR (our summer camping trip to CO), one of my favorite things to do is look at the massive stones, these boulders that are unlike anything we have around here in central IL. Here’s a pic of one of them. That rock is immovable! That rock is constant. That rock is sticking around for a long, long, long time. That rock is a picture of our God, a constant shelter, an immovable, dependable, faithful God. Our God is faithful.

But how can we know that this is true? We don’t want to just have “blind faith.” We need to have some evidence for our beliefs. So, what should we do?

We must look at the past. We must look to the past because in the present moment, I often don’t see or feel God’s presence. Sometimes it feels like God is absent, or at least not talking. I must look at the past to remind myself of how God is working in the present. When I do look at the past, what I find out is that: DT: God can always be trusted.

To prove that, I want to look at two key characters from the OT. If there were a Mt. Rushmore for OT people, the two we are going to talk about today would be on there. Not because they were perfect! They screwed up plenty… but because of their deep faith in the faithful God. We are going to look at the stories of Abram & David.

The story begins around Gen. 12. This is the calling of Abram and is one of the most important moments in all of Scripture.

Genesis 12:1–3 (NIV) — 1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

The 3 key elements God promised Abram: Land, Descendants, Blessing (show slide) that will bless the whole world. The problem was that Abram was a 75-year-old migrant with a 65 year-old wife who was unable to have kids. The book of Romans tells us that Romans 4:19 (NIV), “Sarah’s womb was also dead.” It would be impossible for them to have kids! Yet, Abram follows God’s words, believes in these impossible promises, and leaves his hometown.

But after this initial faith, Abram does about everything he can to put those promises in jeopardy. He gives his wife to an Egyptian Pharaoh (hard to have offspring without a wife), he almost gives his cousin the Promised Land (he lets the cousin choose, and thankfully he chose the other land). Abram tries to mess up God’s plans… but God is faithful to His promises.

We’re not sure how many years go by, probably around ten, Abram and his wife Sarai still have no kids… they are waiting, longing for the LORD to fulfill his promises to them. Abram asks the LORD who will be his heir and if it will be his servant, Eliezar. God tells him no! It will be his own flesh and blood. Here’s what happened next. Genesis 15:5–6 (NIV) — 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”

God promises that his promise will be as numerous as the stars in the sky… and they will come from his flesh and blood. Abram’s response is legendary. He “believes,” or trusts the LORD. Remember this word for trust has the same root as the word for God’s trustworthiness or faithfulness. We could say it this way: Abram has faith in the faithfulness of God; he trusts in the trustworthiness of God. Even though he hasn’t seen the promises come to fulfillment completely yet. He trusts, and it is credited to him as righteousness. That means that he now is in right standing with God, He has a special relationship with the LORD because he believes in the LORD.

But fast forward another 15 years or so. Abram and Sarai are being blessed financially and growing in every way except… they STILL have no child. Again, Abram and Sarai try and force God’s hand by having a baby with another lady, Hagar… But again, the LORD says this is not the way. I’m going to do it through you and Sarah… But for 25 years they have prayed, and cried, and waited, and still… no baby, still no fulfillment to the promise given to them. But as a mentor of mine, JK Jones likes to say: “God is seldom early. But he’s never late.” And in God’s perfect timing, and in an impossible situation, God gives them a little boy named, Isaac, when Abraham is 100 years old and Sarah 90. Genesis 21:1–2 (NIV) — 1 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.” God was faithful to his promise.

But notice… it took time… it took tears… it took prayers.

Abram’s story teaches us that… 1. When we are waiting, God can be trusted.

When we are waiting on a new job to open up because ours is crushing us, God can be trusted.

When we are waiting and asking the Lord to deliver us from our anxiety and depression, God can be trusted.

When we are waiting and hoping for a child and battling infertility, God can be trusted.

When we are waiting and praying for a friend or family member’s salvation, God can be trusted.

“God is seldom early. But he’s never late.” When we are waiting, God can be trusted.

