Encounter the Truth

Jonathan Griffiths: Others may fail and disappoint us, they surely will. Here is the simple encouragement I want each of us to take home and to take into the week. God is faithful. He is faithful to his people. He is faithful to help us, faithful to keep us, faithful to save us.

Announcer (Male): Welcome to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. We are continuing our message we began last time called The Faithful God. Jonathan, sometimes I think we may struggle to really believe that truth. We know that, we have read that, we hear that, but when we face one disappointment after another, we may struggle to believe that deep down. If someone is wrestling with that today, what would you say to encourage them?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, I think if you want to know if you can trust a person in your life, you look at their track record, don't you? You say have they kept their word to me before? Have I been able to trust them over time? Have they proved themselves faithful? That is an exercise we naturally go through when we are asking questions about trust and trustworthiness.

Well, the same is true with God. We can check his track record and we have a historical track record of God's faithfulness to his promises in scripture, where God is over time through his prophets made promises about what he will do. Then in time and space in history, he has carried through on those promises. We can check his track record. That is one of the privileges of the kind of revelation that God has given us in the scriptures. We need to go through that exercise.

In times of doubt and in times of struggle to believe, struggle to trust, it does us profound good to look through the scriptures and see how God has kept his word.

Announcer (Male): Well, we're going to look through the scriptures today. We are going to be in the book of Deuteronomy and in Psalms. So grab a Bible, have it handy as we continue The Faithful God. Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: Now friends, this is a vitally important truth for us to consider and to really take to heart. Most importantly, it is important to grapple with this aspect of the faithfulness of God, if you are someone who hasn't yet turned to the Lord Jesus for salvation. If that is you, I hope that you will really kind of tune in for the next couple of minutes here because this is so crucially important for you.

See, as Peter says, the world has been carrying on, much in the same way as it has carried on for a very long time now. Seasons and years and decades and centuries have come and they have gone. And yet the promised day of the Lord, it hasn't yet come. It is possible to imagine that God's patience in bringing judgment means that the judgment will not come.

But that is a very dangerous conclusion to reach. You see, God's patience in holding back the judgment, that should not be mistaken for a change of heart. No, the God who is committed to justice, who hates sin, who prizes righteousness, he will act. When he acts in judgment, it will be a fearful thing.

So if you are someone who is just on the fence about Jesus today, if you are not really sure whether you want to turn to him, not really convinced that you want to trust in him, if you are still undecided, this is the basic reality with which you need to grapple today.

Contrary to what many people assume, following Jesus is not about making some kind of a lifestyle choice. Pursuing some preference or some special interest or some hobby. No, it is not like that. Following Jesus is about this: it is about fleeing the wrath to come.

Following Jesus, it is about finding shelter in the storm of the judgment of God, which he has promised and which he will bring about at his appointed time. I wonder, do you take seriously the faithfulness of God to punish sin as he said he will?

That is for those on the fence, and I hope you will take that to heart. For us who believe, we too need to remember God's faithfulness in this. We need to remember it so that we will hold on to, perhaps even regain a sense of urgency about the gospel.

It may be that we have just lost our zeal for winning the lost for Jesus. That does happen for us believers from time to time. Maybe the spiritual condition of our unbelieving friends and family, it does not concern us as it once did. Maybe the cause of world missions is just not on our hearts so much as it once was. Maybe the work of the gospel and the ministry of the gospel and serving in gospel work. Maybe it has just dropped down our priority list.

Maybe it has dropped down our priority list when it comes to our finances. You know, we throw in the change in our pocket when the plate comes by, rather than adjusting our entire lifestyle and our long-term financial goals, making some real sacrifices to put the work of the gospel first. I saw an article just recently on financial planning and investment, and it was saying you know what you need to do to plan for your retirement. Here is what you need to do. You need to put 10% of your income into a pension plan, and then you need to put a further 10% of your income into another investment account. Basically, you need to put away 20% a month for retirement and then you might be okay. Then you might have a decent retirement.

As I read that, I reflected to myself, for Christians who might feel it is appropriate to put something like 10% of their income away for the gospel, to invest it in kingdom work, for Christians who make that kind of a commitment to the work of the gospel, well, it is pretty unlikely that we are going to find a further 20% each month for the retirement fund. Some might manage that. Most people are not going to do that. Most of us are not going to manage that.

