It is of the Lord’s lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him.
The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him.
It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.
Transgression speaketh to the wicked within his heart,
There is no fear of God before his eyes.
For he flattereth himself in his own eyes,
That his iniquity will not be found out and be hated.
The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit;
He hath left off to be wise and to do good.
He deviseth iniquity upon his bed;
He setteth himself in a way that is not good;
He abhorreth not evil.
Thy lovingkindness, O Lord, is in the heavens;
Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the skies.
Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God;
Thy judgments are a great deep:
O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast.
How precious is Thy lovingkindness, O God!
And the children of men take refuge under the shadow of Thy wings.
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house;
And Thou wilt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.
For with Thee is the fountain of life:
In Thy light shall we see light.
Oh continue Thy lovingkindness unto them that know Thee,
And Thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
Let not the foot of pride come against me,
And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.
There are the workers of iniquity fallen:
They are thrust down, and shall not be able to rise.
Faithful is the saying:
For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him:
If we endure, we shall also reign with Him:
If we shall deny Him, He also will deny us:
If we are faithless, He abideth faithful;
For He cannot deny Himself.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for this time that we can be together this morning to consider Your Word and to consider Your faithfulness to each one of us.
Lord, we are quick to remind ourselves that we need Your faithfulness, and that nothing can be accomplished apart from You. We bow before You and praise You for the grace that You give us.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
I would like to begin by saying that the brothers and sisters in the Lord have been a real encouragement to everyone. Now, I know what it is like to stand before a great congregation, but when I look around, I see friends, and I see love in your hearts. Just like the saints in the Lord, we are all needy people.
Well, that is all I had to say standing in the middle of prayer.
It is good to be here, and we appreciate all that we have received from Richmond over the years—particularly the conferences, the brothers who have been faithful to come down and visit with us and bring us the Word of God, and, most importantly, your prayers. We thank you very much.
In the fellowship, particularly in recent times, we have been very encouraged by the faithfulness of God towards our young people. If you will bear with me just a minute, I would like to tell you what some of the young people are doing. It has been a real encouragement for us.
Some of you, I think, have heard this. Amy Hoffman is in Peru now. She is doing missionary support with Colleen Elliott, as you all know, in Peru. She is going to be there all summer. We have received some emails, and she is just doing very well. We are very pleased that Amy has this opportunity.
Joseph LaValle is going to Russia this summer on a short-term mission. Sam Allen is out at Camp Willeran with the Chancellor. He has just finished his first week. Daniel Hawkins is working at Camp Willeran. He graduated from college, and he is on the permanent staff out there.
Our oldest son, Matthew, and his wife, Natalie, are now in Cuba. They have been there for one week, and they have one more week to go. We have heard from them. They have had some difficulties with their bags and travel arrangements, but it is kind of a long story. We are very pleased with that opportunity.
I also wanted to mention our foreign-exchange student whom we had two years ago, Philip Hartman. We had an opportunity to visit him in Denver a couple of weeks ago. We were there for about a week and a half.
When Philip was with us, he fit into the family and he fit into the fellowship. He did not know the Lord, and when we left, we just knew that the Lord was going to do things in his life. And He is.
Philip is going to an evangelical assembly in Berlin. He goes by himself; his family is not saved, and they are not going with him. But we are really encouraged by what the Lord is doing in Philip Hartman’s life.
I am telling you this just to say that God is faithful. We can trust Him in our own lives, and we can trust Him for our young people. It is all about the grace of God—all about the grace of God.
While we were in Germany, we had an opportunity to visit Austria. While we were there, we spent one night in Austria, and we saw a beautiful double rainbow. I left a picture of it back here on the table; you might want to take a look at it.
It was such a blessing to be reminded of God’s faithfulness in creating that rainbow while we were in Austria. So, this morning, I would like to share along the lines of the faithfulness of God—first, to me personally. I would like to share a little bit of my personal testimony and then talk a little more about the faithfulness of God towards His people.
I have known the Lord for a number of years. I was saved when I was thirty-three, and I cannot thank the Lord enough for the fact that I grew up in a Christian home. My dad was saved at an early age, and I had godly parents—not perfect, but godly people.
Dad and Mum had seven daughters and sons. Dad knew how to raise young people. He was kind, but he was fair, and we learned that there was a healthy respect for authority in our home. I cannot ever remember hearing my dad and mum quarrel except for just a few times, and they quickly made up. So, I just thank the Lord for growing up in a Christian home.
Now, what happened to get me to a place where the Lord could begin to work in my heart? I was thirty-two years old. I did not know the Lord. There was no peace and no real purpose in my life. I knew something was missing, but I did not know what it was.
Well, the Lord gave me an outstanding event which drew me to Himself. I ended up in hospital for a week and thought I was dying. I did some praying, but then went back to my old ways.
We were in an Episcopal church, and we went to church most Sundays, but the Lord was not real in my life. We had a Living Bible in the home that I had ordered through a Billy Graham edition, and it sat around. But for some reason—well, I know the reason; the Lord was calling me—I said, “Read the Bible.”
In the back, there was a section which outlined God’s plan of salvation, so I started looking up the verses in my Bible. It was new stuff to me. The Lord was working through His Word, and the more I read, the more I wanted to read.
I went through a period of a couple of weeks almost in a kind of daze. I know people were concerned for me, but I was at peace. I just did not know what was going on.
One Saturday, I was in the house by myself. I was reading, and all of a sudden it just became clear. I knew that I was lost. I knew that I was a sinner, separated from God. And I knew what I had to do.
