THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD
[p. 350] THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD
1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Corinthians 1:18 - 22
I have in mind, as it will be observed from the verses read, to speak of the faithfulness of God. It is mentioned in these three scriptures. Firstly, it is said, “by whom ye have been called into the fellowship of his Son”, and secondly that He “will not suffer you to be tempted above what ye are able to bear, but will with the temptation make the issue also”, and then finally it was a question of the veracity of the servant of God, that is Paul. Servants are often questioned as to their veracity and transparency, and nothing is more important than that we should be true and transparent and loyal to God, to Christ, and to the saints, and to their interests. So the third scripture is peculiarly important as to veracity, as to transparency in our motives, ways and services. In making these remarks I will take the liberty of referring to the Old Testament as to the great thought of God’s faithfulness, and I refer to Genesis, the great patriarchal book where we find old men in responsibility to God, but true in it. In some instances, indeed, as even in Abraham himself, there were deviations from the right path, and also in Isaac and in Jacob, but in general they were true, and proved God’s faithfulness in their loyalty to the truth. Abraham had been promised a son, and the son was duly born, Isaac. God thus proved His faithfulness to His promises, as He always does.
One speaks now to the end that not only servants, that is, those who are particularly noted in their services, but that we all may learn, if we have not already done so, to rely on God, that He is faithful. Paul, in speaking of the Son of God as preached by himself and others, says, “whatever promises of God there are, in him is the yea, and in him the amen”, (2 Corinthians 1:20). Every promise of God may be reckoned on thus, and we have, dear brethren, exceedingly great and precious promises. The Spirit of God taking account of them would place them in our hearts indelibly, exceedingly great and precious promises. Nothing can be more assuring and comforting than to wait and see how the promises of God are fulfilled, whether it be in general to His people, or whether it be to any one of us, old or young, as to what we may prove as individuals in our own history. God can take account of very small promises or things and bring them to pass. So He would have His witnesses to Himself, for it is said, “he did not leave himself without witness”, (Acts 14:17). Whatever He promises, you can find witnesses to it somewhere, in your acquaintances, or in the Scriptures, the evidences of the faithfulness of God. So as I said, Abraham had been promised a son. He was not unbelieving as to it, he believed God. “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”, (Romans 4:3). So the promised child, Isaac, was born, and Abraham is to be tested in relation to this.
I wish now to pursue the line of the patriarchs in the book of Genesis as to these matters. Our day is a day of great difficulties, financially, industrially and socially; international difficulties, threatening things; hence we are all the more cast on God for the fulfilment of His promises, and amongst these promises is that in Paul’s word spoken on Mars’ hill when he said, “he has set a day in which he is going to judge the habitable earth in righteousness by the man whom he has appointed, giving the proof of it to all in having raised him from among the dead”, (Acts 17:31). That is to say, the idea of resurrection is a great foundation stone in the structure of faithfulness, the faithfulness of God; He has promised things and they are all to be fulfilled, every one of them. “Whatever promises of God there are, in him is the yea, and in him the amen”. So that, dear brethren, young ones especially, I would urge you now to learn to accustom yourselves to rely upon the faithfulness of God. Whether it be your own personal promises or expectations, or whether it be what relates to the assembly, or to the general purposes of God, learn to count on God for the fulfilment of them. God left Abraham in this sense as the great witness to His faithfulness. And as I said, Isaac was born, and later Abraham was called upon to cast out Ishmael; that is, the man after the flesh. God does not call upon us to support the man after the flesh even though he be our most loved child, daughter or son; God does not call upon us to support him or her. God is faithful to Himself and He has brought in another Man. He has brought in Christ, and He is relying on that Man for everything. So we have to learn to do as Abraham did, he had to do it, because he was called upon by God to do it, to cast out the bondwoman and her son. It was Sarah who asked for this, and her word is quoted as Scripture, a remarkable thing as to her. Abraham was distressed because he was called upon to cast out his own son, Ishmael. But then who was Ishmael? He was born after the flesh and persecuted him that was born after the Spirit. Why should we support the persecutor of Christ? There is no reason at all that we should. So the word to Abraham was, “In all that Sarah hath said to thee hearken to her voice”, (Genesis 21:12). She was speaking the mind of God; that is to say, God had said it, God had supported her in it, and what she was saying to her husband eventually became recorded in Scripture as the word of God. “What says the scripture? Cast out the maid servant and her son”, (Galatians 4:30).
