If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself, (2:13).

I needed to be reminded. It was a morning that brought the feelings of guilt and utter unworthiness. Just yesterday I was utterly amazed as I considered His Holy Calling. And this morning brought the utter awareness that I am anything but holy. Yesterday, the lyrics from Hillsong’s” Who You Say I Am” had rushed my head, “Who am I that the highest King would welcome me?”

But today, I was distraught with the distance my own sin had forged. And with shame and reluctance I groveled my way into His Holy Word. I share this, not in need of anyone’s pity, or judgment, but in hope; hope that perhaps someone else may be drawn to hear Him speak, even when the voice of shame screams out the humiliating truth to one who has failed miserably in being faithful.

And I wondered if Timothy wrestled with feeling like a failure, feeling like he couldn’t measure up, feeling like he was anything but fit to serve the King of kings. Perhaps this is why Paul turned his attention to the strength found in the grace we have in our perfect Savior.

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, (2:1).

Timothy had some big shoes to fill, following Paul in his ministry to the church in Ephesus. Timothy was young and his mentor in the faith was facing execution for preaching the gospel. The same gospel Paul instructed him to guard, retain and preach. Did fear make him feel faithless? Maybe so. And through Paul, God would Faithfully speak courage and strength into this young pastor.

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline, (2 Timothy 1:7).

As is my morning habit, I opened Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening, and the Truths of His Faithfulness were repeated. And I sensed my desperate need to pay attention.

“And I will remember my covenant.” Genesis 9:15

Mark the form of the promise. God does not say, “And when ye shall look upon the bow, and ye shall remember my covenant, then I will not destroy the earth,” but it is gloriously put, not upon our memory, which is fickle and frail, but upon God’s memory, which is infinite and immutable. “The bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant.” Oh! it is not my remembering God, it is God’s remembering me which is the ground of my safety; it is not my laying hold of his covenant, but his covenant’s laying hold on me. Glory be to God! the whole of the bulwarks of salvation are secured by divine power… It is with us as with Israel in Egypt; the blood was upon the lintel and the two side-posts, but the Lord did not say, “When you see the blood I will pass over you,” but “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” My looking to Jesus brings me joy and peace, but it is God’s looking to Jesus which secures my salvation and that of all his elect, since it is impossible for our God to look at Christ, our bleeding Surety, and then to be angry with us for sins already punished in him. No, it is not left with us even to be saved by remembering the covenant… It is not of man, neither by man, but of the Lord alone. We should remember the covenant, and we shall do it, through divine grace; but the hinge of our safety does not hang there–it is God’s remembering us, not our remembering him; and hence the covenant is an everlasting covenant.

So today, in humble gratitude, I thankfully choose to see Him increase, even in my faithlessness. Not that sin is to be glossed over, not ever. But today is a reminder that it is His covenant that keeps me, that keeps us all. And He does not depend on us in order to be Who He Is; for He can never be anything but Who He Is, Faithful. And no matter our own faithlessness, He always has, and always will, Remain Faithful.

Consider Him Who Remains Faithful

• He Remains Faithful to His Covenant.
  • Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments, (Deuteronomy 7:9).
  • Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, (Hebrews 13:20).

• He Remains Faithful to His Word.
  • “God is not a man, that He should lie,
    Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
    Has He said, and will He not do it?
    Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19).
  • For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silvanus and Timothy—was not yes and no, but is yes in Him. ²⁰ For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us, (2 Corinthians 1:19-20).

• He Remains Faithful in All His Work.
  • For the word of the Lord is upright,
    And all His work is done in faithfulness, (Psalm 33:4).
  • For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus, (Philippians 1:6).

• • He Remains Faithful to Fulfill His Plans.
  • O Lord, You are my God;
    I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;
    For You have worked wonders,
    Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness, (Isaiah 25:1).
  • Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass, (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

• He Remains Faithful in His Steadfast Love and Mercy.
  • The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
    His mercies never come to an end.
    ²³ They are new every morning;
    Great is Your faithfulness, (Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV).
  • But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (Ephesians 2:4-5).

• He Remains Faithful, for He Does Not Change.
  • “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed,” (Malachi 3:6).
  • If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself, (2:13).

How do we respond to Him Who Remains Faithful?

He Remains Faithful even when we are faithless. That should knock the wind right out of us! But I was also reminded today there is a huge difference in being faithless and being without faith. When we have placed our faith in Christ and are born again, we receive eternal life in our spirits, even though our struggle with sin and our wrestling with the flesh continues. And sadly, there will be far too many times when we are faithless.

 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not, (Romans 7:18).

But if we are without faith, then we have denied that Jesus is the One Way that we can be saved and brought to the Father.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me,” (John 14:6).

And if we deny this is the Truth, then we deny Jesus and we are without faith. And without faith we cannot please the Father, nor will we even seek to do so.

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him, (Hebrews 11:6).

But no matter how far gone we may feel, it is never too far to be saved if we will turn in repentance and come to Him in faith, believing His Word, that He Remains Faithful.

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short
That it cannot save;
Nor is His ear so dull
That it cannot hear, (Isaiah 59:1).

And when we do know Him Who Remains Faithful through faith in Christ, we too, like young Timothy, have been called into ministry with a responsibility to teach and share His Truth. While Timothy had the charge as a pastor to serve his church in Ephesus, each of us has our own sphere of influence and there is much we can apply from Paul’s counsel.

There will be suffering. And more and more, as our culture gravitates away from Truth to embrace the false teachings and lies of the enemy of the gospel, we should expect suffering to increase. And in our suffering, He calls us to rely solely on Him Who Remains Faithful, Who has raised us to new life through His death and resurrection.

It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him, (2:11).

And this will require endurance all the way to the end.

If we endure, we will also reign with Him… (2:12).

Jesus told us that in the end times many will fall away; and true faith will be proven in those who endure to the end.

“At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹ Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. ¹² Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. ¹³ But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved,” (Matthew 24:10-13).

And those who do not endure to the end will prove they do not have His eternal life and have never been born again, and will therefore be able to be led astray to deny He is the Christ; and tragically, He will deny them before His Father.

…If we deny Him, He also will deny us, (2:12).

“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. ³³ But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven,” (Matthew 10:32-33).

But all of us who belong to Him through “the blood of the eternal covenant” in Jesus our Lord, will be kept by Him forever. Yes, even when we are faithless.

If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself, (2:13).

And when we are faithless, He Remains Faithful to forgive us as we come to Him in brokenness, repentance, and confession.

 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, (1 John 1:9).

We need to be reminded, He Remains Faithful, even when we are not. But we must never take His Faithfulness for granted. Oh, that it would be our most fervent heart’s desire to be found faithful, that we would weep over our sin as we seek to be strengthened to choose the faithful way through His Word.

Lord Jesus, we are desperate for You to enlarge our heart and strengthen us in Your Grace as we commit to study, know and share Your Word of Truth. Lord above all, we desire to stand before You without shame and approved as Your faithful workmen who are equipped through Your Word to diligently carry the gospel message to a lost and dying world, that we may share with others the life-changing Truth of Him Who Remains Faithful.

Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. ¹⁵ Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth, (2:14-15).

Let’s Grow Together!