I got down on my knees and asked the Lord to come into my life. And He did.
From that time until now, I have never doubted that the Lord is real. He did something in my heart. He did something in my life. And I praise Him for that.
Something else happened that, when I think back on it, is just amazing. A few weeks after that, a couple of boys whom I had met gave me two books. They gave me The Normal Christian Life and another book on the Christian life. I just devoured those two books and tried to take all of it in.
But the Lord gave me an understanding. I mean, in those early times, I just had a vision. Although it was weak and limited, it was precious. And I praise Him for that.
We came to Connecticut about that time, and we were there for two years. I was searching. I would go anywhere. I got involved with The Way International for a month or so. The Mormons came by, and I invited them in.
I saw a lot of things that I liked in the Mormon church. In fact, one of the Mormon elders was born into a family much like mine. So we visited the Mormon church. But, you see, nobody was saying that it was not practical at all, really.
Yet the Lord was faithful to preserve me and keep me out of error.
After those three wonderful years, we moved to Roanoke Rapids. The first person in the fellowship that I met was Robert Henry Hopkins. It was incredible. My father and I have been close friends for the last twenty years, and I really love Brother Connor.
Again, the faithfulness of God is just amazing.
So, I am very, very thankful as I stand here before you today for all of the Lord’s blessings—particularly my wife, my dear wife, and our two sons. We can trust the Lord.
Let us turn again to 2 Timothy 2:11-13.
I have not always been faithful. There have been problems, unbelief, and selfishness. But the Lord is faithful.
If we are faithless, He abideth faithful;
For He cannot deny Himself.
When we turn and go through a day when we are unfaithful, the Lord Jesus is faithful. He exactly is faithful, and this is the character of God that He has revealed: God is faithful.
His faithfulness towards us is not contingent on our faithfulness towards Him. It is an amazing thing—the grace of God, the amazing grace of God.
Let us turn again to Psalm 36.
This is one of two psalms written by David that begins with the title, “A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord.” I think a lot of us know that the word in the Hebrew means a bondservant, so David was a bondservant of the Lord.
This is a title that God gave David. Do you remember when, in 2 Samuel, Nathan spoke to David about God’s desire for a house? This title was used: David, servant of the Lord.
Now, I believe when David wrote this, he may have been up on a high place, considering his surroundings. He was looking around, and one of the things he saw was the wickedness all around him.
Certainly today, we can look around us and see the same conditions in our country and around the world. We see a lifestyle where, day after day, we see wickedness in our places. It breaks the heart of God, and it should break our hearts too. It should bring us to a place where we can intercede and pray for the things around us.
But David called upon the Lord. In Psalm 36:5, we read:
Thy lovingkindness, O Lord, is in the heavens;
Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the skies.
We see a beautiful picture here of the provision—the full provision—of God in faithfulness. This is the hope that the Lord has given us as His people: an understanding of His faithfulness.
In Psalm 36:7, we read:
How precious is Thy lovingkindness, O God!
And the children of men take refuge under the shadow of Thy wings.
So God is good, and He is faithful. We can trust and abide in Him. We can depend upon His faithfulness towards us.
Let us turn to 1 Corinthians 1:4-9.
I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;
That in everything ye were enriched in Him, in all utterance and all knowledge;
Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye be unreproveable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
In the midst of all the problems in that place—the party spirit and all the difficulties—Paul could begin by thanking God for these types of things.
He reminded them that they came behind in no gift. Every gift that God had given was ministering. And he reminded them that God is faithful. Even in the midst of their unfaithfulness, God is faithful.
In 1 Corinthians 1:8, we read:
Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye be unreproveable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This means that God would guarantee, would confirm unto the end, that they would be blameless in His presence when they were found.
It is a precious thing, brothers and sisters, to stand before God with an honest heart and know that you know the Lord. To know that the Lord made you, and to have a blameless heart—not sinless in profession, but knowing that our sins are forgiven, knowing the faithfulness of the Word of God, and knowing that we are walking in a way that pleases the Lord.
That is a blessed thing.
Paul knew that God was faithful. That is why he could write these things to the Corinthian church. It is such a beautiful thing to consider.
This confidence is based upon the reality of God’s covenant relationship with Jesus Christ. It is something we can trust in.
Let us turn to Hebrews 2:16-18.
For verily not to angels doth He give help, but He giveth help to the seed of Abraham.
Wherefore it behoved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted.
Jesus, the seed of Abraham, the Son of Man, came and was tempted in every respect just like we are, but He did not turn. He did not turn.
And this qualified Him to be that faithful High Priest. He could stand before God, and it says in God’s Word that He ever makes intercession for His people.
As our faithful High Priest, He has reconciled us to a holy God. It is an amazing thing.
We see Him as a Son over God’s house, and we are exhorted to be faithful to the house of God. We can rest in God’s faithfulness towards us as we hold fast unto the end.
I will close by reading 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24.
And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly;
And may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is He that calleth you, who will also do it.
Faithful is He that calleth you, who will also do it.
So, this is my prayer this morning: that we would know in our hearts that we can rest in the faithfulness of God. The One who has called us has called us to purpose. He has shown us many wonderful things in His Word, and we can rest in knowing that He is faithful to the end as we call upon Him.
Lord, we thank You for the encouragement that we receive from Your Word. We thank You for this opportunity to share with one another.
Father, we know that we can trust in You. We can trust in that work that the Lord Jesus did for us on Calvary’s cross. We just thank You and praise You.
In Jesus’ precious name, amen.