Welcome to the preaching ministry of Tri-City Baptist Church in Chandler, Arizona. Our desire is that God would be magnified through the preaching of His Word, and that Christians would be challenged, strengthened, and edified in their personal walk with Christ. I would invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to Galatians chapter 5. We are continuing our study of the Spirit's fruit and cultivating that in our lives, and looking at the various aspects of this as we have been looking at this for several weeks. We've considered a number of aspects. I've mentioned several times that the fruit of the Spirit is singular. It's multifaceted. There are actually nine characteristics that are mentioned here, and they're broken into really three groups of three. We'll look at that in just a moment. But I want to continue this study this evening in looking at the aspect of faithfulness. In the afternoon of September 18th, back in 1870, the members of the Washburn-Langford-Doan expedition traveled into what is now known as Yellowstone National Park. they encountered a geyser. And in the words of Nathaniel Langford, he said, it spouted at regular intervals nine times during our stay. The columns of boiling water were thrown from 90 to 125 feet at each discharge, which lasted from 15 to 20 minutes. We gave it the name Old Faithful. He wrote that in 1871. Old Faithful really is a fitting name for this geyser. There are nearly 500 in Yellowstone, and this is one of six that the park rangers say that they can currently predict as to when they will erupt. It's uncommon to be able to predict that, but Old Faithful has lived up to its name. There are more than one million eruptions that have been recorded. And it's highly predictable for this kind of a feature. In fact, they said that the time has been lengthened by about 30 minutes in the last 30 years. You know, it's something that should be said for faithfulness. Yet in our modern society, that characteristic is almost viewed as a non-issue, a trait that was in another era. You know, we hear of a time in history when a man was as good as his word. A handshake was all that was necessary to secure a transaction. That is not the case today. We have multiple levels of trying to hold a person to their word and the complications and legal ramifications. If you purchase a home or refinance, the number of pages, the number of signatures that are necessary to make sure everything is covered. Years ago we had refinanced when we were living in Maine, gotten a better interest rate, better terms, and the person came to our house to do the paperwork, and I'm signing page after page, and finally I said, if I had known it was this difficult, I'm not sure I would have gone through with it. And the person who was closing it said, actually, this company is one of the easier ones to work with. So I'm glad I didn't go with anybody else. But isn't that the case? I mean, if you're buying a home, or if you're updating the operating system on your phone, all the legal jargon that is available and that you have to look at. You know, we could say, unfortunately, that men today are as good as their word, but not in a positive way. Often their word means very little when it comes to loyalty. But our Lord praises faithfulness. In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, Jesus encouraged his followers to strive for the commendation, well done, good, faithful servant. So this evening we want to consider this next aspect of the Spirit's fruit and cultivating the fruit of faithfulness. and recognizing the importance of this. As I've mentioned, we're coming now to the first word in the final triplet of the words of the Spirit's fruit in this passage in Galatians 5, 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law. And what we saw, and I've laid it out on the screen, the breakdown, that there are various categories. There are the habits of the mind, our relationship Godward, of love, joy, peace, that compassion for others, the delight in serving the Lord, and the steady confidence that we have because of that. Then we consider the attitudes and actions toward others, patience, that long-suffering, that difficult or tough aspect, the kindness. And then goodness, that really is very closely tied with kindness, but it speaks of always doing what is best. And so even though it may seem difficult, we use the term tough love. But it's really speaking of kindness. And now we come to the third set, the general conduct, and frankly a lot of it dealing with our personal development. Faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. So this evening I want us to consider this aspect of faithfulness. What is faithfulness? And what is it that comes to our minds? It's interesting because the Greek word for faith and faithfulness is the same. It's the context that helps us. So this passage here, what we find is in the New King James, it says faithful. In the King James, it's translated faith. because they're very closely intertwined. In fact, I did a quick survey, went to Bible Gateway, the program, and you can get a lot of versions, and I found that 11 times the word was translated faith, 41 times faithfulness, and then fidelity and faithful