[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason, and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 5pm or Wednesdays at 7pm if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, you can find us
[email protected] be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast. Madison Church of Christ Sermons. Thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: So we've been studying from Exodus 34, 6, 7, and it's basically God makes an introduction to Moses. He makes an introduction of himself. And we talked about that when we introduce ourselves. Oftentimes, you know, when I find myself doing an introduction, you know, I'll give my name, but then I'll wind up talking. You know, I'm married, I have two children. So oftentimes we talk a little bit about that. So here we have God who describes himself or introduces himself as compassionate, gracious.
[00:01:13] Speaker C: Slow to anger, abounding in love and.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, forgiven wickedness, rebellion and sin, and does not leave the guilty unpunished. Now, for the first 2/3 of the class, we looked at verses where it's almost identical in some of those characteristics of God, where it was repeated. And so what we've done this month is we've taken each one and we've broken them down. I want to thank Mark Kelly. I texted him. He's got security. And I want to thank him for teaching for me last week. Slow to anger. I actually watched the class when he said, I'm not Baker. I'm not Mike Baker. He's more. There's that long pause. So I was like, more what? Am I more Mass? Am I more what? You know, so I was a little nervous when he. When he did the more. But I really appreciate him covering that. Slow to anger. All right, so anybody know who this guy is?
If I. I'll give you a hint. I'll give you two hints. One is he's a contemporary of George Washington.
We often associate him with the word traitor. Benedict Arnold.
[00:02:27] Speaker C: Right?
[00:02:28] Speaker B: So when you hear that name, Benedict Arnold, the very first thing that pops into your head is this whole idea of traitor. Now, if you look at the history of Benedict Arnold, he had done quite A few things before he got that moniker. Right. Do we name our kids. Anybody know anybody who named their kids after Benedict Arnold?
[00:02:51] Speaker C: Right.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: We just have this thought now. And why do you think that we despise traitors so much? I know I mentioned a couple times that my first job out of the college was with the U.S. navy. And so of course, I had security clearance. And in the late 80s, there was a guy who gave away some Navy secrets.
[00:03:15] Speaker C: Right.
[00:03:15] Speaker B: And so we all had to redo if you have a clearance. And anytime that happens, you got to spend weeks going back through and they tell you all things you can't do with the clearance. But why do you think we despise traitors so much?
They betray us. There's that sense of trust, and then they break that trust. Anything else? What else? Raised to be very patriotic, especially in his case. Right. We're raised to be very patriotic. We think about what was going on in that time frame with George Washington and Benjamin Franklin and all those things, and then he does that.
Why do you think. What's the opposite of being a traitor?
Who would be, if I put a picture up there, whose picture I would put up that you would think would be opposite of Bendick Darnold?
Somebody like George Washington.
[00:04:10] Speaker C: Right.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: Someone that we look to. That is the opposite of that. And so that opposite of traitor is probably this whole idea of loyalty. Why do you think loyalty is so admired?
[00:04:25] Speaker D: Being a traitor, you kind of like. You kind of take whichever side's going to favor you the most. But loyalty is like urine. It's the long haul, even if you're going to be on the losing side.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Exactly. Now, I mentioned I worked for the Navy, so I worked at the Stennis Space center, which is 17 miles from New Orleans. And so we went to a lot of Saints games. Now, this would have been, you know, mid to late 80s, which, if you know much about Saints history, that was the time in which you would always have a bag, and during the game, you'd put a bag over your head. Right.
But we were still very loyal to that team.
[00:05:06] Speaker C: Right.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: Even though they weren't winning. And so oftentimes we admire this whole idea of loyalty. So let's go to Psalms. I know this will be a long reading. Hopefully you guys saw this on the Facebook post. But let's go to Psalms 136. And like I said, it is kind of a long, long reading. So just kind of bear with me, beginning with verse 1.
[00:05:32] Speaker C: Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of Gods. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of Lords. His faithful love endures forever he alone does great wonders. His faithful love endures forever. He made the heavens skillfully his faithful love endures forever. He spread the land on the waters. His faithful love endures forever. He made the great lights. His faithful love endures forever.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: The son to rule by day.