God was faithful to his promises to Abram, but it took a LONG time. And this child was just the beginning. Because God would continue to fulfill his promises to Abraham’s family… The family grows and grows and grows, and become as numerous as the stars in the sky! And eventually God leads them to the Promised Land through Moses. Then Joshua led them into the Promised Land, where they find rest. After a series of judges that doesn’t work well, God sets up a monarchy, a Kingdom. The people want to choose their own king… a king like all the other nations, one who is tall, and mighty, and strong, an handsome… someone who probably looked like this (show pic of the jacked actor). But this king, King Saul, fails. So, God chooses someone he wants as his king. Someone who, like Abram, is not perfect. But who has faith in the faithful God. Someone who trusts in the Trustworthy God. His name is David.

One of the first times we meet David in the Bible, he is literally facing a giant named Goliath, a giant that everybody else is afraid of. You’ve probably heard of the story before. But you may not know it reminds us of another story earlier in Israel’s history in Numbers 13-14, where the Lord sends some spies to spy out the Promised Land. When they get there, they see giants! When they see the giants in the Land, they are afraid and don’t want to go into the Land, even though the Lord has promised them he will be with them and fight for them and give them the land! So, the Lord is frustrated with them and says to Moses. Numbers 14:11–12 (NIV) — 11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? 12 I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.” The people are afraid, so they refuse to trust in the trustworthy God… and because of their lack of trust there are consequences. God is so serious He says He’s going to wipe them out with a plague, but Moses intercedes for the people again, and reminds God of His character, from Exod. 34. Numbers 14:18–19 (NIV) — 18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ 19 In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.” Moses reminds the LORD of His character, so the Lord forgives the people, but there are still consequences for their sin. They will not inherit the Promised Land because of their lack of faith in the faithful God, their lack of trust in the trustworthy God.

So, back to David. What will David do when he is staring a giant face-to-face in the Promised Land? Will he quake with fear, or will he move forward in faith? You probably know the story. Like Abram, David responds with faith, He trusts that the LORD will deliver him victory over the giant, and with one small stone, he flings it into the head of Goliath, and kills him. The Lord proves himself faithful.

Later on in David’s story, he is going to face many more times of fear. His friend, King Saul, will chase him and try to kill him because he is jealous of him. David will hide in dark caves and run for his life for years. His own son, Absalom betrays him and tries to kill him as well! Yet even in those moments of fear, David would write words like this from Psalm 23:4 (NIV) — 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

David’s story teaches us that 2. When we are afraid, God can be trusted.

Recently, I’ve been more afraid than I’m used to. One of the things that has made me afraid is the unknown future… a new job, a new house, a new location, a new… everything. Moments of fear like this can magnify who we truly trust. In these moments of fear, who do I trust? In your moments of fear, who do you trust?

David becomes a legendary King of Israel, not because he’s perfect, but because he trusts in the trustworthiness of God, even in the midst of fear. He knows God is going to take care of him, even when he’s in imminent danger. That’s why in Acts 13 calls him “a man after God’s own heart.” Solomon, his son, calls him “faithful… and righteous and upright in heart” (1 Kings 3.6).

Because of his faith in the faithful God, David is given a special promise, a continuation of the promise God made to Abram. 2 Samuel 7:12–16 (NIV) — 12 When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be establishedforever.’ ” The word for “established” comes from our root word for faithfulness. Because of David’s faith in the faithful God, God will raise up from his offspring a kingdom that is reliable, that is dependable, that will be established forever. David becomes a key figure in the Bible because he trusts in God, even when he’s afraid.

But the story continues and as his sons build this Kingdom, they end up rebelling against God and they are kicked out of the promised land, what we call the exile. Here’s the tension they are in: the Land was promised to them, and a kingdom that would last forever, but now they are kicked out and the kingdom has been destroyed… how can you reconcile that with the faithfulness of God? Maybe you’ve been there before: you know God is faithful, but in the present moment you can’t feel Him or see His faithfulness.

The Psalmist, in Ps. 89, wrestles with this this tension. On one hand, he says, Psalm 89:14 (NIV) — 14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.” He knows the character of God that we’ve been studying about. He knows God’s righteousness and justice, and love and faithfulness. But by the end of the Psalm, the Psalmist is having a hard time reconciling God’s promises with his present reality. Psalm 89:49 (NIV) — 49 Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David?” Lord, how are we supposed to reconcile your promises when they don’t seem to come true, at least not in our understanding.

