Awakened to Grace

Chad Roberts: Friends, I am so excited to share with you that my brand-new book, Blind Faith: Seeing God Through Darkness, is now released. It is available wherever you buy books in any format that you buy books. This book is published through our friends at Lifeway and B&H Publishing. You can go right now to readblindfaith.com and get your very own copy. Make sure you get one to share with a friend. Go to Amazon or readblindfaith.com today.

I want to define faithfulness today as the Bible defines it in the Greek. The actual meaning, the actual definition of faithfulness in Galatians 5 means reliable. It means dependable. I love this so much because who I am talking to today is a very specific, targeted audience. I am not necessarily talking today to those who just lie all the time. Some of you know those people. Perhaps you are listening and you are one of those people. You lie all the time so comfortably. God is not in that. God is nowhere in deception.

It can be so easy for us to lie, can it not? It can be so easy for us to be misleading. I know for me, if I am about to tell a lie and I think to myself, "Well, technically, it's true." If you have to use the word technically, red flag. You know what the Holy Spirit will so often ask me? If I get into the realm of technically, the Lord will say, "Are you trying to be deceptive? If you're trying to be deceptive, that's the same as lying."

But those aren't the ones I am necessarily speaking to today. Who I am speaking to are those who you are a good person, but you are not dependable. You have all the good intentions, but you never follow through. You might even be a godly person who loves the Lord and prays and truly loves God, but you are not reliable. You are not dependable.

My hope today is that I will be able to share with you some scripture that you can incorporate into your own life. That you would step out of this realm of being good and having good intentions to being reliable and steadfast, dependable. That is what God would have for us. So, when I use the word faithful today, what I am talking about is being a dependable person. I am talking about looking at God's faithfulness and that forming in me.

If we are not careful, what we allow is our past experiences to shape how we think and how we feel and how we view God rather than the Bible. The first scripture I want to give to you today is Numbers chapter 23, verse 19. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to let my Baptist roots come out this morning. I grew up Baptist and so those roots are still in me. I rarely ever do this in a sermon, but today, I've got three points and they all start with the C. That's the Baptist in me.

I am going to show you today the character of God. Number two, the consistency of God, and then lastly, the covenant promises of God. Character, consistency, and covenant promises. If you're going to take notes, I want you to note first under character of God, Numbers chapter 23, verse 19. It says that God is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should change His mind.

It means that what God says, He will fulfill it. That means that God is not a man. He's not flesh. He's not humanity. He is not sinful. He is not unreliable. That means that God is God alone, and we are not God. You know what that means? The people in your past that failed you are not God. The people in your past that walked out on you are not God. The people who abandoned you and the people that disappointed you and the people that hurt you, they are not God. But so often how they treated us shapes our view.

What we experienced begins to be felt in our walk of faith. There is a beautiful doctrine in the Bible, and I want you to write this down. It's the doctrine of immutability. Immutability. What does it mean? It comes from Latin words that mean not changing. Now, this is so important. The character of God is the foundation of our faith. You take away God's character and we're not left with anything.

The character of God is the foundation of our faith. So, what I have to do and what you have to do is we have to guard against allowing past experiences or present emotions to shape how we see God or how we worship God or how we feel about God, because that will creep its way into your faith. Many people grew up in a terrible homelife. They grew up in bad environments. So many had authority figures, whether it were teachers or other leaders in their life, who said terrible things to them. Things like, "You'll never amount to anything. Nobody will ever love you. You'll never do much."

Some of us have grown up with this very distorted, very skewed, very wrong perception of who God is. Because a parent left us or because a spouse left us or because somebody close to us in our life betrayed us, we keep God at an arm's length. Friends, I'm here today to tell you those people are flesh and blood. It is not God. It is God who said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." You cannot look at God the way you look at the people of your past.

It's the doctrine of immutability. It means not changing. It means that the very nature, it means that the very character, it means that the very promises of God are eternal and they will never, ever change. You and I cannot understand that because we are ever-changing. I settled in my heart many years ago that if I could comprehend and if I could understand everything about God, then I would have no need for Him.

I don't understand all about God, but I believe all that scripture teaches about God. Rather than letting experiences or emotions or past traumas or past hurts shape how I feel about God, I'm going to allow the scriptures to shape how I feel about God. What do the scriptures teach? That He's not a man that He should lie.

Perhaps today you don't understand why you don't trust God. You don't understand why you have a hard time with faith. You don't understand why for whatever reason you're not all in. Could it be, brother, sister, that something from your past is preventing your faith today?

A husband and wife came into a great season of struggle in their marriage. The husband was the type that not only was he on time, he was usually early to wherever he was going. As so often happens, opposites attract. You know what happens in dating? Opposites attract. You know what happens in marriage? Opposites attack. That is how that goes.

The wife was just always late. It didn't matter who it was for or what it was for. You could just bank on the fact she would always be late and it drove him batty. Well, the straw that broke the camel's back is they had a special dinner planned one evening. It was a great celebration and he asked his wife, "Please don't be late this time." But true to form, she was late.