were both used twice. But there's a close connection here, that these are the same word, but they're bringing together that idea of loyalty and fidelity to God and others. It's speaking of trust, of believing. It's that aspect, and really, true faith results in faithfulness. That if we have truly believed, if we have true faith, then the Spirit is going to be developing faithfulness in us. You know, it's not just a decision in the past, it ought to have present application. In fact, one pastor commented that in the New Testament, most of the times the word faith is used, it's used in the present tense. That it really speaks of what are we trusting now? And often in giving the gospel, this is one of the questions that we would ask, as Brittany shared with us, even as she was with Sada, if you were to die today and God were to ask, why should I let you into heaven, what would you say? Well, that really brings us to where is our faith? Is it in a decision in the past, or is it, I know who I've believed? And I'm persuaded that He's able to keep what I've committed to Him against that day. That the faith, the belief that saves our soul is also going to sanctify our life. And that's really the idea that we see developing here. So they're really connected, both faith and faithfulness. It carries the idea as well of trustworthiness. That a person will do what he promises. A faithful person is a person of honesty, of integrity. It's someone you can rely on. Faithful people keep their word. They do what they said. They're not going to cheat or deceive. A person like that cannot be trusted. They're not faithful. So there's an attachment to the truth, a determination to persevere and not be shaken, even if it ends up that it's to our disadvantage. Well, if I break my word, I can be better off financially, I get a better position. Well, are we trustworthy? You know, a faithful person is not somebody you have to check up on. It's the characteristic of somebody you can rely on. And so we see that aspect of being steadfast, of constant. This is a person who will be consistent. We'll see how this develops in a few moments. But understanding this is the character of God. that they're going to develop in this over time because God is faithful. He is unchanging. That God keeps His promises. A very familiar passage to us, we're familiar with the song, Great is Thy Faithfulness, but it comes from this passage in Lamentations. It's about God keeping His promises. And while the song is familiar, the passage is in the very middle of the book of Lamentations, and the book was written at a very terrible time in Israel's history. Jerusalem had been destroyed. The temple had been burned. And the people had been exiled because of their sin. In this passage it says, this I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Though through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because of his compassion we fail not. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. In the midst of all these horrible things happening, You could say, we have hope. Why? Because God's mercy is new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. An understanding that His compassion and His mercy provide hope because He is faithful. You know, it's not enough for somebody to be compassionate if they're not consistent. And God is faithful, and I can't tell you how many times that verse came to my mind when we were going through some of the difficulties with our daughter and her health, and this verse would just keep coming back to mind. His mercies were new every morning, that God was at work, that we can trust Him. I've given you a couple of other verses there. Psalm 33, four and five says, the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. And then 36.5, your mercy, O Lord, is to the heavens, your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. So we see that God is faithful, but He also displays His faithfulness. And there are several ways that He does this that I think will be an encouragement. One, He's called us to fellowship in His Son. 1 Corinthians 1.9, God is faithful by whom you were called into fellowship of His Son. that He has bestowed His grace upon us. He's faithful that He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. There's no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will make a way to escape that you may be able to bear. So God is faithful. We have to look for the escape. It's there. And He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear with His strength and power and provision. We also know that He will preserve us blameless at the coming of His Son. It says in 1 Thessalonians 5, now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you, set you apart completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful who also will do it. We have this wonderful promise, and understanding that, that God is faithful. He keeps His promises, He displays His faithfulness, and Jesus has fulfilled His mission. In John 17, 4, this is life eternal that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on earth. I have finished the work which You gave Me to do. Jesus said, I've completed the task I was given. And he's the author and finisher of our