Why You Should Never Doubt The Faithfulness of Your Heavenly Father Towards You

The faithfulness of God to His kids is one of the more comforting Bible truths. Most of us have lived long enough to be disappointed with people from time to time. But the Lord remains faithful. Even when you cannot see Him, the Christian believer knows that God is ever so near and close by! Picture a little girl flying a kite on the beach. Her kite is so high in the air that it looks like a speck in the white, cotton clouds. Someone happens by and asks, “What are you doing?” “I’m flying a kite,” the little girl answers. “I don’t see anything. How do you know it’s still there?” “Because, silly,” the girl replies, “I can feel the kite tugging on my hand.” Similarly, when we have faith in God, we feel the tug of His presence even though we cannot see Him.¹ In this week’s podcast, we take a look at the faithfulness of God as we close out our series on the book of First Thessalonians. Why You Should Never Doubt The Faithfulness of Your Heavenly Father Towards You — that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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Why is the Gold Fingered Man in the Book of James Important?

The God of Peace will sanctify your spirit, soul, and body.

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You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This week’s call is:

Ground yourself in the faithfulness of God so that your faith lifestyle will have the proper foundation.

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Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11). Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony.
This week’s question is:

Question: Share a testimony on God’s faithfulness in your life. Share your story in the comments section below.

Episode Resources:

We are currently teaching in the book of First Thessalonians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 47 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. He and his wife Sharon of 40 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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Prayer

Father God, how wonderful you truly are. Grant unto us today insight and revelation by your Holy Spirit into the depth of your faithfulness. Help us to understand what it is and to know it in such a way that we can relax in simple and basic trust. We thank you for that in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Podcast Notes

The Faithfulness of God: Two Truths

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 (ESV) — 23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

We covered these five chapters in Paul’s first-ever letter to a Church he founded.
There are 29 podcasts in this series and you can find them in them linked in the show notes [above] in case you missed any of them.
Last week, we homed in on verse twenty-three and the fact that man is a spirit being.’
We talked about locating your spirit and learning to work with your conscience as the primary way that the Lord leads His children.
There are two truths we must be mindful of as we look at spirit, soul, and body in the context that Paul placed it.
Truth number one: God will sanctify you completely.
Truth number two: God will surely do this thing.

The Faithfulness of God to Sanctify You

The God of peace will sanctify your spirit, soul, and body.
He will sanctify the whole of each of you, every part of you, through and through, so there’s no part of you escapes this sanctification.
The Greek word ’sanctify’ is the one we want to look at and with that thought, here’s the Definition of the Day.
The word ‘sanctify’ means to set aside something or someone.
It means to make suitable for ritual purposes, to consecrate, or to dedicate things.²
This setting occurs not just by decree.
Jesus sanctified us with His own blood — we are set apart to God.
This sanctification also comes by contact.

Matthew 23:16–19 (ESV) — 16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

The word ‘sacred’ here is the same Greek word ‘sanctify.’
Let’s reread it.

Which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?

The temple made the gold sacred — the temple made the gold sanctified.
The thing that made the Tabernacle is not the badger skin that was on top of it or the gold that it was made out of or the candlestick or the laver or the altar itself or any other material or furnishings that were in it.
What made the Tabernacle was that God was behind the veil – that God Himself was there!
His Shekinah glory sat upon the Tabernacle — it sat upon the temple — it sat upon the Mercy Seat.
The gold came into contact with the Shekinah Presence of God and that sanctified it.
The great thing about you is not the good things that you enjoy because you are a Christian.
It is not the blessings that we experience because we are in the camp of the saints.
No, the great thing about you is this fact alone, God is in you.
And because He is in you — because your spirit has come into contact with the Shekinah glory of God — that contact makes you special.
That contact makes you holy.
That contact makes you pure.
That contact makes you distinct.
That contact makes you sanctified.
Wonderful!
Look at the second part of this.

Which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

So here’s a person under the Old Covenant who brings a gift, an offering, and places it on the altar.
It’s the altar that sanctifies the gift.
The gift represents something of that person — they worked to earn that money and now they are bringing that part of themselves and giving it to God.
But those dollar bills, or gold, or first fruits are not holy in and of themselves.
What makes them holy is the altar the gift was laid on because in the case of the Temple — God indwelt that.
It is God who sanctifies.
Let’s go back and look at these words in First Thessalonians again

May the God of peace sanctify you completely.

Each of the words in this sentence carries weight: peace, sanctify, completely.

The Faithfulness of the God of Peace and Your Spirit Man

The God of peace is the God that approaches you.
This God, the God of peace abides in you not the God of judgment.
The Father has the capacity to be the God of peace because of Jesus’ sacrifice.
Jesus made peace between God and mankind by His obedience to die for our sins.
Now, we have the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit who indwells you representing the Father is a Spirit of peace.
His job is to finish the work of sanctification in your life.
Your spirit is a new creation — you’re born again.
The Holy Spirit indwells you, we know that.
But there’s more to you than spirit.

