[0:00] word through the preached word this morning i ask that you would turn with me to second corinthians chapter one we will be continuing this study through the book of second corinthians you'll find it on page 1775 in your pew bibles that's second corinthians chapter one you'll find it on page 1775 it has been such a blessing to study through this book i myself have been personally built up in my faith by it and taught new things as i prepare the word of god for you week in and week out and i hope that you yourselves have found our study through this book to be enlightening to you and to help you in your walk with god as i was studying this this passage it prompted me to want to ask you all a question and feel free to to shout out the answer which animal is known for its loyalty and faithfulness dogs famously the faithful animal the dog which also reminds me of one story about a faithful dog this story is in japan the dog was named hachiko and his owner was named hidasaburo ueno and he would travel every day by train to his workplace and every day he would walk to the train station with his dog hachiko and he would get to the train and he would tell his dog to stay he would board the train go to work and later on he would return on the train and his dog would be waiting there faithfully for him i saw that i saw that that's loyal yeah i saw that about hachiko yeah um he went on to do this for a number of years until unfortunately one day hidasaburo did not return home on the train at work he had passed away and hachiko was left waiting at the station for a master who would never return and every day you could find hachiko sitting there at the station waiting for his master he waited there for 10 years until his mat until he himself died to this day they fed him he was fed and watered by people at the station who had come to recognize him to this day if you go to shibuya station you will find a statue of hachiko the faithful dog what a what a great example of faithfulness i want you to keep that story in the back of your head as we read through the passage today second corinthians chapter 1 verses 15 through 19 and in this confidence i intended to come to you before that you might have a second benefit to pass by way of you to macedonia and to come from macedonia to you and be helped by you on my way to judea therefore when i was planning this did i do it lightly or the things i plan do i plan according to the flesh that with me there should be yes yes and no no but as god is faithful
[4:05] our word to you was not yes and no for the son of god jesus christ who was preached among you by us by me sylvanus and timothy was not yes and no but in him was yes i want you to lock in particularly on one phrase from the passage we just read you'll find that at the start of verse 18 but as god is faithful our word to you was not yes and no god is faithful god is faithful god is incredibly faithful and paul says that he he mirrors god in that faithfulness that as god is faithful so too paul is faithful so this is what i want you to take away from the sermon today if you lock this in your head you are are good to go with what the word of god is applying to your heart today know that god is faithful and that you should be faithful like he is our outline today we'll be working through three questions the first question is what is faithfulness we use the term but it's good for us to think about what faithfulness is first of all someone who is is faithful is reliable they are someone you can trust in someone you can rely on the faithful person is consistent they are there when you need them you can count on them we might be familiar with the idea of a trust fall where you lean back and you rely on the other person to catch you before you hit the ground well the reliable person the faithful person will be there to catch you as you are falling someone who is faithful is reliable they are also loyal like that dog we were learning about hachiko this means that they stick with you that they are are dedicated to you the faithful person is a person who is seriously committed to the causes that he are in he is involved in they are not easily drawn away towards other things we think about what it means for a husband or a wife to be faithful it means that it means that they are loyal to that marriage always that they never transgress or break from that bond to love someone else in the same way the faithful husband is always committed to his wife is always loyal to her imagine if instead of the loyalty we see dogs doing imagine if a dog didn't care who his owner was and as soon as i sent him away to spend a day with someone else he forgot about me entirely none of us would call that dog loyal and he certainly wouldn't be a faithful companion so too the faithful person is loyal these days people have brand loyalty that means that they they pick one particular brand of thing and they stay with it um i have a loyalty to the same lunch box i uh i have trouble you know in my preparations in the morning i always pack the same lunch for work every day
[8:17] so i don't have to think about it you know it's it's always the same exact meal and i'm very faithful to it i stick to that one idea some people they only use apple phones or they only shop at under armor or they only drive hondas the faithful person finds a purpose and sticks to it loyally someone who is faithful is reliable they are loyal and they are also intentional they think about what they do the faithful people really care they don't just wait for you to call upon them they don't just wait for something to force their hand to act but the faithful person seeks out opportunities to do good and to make progress in the things he cares about the faithful person is not found lying on the couch but is found hard at work hard at work the faithful person never needs to be asked to do something because he is always looking for what he can do to help so faithful people are reliable they are loyal and they are intentional so now we're ready for question two how is god faithful paul says that his own faithfulness is like god's faithfulness so if we want to understand paul's faithfulness we must first understand god's faithfulness it must be clearly pointed out that the bible calls god faithful over and over the bible says 2 thessalonians 3 3 says but the lord is faithful he will establish you and guard you against the evil one lamentations 3 22 and 23 says the steadfast love of the lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end they are new every morning great is your faithfulness christian's christian's christian's christian's christian's christian's christian's christian's christian's if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness this just scratches the surface that god is faithful the bible loves to god call call god faithful faithful over and over and he gets great glory from us recognizing how faithful he is now we're going to work through god's faithfulness through those three points that that we mentioned earlier so how is god reliable can you really count on god will he be there in your times of need you need to know the answer to this question and you need to know this god because he is reliable he will always be there when you need him jesus is a friend who sticks closer than a brother leave your finger in second corinthians and turn with me to hebrews chapter 13.