So that Abraham did what his wife had desired and Ishmael was cast out, and then as if God would [p. 353] support Abraham now in whatever he had in mind as to his family, we find that Abraham is tested by the Philistine king of the moment. Many of us have families and our families test us as to what we have before us for them. You see, if we have advancement in this world before us, then we have not God with us. If we have that as an active motive in our minds, God says, You will have to go without Me in that. The Philistine king came with his captain to Abraham. Now I am only speaking of this in a practical way to bring out that we will be tested, dear brethren, in regard of counting on God’s faithfulness. God will put us to the test as to that, and we do not want to be put to shame in it. We want to be loyal to God as tested by Him. So we have the word, “God tried Abraham”, (Genesis 22:1). Well, this happened after. What I am now speaking about is not the test of Isaac being offered up, but the test in the Philistine king bringing his captain, that is to say, bringing his military ability or whatever it be to bear on the believer. Whether it be military or whatever else, the enemy will use it to test you if you are to be true to God’s promises. Abraham said to Abimelech that he had taken away a well of his. How often that happens, dear brethren, that we have a complaint to make as to a fellow man or a fellow believer, a complaint that something has been done that is not fair; there is much of it. This was not fair of Abimelech, and Abraham told him the truth about it, but then he did not leave it at that. He set seven ewe lambs from his flock aside by themselves, and Abimelech said to Abraham, What do you mean by these seven ewe lambs by themselves?
Now, dear brethren, it is often a challenge, when we are unfairly treated, as to what we are going to do about it. Well, you say, Complain! Very good, but then be sure that you carry with you the right [p. 354] spirit. Instead of going to law about it, bear the right spirit with you. Tell the truth, bear the right spirit, the spirit of Christ, for that is what God is looking for in these tests that He allows amongst us. So the ewe lambs were set aside by themselves and the Philistine king wanted to know about these lambs. Each of us can work out what I am saying, if he wishes, by comparing the passages I am quoting. What had these ewe lambs to do with the taking away of the well? Well, Abraham said, It is that you might know that I dug that well. That was the point. So that if there be any complaint against a neighbour, be sure that the right spirit is there in the complaint, and the additional thought of a digged well, pointing to the Holy Spirit; that is to say, that you have the means of supporting your right spirit. It is not going to die out with the day, it is going to last. You have stated your case and you are standing by the right principles that govern it, but then be sure that you are going to carry the thought through, that that principle which you now possess and is now characterising you is going through, it is going to be yours. Abraham wanted the Philistine king to know that it was his, that Abraham really owned the well. And what is that but the blessed means that God affords us for supporting us in right principles, so that they do not die with us. Job spoke about wisdom dying with people, but it does not die with them, you know, and we do not want it to die with us either. We want to leave wisdom here; God needs it here, and whatever else there is that is needed in the way of support of the testimony, God needs that. So it is to be prolonged; even if we die, the principles are to be prolonged in the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is exhibited in the well.
I have said that much to illustrate what I have in mind about Abraham, and it is to impart to each [p. 355] one present the idea of having a right spirit, to carry it along, to make it stand, that it shall go with you; even if you die the principle should stand. If God has brought in a principle, it is not to die with us, God would keep it here in a living way. So the seven ewe lambs were set apart by Abraham, and Abraham said to Abimelech, I want you to take those seven ewe lambs from me. It was not that he needed them, but Abraham needed to have evidence with the Philistine king that the principle of a right spirit should not die with Abraham. It should continue, and it did continue. How well we know it, as we think of our Lord Jesus Christ! How every right principle is yea and amen in Christ! And so the Lord said, “Abraham exulted in that he should see my day”, (John 8:56). One can understand how Abraham would remember this incident and how, not Isaac, but Christ should be the maintainer of every right principle. So the seven ewe lambs were left with the Philistine king and Abraham died; but if he died the principle of right speaking, of right doing, remains, and righteousness is the great need of the moment, dear brethren. God is faithful. I have read three passages to show it, but then God is righteous too, and God is love. God is God, and He is concerned about what is being preserved in His people, and so in John’s epistle it says, “See what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God”, 1 John 3:1. That is the idea, God would have His children here to carry on His own thoughts and His own principles, even if they have to suffer for them.
