Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 612 | The Faithfulness of God
Transcript
- 0:00God is faithful, and His love and mercy is steadfast and firm.
- 0:06Though we, born-again believers, fail Him daily, God never fails us.
- 0:12Despite our mistakes, rejections, doubt, and fear, God remains faithful to forgive
- 0:19us, love us, and bestow His amazing blessings on us.
- 0:24Join us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries as we journey through
- 0:28the scriptures basking in the hope brought to us by the faithfulness of God.
- 0:34Perhaps of all of the characteristics that scripture reveals about God,
- 0:40the one that brings me such assurance and such peace is that he is faithful.
- 0:47So often we meet people and we're not exactly sure which version of them we're going to meet.
- 0:54The mean one, the nice one, the good one, the loving one, the forgiving one.
- 0:59We don't know until we're in the situation and they begin to reveal themselves.
- 1:04But thanks be to God, we don't have to feel that way about Jesus.
- 1:10Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. In Hebrews 13,
- 1:168, we are given this promise.
- 1:18He is consistent and he is faithful.
- 1:22His steadfast love never expires, and his compassions, they fail not.
- 1:30And so today, as we begin to look at the faithfulness of God,
- 1:36I want you to look deep within yourself.
- 1:40And I want you to realize what God is giving to you on a moment-by-moment and day-to-day basis.
- 1:48I want you to feel the strengths, the breadth, the depths, and the heights of
- 1:53his love that he speaks about in Romans 8, 38 and 39, which nothing can separate us from.
- 2:00I want you to know that regardless of what you have done or what you have not
- 2:06done, then God will be faithful to forgive if you confess your sins and allow him to do so.
- 2:151 John 1.9 says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us
- 2:20our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
- 2:24This is a promise that is given, and because God is faithful,
- 2:28you realize that regardless of what sin you are confessing, he will forgive the repentant heart.
- 2:36Regardless of where you find yourself right now as you're listening to this
- 2:40message, regardless of the situation, regardless of what is going on around
- 2:46you or to you, God is faithful.
- 2:51And we're going to talk about that as we begin to look in Lamentations 3, verses 22 through 24.
- 2:59Why is it important that he is faithful? Because you want to know you can trust what he said.
- 3:05You want to know you can trust who he is. You want to know that every promise
- 3:09that is written from Genesis to Revelations is relevant to you,
- 3:14pertains to you, and that you can bank on.
- 3:18And I'm here to tell you as you're listening to this message today that God is faithful.
- 3:24His word never fails. and
- 3:28he will always do what he said he would do he
- 3:31will always behave within the character of
- 3:34who he is and you can know him by genesis to revelations because john chapter
- 3:411 and verse 14 says that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and from
- 3:47genesis to revelations it's all about god his son and the Holy Spirit,
- 3:53what they have done, what they will do, what you can believe and what you can
- 3:58know, how they intervene and how they deliver, how they walk with you and talk
- 4:03with you, how they forgive,
- 4:05how they clean you up and put you on the solid rock, and you can stand firm
- 4:11in the strength and the power and the might of God.
- 4:16Psalms 119, 89 through 90 says this, Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.
- 4:25It's it. It's it.
- 4:27It's the truth. Jesus says, I am the truth and the life. I am the way, the truth, and the life.
- 4:34And no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
- 4:37In verse 90 of Psalms 119, it says, Thou faithfulness is unto all generations.
- 4:43Thou hast established the earth and it abides.
- 4:46When God says it, that's how it is. When God creates it, that's what it is.
- 4:54And today we need to stop trying to take from the word and add to the word.
- 4:58We need to ingest the word.
- 5:01We need to understand the word. We need to let the word have its perfect way
- 5:07and will in our life so that we are molded and created to be who God would have us to be.
- 5:14Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so, and God is faithful
- 5:18with every word that he has spoken.
- 5:22The book of Lamentations was written by Jeremiah during a time of grief and national mourning.
- 5:30It was written when the city of Jerusalem fell to Babylon, and it describes
- 5:36the anguish, the great pain, and the great hope.
- 5:42Nestled in the middle of this book with
- 5:45loud cries and lamentations from the people who have suffered such mourning
- 5:51and anguish sits these beautiful three verses that speaks of confidence and
- 5:56the great hope we know in God and they read like this it is of the Lord's mercies that we
- 6:04consumed because his compassion fail
- 6:08not his compassions fail not
- 6:11did you hear me his love never fails his mercy never fails his grace never fails
- 6:16his understanding of who we are what we need and his ability and capability
- 6:22and desire to deliver us from our deepest darkest problems it never fails.
- 6:29If you're sitting in the pit of despair, it's because you're refusing to reach
- 6:35for the hand that'll get you out.