[00:06:15] Speaker C: His faithful love endures forever. The moon and stars to rule by night. His faithful love endures forever he struck the firstborn of the Egyptians. His faithful love endures forever and brought Israel out from among them. His faithful love endures forever. With a strong hand and outstretched arm. His faithful love endures forever he divided the Red Sea. His faithful love endures forever and led Israel through His faithful love endures forever. But hurled Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea. His faithful love endures forever. He led his people in the wilderness his faithful love endures forever. He struck down great kings his faithful love endures forever and slaughtered famous kings. His faithful love endures forever. Zion, king of the Amorites his faithful love endures forever. And Og, King of Bashan his faithful love endures forever and gave their land as an inheritance. His faithful love endures forever. An inheritance to Israel, his servant. His faithful love endures forever. He remembered us in our humiliation.
His faithful love endures forever and rescued us from our foes. His faithful love endures forever. He gives food to every creature. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of Heaven. His faithful love endures forever.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: And so we read that psalm, right? And you're constantly seeing that word repeated or that phrase repeated over and over again. But when we look at the psalm in its entirety, right? The psalm really sums up how Israel feels, or Israel's viewpoint of God. If we take a look at that. The psalm tells the story of God's work throughout the history of the Israelites. And then each line is punctuated by his love endures forever. Now, Mark made a comment about strongs. So we once again we got to put strong's in. So when we look at. When we take a look at that word, it's this word called hest in the Hebrew, and it means mercy.
[00:08:50] Speaker C: Some scriptures or some versions, some translations.
[00:08:54] Speaker B: Might say that his mercy endures forever. But you have kindness, mercy, loving, kindness, goodness, kindly, all those that are repeated.
But what I want to point out is that when you see that phrase over and over again, it really emphasizes this idea of faithful, steadfast care and love and faithfulness are shown to Be related in those verses, if we took a look. It begins with this general call to praise in the first four verses. And then it talks about praising God as the Creator. Then it talks about them delivering the Israelites from Egypt and then through the wilderness. Then it talks about God giving victory to the Israelites as they conquered the land of Canaan.
And then it praises God for delivering the Israelites from the enemies.
It remembered God. God remembered his people in their troubled times. He freed their people from the enemies. And God gives food to all creatures. And it closes with this general note of thanks. All in all, talking about this whole idea of steadfast love and faithfulness, putting them together.
It repeatedly calls the readers to praise and affirm God's faithfulness. But where are these things rooted? Meaning?
On what basis does the psalmist have the people call out that his love endures forever? It's based on what.
What he's done. It is based on. The psalmist is reminding the Israelites of everything God has done, going all the.
[00:10:58] Speaker C: Way back, talking about the Egyptians, talking.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: About the Red Sea, and through it all, God has done this because of his steadfast love and his faithfulness.
Why do you think that you keep repeating, you know, when you read that out loud like I did, right. Sometimes you want to say, okay, let's skip that part and just read all the things and then close it. But why do you think he constantly repeats after every single thing this idea that his love endures forever? What do you think the purpose of that is exactly? Why do we repeat things to our children at work? If someone works for you, why do you repeat instructions to them? Right? It's repeated so that it will stick.
As they look at all these things that have been gone down through history, how did they defeat those kings when they came into Canaan, it wasn't because of anything they had done, but rather it was because God loved endures forever. So it's repeated so that it winds up sticking and they remember that. It's a reminder.
Let's think about those of us who are Old Testament history buffs.
What did.
When we think about Israel's history, what kind of betrayals did they make where God's steadfast love had to endure?
Just think about Israel's history in the Old Testament. What are some things that God had to endure and still remain steadfast?
They wanted that earthly king. He was to be heavenly kings. So he had to give them a king. What else? Idolatry. Time after time. Yeah, Time after time, after they went back to baal. They went back to the gods that are in Israelites.
