Call to Worship: Psalm 30:4 “Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. 5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. 11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 12 that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever. ”
Songs: Let the Praises Ring - Travis Cottrell
Our God Is Faithful - Umobile Worship
Everlasting God - Brenton Brown
You Are / You Are Lord - Hillsong
Scripture: Hebrews 10:19-39
Song Voice Of Truth - Casting Crowns
Sermon: “Duplicitous”
Closing Song: We Believe - Newsboys
Benediction: Lamentations 3:22 “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” There will always be a remnant of faithful followers. Don’t be like Israel who Psalm 106:13 “soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold.”
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Sermon: “Duplicitous”
Down through the ages much emphasis has been placed on God’s faithfulness, as it should be. We sing songs like, “Great is thy faithfulness” that talk about how faithful God is to His people and yes we need to be singing about God’s faithfulness because if we don’t believe God is faithful to us as followers, we won’t follow God as we should. So while it is important to understand that God is faithful, our faithfulness to our God is equally important to discuss. Deuteronomy 10:12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?” The emphasis placed on God’s faithfulness no matter what, led to what they call cheap grace. For example this song called “ No Matter What” says, “All I know is my God, Will never let go of you, He'll never let go! He'll never, never, never let you go, No matter what you've done, You can't erase His love, Nothing can change it, You're not separated, No matter where you run, He's always holding on You're still a daughter, you're still a son, No matter what.” Now I’m pretty sure that wasn’t their theme song when Babylon attacked and destroyed them and only a remnant remained. Actually this theology is worse than cheap grace, it is another doctrine of demons. Man changed God’s faithfulness to mean no matter what, God will be faithful to you but that is not the message of scripture. We must live as we are commanded by the word of God, no matter what. 1 Kings 2:4 David said “and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.” Solomon said in 1 Kings 8:25 “Now Lord, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me faithfully as you have done.” 2 Samuel 7:15 “But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’” This is a promise to David that there will always be a remnant. It doesn’t say you can live however you want. Not walking faithfully before God is not an option.
Yes God is a faithful God! Exodus 34:6 “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” Deuteronomy 32:4 “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.” It is not God’s faithfulness that is up for discussion. God is faithful. What is up for discussion is our faithfulness to God as God expects faithfulness to him. Our eternal lives depend on it. This verse describes the life of a Christian. Genesis 17:1“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” Psalm 101:6 “My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; the one whose walk is blameless will minister to me.” 2 Peter 3:14 “So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.”
Today we are talking about being faithful servants of God, so we too will hear Matthew 25:21 “Well done, good and faithful servant!” You cannot be a faithful servant and unfaithful servant; you are one or the other; you can’t be both. When Jesus said in Revelation 3:15 “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” God said to Israel Leviticus 20:22 “Keep all my decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out.” We must obey wholeheartedly. Lukewarm is a dangerous temperature to live; so much so God would rather see you cold than lukewarm. When you read through Proverbs you see comparison between the two. You are one or the other. Proverbs 2:12 “Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, 13 who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways, 14 who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, 15 whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways. 16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, 17 who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. 18 Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. 19 None who go to her return or attain the paths of life. 20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; 22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.” You are either faithful and blameless or wicked and unfaithful. Just by looking at the word wicked in Proverbs, you see these many comparisons such as Proverbs 10:27 “The fear of the Lord adds length to life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.” Proverbs 11:20 “The Lord detests those whose hearts are perverse, but he delights in those whose ways are blameless. 21 Be sure of this: The wicked will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will go free.” Proverbs 11:5 “The righteousness of the blameless makes their paths straight, but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness.