In order to bring out how the spirit of Abraham is carried down further, we have in Isaac in Genesis 26 another incident in which the Philistine king had not only his captain with him, but his friend; all to influence, not now Abraham, but Isaac. This idea of influence, dear brethren, by the world is a most [p. 356] dangerous thing. Wrong influences by the world are current all round us. Isaac was true, and God was with him and supported him, and so we find again it is a question of Beer-sheba. I should have spoken of Beer-sheba. At that particular time Abraham planted a grove at Beer-sheba and he called upon the name of Jehovah, the Eternal God. I wish you to know how the man of faith in those days, and the education is carried down to ourselves, learned how to call upon the Eternal God; that is to say, that God lives. Even if Abraham died, as I was saying, God lives. He is the Eternal God. Wisdom may die, persons who are wise may die. Alas, many of the dear brethren have been taken of late; others may be taken, and if the Lord is desirous to continue His testimony, more of us will go and the thing is to be ready, but then the wisdom that we have is not to die with us. It is to be cherished among the brethren. Our meetings today are to that end, and all such meetings are to teach us, to support us in what is right, so that we may not assume that wisdom dies with us. It does not. It is of God; God has brought in wisdom. “Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption”, (1 Corinthians 1:30). These things are not to die with us, beloved. They are to live; they are made to live in Christ. As I said, the Philistine king, with his friend and the captain of his host, three people, came to Isaac to influence him in the wrong direction, but they failed. Isaac was true. You will say that these things are all well known; I suppose they are, but they are worth knowing again. In the family of Abraham, the idea of Beer-sheba is growing; that is, the idea of the faithfulness of God is growing, and so after Isaac calls the well Sheba, we are told “therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba, to this day”, (Genesis 26:33). It was just a place before, but now it is a city, meaning that the testimony of [p. 357] God is growing in the family of faith, in the family of Abraham.
Now when Isaac is raised from among the dead in figure he does not go down with Abraham, he goes up to heaven, you might say. I have gone to chapter 26, but the facts of chapter 22 would mean that in principle Isaac is not only risen, but he has gone up somewhere, he has gone out of view. Abraham goes down, and his young men, to Beer-sheba. He is settled in Beer-sheba. He lived there, but Isaac is not said to have gone there; that is to say, as we had it today, Christ goes to heaven. He is entitled to go there any time. He is the Son of God and can go to heaven whenever He pleases. He may come to us and He does; but He is the Son of God and therefore has liberty to do what He pleases; I say that most reverently. The Lord has liberty to come as He pleases, either to come to us or to come and go from us into heaven, but even if He goes wisdom remains here. The Spirit remains here in all His power, so the testimony remains here. Isaac did not go down, but Abraham and his young men go down to Beer-sheba. Isaac is now seen in chapter 26, and is tested as Abraham was tested, but he did not fail; he is at Beer-sheba, and I want every one here today to name the thing I am speaking of, to know the faithfulness of God and stand by and count upon it at all times and in all circumstances. And so, as I said the testimony comes to him that his servants had found water, they had dug a well and found water, and “he called it Shebah (Genesis 26:33)”. The general principle for the continuance of things is the presence of the water, which means the Holy Spirit. It can only be in the power of the Holy Spirit that anything can be maintained according to God.
Then to speak further of Abraham’s family in Genesis 46, Jacob is seen at Beer-sheba; he had [p. 358] been through a lot. We are coming to the end of his history at the end of Genesis, which book is mainly the history of these three patriarchs. In chapter 46 Jacob goes down to Joseph. It was Joseph who had sent for him, meaning that now we are coming on to the fulfilment of the promises. Joseph is not in the land of Canaan; he is in Egypt, he is among the gentiles. Christ is now amongst the gentiles, dear brethren. He is not among the Jews. His work mainly was among the Jews during His sojourn here, but at Pentecost He is first among the Jews, but presently He is among the gentiles. Christ is among the gentiles now, I mean that is the position, and we can thank God we are all gentiles here; but it is Christ among the gentiles. It is a very precious thought to have before us. Although we are gentiles, we have Christ among us. The Messiah is among the gentiles, He is not among the Jews; He will be, He will come back. “He shall send Jesus Christ” (Acts 3:20), Peter says, but He is not come yet, not in that sense. He comes to us, as I have been saying, and presently He will come for us. He comes to us now, He comes for us, and then He comes with us.
