Just as it is incomplete, but necessary to learn about how the human body functions one organ at a time, so it is incomplete but necessary to focus on God's attributes one at a time.  Just as one organ system depends upon the others to exist, God's attributes are interdependent.  God's faithfulness also depends upon His omnipotence, His omniscience, and His immutability.  God has the power to make His promises come true and since God does not change, we know He will fulfill those promises that have not yet been accomplished.  In fact, Hebrews 11:1 defines faith itself as "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."  How can one have assurance and conviction in the promises of the Lord?  Because of His faithfulness.  

Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
 
All of the great promises in Scripture depend upon God's Faithfulness.  Without that, they are as worthless as the promises of a presidential candidate on the campaign trail.
 
What are some applications of this attribute of God?
1. To doubt God's faithfulness is one of the oldest temptations around.  When Satan asked Eve, "Indeed, has God said?" and then said "You surely will not die!" he was trying to put doubt into her mind and heart about whether God would be faithful to His word.  James 1:5-8 describes one who doubts that God will fulfill His promise as being like the "surf of the sea, tossed by the wind, a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
 
2. We need not fear man.  

Psalm 56:3-4.
When I am afraid,
I will put my trust in You.
In God, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust;
I shall not be afraid.
What can mere man do to me?
 
3. Sometimes we must wait on God.

Isaiah 50:10
Who is among you that fears the LORD,
That obeys the voice of His servant,
That walks in darkness and has no light?
Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.

When we are in times of darkness and feel we have no light, we are to wait on God, trusting in His name and relying on Him.  Isaiah goes on to warn of what is to come for those who fail to wait on God.

Isaiah 50:11
Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
Who encircle yourselves with firebrands,
Walk in the light of your fire
And among the brands you have set ablaze.
This you will have from My hand:
You will lie down in torment.
 
4. Sometimes God's faithfulness results in our own affliction or discipline.  

Psalm 119:75
I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous,
And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.

Hebrews 12:6-7
FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES,
AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.
It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
5. Our worries and complaining should be replaced with confidence in God.  A. W. Pink phrased this as "The Lord knows what is best for each one of us, and one effect of resting on this truth will be the silencing of our petulant complainings.  God is greatly honored when, under trial and chastening, we have good thoughts of Him, vindicate His wisdom and justice, and recognize His love in His very rebukes."

Isaiah 45:9
“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,
    a pot among earthen pots!
Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
    or ‘Your work has no handles’?

6. Sometimes God's faithfulness is clear.  Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego would not bow their knee to the false idol and God rescued them from the fiery furnace.
 
7. Sometimes God's faithfulness is much harder to see.  William Tyndale joined many other martyrs in the history of the church by giving up his life.  His crime?  Translating the Bible into English so the common man in England could understand it and read it for themselves.  Unlike Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, William Tyndale was not rescued from the fire as he was burned at the stake.  Was God any less faithful to William Tyndale?  No.  We may not understand all of the ways of God, but we can have confidence that even in allowing his death, God remained faithful.
 
I am going to go deviate some from the normal Confession of Faith at this point by interjecting my own recent personal history with the faithfulness of God.  A little over two years ago I was leading family devotions through the book of Luke.  I had recently been struck in my own personal study time of just how faithful God was.  I began to point out night after night how just about every single passage either pointed to God’s faithfulness or depended upon His future faithfulness.  I was asked to preach for two weeks at the church we were attending at the time.  One of the sermons I gave was on the faithfulness of God.  Then sometime around early March of this year, I had a conversation with Mark where I shared my passion for God's faithfulness.  During the conversation he asked if I had any suggestions for the church and I mentioned a possible series of Confessions of Faith about the attributes of God (so be careful what you suggest... you might wind up being here in front of everyone next time).  

Then on March 21st, the day of my heart attack, God’s faithfulness was my rock.  His Providence was so clear through everything.  I was originally supposed to stay in Canada an additional two days on a trip with my boss.  At Amy’s urging I decided to ask my boss if I could cut my trip short by two days before we even made reservations.  He agreed without any conflict.  Had I stayed those additional two days, I would have been on a 5-1/2 hour drive through northern Alberta, surrounded by villages of roughly 200 people each when I had my heart attack.  

Because Amy and the kids wanted to pick me up at the airport, I chose to come home as early in the day as possible and fly into Columbus as she is a little more familiar with that airport – which meant I had to catch a cab from the hotel before 5:00 AM.  While waiting for my connecting flight from Chicago to Columbus the airline was overbooked and was offering $500 to anyone willing to wait 3 hours for the next flight.  Because I knew Amy and the kids were already on their way to pick me up in Columbus, I refused to take the money.  Had I waited for a more convenient flight time – and believe me, getting up at 4:00 AM to leave the hotel on time didn’t feel convenient at the time –  or had I taken the money offered, I would most likely have been hospitalized in Chicago instead of Columbus.

