God's Promise and Faithfulness
1) God’s Promise
a) Confirm – The word that the NIV translates “keep you strong” is the same word found in the previous verse six where it says “confirmed.” In verse six this word is in the past tense. God confirmed the testimony about Christ in people’s lives as Paul proclaimed it. That is, God established the gospel of Christ in people’s lives. Now we come upon the word a second time, here it is in the future tense implying that God’s saving work is not yet finished, and God is confirming the people of God not the testimony of God, though both are closely related. The word means, “to make firm, confirm, sustain, establish, secure, warrant, make good, steadfast, firmly grounded, unalterable.” This is where the NIV is getting “keep you strong” from. God will make sure that those whom he confirmed in the past will remain steadfast, firmly grounded, established in Jesus Christ until the end of time, until the day of Jesus Christ. There are three things to point out about this. First, God does it. Second, what God establishes endures to the end by God’s faithful providence. Third, the result is we will be blameless on that day.
i) First, God is the one who is establishing the people of God to make them blameless just as it was God who established the gospel in their midst.
(1) As Gordon Fee points out, “what is remarkable is that Paul should express such confidence about a community whose current behavior is anything but blameless and whom on several occasions he must exhort with the strongest kinds of warning. The secret, of course, lies in the subject of the verb, ‘he’ (=God). If Paul’s confidence lay in the Corinthians themselves, then he is in trouble. But just as in 5:6-8 and 6:9-11, in Paul’s theology the indicative (God’s prior action of grace) always precedes the imperative (their obedience as response to grace) and is the ground of his confidence” (Fee, 44).
(2) In other words, Paul is not confident about the Corinthians steadfastness because of anything they have done. If anything, that would give him great reason to be concerned and worried. I think Paul would be up all night with panic attacks if his confidence was in mere flesh. Paul is confident of their establishment because of God’s prior grace in their life.
(3) We put no confidence in the flesh because it is weak. We put our confidence in God who is able to complete what he has started. Paul is very clearly here redirecting the focus and attention of the Corinthians from their self-confidence and their own giftedness toward God, from whom and to whom are all things.
ii) Second, Paul is confident that what God establishes will endure to the end.
(1) That’s what it says right? He will keep you strong or established to the end. The end, of course, is the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not only is God the one who established you, but he finishes what he starts.
(2) We are of course talking about God’s providence, his hand of direction and control in all circumstances. He will keep you established. To do that God has to be in perfect control, and we know that he is.
(3) Scripture leaves no doubt about it. Even in the worst of circumstances it is clear from the testimony of Scripture God is in it, God is in control.
(a) Remember the story of Joseph, who was betrayed by eleven of his brothers by throwing him into a pit with no food and water in it, and then by selling him into slavery in Egypt, and later wrongfully thrown into prison because of a false accusation made against him. God was in control in the midst of it all and Joseph recognized that when he said to his brothers “and now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt” (Gen. 45:5-8). Later Joseph says to his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…” (Gen. 50:20).
(b) In Proverbs 16:33 we read of how “the lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”
(c) In Job 37:3 and Job 38:25 we read of how God directs and controls every thunderstorm and bolt of lightning
(d) In Matthew 10:29 we hear Jesus Christ say, “are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your father.”
(e) In Ephesians 1:11 Paul says, “In Christ we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.”
(f) In Philippians 1:6 we hear Paul say he is, “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
(g) In Romans 11:36 Paul exclaims, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever.”
(h) This is the power of God. He is control. I love this. I revel in this. I take great joy and boldness in this and I pray you do to! The apostles of Jesus did!
(i) Consider Acts 4:27-30. Here in this passage the apostles take great boldness in the will and control and power of God.
(4) God has established you in Christ and he will keep you steadfast and unshakeable in Christ until the end. The gates of hell will storm against you, the desires of your flesh will try to trick and deceive you, but God will keep you strong to the end in the fellowship of Christ to whom you were called by God. God did not just save you and then hang you out to dry. He didn’t just redeem you and leave you to fight for yourself. No, he called you unto himself, now he is holding you unto himself, and he will keep you and make you blameless on that day.