I think this may be where a lot of people, like you and me, lose their faith in God. We pray, and He doesn’t answer the way we want Him to. We think He has given us a promise, but it hasn’t come to fruition yet. We begin to feel distance because God isn’t doing what we should do… I remember feeling this way when I prayed and prayed and prayed for my grandpa to be healed, but never was…

So, what do we do when we don’t understand?

3. When we don’t understand, God can be trusted.

We keep trusting, and we look to the past. We look back at all the prayers He has answered. We look back at all the ways He has blessed us. We look back at the promises He has fulfilled in our lives. We look back at all the evidence He has shown us that He is trustworthy, even if we don’t understand the way He is working.

Then we also specifically look back to Jesus. Jesus shows us that God can always be trusted. What the Psalmist didn’t see, when he was wrestling with God, was how these promises to Abraham and David find their fulfilment in Jesus.

Hundreds of years later after the Psalmist prayed the words from Ps. 89, God became flesh in the person of Jesus. And the New Testament begins very simply, but by reminding us that God can always be trusted. Jesus is the fulfilment of the promises in the OT. Matthew 1:1 (NIV) — 1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Did you catch the two people that Jesus’ comes from? David & Abraham.

Jesus is the faithful king that comes from David’s line, and His kingdom will endure forever (Rev. 11.15).

Jesus is the seed, the faithful offspring of Abraham, who welcomes us into Abraham’s family. Galatians 3:29 (NIV) — 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Jesus is the one who leads us into the Promised Land, not a physical location in the Middle East, but the Promised Land of Heaven and His heavenly Kingdom (Rom. 4.13; Heb. 11.16).

Jesus is one who gives us every spiritual blessing.

Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament promises and proves that God can always be trusted.

When the disciple John was reflecting on the character of Jesus, I can’t help but think he had our passage from Exod. 34.6-7 in the back of his mind, that God is compassionate & gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love & faithfulness. In the NT, sometimes they would translate the world “faithful” with the word, “truth.” Knowing that, listen to what John says about Jesus. John 1:14 (NIV) — 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus is God’s faithful heart on display. Jesus is the one who became like us in every way yet was without sin, died in our place, resurrected from the grave, then ascended into heaven where he is now King. He did all of this for you and for me because He is faithful. 2 Timothy 2:13 (NIV) — 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”

The stories about David and Abraham aren’t stories about their faithfulness. They are stories about their faith in the faithful God! Their stories remind us that even while we are waiting, even while we are afraid, even while we don’t understand, God can always be trusted.

CONCLUSION

So, as we conclude this series, we want to ask you, who do you trust? When your world is shaking, when your world feels like collapsing, at the end of the day who do you trust?

Do you trust in yourself? Our world tells us to believe in ourselves all the time! And we should believe in ourselves up to a point. But there’s limitations to that. Because we find out very quickly that there is so much outside of myself that I cannot control… and when I trust in myself for everything, it puts so much pressure on me to be perfect, and as much as I’d like to be, I can’t… I crumble under the pressure. That’s where anxiety and depression often come in. We believe in ourselves TOO much that we can’t handle it.

Do you trust someone else? Maybe it’s your spouse, or a friend? Again, that’s good up to a point. But our spouses will falter. Our friends will fail. They were not designed for the weight of our world to be placed upon their shoulder. That’s often why marriages & friendships fall apart. We become dependent on them, and then when the person we were dependent on doesn’t come through (which is inevitable), we don’t know what to do… and the relationship breaks apart.

Do you trust in something else? Maybe it’s success or achievement or money hoping that it will fulfill your deepest longings… Maybe it’s a political party that you are hoping will help change the world… But what you’ll find out is at the end of the day, those things will also crumble and fall and fail. And you’ll feel empty.

Or do you trust in the Rock, the faithful, stable, reliable God of the universe? The One who may not answer your prayers and promises on your timeline… but the one who is full of compassion & grace, forgiveness, loyal love and faithfulness. God can always be trusted. Psalm 20:7 (NIV) — 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” In the OT, His name was YHWH. Today, we call him Jesus. If you want to talk about what it looks like to truly trust in Jesus, I’d love to talk with you after service. Let’s pray.