As the couple entered counseling, why was this a hurdle he couldn't get over? I mean, people have different flaws about them. Better or worse, richer for poorer, sickness and in health. But this was a hurdle he just couldn't get over. Why? Well, through counseling he came to understand why. Subconsciously, he didn't even realize it.

Do you know why it was such a big deal to this husband that his wife always ran late? It was because when he was a little boy, he was the one that his mom always forgot. He was the last one to be picked up from school. He would be the boy sitting on the steps with the teacher and the last one in the building. Why? Because his mother was not dependable. She was not reliable.

Every time that his wife showed up late, it resurfaced those old feelings and subconsciously he did not even realize that's why it bothered him so bad. Thank God the Lord showed them that and they were able to work through it and move past it. But perhaps there are things in your own life today that you don't understand why it seems as though your faith is so often prevented. Why your faith is so often hindered. Why you can't go forward the way you want to go forward. It may be that you right now view God and you treat God like the way people from your past have let you down.

What I want to do is I want to encourage you today to shift your focus. Look at the God of the scriptures. Look at the God who says, "I'm not a man. I'm not flesh and blood. I'm not going to disappoint you. I'm not going to fail you. I'm not going to let you down the way others have let you down."

Number two today, not only the character of God, and what's the most important thing about the character of God? It is the entire foundation of our faith. If God is not who He says He is, friends, you and I have no faith. It is everything and that's why you can't let other people shape that perspective. You have to let scripture shape it.

Number two, the consistency of God. Turn to Lamentations chapter 3 today. Lamentations chapter 3, verse number 21, 22, and 23. Verse number 21 has been feeding my soul this week. It says, "This I recall, therefore I have hope." Are you a hope-filled person today? Is your outlook on life hopeful?

This has been quite an emotional week for me because one year ago today, I coded in the hospital. I was given an arrhythmic drip and I had an adverse reaction to it. It sped my heart up so fast that I coded. They told me clinically I was dead. They told my mom and Sadie that I had passed. I met with my ministry partners from Los Angeles and San Diego this week, pray.com, and one of their executives told me. They said, "Chad, we got the call that you had passed away."

Today is that one-year anniversary. One year today. Well, you can imagine that as I think about it every so often, and when I say every so often, I mean like several times an hour, my mind goes back to what I felt. My mind goes back to what I experienced. I can just relive every moment of that and every detail of that.

But no, what I've had to do particularly this week, I've had to stop myself and say, "No, I'm not going to dwell back there. I'm looking forward in Jesus' name." I'm breathing in victory and I'm walking in victory. I'm not looking at then. I'm looking at now. Therefore, when I recall these things, I have hope.

What's the hope? Jeremiah 29:11, "I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and to give you a future. This week Sadie and I attended a conference in Nashville. We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. If you have ever been there, you know how big it is. 700,000 square feet, 2,800 hotel rooms. I know because Sadie walked me by every one of them. She got lost so many times.

You know what I did not find coincidental is before we left, she kept saying, "You need to walk more." Well, we did. We averaged 12,000 steps per day in dress shoes. But I would go back and I would say a year ago I couldn't even get out of a hospital bed and today I'm walking 12,000 steps.

Listen, how do I recall? I quote the scriptures to myself. You know what I've been quoting all week? I've been quoting "I am above and not beneath. I am the head and not the tail. I am the lender, not the borrower." The favor of God is upon me. When I recall those things, I then have hope. Satan would love to keep you in despair. He would love to keep you in negativity. He would love to keep you in those dark places of your life. But listen, that's not where God wants you. He wants you going forward. For we walk, we go forward, by faith and not by sight.

Therefore, I have hope. Are you a hope-filled person? Then listen to what he says. "The faithful love of God never ceases. The steadfast, faithful love of God never ceases. His mercies never come to an end." Verse 23, "They are renewed every morning. Great is His faithfulness." Can we say amen to that today?

The consistency of God. Why will He never abandon you? Why is every promise finding their yes and their amen in Jesus? Why is God completely dependable and completely reliable? I'll tell you why, my friend. Because He's not a man that He should lie. What He's promised is that His love for you, His faithful love for you will never come to an end. His mercies will never come to an end, so much so that every single morning they are brand new. Can we thank God for that today? Every morning they are renewed. Great is His faithfulness.

In 1923, the health of a man named Thomas Chisholm was in decline. He was in his mid-fifties. Thomas had struggled greatly. Thomas entered the ministry as a Methodist minister. He lived in Kentucky, but he had to leave the ministry about one year later because his health failed him. Struggling so much and unable to really earn a living, in 1923 he sat down and penned the timeless song, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness." Do you know that song?

Great is Thy faithfulness.

Morning by morning, new mercies I see.

Did I mess it up? Sing more?

Morning by morning, new mercies I see.

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

Did you know that I'm a pastor, husband, and father of four who suddenly went blind in 2018? Today I teach people how life is not random, but it is actually orchestrated by God for a great purpose. Learn more about my story and awaken to grace at chadroberts.org.