I was struck by a verse in Proverbs, which is where the title of this sermon came from. Proverbs 11:3 (NIV) “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.” Duplicity means “contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action.” Duplicitous means marked by duplicity: deceptive in words or action.” Synonyms for duplicitous are two-faced, deceitful, dishonest, disloyal and unfaithful. Webster’s dictionary described it like this. “The idea of doubleness is at the core of duplicity. Duplicity comes from a Latin word meaning "double" or "twofold," and its original meaning in English has to do with a kind of deception in which you intentionally hide your true feelings or intentions behind false words or actions. If you are being duplicitous there are two yous: the one you're showing and the one you're hiding. And—key to the idea of duplicity—you're hiding that you in order to make people believe something that's not true.” As I said earlier, before God there cannot be two yous. As a Christian you cannot live a double life. Yes you may fool others but you will never fool God, as in the end you will be the fool. Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Romans 1:21 “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
Now to look at this a little deeper I want to read this verse from a couple of other versions of the bible. Like the word duplicitous and its synonyms, these versions shed light on the seriousness of duplicitousness. First I will read the verse again from the NIV. Proverbs 11:3 “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.” Proverbs 11:3 (KJV) “The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.” So now this word perverseness described the unfaithful. Proverbs 11:3 English Standard Version (ESV) “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.” Now we have crooked and treacherous. Proverbs 11:3 Living Bible (TLB) “A good man is guided by his honesty; the evil man is destroyed by his dishonesty.” And then we have evil and dishonest. There is no way that a Christian can be these things and sill be a Christian. You either are or you are not. You cannot be duplicitous in your relationship with God. You either trust God or you do not. Walking in the Way means walking in only one way. This is the problem we face as many now think that lukewarm is hot and being cold will get you to heaven no matter what. The church can be described here. Psalm 12:1 “Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race. 2 Everyone lies to their neighbor; they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts.” Hosea 4:1 “Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.” Jesus said Mark 7:6 “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules. 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” Psalm 78:32 “In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe. 33 So he ended their days in futility and their years in terror. 34 Whenever God slew them, they would seek him; they eagerly turned to him again. 35 They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. 36 But then they would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues; 37 their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant.”
Every Sunday churches are filled with the duplicitous, thinking that going to church on Sunday is okay and living a different way the rest of the days is okay no matter what. Casting Crowns sings a song called Stained Glass Masquerade. So with a painted grin, I play the part again, So everyone will see me the way that I see them, Are we happy plastic people under shiny plastic steeples.” It’s not what comes off your lips, it is what comes from your heart. Luke 6:45 “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Jeremiah 7:28 “Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.” Deuteronomy 32:20 “I will hide my face from them,” he said, “and see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children who are unfaithful.” Because God has turned his face from shining on us not only are we missing the gifts of the Spirit, we are missing the fruits as well. Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.” This verse also describes the church. Luke 4:22 “All spoke well of Jesus and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.” These people are then described by Jesus. “23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’” 24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.” These people are still around today and continue to reject the truth of Joseph’s son. Luke 9:41 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you?” Psalm 59:7 “See what they spew from their mouths— the words from their lips are sharp as swords, and they think, “Who can hear us?” 8 But you laugh at them, Lord; you scoff at all those nations.” The crowd shouted Hosanna until the end when Jesus turned out not to be who they thought he was going to be just like those in His hometown did. They wanted a king but the king they got they rejected and to this day still reject Jesus as their Messiah and King. Those same crowds then shouted crucify Him, crucify him. You cannot have both sets of words in your heart. Hebrews 6:4 “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.” Hebrews 10:29 “How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?”
Too many people today have no idea what it means to be a Christian. They have been taught to go to church and end up living a life of duplicity. They haven’t been taught to “walk before God faithfully and be blameless.” Too many Christians simply don’t believe what the bible tells them to do and how to live. For example, last week I gave you the picture of Psalm 23:5 “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” How awesome is that? Yet Israel did not believe. Psalm 78:12 “He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. 13 He divided the sea and led them through; he made the water stand up like a wall. 14 He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night. 15 He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them water as abundant as the seas; 16 he brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers. 17 But they continued to sin against him, rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High. 18 They willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved. 19 They spoke against God; they said, “Can God really spread a table in the wilderness?” The church has done the same and question God’s word. Can good really do what he said he would do. Jesus did miracles, signs wonders yet most don’t believe them possible in our day. Many in the church have been taught to live a duplicitous life, acting as double agents. Some of the time they are working for God, that is they think they are and some of the time for satan. The unbelief and disobedience by the church has caused our enemies to devastate the church. We cannot be both obedient to God’s word and disobedient; that is impossible. James 4:4 “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” While I realize this verse is talking about money, it applies. Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
As a Christian we must not live a life of duplicity. Psalm 101:1 “I will sing of your love and justice; to you, LORD, I will sing praise. 2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life— when will you come to me? I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart. 3 I will not look with approval on anything that is vile. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it. 4 The perverse of heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with what is evil. 5 Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not tolerate. 6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; the one whose walk is blameless will minister to me. 7 No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence. 8 Every morning I will put to silence all the wicked in the land; I will cut off every evildoer from the city of the LORD.”