Think about what happened just between the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. They portrayed God so much that God had the northern kingdom wiped away and you never see them again, right? So time and time God has endured rebellion, right?
He's endured.
I'm going to call it unfaithfulness. He's endured. You think about the Ten Commandments he endured, having them put other gods before him. But through all this, the psalmist talks about this steadfast love.
Is steadfast love different from other types of love, Sporadic.
You ever have a friend who maybe you had a friend in your younger days, but you're really no longer friends now because of maybe something that had happened, Right? Steadfast love is that whole idea that no matter what, right, no matter what you do, that person is going to remain faithful and steadfast to you. Let's look at Lamentations 22 through 24. 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 my portion, says my soul. Therefore I will hope in him.
We hear that often, right, through song, but it's written from a book. And I think it's important for us to remember that this is said while Israel is in exile, right? This is not said when Israel's at its peak, but rather it's being said when Israel is kind of like one of their low spots. But notice this idea of great love, which is that same word hest, that we saw in Psalms 136, the writer, when we read this, right? They're not destroyed, they're in exile.
And he believes that Israel is kept alive and not consumed by. By those who have carried them off because of his steadfast love and God's compassions.
Notice the wording, right? They never fail.
Never, right? What's the phrase that we use today with the word never?
You hear it all the time.
Someone says, well, you're going to retire, or are you going to not do this? And we always hear this term, never say never, say never, right? So to me, in our today's world, never, it's not really a word because you can't depend on someone who says never. But then you see it done again. His faithfulness is great.
So when we read this, what is God's role from the author's standpoint, what is God's role to Israel? He's their what?
He's like a parent. He's their protector.
He is what is keeping them from being completely absorbed by those that have carried them off into exile. He is the reason that they are still, still alive and still growing. So I always like these type of questions. Do you think the writer's naive? I mean, they're in exile and he's saying that God is great God, he will never leave. He uses all these grand words, but do you think he's naive? A little bit. He's talking about it lasting forever and Israel's in captivity.
I think he's wiser than most people are.
[00:17:32] Speaker E: Because if God allowed for Israel to just continually go on and then enable them to keep going on as they were going, it's like for some people, prison can be the best thing for them because they'll get the help that they need.
So I think he's talking about. About the steadfast love of God and sending them to captivity to save them.
[00:17:53] Speaker B: Oh, that's a great point. That's a great point. The idea is that they are in captivity to save, right? We know that the last captivity that they were in, when they returned back, they never were in captivity again.
While they were in captivity, they established the synagogues and things like that, and they never went back into captivity.
How can a person affirm all these attributes about God when they're in these circumstances? Think about when you are in certain circumstances in your life where you're struggling, things look.
Maybe not quite hopeless, but things look bad. Might be economics, it might be your health.
In those circumstances, how do you affirm God's faithfulness?
[00:18:56] Speaker F: Look at the past, things that God has done for you in the past when you've been in similar circumstances, and how he's provided for you even in. Even in times where he didn't. You didn't see it coming. You couldn't see it coming.
[00:19:12] Speaker B: Okay, the.
[00:19:14] Speaker E: The verses before that's in Lamentations is sort of a list of all the bad stuff that's gone on. And then verse 21, just before this says, but this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. And then he has those. So even in these bad circumstances, he has hope because of the way God is.
[00:19:38] Speaker B: I think there's two things in both comments that's very important for us to point out. First of all, remember Psalms 36 was God was affirmed by looking at the past.
Think about things in your past. Think about things in people that you know past. Think about what we read in Psalms 136, right? That example of all these things the Israelites done. But yet God's love endures forever. And then I think the second thing is, remember, this is God's character.
We have to remember that God doesn't act out of character. Right? We may act out of character, but God doesn't. So if God's character is a loving, kind God whose love endures forever, who has loving kindness for thousands, it's in his character, it's in his nature. And that's what we cling to, that's what we grab ahold of, and that's what we hope hold on to. So I've asked Zach, because we've read that scripture, I asked Zach if he would lead us in that song.