The Faithfulness of the God of Peace and Your Soulish Man

You have a soul.
Sanctification must spread to this part of your being.
God wants your mind, will, and emotions to be renewed.
He wants your thinking to be along sacred lines.
The Father’s desire for you is that you think the thoughts of heaven.
That your very meditations be set apart.

Romans 12:2 (ESV) — 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The renewing of the mind, it’s origin is in the spirit of man.
When you get the revelation from the Holy Spirit in your spirit, your thinking is then impacted.

The Faithfulness of the God of Peace and Your Physical Man

But, there’s more to you than soul — you live in a body.
The Lord desires that the physicality of your life carry the fragrance of heaven just like your spirit and your soul.
He wants your actions sanctified.
What you put your hands to, the way you put your hands to must reflect that you are a set apart child of God.
Here is this idea in Romans.

Romans 12:1 (ESV) — 1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Remember, the altar sanctifies the gift.
You take your body, you offer it to God as a living sacrifice.

The Faithfulness of God: Completely

And that’s what Paul is saying here — every part of your makeup comes under the sanctification banner and is reflected by the word ‘completely.’
Every part of you will be worked on completely.
The Greek word ‘completely’ pertains to being totally complete, with the implication of meeting a high standard.
We could say in every way complete, quite perfect.³
Your spirit, your soul, your body quite perfect — that’s the will of the Lord.

The Faithfulness of the God: He Will Do It

Now, we come to the faithfulness part in verse 24.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 (ESV) — 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

You know we are great at defining terms.
The Greek word ‘faithful’ means pertaining to being worthy of belief or trust.
You could use the word trustworthy, or dependable. ⁴
Just as surely as God has called you into His saving grace, know that He will not abandon you to your own devices.
So, here you are — you came to Jesus one day — you gave your heart to Him — you declared Him as the Lord of your life.
Now, you’re born again — now you’re a candidate for heaven.
You know that’s where a lot of people stop.
They believe — they receive — and they stop.
They go on living almost like they hadn’t said yes to Jesus.
Get your mind on the word completely though.
Completely means God is going to continue to work on you until you are quite perfect in all of the composite parts of your being.

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) — 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

You are His workmanship.
Workmanship means the product that’s been made.
The Lord is the ultimate caretaker.
He has invested quite a lot in you.
Becoming a child of God is the start of a compelling journey to sacred wholeness.
He will not leave you flopping like a carp on dry ground.
A good investor doesn’t leave things to chance.

Philippians 1:6 (ESV) — 6 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.

You hear that? — Completely — completion.
It’s a sure thing.
He will not abandon you.
Why? Because he is trustworthy.
So, enjoy the process of sanctification.

The Faithfulness of God: What We Can Know

Faithfulness is God’s perfect loyalty and consistency in being true to His promises.
Let’s try to build a word picture of what faithfulness is.

2 Kings 18:16 (ESV) — 16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Believe it or not the word faithfulness is found in this verse even though it’s not mentioned!
It is located in the root word for ‘doorposts’ — Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doorposts.
To see how this could be, let’s look at the concept of root words.
The root of a word holds the most basic meaning.
You take the root and add prefixes and suffixes to create a usable stand-alone word.
For example, the root word ‘aud’ is a Latin root word meaning capable of being heard.
Out of this three-letter Latin root, we get all kinds of other words.
Add ‘io’ to the end of the root ‘aud’ and you get ‘audio.’
Add ‘itorium’ to the end of this root and you get auditorium.
But the part that carries the meaning is the three-letter root ‘aud’ — capable of being heard.
It’s the same thing in other languages like Hebrew for example.
Let’s look at the word ‘doorposts’ that Hezekiah was stripping the gold off of.
The three-letter Hebrew root for ‘doorposts’ transliterated into English is ‘aman.’
It takes four English letters to be equivalent to the three Hebrew letters.
I hope that’s not confusing.
The Hebrew root word ‘aman’ means to be firm, reliable, faithful, dependable, and permanent.
So you add one letter to the Hebrew, just like we did ‘aud’ when we added ‘io’ and came up with the word audio — you add one letter and you come up with doorposts.
The root word is ‘aman’ and you can get doorposts out of that because these doors were supposed to be firm doors — reliable doors — permanent doors — dependable doors — faithful doors.
But Hezekiah stripped them of some of what made them this way — he took the gold off.
So, in this word ‘aman,’ which is really close to the word ‘amen,’ you find the concept of faithfulness.
God’s faithfulness is firm.
The Lord’s faithfulness is reliable.
Jehovah’s faithfulness is permanent.
The Most High God’s faithfulness is dependable.
That’s a one-word picture we get from the Hebrew language that describes this amazing God trait.
Now, we get back to our verse.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 (ESV) — 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

He who calls you is reliable, dependable, and firm, — permanently so.
He will do it.
The word ‘will’ is the strongest assertion in the English language.
Now we add adjectives to it for impact — we say absolutely, positively will because we are trying to prop the idea that He will.
But this is God that we are talking about — the God that cannot lie.
We don’t need to help make God look better by saying that He will absolutely positively ‘will’ do something.
If God said He will, you can take that to the bank — you don’t need anything else!
You don’t have to prop it up — peer it up — talk yourself into the notion of it.
He WILL do it, period.