[12:02] 13 you'll find it on page 1848 of the pew bible hebrews chapter 13. there we will read beautiful words about how reliable our god is he never changes so you must rely on him hebrews 13 verses 15 and 16.
[12:27] keep your life free sorry verses 5 and 6 let let your conduct be without covetousness be content with such things as you have for he himself has said i will never leave you nor forsake you so we may boldly say the lord is my helper i will not fear what can man do to me he will never leave you or forsake you he is faithful he is reliable call upon him in your times of need who do you rely on when you are in deep distress who do you cry out to is it to the god who is forever faithful you know walking about we have will sometimes use a walking stick when we're hiking or or cane if it's a good one you can grab that walking stick and you can really put your weight on it and lean on it but if you grab a bad walking stick maybe you just pick up a one off the ground and start using it and you stumble and you try to put your weight on it it snaps and you fall on your face it breaks throwing you to the ground because you trusted in it and it was not reliable this is what happens when you rely on the world instead of on the lord the world is a bad walking stick that will collapse under you when you need it to help you you psalm 27 says psalm 20 verse 7 says some trust in chariots and some in horses but we trust in the name of the lord our god god will never fail you look at verse 8 of hebrews 13 jesus christ is the same yesterday today today and forever that is always he is the most reliable one trust in him he is always there for you the same jesus who died on the cross is the same jesus who stands ready to help you in all of your needs god is faithful that means he is reliable but is he loyal is god dedicated to our good will he stick with us until the end little kids are not loyal when when when they have one toy it means the world to them but they put it down and grab another and suddenly that one is their favorite and so on and so forth what a kid loves one day he might hate the next kids are not loyal but our god is not a fickle child you are precious to him and he is committed to you philippians 1 6 says and i am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of jesus christ
[16:33] amen amen amen that means that if god has started a work in you he will finish it turn with me back to second corinthians chapter 1 to the passage we're studying and see what paul has to say about god's loyalty here verse 19 for the son of god jesus christ who preached who was preached among you by me sylvanus and timothy was not yes and no but in him was yes someone who is yes and no is fickle they flop back and forth between one thing and another on one side they're for they're for it and on the other side they're against it they're yes and no but the god we follow the savior who's been given to us is yes to us will you stay with me yes will you comfort me in my sorrows yes will you never leave me for another yes never would you die for me would you die for me yes i already have do you hear god speaking these words to you yes yes yes yes the christ we worship is yes to us that's a way of talking about his forever goodness yes towards us what a god this is how amazing is it to have god before you he has proven his loyalty his commitment to you on that cross imagine dying for someone and then getting bored about caring for them imagine me spending hours preparing a sermon and preaching it for 19 minutes up to this point and then walking out right now because i don't feel like it anymore if you put a lot of work into it it's proof that you're going to finish it to the end and christ spent his life for our sake and he's not going to stop caring about us now he's loyal romans 8 31 and 32 teaches this so well what then shall we say to these things if god is for us us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he also not with him graciously give us all good things he is loyal he is so committed to you that he gave up his son he is reliable he is faithful he is loyal but is he intentional does god actively work for your good does he only do something for us if we prod him is he lounging in heaven is he lounging in heaven unconcerned with what happens in your life perhaps at times we're tempted to feel this way or we forget about how active he is for our good
[20:37] far be it from us to say such things of our god he is the mighty god he works all things works that's active he works all things according to the counsel of his purposes god has planned every last thing that happens and he is working in every last one actively intentionally purposefully for your good there are fathers who sit on the couch watching tv or playing video games all the time and the only way that they're there for their kids is when there's a problem suddenly the child starts screaming and then the father begrudgingly drops what he's doing and goes and tends to the children but there are loving fathers who spend their days working hard for their children looking after them planning for their good they have a college fund they save up money for their kids they play with them they teach them they instruct them they are active on their behalf they are active on their behalf this is our father in heaven he is a good father who intentionally cares for us when you are sleeping he is working