I didn't put the songs on because I think everybody knows it. But as we sing those words, I really want you to think about the words that make up that song.
[00:21:15] Speaker G: His mercies never come to an end.
They are new every morning.
Great is thy faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, says my soul, Therefore I will hope in him.
Steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
His mercies never come to an end.
They are new every morning.
Great is thy faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, says my soul.
Therefore I will hope in him, Therefore I will hold him.
[00:22:29] Speaker B: Thanks, Zach.
So let's go to Proverbs 26.
Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find.
So let's talk about this. This is kind of, to me, a pretty startling claim. Right. Is that there are many of us or many men who proclaim to have a steadfast love. But in reality, faithful people are hard to find. What do you think? Do you.
Do you feel that way? Do you feel the reality of that verse? Do you believe that many claim to be faithful, but a truly faithful person is hard to find? People come up with Jesus and betray him or deny.
[00:23:24] Speaker H: Yeah, not much hope for a lot.
[00:23:25] Speaker B: Of other people need. Right.
[00:23:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:28] Speaker B: Well, I think that's a great example. Right. You had Peter, who had been with Jesus, his ministry for those three years, who you would think would have a faithful, steadfast love, but yet he portrayed what. What are some other thoughts about the reality of that verse?
[00:23:45] Speaker D: I think going off of that, for so many people, their steadfast love is contingent on something without them realizing it. For Peter, it was contingent on this, you know, supposed military overthrow that's going to happen and then it doesn't. And suddenly that said, best love is not around.
[00:24:02] Speaker B: And I think that's a great point. I'm going to repeat it for those who are watching on the live stream is that oftentimes this steadfast love is tied to some belief or it's tied to something. It's associated with something. And then if. If that what they think is truth is not what happens, then sometimes they lose that whole idea of.
Of that faithfulness. Right. Any other thoughts?
[00:24:34] Speaker I: It kind of reminds me of Romans 5, 7, and 8 where it says, very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, but for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die. That God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners, Christ died.
[00:24:50] Speaker B: All right, so what was that?
All right? Because I'd like to read that so the folks on the live stream can hear Romans one more time.
5, Romans 5, 7, and 8. For one will scarcely die for a.
[00:25:06] Speaker C: Righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
[00:25:17] Speaker B: It's a great point on that. What does anybody want to share what betrayal feels like?
I know many of you. I know Brent and Tammy, who knew me at West Huntsville. A lot of you may know my story, right? I met a girl in college. We got married within the first year. She had an affair and left.
Left me. And so betrayal is.
It's everything. It's anger, it's shame, it's disappointment.
It's all these emotions that run through at times when you face betrayal. At times you don't really necessarily want to continue.
Things are not as important, and it's a very difficult time to get through. Right. That steadfastness that you expected is suddenly gone.
And so when we think about.
I just. I keep thinking about the Israelites history, okay, how many times that they betrayed God.
But yet God's character never changed. His love endures forever. So for us, right, one of our.
Maybe one of our goals, one of our ambitions should be to strive to be that faithful person that can be found, right? When we show true faithfulness, that's a reflection of God.
When we show that characteristic, then it's a reflection of us as being God's people.
So I think it's important for us to try to strive to proclaim steadfast love, but then also be someone faithful that others can see or others can find. Let's look at Proverbs. While we're in Proverbs 20, let's look at verse 28.
Steadfast love and faithfulness preserve the king, and by steadfast love his Throne is upheld. So to me, this is another startling claim, right? Because for us, what do we think of as what keeps a king in power?
His might. Right? His army, maybe his castle or maybe his. Whatever that can be defended and not captured. But here it's not saying it's based on your military might or your toughness, but rather love and faithfulness. All right, I want you to think about this, and then we're going to answer the next slide. What's this verse saying? Is this verse saying that a king can keep their throne secure by ruling with love and faithfulness? Or is the verse saying that a king's throne is secure when his subjects demonstrate love and faithfulness?
So I'm going to leave the slide on for just a minute.