faith. So we understand that. I don't think any of us here would question, is God faithful? Though there are times when situations and circumstances come up and like, well, Lord, are you paying attention? So God is faithful. What about his people? You know, there are examples of faithfulness in the Bible, and maybe if we were to open it up and take time, if it was more of a teaching setting, we could come up with many examples in the Old Testament of Joseph, of Joshua, of Gideon, of Ruth, of Esther. I think one of those that's most prominent is Moses. Let me invite you to turn with me back to the Old Testament to Numbers chapter 12. Numbers chapter 12, but it says in Hebrews 3, I'm having you turn to Numbers, but Hebrews 3.2 says, Moses also was faithful in all his house, in all of the Lord's house. And that's coming from Numbers chapter 12. In Numbers 12, look with me at verse 6. Numbers 12, verse 6, it says, Then he said, Hear now my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make myself known to him in a vision. I speak to him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. I speak with him face to face. This is the relationship that Moses had with God. And God is telling the Israelites, and Miriam and Aaron particularly in this context, that Moses is a faithful man. When you think of Moses, think of the issues he had to deal with. I mean, the times he may have thought to just throw in the towel. I mean, the challenges he had before Pharaoh in leaving Egypt. And then the plagues and how God led Israel out. And you would think that because of that, Israel would have had faith and would have been faithful. Not so. And that's what we find in numbers. I mean, in the previous chapters, in chapters 11 and 12, Moses is having to deal with catering issues. You know, what are we going to eat and what are we going to drink? We don't have water and we don't like the food. And they're griping and complaining. And they're saying all we have is this manna, angel's food, as it states in the Psalms. And we considered this when we looked at learning from bad examples earlier this year. But this is what Moses is dealing with. These people are complaining. God is providing and they want garlic and vegetables and fish back in Egypt in slavery. And now in chapter 12, Moses is being criticized because of who he married. And that's the immediate context, and he's being criticized by his own family, his brother and sister. You know, criticism's hard enough to take when it comes from the general congregation that he's having to deal with. These are his own family members, his leadership partners. And I love in verse 3, it's a parenthetical statement. Here in this chapter, in verse 3, and you see the parentheses, it says, now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men that were on the face of the earth. That was his spirit. I chuckle when I read this, because who is the human author that the Holy Spirit is using to write this? Moses. And he's having to write. The man Moses is very humble. More humble than anybody else. I just wonder how that went. Lord, do I really have to write that? Yes, write it down. It's my word. But Moses wasn't one seeking to exalt himself. And he's having to deal with all of this. You continue to read in this letter, and in the next couple of chapters, now he's having to deal with the faithlessness of the spies that he sent into the land. And then the rebellion of Israel because of that. In fact, they bring death threats against him in chapter 14, verse 10. They want to stone him to death. And then there's a mutiny among the key leadership in chapter 16. And through all of this, Moses is faithful. In fact, God offers to create from Moses a great people. The Lord says, I'll wipe these people out and start over with you. And Moses intercedes for them. Moses had God's agenda, God's glory in mind, not his own personal agenda. And so he's a tremendous example of faithfulness. In the New Testament, there are many examples, but obviously Paul is a key one of those. It's interesting, in 1 Corinthians 7, 25, he's writing concerning marriage and whether or not to marry, and he says, now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but yet I give judgment as one whom the Lord in his mercy has made trustworthy. And so Paul is going to give his input as one who is trustworthy. In 1 Timothy 1, verses 11 and 12, he says, according to this glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. And you see this all through Paul's ministry. When he's involved in collecting the offering, and he's giving specific instructions for the offering that will be taken to Jerusalem in 2 Corinthians 8, he says, now, we're taking great pains to do what is right, and not only in the eyes of the Lord, but in the eyes of man. Paul was faithful that others would see this. I was talking with a friend recently, and he mentioned a businessman that we both knew. And he said, he operates with the most integrity of any person I know. And he's got a major business. And he commented, he said, he's not only concerned with doing what's right, he's concerned with how it will appear to others, that it will appear right. And he's asking those questions all the time. That's the