We are called to be blameless and faithful. As we just read Psalm 101:6 “My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; the one whose walk is blameless will minister to me.” One such person was Job. Job 1:1 “In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.” Jump to the last chapter and God said, Job 42:7 “After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” In between these two chapters Jobs friends spent their time trying to convince Job that all that had happened to him was because he sinned. Jobs friends constantly were trying to convince him that his problems were because he was wicked at heart. His friend Zophar said Job 11:11 “Surely he recognizes deceivers; and when he sees evil, does he not take note? 12 But the witless can no more become wise than a wild donkey’s colt can be born human. 13 “Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him, 14 if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, 15 then, free of fault, you will lift up your face; you will stand firm and without fear. 16 You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. 17 Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning. 18 You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety. 19 You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor. 20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; their hope will become a dying gasp.” Yet as God said Job was blameless; it was his friends who needed to be prayed for.
After chapter 1 and 2, we see satan at work in a different way. Yes Job’s life imploded beyond measure. Job said, Job 16:7 Surely, God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household.” Job 19:13 “He has alienated my family from me; my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. 14 My relatives have gone away; my closest friends have forgotten me. 15 My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner; they look on me as on a stranger. 16 I summon my servant, but he does not answer, though I beg him with my own mouth. 17 My breath is offensive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own family. 18 Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me. 19 All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me. 20 I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.” Yet Job Job 1:20 “fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised. 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrong-doing.” David said in Psalm 71:20 “Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. 21 You will increase my honor and comfort me once more.” Job’s friends, even his wife tried to get him to give up. As we talked about last week we receive this word of caution. Micah 7:5 “The faithful have been swept from the land; not one upright person remains. 5 Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend. Even with the woman who lies in your embrace guard the words of your lips. 6 For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies are the members of his own household. 7 But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.”
Yes in spite of all this, Job remained faithful. He said, Job 13:15 “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” Job 27:2 “And Job continued his discourse: “As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made my life bitter, 3 as long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostrils, 4 my lips will not say anything wicked, and my tongue will not utter lies. 5 I will never admit you are in the right; till I die, I will not deny my integrity. 6 I will maintain my innocence and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.” We too are to be this steadfast. 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” Job also said, Job 23:10 “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. 11 My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. 12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.” He said this after saying God was no where to be seen yet he remained faithful. Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. 106 I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws. 107 I have suffered much; preserve my life, Lord, according to your word. 108 Accept, Lord, the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me your laws. 109 Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law. 110 The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts. 111 Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. 112 My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end. Psalm 130:5 “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.”
Yes God is faithful to those who faithfully seek Him. 1 Chronicles 28:9 “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. 10 Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.” In the end, Job 42:12 “The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. 16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so Job died, an old man and full of years.” 1 Samuel 2:9 “He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails;” Deuteronomy 7:9 “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. 10 But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.” Deuteronomy 11:13 “So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— 14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil.”
We had been warned to be faithful followers of God but the church became stiff-necked and disobeyed God’s commands. Psalm 78:1 “My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old— 3 things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done. 5 He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, 6 so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. 7 Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. 8 They would not be like their ancestors— a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him. Today the church looks just like it did when they came to Nehemiah. Nehemiah 1:3 “They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” 4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. 5 Then I said: “Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. 8 “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’ 10 “They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. 11 Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name.” Today the church has been scattered among the nations and only remnant remains.
God is faithful despite our unfaithfulness but this doesn’t mean we can live however we want. 2 Timothy 2:11 “Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” Too many people are betting their lives that they can be faithless and not be disowned. What a risk the church takes today by living a duplicitous life. They worship in vain because they follow other gospels. It is either the way, the truth and the life or it is another gospel. Scripture tells us otherwise. The good news is that God said he would 1 Samuel 2:35 “raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always.” 1 Chronicles 10:13 “Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, 14 and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.” God tells Solomon 1 Kings 9:4 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, 5 I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ 6 “But if you or your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 8 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 9 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the Lord brought all this disaster on them.’” 1 Samuel 12:24 “But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.”
Because God is faithful, there will always be a remnant according to the promise to David. He will always keep his covenant with Abraham because Jesus allows us to be heirs to the throne if we believe and obey. Romans 8:17 “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” Galatians 3:29 “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Ephesians 3:6 “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” So as heirs we have great hope. As I read earlier about Abraham, “the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.” Nehemiah said Nehemiah 9:7 “You are the Lord God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham. 8 You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your promise because you are righteous. Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.” By being faithful and not duplicitous we have great hope! Isaiah 1:26 “I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.” Zechariah 8:3 “This is what the Lord says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.”
Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