So how do you interpret that verse? Do you interpret it that the king is secure because he's showing love and faithfulness, or his kingdom is secure because his subjects show love and faithfulness? So how do you interpret that verse? Okay, both the king and the subjects, what do you think?
Why do you think love and faithfulness can be more secure than just brute strength, Kind of like a cycle?
[00:29:26] Speaker J: He shows love and faithful subjects, he treats them well. He, you know, passes laws that benefit them, and in return, they'll see him as a good king and they will have love and faithfulness towards him and how he rules over them. And then the more love they give him, the more he will want to pour into that. So whereas, like, brute strength can be very overpowering. And the subjects might be like, not about that.
[00:29:52] Speaker B: Have you ever. Have you ever held something mushy in your hands? Maybe it's like butter or grease or lard. And I'm thinking food cooking. But what happens, you know, when you squeeze it, right? The tighter you squeeze something soft, the more pops out through your fingers, right? And when we think about using brute strength, I think the more a leader applies brute strength, then the more people become disenchanted and rebel, right? So going back to what Ed said, what would it look like if our person in power ruled with love and faithfulness instead of might? What would that look like to those in authority, to the people who were under his authority?
Would it be a different way of being treated?
If the people in authority treated us with love and faithfulness? What would that encourage us to do?
Be more loving and faithful?
[00:31:05] Speaker C: So when we go back to how.
[00:31:06] Speaker B: Do you interpret that verse? I think Ed's exactly right. You interpret it as both ways. That the king's kingdom is secure if he rules with love and Faithfulness, and it's secure because as his people see love and faithfulness, those are characteristics that then they develop and will do as well.
What would it look like, Right. What would it look like if citizens under this authority responded with love and faithfulness? Maybe instead of bitterness and resentment.
Yeah, obedience. So that verse, it's about both. It's both the characteristics of the king, but how those characteristics influence his subjects. So let's talk a little bit about some application. So do we normally group love and faithfulness together?
I don't think so. I think oftentimes we separate them. We talk about love. We talk about love being an emotion. We talk about there are three types of love. Right.
But it's something that we often feel. And then when we talk about faithfulness, we talk about faithfulness kind of being as a series of acts, things that we do. I think sometimes, as was mentioned, you know, we may do these things out of obligation because, well, we're supposed to do these things or out of, you know, being. Being begrudgingly doing them. But oftentimes we separate these two words. But when we look at them in scripture, scripture always puts them together.
They're not separate at all. So let's walk through now. I know this is not a bad picture. It's November. So in 2016, in November, I was in New Zealand.
And so whenever I traveled for work, I never. You know, I was one of those that had to travel for work a lot. And so I never wanted to stay longer than was necessary. So as soon as I was done, I'm on a plane headed home.
But being in New Zealand, being a huge Lord of the Rings fan, and it being on my birthday in November, I told Amy I'm taking one day. So I took a day. And then this is actually where they filmed in the Lord of the Rings, the city of Rohan. So this is the mountain, right? That's the rock that sits here. They actually built this structure, and then all these little huts were added in later. Right. But huge Lord of the Rings fan.
And as I was preparing for this lesson, I thought about this from Tolkien's book. So in the Fellowship of the Ring, Sam says, you can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin, to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours closer than you yourself keep it. But if you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone and go off without a word, we are your friends, Frodo.
[00:34:28] Speaker C: And anyway, there it is.
[00:34:29] Speaker B: We know most of what Gandalf has told you. We Know a good deal about the ring. We are horribly afraid, but we are coming with you. Or following you like hounds. So let's think about this phrase.
We are horribly afraid, but we're coming with you.
That is a call to be faithful and steadfast. Love. What situations.
What situations are we called to demonstrate this type of steadfastness, faithfulness and loyalty today?
[00:35:08] Speaker I: When someone loses a loved one to come to their side and grieve with them.
[00:35:15] Speaker B: Yeah. If we think about how we relate to each other.
[00:35:19] Speaker C: Brothers and sisters in Christ.
[00:35:20] Speaker B: I told you my story.
There were two men who. @ the church in Orange Grove, Mississippi. I was their project.