I thought to myself, okay, retirement is probably going to look a little bit different for us Christians, who are investing in the kingdom in a serious way, in a lifestyle changing way, in a financial planning changing kind of way. Maybe retirement is going to look different for us. Maybe it will be a little bit more meager than those around us.

But I will tell you this, and here is the reflection that came to me: eternity is going to look a whole lot different for us. It does not matter so much if our retirement looks different. What counts in the long run is eternity. We have got to have that big picture in view.

Maybe the work of the gospel has dropped down our priority list when it comes to our time and our energy, and I think this can happen, so that giving that extra evening a week, or that extra couple of hours on a Sunday morning to serve in ministry, it is just not something you consider doing just now, you know, in this time of life.

I think we would all have to confess that our zeal and our concern for the things of Christ, for the work of the gospel, its natural tendency is to diminish over time if we are not being careful, if we are not looking at our hearts, if we are not listening to the word of God. What happens over time is that we become more concerned with the mundane things of life, and I am speaking personally here. I see this happening in my own heart. We become more concerned with the mundane things, like paying the mortgage, planning the next vacation, getting to the next stage in our career. That is just the natural drift of the heart. I think we all know it.

But how we need to remember: the day of God's judgment is coming. He has promised it. He has said that he will judge sin. For those who have not heard the gospel, for those who have not turned to the Lord Jesus for safety in the storm of that judgment, it will be awful. It will be a dreadful day, the scriptures tell us.

Today, right now, we live in the days of God's patience. We live in days of gospel opportunity. We live in days where 500 children come to us throughout the week to hear that they can live and not die. We live in days of opportunity for the gospel. What are we going to do with them?

What are we doing to help others prepare, to spread the word, to participate in sacrificial ways, in costly ways, in the work of making Jesus known? What is it costing us? What sacrifices, real sacrifices, of time and of treasure are we making? Or is it costing us nothing at the moment?

After all, this is the world's most urgent need. If we believe anything that God says in the scriptures, we know this. This is the most urgent need of the world. For us who know the savior, who have heard the gospel, this is our most sober obligation. Nothing matters more than this. How seriously are we taking it?

Announcer (Male): You are listening to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths, and a message called The Faithful God. Now we are going to pause right here, but don't go anywhere. We are going to get back to the message in just a moment. But if you joined us a little late or you have to leave early, you don't have to miss Jonathan's teaching. You can always come to our website and you can listen online. Just come to Encounterthetruth.org, where you can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. It is also a great place to go if you just want to find out more about Jonathan and this broadcast. Again, that is at Encounterthetruth.org. All right, back to the message. Once again, here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: God is faithful. Because he is faithful, he will surely judge sin. God is faithful to judge, but praise him, he is equally faithful to save. I am beginning to fear that I become a little bit too skeptical about the potential for others to keep their commitments. I think I become a little bit too pessimistic. Maybe you share something of this and you know what I am talking about. We had our freezer die the other week, just in the middle of one of the heatwaves we had back at the end of July. It was a pretty new unit and we have got one of those extended warranties on it. You know, part of me thought when the thing died and all our food in the freezer had to be thrown out, part of me thought it is hardly worth even taking the time to call that warranty company. They are just going to wriggle out of the claim.

Anyway, I thought, it is five minutes on the phone. Let's give it a try. Let's see what happens. So I called and I got someone on the phone pretty quickly, and I outlined the problem and initiated the claim. They said, you know what, we are going to send someone right out for you, sir. I am thinking, sure you will. Well, sure enough, they immediately sent out the most helpful guy you have ever met, who said, look, I am going to order all the parts right here. This warranty company, they are really good. They will pay the whole shot. We are going to deal with this as quickly as we possibly can. No problem at all. Don't you worry. They honestly couldn't have been more helpful.

Then we were on vacation a couple of weeks ago and we had a flat tire with our rental car, and we had to take it in to be fixed. Again, we had insurance for that through, you know, the credit card, but I thought, they are going to give me hassle and deny the claim. I know what is going to happen here. It is hardly worth even trying. I probably better just resign myself now to paying for the whole thing myself: the roadside assistance, the repair, the charges from the rental company and all of it. But I thought, I will try. I called up the credit card company. I got the insurance people. Again, the person I got on the phone couldn't have been more helpful. She was just the soul of helpfulness.

