BECOMING FAITHFUL TO GOD

Romans 1:18 - 3:31

 INTRODUCTION:   

In May of 1997, just over ten years ago, Steven Spielberg released the movie, Lost World: Jurassic Park.  The film ended up grossing over $618 million worldwide, making it the biggest moneymaker among the 1997 film releases.  That movie was classified as a science fiction thriller.  

People, “Lost World” is not just the title of a ten-year-old movie; it is an accurate description of where we live.  We live in a lost world; we live among lost neighbors, lost friends and lost family.  God’s Word declares that those who die without having placed their faith in Jesus Christ as God’s Son and who have not declared him to be the lord of their lives, forfeit salvation and pass into the world of the eternally lost.

In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome, he says we are either part of the problem or part of the solution.  Either we are helping to reach the lost or we are counted among the lost.  The deciding question is: are we being faithful to God. 

Paul’s assertion is that God is faithful; his question is, are we?

I.    HIS CREATION TESTIFIES TO GOD’S FAITHFULNESS (1:18-32) We can see it around us.

Note what Paul wrote in Romans 1:18-20:

^18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ^19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ^20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Paul both believed and taught that God’s creation testifies to his faithfulness.  This theme was echoed by the Nineteenth Century hymn writer, Thomas O. Chisholm, who penned these words:

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, sun, moon and stars in their courses above, join with all nature in manifold witness to Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.  Great is Thy faithfulness.  Great is Thy faithfulness.  Morning by morning new mercies I see!

Indeed, great is God’s faithfulness.  Having said that, perhaps I should define faithfulness.  The term “faithfulness” means to do one’s duty in fulfilling a trust.  That is the meaning behind the motto of the United States Marine Corps: Semper Fideles (or just “Semper Fi”) – “Forever Faithful”.  The Marines want to instill within the corps the concept of always doing one’s duty to fulfill the trust that has been given to them.

Paul wants us to know that God is forever faithful and we can count on Him.  As evidence, Paul points to the natural order of the world in which we live.  God’s eternal power and His divine nature are on display through His creation.  His fingerprints are all over the cosmos bearing witness to the identity of the One who created it.  God’s creation testifies to his faithfulness so Paul says we have no excuse for not knowing that God is faithful.

II.    MAN’S CONSCIENCE TESTIFIES TO GOD’S FAITHFULNESS (2:1-16) We can hear it within us.

Not only does the creation testify to God’s faithfulness, so does our conscience.  Paul wrote:

^12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. ^13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. ^14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, ^15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) ^

You have probably heard the counsel: “let your conscience be your guide.”  That is not always good advice because some people have so seared their conscience that it is not a reliable guide.

But Paul says that our consciences bear witness to the fact that God’s law is written on our hearts as a matter of instinct and a part of our nature.  Now the Old Testament is full of laws.  The first five books of the Bible are called “The Books of Law” and Jewish scholars have agreed that there are 613 mitzvot (or 613 distinct commandments) just in the first five books of the Bible.  There are many more commandments in the remaining 34 books of the Old Testament.  In addition to that, Jewish rabbis added countless more commands to try to define, explain and elaborate on the original commandments of Scripture.  These additional commandments were written down in the Talmud and the Mishnah.  In total, they number in the thousands.

Clearly Paul did not mean that every nuance of the Old Testament Law was written on our hearts.  No one, by instinct, would know each and every specific commandment that was a part of the Jewish tradition.

No, what Paul wrote was that the basics of God’s will for His creation are natural and instinctive to us because it is written on our hearts and they are woven into the fabric of our nature.  There are certain moral expectations that transcend all cultures, all races, all nations and all time.  The presence of this intuitive sense of right and wrong testifies to the faithfulness of the God who created us.

In Ecclesiastes 3:11, the Bible says, God “has also set eternity in the hearts of men.”  God has placed within our hearts a capacity and a longing for the eternal such that our conscience testifies to the faithfulness of God.

III.    YOUR COMMITMENT TESTIFIES TO GOD’S FAITHFULNESS (2:17-29) We can show it to His world.

God has revealed His faithfulness in His creation and in our conscience and now it is our task to reveal His faithfulness to the world.  Our commitment testifies to God’s faithfulness.

 Actually, the way Paul develops this theme is from the negative.  He writes about people who claim to be God’s representatives but who fail to live up to what God has commanded.  Their lack of faithfulness to the will of God hurts God’s reputation.  Listen to a portion of this section of Scripture:

^17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; ^18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; ^19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, ^20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— ^21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? ^22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ^23 You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? ^24 As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

That is an old problem but it is not just an old problem.  To this day, the hypocrisy of people who claim to be God’s children, is the biggest blight on God’s reputation in the world.