- 6:39If you're sitting and wallowing in your troubles and your issues,
- 6:43if there's more mourning than there is joy, if there's more chaos than there
- 6:47is peace, it's because you're not following what God has for you because he
- 6:51said joy comes in the morning.
- 6:54He said that I've come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.
- 6:59Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so, and he is faithful. What he said he will do.
- 7:07Lamentations 23 reads like this, They are new every morning.
- 7:11Great is thy faithfulness.
- 7:13The Lord is my portion, saith my soul. Therefore will I hope in him.
- 7:20Today I submit to you a truth that is infallible.
- 7:25God is faithful.
- 7:28He is my portion because I have made my calling and election sure.
- 7:33I have received him as Savior.
- 7:36And my soul knows who he is. My soul longs to be in his presence.
- 7:42And he has promised to never leave me nor forsake me. And he has promised to hear my cries.
- 7:47He's invited me to call unto him. And he would answer me and show the great
- 7:51and mighty things which I don't know.
- 7:53He has called unto me and said that I could come boldly to the throne of grace
- 7:57and find help in time of trouble in Hebrews 4, verses 14 through 16.
- 8:03And in that glorious passage, he has assured me of his faithfulness,
- 8:07but he has also revealed to me that he knows what I'm feeling.
- 8:11He understands what I'm thinking.
- 8:13He don't only have the answer, he can empathize, sympathize, and deliver me.
- 8:19Because he said, I was tempted like as you are yet without sin.
- 8:23Jesus loves me, this I know, and his faithfulness demonstrates it moment by moment.
- 8:31The Lord is my portion because I am his child, and my soul longs after him because
- 8:37I am seeking a city whose builder and maker is God. He is faithful.
- 8:44Deuteronomy 7.9 says, Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God,
- 8:49the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and
- 8:55keep his commandments to a thousand generations.
- 8:59The Israelites, they were forever doing something wrong.
- 9:04They were forever going a few steps forward and then going a few steps backwards
- 9:09in their faith because they were a people that were very easily distracted and discouraged.
- 9:17But I want you to know that God's great love, his mercies, and his compassions,
- 9:23they abide even in times of trouble and divine judgment.
- 9:27You don't get much worse than a fallen city. So as Jeremiah is writing this,
- 9:33when Jerusalem has fallen to Babylon, there's a lot of problems going on.
- 9:38There's uncertainty, there's chaos, there's turmoil, but God is faithful.
- 9:44The Israelites, they were doing it wrong. They would get it right, then they'd do it wrong.
- 9:49They would hustle and do the right thing, and then suddenly they didn't get
- 9:53exactly what they wanted, when they wanted, thinking what they wanted was best,
- 9:57and then they would want to go back from whence they came.
- 10:00They were trying to find new leaders instead of Moses,
- 10:03anybody that would get them out of their momentary distress,
- 10:06even though God was leading them by fire by night and a cloud by day,
- 10:11even though he's feeding them with manna, even though he brought water from a rock,
- 10:17the Israelites could not be satisfied because they couldn't keep their eyes on God.
- 10:23They began to look at others themselves.
- 10:27Lamentations tells us that his faithfulness is new every morning,
- 10:32that his mercies are new every morning, that his compassions they fail not.
- 10:38Great is our Lord and of great power his understanding is infinite.
- 10:43According to Psalm 147.5, his love, it encompasses elements of grace,
- 10:51mercy, goodness, forgiveness, and compassion.
- 10:54God is faithful and all of those things encompass his love for us and his love will never fail.
- 11:03When we look at Lamentations 3.22, and he says, It is of the Lord's mercies
- 11:09that we're not consumed because his compassions fail not.
- 11:13This world is more than we can navigate on our own.
- 11:18We would be overwhelmed and distressed and in despair and depressed if it were
- 11:24not for the love, mercy, grace, goodness, and forgiveness of God.
- 11:29His compassions, they flow over us and shower us like the blessings He gives us daily.
- 11:40Compassion that withholds punishment, that's what mercy is.
- 11:45It's compassion that withholds the punishment, judgment, or suffering that a person deserves.
- 11:50When you read this passage in its original text,
- 11:56the word that they use for compassion and mercies in regards to tender love,
- 12:03great and tender mercy or pity.
- 12:07God sees us for who we are, yet loves us for who he created us to be.
- 12:14That is infinite love.
- 12:17In Isaiah chapter 63 and verse 7, it reads, I will mention the loving kindness
- 12:22of the Lord and the praises of the Lord,
- 12:25according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us and the great goodness toward
- 12:32the house of Israel, which he has bestowed on them,
- 12:34according to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving kindness.