As the plane took off, I began to notice some chest pain.  I have had some in the past and did not think too much about it at first.  However, by the time the plane reached its cruising altitude I knew I was having a heart attack.  I was short of breath, sweating, and had pain in my jaw and both hands – all the classic signs of a heart attack.  I did not tell anyone on the plane about my condition because I had one goal: to get to Amy and the kids at the Columbus airport.  I spent the flight focused on God's attributes (especially His faithfulness).  The plane landed, I found Amy and the kids.  We called security who sent for an ambulance and I was taken directly from the airport to the hospital in Columbus.

This is where God’s faithfulness was demonstrated in additional ways.  Amy had no idea where to go, but just this past December we decided to purchase a GPS for the car instead of buying Christmas presents for each other.  That was the first year we had ever done anything like that.  We had also just a month or so before my heart attack signed up for a new cell phone as our previous one had limited minutes and coverage.  This enabled Amy to keep in touch with our relatives and tell them where to go... which was especially important since they changed which hospital I was going to while on the way there when they realized I was actively having a heart attack.

As many of you may know, I had a 100% blockage of one artery and received a stent that afternoon.  I was only in the hospital a few days, but by the time I got around to shaving at home, I decided to leave my mustache and goatee as a symbol and reminder for me and my family of God’s faithfulness.  But don’t worry, if I ever shave them off, it won’t have anything to do with doubting the faithfulness of God.
 
Psalm 62:5-8
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
    for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
    my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
    pour out your heart before him;
    God is a refuge for us.

In recent years the practice of cohabitation has become increasingly common.  Studies have suggested that 70% of couples today live together before they get married.   This statistic does not even include the vast numbers who move in with each other but never marry.

This is radically different from the way it was just a few decades ago.  It used to be that cohabitation was a great scandal in most people's eyes.  Today though, it has lost much of its stigma and is virtually normalized.  

Even the word "cohabitation" demonstrates the normalcy of the practice.  In years past it was known as "living in sin."  Then it came to be known as "shacking up."  This was still a derisive term, but it was a movement away from the more basic notion of it being an offense against the law of God.  Today  cohabitation is the preferred term for couples who live together.  It is a word that undoubtedly has a much more acceptable tone to it as it is sanitized of any real negativity. 

Nevertheless, there continues to be the nagging echo of olden times that living together outside the bonds of marriage is not right.  Though most would no doubt agree that it was taboo in the past, they probably not be able to say why this was so.

The simple answer is this:  God said so.  We could site numerous sociological reasons why living with someone outside the bonds of marriage is a bad idea.  Studies show that it is a disastrous thing, including child molestation, economic upheaval, emotional strain, as well as divorce (if marriage is pursued).  However, all these are but symptoms of the greater reality:  God has declared that it should not be so.

In Hebrews 13:4 it says, "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous."  This verse gives the two main reasons why cohabitation is unlawful.  For one, cohabitation is for the purpose of indulging in sexual immorality.  Some might posit other motives for sharing a living space.  Finances is perhaps the one that most people will site.  However, if the couple is honest they will admit that a shared bed and ease of fornication is the main reason for their arrangement.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, cohabitation is a dishonor to God's institution of marriage.  People who live together do not give the rite of marriage its proper esteem mainly because they do not give proper esteem to each other.  If they did, they would be married!


Think about it this way:  When a couple lives together they are basically saying, "I don't care about you enough to commit to a life long loving relationship with you.  I just want to have sex with you as long as I can.  If things get rough or if someone better comes along, we can have an easy exit plan."

With such self interest at the base of a relationship, one wonders why you would want to even attempt it.

To honor marriage is to honor the one you marry.  It is to love them enough to commit yourself to them through all circumstances (good or bad) till death do you part.  This was God's original design, and it is the practice that couples are called to embrace.

Cohabitation may be countenanced by the broader culture, but that does not make it right.  God determines what is right and what is wrong, and our living arrangements need to be based on His standard.

This is why couples who intend on living together need to take heed to this and do what is right in the eyes of God.  They need to remain apart (and remain sexually pure altogether), until they have been properly wedded.  

Those who have been living together need to remedy their ways as well.  They need to confess to God that they have been living in sin and then seek to correct it.  It may mean calling a pastor and asking if he would be willing to marry you at the earliest possible date.  Or it may mean ceasing the relationship altogether and parting ways (after all, we don't want to add divorce to the string of sins that have already been committed if there isn't a possibility of a lasting relationship).