She said, look, just send us the bill for any costs. We are going to reimburse you every penny and we want to pay all your currency exchange costs for that as well, sir. Is there anything else we can do to help you? I almost wanted to say to her, you know, are you sure you want to do that? I mean, don't you want to put up even a little bit of a fight? I am ready.

You know, don't you want to tell me that it is not covered because it is Tuesday? Or because you can see I am wearing the wrong color t-shirt? Are you sure you want to just give me another number or something to call, to send me away? Well, those were happy surprises for me this summer. Surprises because I have seen so many broken promises in that kind of situation, and I guess I have just become a little bit jaded over time. We can get to be that way.

Perhaps that is your experience even today, maybe not in the world of commerce, but in the world of friendship or family or even marriage. Too many broken promises, it is now just too hard to trust. Do you ever feel like that? We easily carry that kind of attitude, that kind of jadedness, into our relationship with the Lord.

But the scriptures tell us again and again that God is committed to his people, deeply committed. If we belong to him through Jesus, he has set his covenant love upon us. He has entered into a binding relationship with us. He is never going to leave us. He is never going to forsake us. He won't forget about us. He won't tire of us. He won't abandon us in our hour of need.

Listen to these words of comfort for the people of God, Deuteronomy 4 and verse 31. For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them. Lamentations 3:22. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

The Lord is the Lord who keeps his promises, whose steadfast love, his covenant love for his people, it never wanes, it never reduces, it never changes, it never disappears. That is the consistent teaching of the scriptures. That is the message of the word of God, cover to cover, and it is wonderful.

It sounds fantastic and we rightly cling to it. But at the same time, we might ask ourselves, how can I know for sure? I want to believe that all this is true. It is so wonderful. I want to trust that God is really like this. It sounds so good, so very, very good, but where is the confirmation? Where is the assurance? Where is the proof?

You know, you get an offer for a new job and it all sounds wonderful, great terms, great conditions, a nice sounding new boss. But will it really be as good as it sounds? What about if the economy changes or the industry changes and things get tough? Is it safe to leave my old job for this one? Or to go back to my earlier example, you sign up for an insurance policy, maybe a life insurance policy, and the marketing materials, they are great. The cover sounds excellent. The company sounds honest and compassionate and they say they are all about people, but what happens at claim time?

You meet someone and you are thinking about marriage. It has all been great so far. They are kind and considerate. But what about five years down the line? What about ten years down the line? How can you actually be sure?

You may have seen that Parks Canada released some extraordinary footage of the wreck of Franklin's HMS Terror, which set sail from England in 1845 to sail the Northwest Passage but sank in the Arctic. It is quite astounding if you have seen those images, to see how well preserved the ship is in that deep, cold water. The footage shows plates and bottles on the shelves in the pantry. It shows the captain's desk and chair, just waiting to be sat at, all left just as it was almost 200 years ago.

But the sailors who joined that expedition, you think of the promises that might have been made to them, perhaps promises of wealth, certainly promises of fame and adventure and a place in the history books. But how could they know? How could they be sure? Of course, they couldn't have been sure.

God's promises are wonderful. His words are full of comfort. But how can we actually know what is going to happen when we face a time of need, when we enter trial, when we fall into sin, when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death itself? How can we know?

In 2 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul teaches us that the promises of God, they all find their fulfillment and their confirmation in Jesus. 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 19. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Sylvanus and Timothy and I, wasn't yes and no, but in him it is always yes. For all the promises of God find their yes in him.

Jesus Christ, in his person, in his work, in his life, in his death, in his resurrection, in his ascension on high, Jesus is himself the yes and the amen to all the promises of God. See, the Old Testament is full of promises that God would cleanse his guilty people of sin, that he would provide a full and final atonement, an end to the endless and seemingly fruitless sacrifice of animals at the temple.

But how would God cleanse and forgive a guilty people? How would he address the sin of a people who again and again prove themselves unfaithful? How would he stay true to his own standards of perfect justice and at the same time preserve his often rebellious covenant people? Well, the answer to it all, of course, comes in the person of Jesus Christ. The one who kept God's law perfectly, but who nonetheless dies in the place of a guilty people, the ultimate and flawless and perfect sacrifice for sin.