These are three things which I would like to insert here in what I have to say. First, it is the thought of the Lord Jesus coming to us as He does in assembly, and then coming for us according to 1 Thessalonians, and then He is coming with us. He will not come without us. He is coming with His saints to be admired in them, for they are His glory. He is not coming without us. It is a very precious thought to have before us in all these meetings, dear brethren, that the Lord is amongst us by the Spirit, but He is presently coming for us, and then He comes with us. That is the finish, “to be glorified in his saints, and wondered at in all that have believed”, (2 Thessalonians 1:10). So that is the outlook and I just endeavour to keep it before the brethren in this address that we may all [p. 359] be furnished in view of the great events that are ahead of us. The greatest possible events are ahead of us, we are essential to them too, we belong to them, we are part of them, and the thing is to hold ourselves free of the world, to refuse the influence of the Philistine and maintain our liberty in the power of the Spirit which is seen typically in the well.
Now I would just refer to Jacob. It is said that he is going down to Joseph, which is very remarkable because the land was promised to the patriarchs. God said, He espied it for them (Ezekiel 20:6). He saw the land at a distance, as from heaven, and He espied it for Israel; that is the way He speaks of it, but He is not taking it on yet, He has given us the earnest of the inheritance, but He is not taking on the land as yet, we have to wait for that, and Israel has to wait for it, but then Jacob is going out into Egypt, he is going out among the nations. My thought is that Christ is now among the nations. It is a question of our keeping the charge of the Lord; Aaron’s family and Aaron kept the charge of the Lord. It is a great matter to keep the charge of the Lord; and these meetings are all to that end, to strengthen our hearts to keep the charge of the Lord, not to let things go wrong, but to have them go right that the saints may be governed by right principles.
So now, as I said, Jacob was going down to Egypt, he was going out of Canaan, and of course it is bound to affect us if we have to face that situation, but then we are going out to Joseph. There is nothing to fear if we are going out to Christ. It is a question of the position of Christ, whether He is now among the nations or whether He is among the Jews, or whether it be that He is just in heaven. As Peter says, “whom heaven indeed must receive till the times of the restoring of all things”, (Acts 3:21). It is just a matter of Christ being in heaven. In Revelation 12 [p. 360] it is said that the male child was taken up to God; that is simply a fact; He is taken up there to be out of the way of the devil. But if Christ be here, and He is, according to Matthew, “Behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age” Matthew 28:20. With you, not with the Jews, but with you, that is to say, with the believer, the assembly really; that is where Christ is. He is with us. It is very precious to have in our hearts that not simply are we with Him, but He is with us. That is Matthew.
Jacob, as I said, must have been disconsolate at going out of Canaan, but Jehovah told him not to be afraid. “And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beer-sheba; and he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac (Genesis 46:1)”. Notice that, not Abraham, but Isaac, it is a question now of Christ risen, everything now hinges on Christ risen. “And God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob! And he said, Here am I. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father (Genesis 46:2,3)”. Notice this, dear brethren, it is the God of thy father, not Abraham, but Isaac; “fear not to go down to Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation. I will go down with thee to Egypt, and I will also certainly bring thee up; and Joseph shall put his hand on thine eyes. And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, on the waggons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. And they took their cattle, and their goods which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him; his sons and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters and his sons’ daughters and all his seed he brought with him to Egypt”, (Genesis 46:3 - 7). That is the position now, dear brethren, we are with Christ, He has come down.
Jacob represents ourselves, he is going to Joseph [p. 361] and he is taking all his family with him, that is the position, the whole family of God now are to go out. Any links we have in this world are to be renounced, given up as not of any value, not indeed that there are not such things as material things, but as to the moral side of things. The idea is to go out, to give up all that one might attach importance to in this world. It is a question of the family of God, every family is named of the Father, and we are amongst them, and it is a question of going out, going out to Christ. He is not in Canaan, He is among the nations, He is here, He has His treasure here, His children are here, the saints are here, the assembly is here, and the point is for each of us, dear brethren, to bundle all up and go out. It is a time of going out. Let us go out confidently, do not be afraid, because it is a question of Isaac and Jacob and Joseph, and not Abraham any more. It is a question of Christ risen from among the dead; all is secured, all is yea and amen in Christ. There is nothing to fear, go out, go out to Him bearing His reproach.