(5) Ira Sankey (Moody’s Song Leader)
It was Christmas Eve 1875 and Ira Sankey was traveling on a Delaware River steamboat when he was recognized by some of the passengers. His picture had been in the newspaper because he was the song leader for the famous evangelist D. L. Moody. They asked him to sing one of his own hymns, but Sankey demurred, saying that he preferred to sing William B. Bradbury’s hymn, “Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us.”
As he sang, one of the stanzas began, “We are Thine; do Thou befriend us. Be the Guardian of our way.” When he finished, a man stepped from the shadows and asked, “Did you ever serve in the Union Army?” “Yes,” Mr. Sankey answered, “in the spring of 1860.”
Can you remember if you were doing picket duty on a bright, moonlit night in 1862?”
“Yes,” Mr. Sankey answered, very much surprised.
“So did I, but I was serving in the Confederate army. When I saw you standing at your post, I thought to myself, ‘That fellow will never get away alive.’ I raised my musket and took aim. I was standing in the shadow, completely concealed, while the full light of the moon was falling upon you. At that instant, just as a moment ago, you raised your eyes to heaven and began to sing… ‘Let him sing his song to the end,’ I said to myself, ‘I can shoot him afterwards.’ He’s my victim at all events, and my bullet cannot miss him.’
But the song you sang then was the song you sang just now. I heard the words perfectly: ‘We are Thine; do Thou befriend us. Be the Guardian of our way.’ Those words stirred up many memories. I began to think of my childhood and my God-fearing mother. She had many times sung that song to me. When you had finished your song, it was impossible for me to take aim again. I thought, ‘The Lord who is able to save that man from certain death must surely be great and mighty.’ And my arm of its own accord dropped limp at my side.”
K Hughes, Liberating Ministry From The Success Syndrome, Tyndale, 1988, p. 69.
(6) You are founded in Christ Jesus and you are unshakeable in Christ Jesus.
(a) John 10:28-29 – “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Fathers hand.”
(b) 1 Peter 1:3-5 – “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
iii) Third, the promise entails that God does all this so that you will be blameless on that day.
(1) God will keep us confirmed so that we will be blameless on the day of Jesus Christ. Blameless means “not accused, without reproach or stain, guiltless, above reproach.”
(2) Now here is where we meet a difficult exegetical question that will do us well to think deeply about.
(a) Paul here says that God keeps us established in Christ so that we will be blameless “on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” That is clearly future. God confirmed the gospel in our lives in the past, is presently confirming the gospel in our lives, and will continue to confirm the gospel in our lives until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ so that we will be blameless. The blamelessness that Paul is speaking about here is future.
(b) But isn’t it also true that we are blameless in Christ right now?
(i) Colossians 1:21-22 says, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.”
(c) So which is it Paul, are we blameless right now, or are we going to be blameless in the future and the answer Paul gives is “Yes.” Yes, you are blameless now and yes you will be blameless then. It is not either/or it is both/and. You see, the future has invaded the present, the age to come has intruded into the present evil age. Now you know in part, but then on that day you will know fully. Remember last week I made reference to the verse in Philippians that speaks of how right now we are seated in heavenly places. How can Paul speak that way and make any sense? We are right now here seated in church, how is it then Paul says we are “right now” seated in heavenly places? The future has invaded the present, the age to come has intruded into the present evil age through Jesus Christ whom we have been called into fellowship with. We are already experiencing some of the blessings in part today, that we will come to know fully on that day. Paul can speak of us experiencing the blessing of being blameless now, and we know in part what that means, but on that day we will know fully because we will no longer sin!
(d) Paul can speak of us as being both blameless now and blameless on the day of the Lord Jesus Christ because we are “in Christ Jesus.”
(i) Do you and I still do things that are blameworthy? Yes, we do them all the time, we are still sinners, but we are not blameless on account of anything we did, we are blameless on account of what Christ did on the cross. On the basis of justification effected by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christians are spotless and irreproachable before God immediately upon regeneration and forever. God does it upon conversion and God keeps us that way in making us share in the fellowship of Christ. So am I blameless now? Yes, though I only partly experience that blessing because of lingering sin in my life.