In Jesus, in his perfect life, in his sin-bearing death, in his glorious resurrection from the grave, in Jesus comes the yes and amen to the age-old promises of God. If we ask, can God be trusted to keep his promises? We look to Jesus and to his arrival on the earth and we say, well, yes, we can trust him. The Messiah of God came right on schedule, right on time, just as promised.

If we ask, can God be trusted to deal with my sin, even mine, to cleanse me from my guilt, for it is great? We look back at the cross of Christ and we say, yes. Yes, he can. He has provided a way. If we ask, can God be trusted to carry me through death and into resurrection life? Well, we look back at that empty tomb, don't we, and we say, yes. Yes, he can be trusted.

Friends, I think we all know that life can be pretty rocky. Our circumstances can feel unstable. Challenges that come before us can be very, very frightening. The reality of sickness and death, it is never far from any one of us. Living such a life in such a world, we simply need to know and we simply need to believe that God is faithful, faithful to his people, faithful to his promises, to save.

I don't know what particular circumstances you may be facing at the moment, but I do know that you need to be assured and reassured of the faithfulness of God. We all need that as his people. Perhaps you are going through a time of temptation of some kind, seemingly overwhelming temptation, maybe, and you wonder, can I even get through this? I am not sure I can.

1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Perhaps you feel that you are under spiritual attack at the moment. Maybe you are under spiritual attack at the moment. Perhaps it feels as though the forces of evil are pounding at your gate. 2 Thessalonians 3 and verse 3. But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.

Maybe you are struggling with money just now, with anxiety over money, with a lack of contentment when it comes to money. Hebrews 13 and verse 5. Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have. For he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what can man do to me?

Maybe you are facing opposition for your faith, a hostile workplace, an angry family. 1 Peter 4 and verse 19. Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good.

Maybe you have stumbled in sin. Maybe you have fallen into very serious sin. And you wonder if the Lord will have anything more to do with you. You wonder if he will just cut you off, as he would be within his rights to do. 1 John 1 and verse 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Maybe you feel you are just going backward rather than forward in the Christian life. Maybe you look back over recent months and years and you see no progress. You wonder if actually in your quiet moments you wonder even if you belong to the Lord at all. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 23. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. He will do it.

We could go on and on, couldn't we, but here is the point. Here is the simple encouragement I want each of us to take home and to take into the week. God is faithful. He is faithful to his people. He is faithful to help us, faithful to keep us, faithful to save us. Others may fail and disappoint us, they surely will. We know how terribly we fail and disappoint those around us, but our God never fails. He never forgets a commitment. He never breaks a promise. He never violates a covenant.

And so knowing this about him, the writer to the Hebrews says this, chapter 10 and verse 23. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. May God give us the grace, each one, to hold on to that hope, to delight in that hope, trusting in our faithful God as we enter this new week and this new season.

Announcer (Male): You are listening to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths as he wraps up our message The Faithful God, one of the messages in our series Who Is Like Our God? If you missed any of the broadcasts, go back and listen online. Our website is Encounterthetruth.org.

Encounter the Truth does depend on your generosity to keep this program on this station, so thank you for giving to and supporting this ministry. As you give a gift of any amount this month, we will send you a book called Worthy: Living in Light of the Gospel. Jonathan, I understand you appreciate this book so much you have actually used this in your home church.

Jonathan Griffiths: Yeah, we have just finished working through this book as an elder study for our leaders within the church, and we found it to be so rich and helpful. It was just good for our hearts and for our personal discipleship, because the call of this book is to live in a manner worthy of the gospel. If we know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, we want to do that, and we need to be encouraged and helped and reminded to do that all the time. This rich but very accessible and pretty brief study is a tremendous encouragement in doing that very thing. We were helped by it and we were grateful for it ourselves.

Announcer (Male): Well, we would love to send you a copy of this book Worthy: Living in Light of the Gospel as our way of saying thank you for your financial support. You can give online at Encounterthetruth.org or over the phone when you call 833-99 Truth. That is 833-998-7884. Or again, the website is Encounterthetruth.org.

You can also write to us at Encounter the Truth, PO Box 5513, Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 3M1. Or in the US at Encounter the Truth, 215 North Arlington Heights Road, Suite 102, Arlington Heights, Illinois, 60004. For Jonathan Griffiths, I am Steve Heller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you will join us next time.