I now want to come back to the passages I have alluded to; the last one specially: “Now God is faithful, that our word to you is not yea and nay”, 2 Corinthians 1:18. Paul is vindicating himself as to how he had been regarding and treating the Corinthians. He had been treating them in love. He loved them, but they thought he was prevaricating, a thought sometimes allowed as to brethren who care for us, but Paul said, “God is faithful, that our word to you is not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, he who has been preached by us among you (by me and Silvanus and Timotheus), did not become yea and nay, but yea is in him. For whatever promises of God there are, in him is the yea, and in him the amen, for glory to God by us”. You see the triumphant point that the apostle reaches in opening up this truth, and it is for us. Of course, the Corinthians [p. 362] are not here any more, but the thing is here. These things have not died with the saints, they are here, for the Spirit is here, and all these things pronounced by Paul remain with us, and it is for us to live in them, and to be transparent in our relation both as regards God, and one another. So the passage ends triumphantly, “For whatever promises of God there are, in him is the yea, and in him the amen, for glory to God by us” (verse 20). That is to say, Paul is vindicating himself and he is vindicating Silvanus and he is vindicating Timotheus. They were three preachers, you might say. If they were here in Melbourne tomorrow evening, Paul would be preaching, Silvanus would be preaching, and Timotheus would be preaching. They were just as simple then as we are now. If the brethren were able to preach, of course they would be asked to preach. It is of great importance if we are carrying on the testimony of God to secure persons who are equal to any given task. Make sure that they are equal to it, that God has made them equal to it, and if they are equal to a given task do not give it to anyone else. Give it to the man who is equal for it. So in this case there were three preachers in Corinth.
You can understand how the brethren would say, How did Paul get on last night? I would ask that question myself. And how did Timotheus do? Where was he preaching? And how did Silvanus do, and where did he preach? You may be sure they were all preaching, and they were preaching Jesus Christ God’s Son; that was the point, Jesus Christ God’s Son. So we should not ask people to preach who do not know how to preach, because God has given gifts to men, He has sent them all down here by the Spirit. There is no reason why we should not have gifts because they are available; “desire earnestly the greater gifts” (1 Corinthians 12:31), we are told. The gifts are available and certainly they are [p. 363] needed. Then if there is preaching to be done, get a preacher. See that he is gifted. If there is teaching to be done, get a teacher. Whatever else there is to be done, get the man that can do it, for God gives men to do it, He gives freely. Christ has given gifts to men, we are told, “he has given some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers”, (Ephesians 4:11). They are all there and there are plenty of them. You may be sure God is not slack on His side in providing what is needed, but the thing is to be sure you get the right men and make room for them, and pray for them, so that you will get results. We may be sure that each one of these three men who laboured in Corinth, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus, would get converts; their work would be manifest. And so he said that we three preached the Son of God and the point is that the Son of God “did not become yea and nay, but yea is in him. For whatever promises of God there are, in him is the yea, and in him the amen”.
And then there is more than that. In order to make the whole position secure, it goes on to say, “Now he that establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God”. It is God now, because the great feature in Corinthians is God. It is the assembly of God which is in Corinth. It says, “Now he that establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed [p. 364] us, is God, who also has sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts”. So that we have these three things, the anointing and the sealing and the earnest. These three things are given by God, and they are given freely by Him. God gives to all freely and upbraideth not, so the thing is to covet them. They are there; lay hold of them, because you need them. The saints need them too, and that is what the triumphant end is here. “Now he that establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts”. That is the triumphant close of this great subject in these epistles; that is to say, the faithfulness of God. The testimony to it is the gift of the Spirit in the anointing, in the sealing and in the earnest in our hearts, so that we are rich; we could hardly be richer from that point of view. It is a question of knowing the wealth that we have in the Holy Spirit. May God bless the word in this sense!