They came Sunday morning, waited for me to get dressed, took me to church.
[00:35:37] Speaker C: Saturday morning they came and got me.
[00:35:39] Speaker B: Took me to Gulf Coast Bible camp and made me dig post holes in a swamp. Okay. So every time you take a thing and scoop out, it would just fill back in.
But for them, right? For them.
They were there with me, saw me through that event. And so that is the relationship that we should have one another with our brothers and our sisters.
When we see someone going through something that you'd follow along either beside them or following them like hounds from behind. Right. What are some other. What's some other situations?
[00:36:23] Speaker I: I immediately thought of, like the men and women that serve our country, like the amount of individuals that have gone into situations in warfare where, I mean, it's completely human to be totally afraid, but you're going in there because your brothers in arms are in a situation that you have to help them work.
[00:36:40] Speaker B: Yeah. Our military. So last week I was in D.C. so OUC, the Office of Unified Communication, they handle all the 911 calls for the District.
Some of the things that we see, the first responders, whether they're police or fire ems, what you see them going to. Right. They really got to love mankind. They really got to love their fellow human to do some of the things that they do.
We're kind of missing one. I think it's a little obvious.
[00:37:16] Speaker H: I don't know if this is what you're going for.
I don't want to use the word horribly afraid, but I remember the first time I held my first daughter. That is a moment where you're. You have this sudden like physical and then also like mental weight of like, oh, man, I'm responsible for not only keeping this child alive, but her keeping for the rest of her life, but also like, I'm like trying to help her on her to come to the same conclusions that me and my wife have come to, with. In our baby. So, like, that's kind of like a scary.
[00:37:51] Speaker B: If, if, if you were not afraid with that first child, right, Then I would have. You need to go talk to somebody, right? Because you get that you have that life and you're holding in the hand. And then for me, I'm one of those, you know, how. Where you see your. They say you see your life go before your eyes.
[00:38:11] Speaker C: To me, I saw her life.
[00:38:13] Speaker B: I saw college. I saw, you know, you see everything that you're like, oh, I've got to face how, you know, I got all this stuff I got to face, right?
[00:38:21] Speaker C: Parenting, right?
[00:38:22] Speaker B: It's that parenting of your child and those of you in here with grandchildren, your parenting never ends. Your parenting never ends for your adult children and then for your grandchildren. So it just continues.
I'm going to say this marriage, right? If you were not a little bit afraid the night before you got married, I would have to say, okay, let's talk about it, right? Because suddenly now you realize that you're going to join this union, right? And you're going to be joined with someone and you're going to go through life together and you're going to be like, what if they don't like the way I eat? What if they don't? What if they don't like, you know, I had a college roommate, and so when he brushed his teeth and when he rinsed, right? I am a spitter, so I rinse and I spit. Gordon, my roommate, was. He'd switch it around and then he would just open his mouth and let gravity fall out. If Amy, if that's the way Amy had done it, I wouldn't have been able to. I wouldn't be able to take it, right?
And so you just, you know, it's just that experience, right? And to some point, right? To some point in your workplace, if you choose to manage somebody, you think about that.
So I think this is what I want to leave for you kind of as your homework, right, Is how can God's faithfulness, how can God's steadfast love inspire us, inspire us to demonstrate faithfulness, regardless of what situation we find us in, regardless of what situation people we may know find ourselves in, think about how God's faithfulness can inspire us to be faithful as well. Next week we're going to talk about. We're going to talk a little bit more about God's where it talks about that, you know, he has justice and he brings justice. We're going to talk a little bit about that. Next week, watch Facebook and I'll send some posts. And let's have a quick prayer and then we'll be done.
Our Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this night. We have to come to study from your word. Father, we know that your steadfast love sees us through whatever situation that we're in. And Father, we know that whatever situation that we are in, we know that you're with us and that your love endures forever. As we go through the rest of this week, inspire us to be steadfast.
Inspire us to be faithful. Inspire us to be loving with anyone that we come into contact with. And it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