A very odd statue adorns the wall on the grounds of Ribston Hall in Yorkshire, England.  The statue is commonly called “The Two-faced Butler.”  On one side there is a face that is all smiles and politeness; on the other side is one that depicts insolence and impoliteness.

The story behind the statue is that it represents an actual butler who once served the household.  One day after having received orders from the mistress of the household, he was all smiles and sweetness.   A moment later, when he thought she was not looking, he was caught sticking out his tongue at her and making other impolite gestures.  So this statue was ordered and erected in a very prominent spot to both shame the two-faced butler and warn any other servants who might have a tendency to imitate his behavior.

Ribston Hall is not the only place to find two-faced servants.  Our Lord has had more than His share down through the years.

IV.    GOD’S CHARACTER TESTIFIES TO GOD’S FAITHFULNESS (3:1-8) We can know it from His Word.

^3 What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? ^4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written:

"So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge."

God’s own character testifies to His faithfulness.

Have you ever found yourself getting aggravated and frustrated with another person and the way he has treated you?  Have you ever found yourself so frustrated and aggravated that you did something that was out of character for you?  Maybe you flew off the handle and said something you normally wouldn’t have said.  Maybe you used words you normally wouldn’t use.  Maybe you got so angry that you threw things or even took a poke at another person.  You are not, by nature, a violent person but your exasperation finally boiled over and you did something out of character for you.

Paul says that God never acts out of character.  Boy, is that ever a comfort to know!  No matter what I have done, no matter how I have disappointed God or vexed Him, He never acts out of character.  He never blows up and does something spiteful.  Paul’s descriptive way of saying this is that the lack of faith on the part of some people will not every nullify God’s faithfulness.  Paul said that even if everyone else proved to be a liar, God would still tell the truth so that He will be proved right when He speaks and he will prevail when He judges.  The New Living Translation puts it this way:

Though everyone else in the world is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say, “He will be proved right in what he says, and he will win his case in court.”

God’s constant and consistent ways, no matter how His children have acted, bear witness to His faithfulness.

V.    OUR CONFIDENCE TESTIFIES TO GOD’S FAITHFULNESS (3:9-31) We can trust it with our lives.

^21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ^22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, ^23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ^24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ^25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ^26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

The author of the book of Hebrews defines faith as “the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.”  Garreth Reese of Central Christian College of the Bible in Moberly, MO says that faith is “a whole soul trust in God because of the sufficiency of the evidence.”  I like that.

Faith requires trusting God but Biblical faith is not blind faith.  It is a faith that is based on verifiable evidence.  To put it another way, there is enough proof to take us so far that we can trust God to take us the rest of the way.

Some of you may, like me, remember Groucho Marx and the quiz show, “You Bet Your Life”.  This game show first aired on radio in 1947 and was then brought to television from 1950 – 1961.  On the show, contestants were given a sum of money (originally $20) and they were allowed to wager any portion of that amount, betting that they could answer a question they would be asked.

No one really bet his life.  That was just the name of the game.  But in reality, people do bet their lives and they do it every day.  They bet their lives on the medicines that their doctor has prescribed and that their pharmacist has supplied.  They bet their lives on the safety of the other drivers with whom they share the roads.  They bet their lives on the bridges they use, the elevators they ride and the structure of the buildings they occupy.

But far more seriously, we all bet our souls every day, too.  We either wager that God exists, Jesus is His son and we are His servants or we wager that God does not exist, Jesus is not His son and we are not His servants.  We bet more than our lives, we bet our eternal destinies on that wager.  Paul want us to know you can bet it all on the Lord and your confidence will be rewarded because God is faithful.

CONCLUSION:      

Among the many witnesses that testify to God’s faithfulness, the purity of our lives should bear eloquent testimony to God’s holy name.  Does it?

Dr. Stuart Holden tells of a boy who’s father showed him “The Light of the World,” the painting by Holman Hunt that depicted Christ standing at the closed door.  The father explained to his son that the door represented the door of a man’s heart and that Jesus was knocking to ask admission into the man’s heart and into his life.  As the father told the boy about the love and patience of this Jesus, the little boy burst out with, “Father, did He get in?”  “Well, son, no, I don’t think He did” said the Dad.  “But why, Father? Didn’t they hear Him knock?”  “Well, yes, son, I think they heard Him knock, but I don’t think He got in because he is still standing at the door.”

The boy thought a little.  “Dad, they couldn’t have heard Him, could they?  Maybe they were living down in the cellar, and that’s why they didn’t hear him.”

It may be that some who have heard the call of God have been living way down in the cellar, in the lowest of all life’s levels of desire and have never realized its meaning and tremendous importance.  God’s call to you, Jesus’ knock at your heart’s door, is the most important sound you will ever hear.  Please do not ignore the One who is at your door right now.

INVITATION:                        #469 – “The Savior Is Waiting”

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