(ii) No accusation can be brought against us by the accuser that will stick. And believe me he is accusing, read Revelation 12 where it says night and day he does. Satan doesn’t want you to experience this blessing. He wants to tear you down and depress you by accusing you. Every sin, past, present, and future has been forgiven. Every sin past, present and future has been satisfied. We are not under judgment for sin anymore because we have been called to share in the fellowship of Jesus Christ.
1. This is why Paul can say in Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus…”
2. and in Romans 8:31ff, “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us form the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
3. * Col. 2:7 - Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
4. ** 1 Thes. 3:13 - To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
2) God’s Faithfulness
a) What is the explanation for such wonderful works in our lives? How can all of this be true in our lives? How can we be certain that what God has promised to do will come to pass? The explanation is given in verse nine. God is faithful.
i) In fact, in the Greek when the author wants to emphasize something, he puts the word first in the sentence. If you were to look at this verse in the Greek, faithful comes first. It literally says, faithful is God.
ii) Paul doesn’t want us to miss his explanation. Earlier we talked about God’s providence, that providence added with God’s faithfulness makes for a wondrous combination! Not only has God promised to do, he will do it. You can count on it.
iii) Consider also the connection made here between God’s faithfulness and his calling of us into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ.
(1) This is the third time we have encountered God’s calling in the first nine verses, and it is not the last time we will encounter it in the book of 1 Corinthians.
(a) God called Paul to be an apostle
(b) God has called us to be holy
(c) God has called us into fellowship with his son Jesus Christ.
(2) Why this emphasis on God’s calling and God’s faithfulness? Remember, the church is composed of a called out assembly of believers. God is passionate about his church; he will not abandon it or go back on his promises. He will not let it fall. Quite the contrary, he will build it.
(a) David Prior says, “We can totally depend on God: he is not a man, he cannot deny himself, he will keep his word. The church is his responsibility, he is committed to the perfecting of the saints” (Prior, 26).
(b) Consider the words of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:23-34 – “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”
(c) David Prior – “Not only is Paul very positive about the present resources of the church of God at Corinth; he is also full of confidence in the Lord for its future. Whatever ups and downs it might face, Paul is sure of the faithfulness of God: he has called them into the fellowship of his Son, he will sustain them to the end” (Prior, 25).
b) We can never doubt the faithfulness of God to those who have been called into fellowship. There may be many things in this world you doubt, but the faithfulness of God is not one of them. God is faithful. It is part of his character.
c) Having now considered the promise and faithfulness of God to sustain you so you will be blameless on that day, having briefly considered the riches of the fellowship we share in Christ, may I press you, urge you to be unreservedly committed to the church of God where he has placed you. May I urge and press you to be unhesitatingly confident about God’s desire and ability to make his church like Christ Jesus, and may I urge and press you to be uncompromisingly certain about the call for us to be holy, as he is holy.
d) When the storms of life encompass you, when you feel like giving in, when you feel overcome and overburdened, keep your eyes on Jesus Christ. God will sustain you in Him. God is faithful. God is in control. He will keep you blameless. Your heart and your flesh may fail, but not God. May I urge you and press you to persevere in his promise and faithfulness. Pursue God, strive to be more like him. He has crushed his son on your behalf, the least you can do is that.
The faithfulness of God –
1 Thessalonians 5:24 – “The One who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”
Lamentations 3:23 – “They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Psalm 36:5 – “Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.”
Psalm 40:10 – “I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation…”
Psalm 89:1 – “I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.”
Psalm 89:2 – “I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself.”
Psalm 89:8 – “O LORD God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O LORD, and your faithfulness surrounds you.”
Psalm 119:75 – “I know, O LORD, that your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness you have afflicted me.”
Psalm 119:90 – “Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations; you established the earth, and it endures.”
Isaiah 25:1 – “O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.”
1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
2 Timothy 2:13 – “if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”
Hymn in Christ alone – Jesus commands my destiny
Hudson Taylor
Missionary statesman Hudson Taylor had complete trust in God’s faithfulness. In his journal he wrote:
Our heavenly Father is a very experienced One. He knows very well that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning … He sustained 3 million Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years. We do not expect He will send 3 million missionaries to China; but if He did, He would have ample means to sustain them all … Depend on it, God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.
Our Daily Bread, May 16, 1992