Titus 1:1–2 (ESV) — 1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ… 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began

You can count on God’s faithfulness because He cannot lie!
He will do it.
He will sanctify you completely — every part of you through and through — He will do a head-to-toe overhaul of your life.
Faithfulness is God’s perfect loyalty and consistency in being true to His promises.

Deuteronomy 7:9 (ESV) — 9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

You can build your whole life on anything that He said.
And with that thought, here is the illustration of the Day.

In Christianity Today, Philip Yancey writes: I remember my first visit to Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. Rings of Japanese and German tourists surrounded the geyser, their video cameras trained like weapons on the famous hole in the ground. A large, digital clock stood beside the spot, predicting 24 minutes until the next eruption. My wife and I passed the countdown in the dining room of Old Faithful Inn overlooking the geyser. When the digital clock reached one minute, we, along with every other diner, left our seats and rushed to the windows to see the big, wet event. I noticed that immediately as if on signal, a crew of busboys and waiters descended on the tables to refill water glasses and clear away dirty dishes. When the geyser went off, we tourists oohed and aahed and clicked our cameras; a few spontaneously applauded. But, glancing back over my shoulder, I saw that not a single waiter or busboy—not even those who had finished their chores—looked out the huge windows. Old Faithful, grown entirely too familiar, had lost its power to impress them. Few things are more quickly taken for granted than God’s faithfulness. But few things are more important. God’s faithfulness deserves our untiring praise and wonder.⁵

That’s a wonderful illustration but here’s what I want you to know.
God is more faithful than Old Faithful.
Old Faithful can fail but never our God.
Glory to God! — Hallelujah!
He will do it.

The Faithfulness of the God: He Will Never Leave You

The Lord will never leave an honest child of God to his own devices.
It is totally against His nature.
Just listen to these marvelous verses.

Deuteronomy 31:6 (ESV) — 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

Matthew 28:20 (ESV) — 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Hebrews 13:5 (ESV) — 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

One tribe of Native Americans had a unique practice for training young braves. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, he was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then he had never been away from the security of his family and tribe. But on this night he was blindfolded and taken miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of thick woods. By himself. All night long. Every time a twig snapped, he probably visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. Every time an animal howled, he imagined a wolf leaping out of the darkness. Every time the wind blew, he wondered what more sinister sound it masked. No doubt it was a terrifying night for many. After what seemed like an eternity, the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of the path. Then, to his utter astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It was the boy’s father. He had been there all night long. Can you think of any better way for a child to learn how God allows us to face the tests of life? God is always present with us. God’s presence is unseen, but it is more real than life itself.⁶

Because of His unending faithfulness — because He is reliable to the nth power — because He is firmer than the rock of Gibraltar — my, my heaven and earth will pass away before He fails to do it! — because He is more dependable than time itself because He is powerfully permanent, you can relax and trust Him.
You can have faith in Him.
You can depend on His dependability.
You can believe in Him.
So now, you see why having faith is fission-fused together with faithfulness.
That’s why faith and faithfulness are the same Greek word ‘pistis’ in the New Testament.
Look at this now in Galatians five.

Galatians 5:22 (ESV) — 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

The Greek word ‘pistis’ ranges in meaning from subjective confidence to objective basis for confidence.⁷
Because He is who He is, you can trust Him.

Now, Father God, thank you for your great faithfulness. It is so wonderful and marvelous beyond all words! Thank you for being you. Thank you for being firm, reliable, dependable, permanent, and faithful. Man, you are so cool. Glory to your Name!

Why You Should Never Doubt The Faithfulness of Your Heavenly Father Towards You.
You guys have a great God week and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.

The Hypocrisy of Prejudice; The Man with the Gold Ring: James 2:2-4

__________
References:

Leadership Ministries Worldwide, Practical Illustrations: 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2003), 48. ↩
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 9. ↩
ibid. ↩
Ibid ↩
Craig Brian Larson, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002), 161–162. ↩
PreachingToday.com, More Perfect Illustrations: For Every Topic and Occasion (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2003), 117–118. ↩
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 818. ↩

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Why You Should Never Doubt The Faithfulness of Your Heavenly Father Towards You

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Forty-Five

by Emery Horvath

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