- 12:40Though they transgressed, though they regressed, though they had moments of
- 12:46doubt, times when faith was difficult, when they were disobedient, God stuck with them.
- 12:55He was faithful. In fact, if you look at the mercy that's bestowed upon them,
- 13:01it doesn't get much better than the revelation in Isaiah chapter 1.
- 13:08The prophet Isaiah is talking about a blistering that the Israelites got for
- 13:13how they were turning against God, how they were behaving,
- 13:17how their actions were not becoming of what God had bestowed upon them,
- 13:21how they were not living as they were to be living.
- 13:23And in the midst of all of this, we get to verse 18, where God says,
- 13:28come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord.
- 13:32Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.
- 13:36Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
- 13:40Let's look at this verse just a little bit more closely. He says, listen.
- 13:45I love you. That's what he's saying when he says, come now, let us reason together.
- 13:50He has gathered them together, and he has corrected them because of his great
- 13:54love towards them, because of his mercy that he has upon them,
- 13:59because of the compassion he's going to show them, because God loves us.
- 14:03He allows us to learn from our mistakes.
- 14:07He corrects us. He turns us from our sinful ways, and he forgives us.
- 14:121 John 1.9, as I mentioned earlier, says if we confess our sins,
- 14:17he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
- 14:22Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
- 14:26In Jeremiah 29.11, he explains that he has a plan for me, to prosper me,
- 14:31to give me a hope and expect it in.
- 14:33God is faithful from the beginning of your life to the end of life.
- 14:38He knew you before you were even born, and he breathed life into you,
- 14:43and you've lived, and you are living, and when you leave this world,
- 14:48he's going to be just right beside of you like he's been through every single step. He is faithful.
- 14:54He neither sleeps nor slumbers. He doesn't turn his eyes away from you when
- 14:59he's dealing with someone else. He's omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent.
- 15:05He never leaves you nor forsakes you. He is faithful. He's more faithful than
- 15:11a brother. He's more faithful than a friend.
- 15:14He is trustworthy, and he is committed to you,
- 15:20enough to give his life for you, to pay a sin debt he didn't know because you
- 15:27owed a sin debt you couldn't pay.
- 15:29He loved you before you were even born. And he loves you every day.
- 15:35And he'll love you for eternity.
- 15:38His loving kindness is bestowed upon all of us, and His great goodness,
- 15:43even when we're disobedient.
- 15:47I want you to think of another occasion in Scripture in John 8,
- 15:51where the mercy of God is on full display.
- 15:55People bring a woman who was called in adultery to Him to be punished.
- 16:00He begins riding on the sand, and no doubt he's riding sins that they all have
- 16:05committed or are committing. and he says, if you're not guilty of any sin,
- 16:10you'd be the first to throw the stone.
- 16:13And when he looks up again, there's nobody there but him and the woman.
- 16:18So he asks the woman, where are your accusers? She says, I don't have any.
- 16:23And he says these words, neither do I condemn thee.
- 16:28Go and sin no more.
- 16:33Forgiveness requires repentance and repentance
- 16:37requires turning away from your sins when we repent we get in agreement with
- 16:44god that you're right i'm a sinful person i'm doing the wrong thing your way
- 16:49is the right way and i want you to help me get on your path because you're the
- 16:54way the truth and the life,
- 16:56and following you leads to your father.
- 16:59His mercy is completely written on every page from Genesis to Revelations.
- 17:06He shows mercy upon Abraham when he provides the sacrifice of the unblemished
- 17:14lamb in the bushes so Abraham didn't have to bring his son to death.
- 17:23He shows his mercy to Noah and his family when he puts him in the ark and he
- 17:28shuts the door for eternal safety.
- 17:33He shows his mercy and his grace vividly in the fiery furnace.
- 17:40And he's the fourth man in the furnace.
- 17:43God daily loads us with benefits. He doesn't take a break. He doesn't take a vacation.
- 17:50He doesn't say, I've got a headache or I'm tired. He said, that's mine.
- 17:55I created him in my image. I created her in my image. I have a plan for her.
- 18:02And I'm right here with her. I'm going to give her everything she needs.
- 18:06And when she steps left or right of my will, I'm going to prod her until she
- 18:10gets in step. not because he's a punitive God, but because he wants what's best for me.
- 18:16He came that I might have life and have it more abundantly. And in doing so,
- 18:20he gave me the greatest love letter ever written from Genesis to Revelations
- 18:24that I might be able to speak the words of God and know them and understand
- 18:30his character and understand his actions,
- 18:33to know what goes with it and what doesn't go with it, to be able to be convicted
- 18:38when I'm not doing the right thing and to repent and know the full forgiveness
- 18:43of a faithful God who will forgive those who come and ask.