[22:09] Romans 8 28 says and we know for that those who love god all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose God is faithful to us the God of the universe who can do whatever he wants makes himself available to us he dedicates himself to our good he is intentional you are made of dust weak powerless and a very little standing and yet the king of the universe has dedicated himself to your good he is always working for you and he is faithful to you but know this
[23:09] God is not for everyone if you are here and if you are not ever broken over your sinfulness and you have not trusted in Christ he is not for you because you are not for him God's faithfulness is for those who repent and believe you must repent and believe or you will go to the place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth but if you repent he will forgive you once again 1st John 1 9 if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness first you heard about a faithful dog and now you have heard about a faithful God I was proud of that one question number 3 how do we copy God's faithfulness we have learned to answer the question what is faithfulness we have learned to answer the question is God faithful now we get to the last question how do we copy God's faithfulness
[24:39] Paul writes to the Corinthians to show them his faithfulness and he wants to them to know that he is faithful so that they'll trust him so that they'll draw near to him he had planned to visit them but he had to cancel his plans and so here he tells them that though he had to cancel his plans he is always faithful to them and concerned for their good Paul sought to be like the God who saved him and we too should be like the God who has saved us so you should be reliable you should be reliable to God and to others the first part of being reliable is being there so make yourself present be at church be at godly things be present in the lives of those around you that you might be available to help them
[25:47] Paul writes he intended to come to Judea to them and to pass by way of them to Macedonia and to come again from Macedonia to them and to be helped on his way to Judea he's traveling all about making pit stops all along the way because it's so important to be there in person with the people you care about phone calls are nice letters are nice Paul writes letters but he knows that the best thing for him to do for people is to be physically present with them and sometimes we're we're physically present but we're distracted by our phones busy away on those so sometimes being physically present for other people being faithful means dropping your phone and looking people in the eyes and having good conversations with them
[26:48] God is loyal and you should be like your father in heaven so be loyal that means you need to commit yourself to other people you need to stick with them for the long term because that's when a real difference is made it's nice to have a short conversation with someone one time but the life-changing relationships are the ones that last a long time if you want to care about people well if you want to be faithful like your God is faithful be loyal to them stick with them for a long time that you might do a lot of good Jesus and Paul weren't afraid of commitment Christ was so committed to our cause that he died on our behalf Paul was so committed to the Corinthians that he visited them repeatedly he prayed for them he stayed with them for long periods of time he sent messengers and letters he labored for them loyally make plans to meet up with other people spend time in your life connecting to those especially those in the church so that you can love them well and don't be fickle don't go back and forth don't say yes on one day and no on another there's a guy who showed up here once and I asked him are you going to come back next week and he said is that even a question of course I will and then next week he wasn't here this is what Paul's saying that with me there should be he's questioning you know should it be with me yes yes and no no where it's it's emphatically it's excitedly yes and then firmly no at the same time this is not how it should be with us are you a yes to God on Sundays but a no during the week be loyal to God and to others if you are going to strive to be faithful like God is faithful you must be intentional
[29:24] God did not leave you on your own but he went after you he left glory to come into your problems and save you and so you ought to also be intentional don't wait for someone to come alongside you and say hey you should start doing this but look for opportunities to love other people you've got one life to live live it to the glory of God and spend your time intentionally seeking out people to love and care about and intentionally working for the Lord every morning think about your day and consider how you can glorify God and do good to those around you that means you have to work hard but it's worth worth doing do not plan lightly or according to the flesh make your calendar a weighty thing so that you put lots of time into thinking about how you spend your days do your plans for this week show a heart that cares about God that loves others deeply and sacrificially do you love others like Christ has loved you
[30:58] Lord God we thank you for your faithfulness and praise you for your love love which makes us stand even in our weakness forgive us for all the ways we are unfaithful and teach us to be faithful in our lives in your son's name we pray amen