testimony of faithfulness. As you read through the epistles, you find many of Paul's friends had this testimony of faithfulness as well, of Epaphras, of Tychius, of Onesimus. In fact, in Colossians, Paul mentions every one of these, and he says he's a faithful minister of Christ. He's faithful and beloved brother. He was surrounded with faithful people. Probably one of the most familiar is Timothy. And we see this, let me have you turn with me to Philippians chapter 2 because I want you to see what Paul says there. As you're turning to Philippians chapter 2, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4, for this reason I have sent Timothy to you who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church. In Philippians 2, in this passage, look with me at verse 19. He said, "...by trust in the Lord to send Timothy to you shortly, that you also may be encouraged when I know your state, for I have no one like-minded who will sincerely care for your state." for all seek their own, not the things which are Christ Jesus. But you know his proven character, that he is a son of his father, has served with me in the gospel." Notice how Paul is laying out the character of Timothy. He says, he naturally is concerned about your condition. He seeks what is important for Christ. Everybody else seeks their own. but not Timothy. He's seeking those things which are Christ's. He has proven character, and he served me like a son, Paul said. I mean, those are the descriptions of faithfulness. So it's no wonder that Paul told him, now commit to faithful men who will teach others also. He says, we want to develop people. And that really is the mission of International Baptist College and Seminary. But that's really our heartbeat as a church, that we're developing people that can take the gospel forth. I was taught in college, heard it over and over, the greatest ability is dependability, being faithful. And so we understand that, and we are called to be faithful. There are a number of characteristics and aspects of this we see in Scripture, that teachers are to be faithful. Things that you have heard and seen of me among many witnesses, commit to faithful men. Pastors' children, in Titus 1.6, if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of dissipation or insubordination. That they're not involved in debauchery and insubordination. They're there to be faithful. Deacons' wives in 1 Timothy 3, 11, likewise their wives must be reverent, not slanders or malicious gossips. Temperate, faithful in all things. Stewards, those of us who have a trust from the Lord. Moreover, it's required in stewards that a man be found faithful. and as believers. Colossians 1-2, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ. That really needs to be our testimony. So how do we develop that? How do we develop faithfulness? Well there has to be that faithfulness requires demonstrating integrity and accountability because it requires trust. It needs a proper attitude toward God. 2 Chronicles 19, 9, Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, is appointing leaders in Jerusalem and he says, Thus you shall say, you shall act in the fear of the Lord faithfully with a loyal heart. It's an accountability before God that brings us to that integrity, that we're who we say we are. that we live out what we truly believe. So we have to know what we believe and why we believe it. And it's one thing for us to sing, I'll live for Jesus day after day. It's another to actually do it. And that's what faithfulness speaks of. Faithfulness is, as one person said, Gene Peterson said, faithfulness is the long obedience in the same direction. I think that was the title of his book. But that's a great way to look at faithfulness. Continued obedience in the right direction, going forward. You know, Hebrews chapter 11 gives us wonderful examples of this. And most of us are familiar with that chapter, the hall of faith. You know, there's examples of faith and faithfulness. And you see that long obedience in Anoah, who spent years moved with godly fear, and worked for many, many, many, many years preparing an ark. He did it in the face of ridicule, denial of others. I mean, that, you know, it hadn't rained, and so why are you saying this? And he had that long obedience in the same direction. Abraham. left the security of a city and family, people he knew, and went out not knowing where he was going to obtain the promise and live in tents. You read through that chapter and you find Rahab, who sided with God's people against her own country, her own city. And what a step of faith, because her lifestyle was not one that would make her a wanted addition to God's people. But she believed the God of Israel. And her faith was exemplary, even though her life was not. And she ends up in the lineage of the Lord, of King David. The testimonies of so many people. And when you read that chapter, what you find is the testimonies of people who experienced the impossible. They stopped the mouths of lions. They quenched the violence of fire. They escaped and their dead were raised back to life again. That's verse 35, and we'd like to stop there. Here is experiencing the impossible, but that's not where the chapter ends. That's not even where verse 35 ends. It goes on and talks about those who not only experienced the impossible, there were others who endured the unbearable. Others were tortured. Not accepting deliverance. There were trials of mockings and scourgings. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. And they would not deny the faith. That's a long obedience in the same direction. And I think it's important that we understand how could they do that? They're looking unto the one who made the promise. If we look at the circumstances, there are times that we're going to struggle, and we see the hardship and the hurts, and we're going to be tempted to quit and grow bitter. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, the originator and the perfecter. And that's what that long obedience is. It also is realizing that honesty and trustworthiness advance the gospel. You know, faithfulness is demonstrated in little things. Luke 16, verses 10 through 13, there's a story that really lays out whoever is faithful with little can be trusted with much. Our faithfulness is developed in the little things. We say, well, that's not a big deal. It is when it's a character issue. And that's why we have to keep our word, show up when we promise, do what we're supposed to. and recognizing that a lifelong steady dependability is a commitment to an unwavering faithfulness in the Lord Jesus Christ, advances the gospel. Titus 2.10 says, show all good fidelity, and in doing so you may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. The question then is, does our faithfulness make the truth attractive to the lost? Do they see something different in us that our word really is good? That trustworthiness, honesty, honest people tend to advance the cause of Christ in a fallen world. People notice that when we do what's right, when they don't expect it. My wife has many of these stories when she goes to the grocery store and she went this past week, if they don't get things quite right, she'll go and say, you didn't charge me enough. They don't know what to do with that. Well, you know, if they overcharge, she'll let them know. She found a product out in the parking lot, she took it to the desk and said, you know, somebody left this, they're probably gonna come, and they said, oh yeah, and they knew who she was. And then the one girl said, well, that'll be good karma. Karma has nothing to do with it. It's fidelity to the Lord. But people notice that. You know, do they notice that in us? See, advancing the cause of Christ means there's a steadfastness. People led by the Spirit are trusting and trustworthy. We have faith and we're faithful. We should be steadfast and sure. Vacillation is not a mark of the Spirit's leading. We want to know the mind of God, but then we need to be committed and stick with it. And advancing the gospel means that we're faithful to the Bible, we're faithful to the church, we're faithful to the work of the Lord. It means that we see the mission that God has for our world. So faithfulness means that we would be missed if we're absent. That it would be noticed if we weren't there. It means that we're determined and honest. No one has ever been faithful to the Lord and lazy. We have to be investing. We have to be concerned to serve Him. And we need to be careful if our heart comforts us in sin, because we're in a dangerous place. We need to be true to God and true to our Word. We can't be dishonest. Revelation 21.8 says, all liars will have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. A faithful person is an honest person. So are we faithful? How do we know? Well, am I a person that others can rely on, that I'll be faithful even if it puts me at a disadvantage? Do others depend on my loyalty? Do they expect that or do they kind of have to be careful? Do I keep my promises and fulfill my obligations? Is my word reliable? Can God depend on us? Could Paul put our name, I want to send this person, because they are faithful? You know, we heard this morning, as Pastor Nathan preached, that striving to lay hold of the reason for which Christ has laid hold of us, that God doesn't waste His grace. But I find, and I used the verses earlier in 1 Timothy 1, of Paul said that God counted me faithful. putting me into the ministry. But he doesn't stop there. He says, although I was formerly a blasphemer, persecutor, arrogant, violent man, I obtained mercy. The grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith. This is a faithful saying. Worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Paul never lost sight of the fact of where God had brought him from. He never took that grace for granted, and we must not either. And we can't say, well, I failed in the past, therefore God can't use me in the present. God used Paul. He said it's the grace of Christ. So if we've been unfaithful, well, allow the Holy Spirit to develop this fruit in us. Trust in Christ's provision for justification first, that we have put our faith in Him, and then be trustworthy as part of our sanctification. Because that's the fruit of the Spirit. And that's what we're seeking to develop. So are we developing this aspect of the Spirit's fruit? Are you faithful this evening? Let's pray together. you