- 18:48Jesus loves me. This I know for the Bible tells me so.
- 18:52I love that he said, just let's reason together. Let me talk to you.
- 18:56Let me show you how much I love you.
- 18:58There is a payment for sin. He paid the one that we couldn't pay.
- 19:03But scripture tells us that we're not to be deceived. God is not mocked.
- 19:08For whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap.
- 19:11There are consequences for the way you live your life. It matters whether you
- 19:16keep his commandments or not.
- 19:18He said that if we loved him, we would keep his commandments and they wouldn't be grievous to us.
- 19:24And he said that his love covers a multitude of sins. He doesn't expect perfections,
- 19:32but his blood makes me perfect.
- 19:34And when God sees me, he sees the precious blood of his son,
- 19:37and that makes me white as snow.
- 19:41My sins, though they were many and stained desperately deep within the fabric
- 19:47of my body, the blood has washed it clean.
- 19:51Jesus loves me, this I know, and he is faithful to keep his word.
- 19:57And his word tells me he loves me.
- 20:00His unmerited favor runs freely upon those who love him.
- 20:05God is faithful. I don't know where you are right now.
- 20:09I don't know what situation you are
- 20:12in i don't know how the devil is battling you the
- 20:15scripture says that we are to be sober be vigilant because
- 20:18our adversary the devil walk us about like a
- 20:21roaring lion seeking whom he may devour but then he says to casting all your
- 20:25care upon him for he cares for you because greater is he that is in you than
- 20:29he that is in the world be of good cheer for i've overcome the world you are
- 20:35his and the battle's not yours it belongs to him.
- 20:39When we get to heaven, we can have a chat with David and ask him what it felt
- 20:45like to look at the giant in the face.
- 20:48Prepared, he had all the stones he needed, but knowing that God was fighting
- 20:52that battle and watching the giant fall forward when he had hit him.
- 20:57If it was him and his rock, he'd fallen backwards, but he didn't. He fell forward.
- 21:02The truth of the matter is that neither one of us should ever have to go ask
- 21:05David what that felt like.
- 21:07Because every single day, the giants in our life are defeated by the King of
- 21:12Kings and the Lord of Lords who walks hand in hand with us, who protects us,
- 21:16who shields us, who directs us,
- 21:18who keeps the sun from burning us, who gives us the things that we need,
- 21:23who supplies our every need emotionally,
- 21:26physically, mentally, physically.
- 21:29Jesus loves me, this I know, and he is faithful.
- 21:34He'll never disappoint. He'll never let you down. You won't always get your
- 21:39way because his ways are higher than our ways.
- 21:41His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He knows what we don't know.
- 21:44He knows the past, the present, and the future. And he is in all of them all at once.
- 21:50Oh, today you can trust in him because he is faithful.
- 21:541 Corinthians 1 verses 8 through 9 says, Who shall confirm you unto the end,
- 22:00that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 22:05God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
- 22:16Today, God is faithful. Once again, he is giving you an opportunity to know him as personal savior.
- 22:24He's giving you an opportunity to draw a little closer to him.
- 22:28He's giving you opportunity to believe He is who He said He is.
- 22:33He's giving you an opportunity to understand that He is faithful and that we're
- 22:38more than conquerors through Christ Jesus who loved us.
- 22:41Thanks be to God for the victory we have through Christ Jesus.
- 22:47Today, this moment, it's your time.
- 22:51God is faithful. He's faithfully calling. He's faithfully leading.
- 22:57He's faithfully directing. and he's still faithfully saving and delivering. What about you?
- 23:04As a child of the Most High God, are you faithful to the King of kings and the Lord of lords?
- 23:09Are you faithful to his calling on your life? Are you faithful to the commandments
- 23:14he's asked you to live? Or do you find them troublesome?
- 23:18Now's the time. Now's the moment. Confess your sins.
- 23:23Trust in the one true living God and believe.
- 23:28For God is faithful. Remember you are loved. Jesus loves you.
- 23:34Thank you for joining us for today's podcast. You can find quotes and scripture.
- 23:39References from this episode in the show notes.
- 23:42We pray today's message has been a blessing.
- 23:45If it has, please consider leaving a rating or review on your podcast platform.
- 23:50Your feedback helps others discover the truth of God's word.
- 23:55You can connect with Woman at the Well Ministries through our app at watwm.org
- 24:00and on Facebook and Instagram.
- 24:02While you're there, learn more about Bible Bits, Kim's daily devotional delivered
- 24:07Monday through Friday by text message and the Bible Bit Podcast.
- 24:11Thank you for your prayer.