God is faithful


Though the early verses of 1 Corinthians 10 contain some of the most severe warnings ever written by Paul to baptized Christians, verse 13 also contains two of the most beautiful Gospel sentences ever inspired by the Holy Spirit. “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

God is faithful! That is the sweet Gospel message that Paul ends this section with. Every time we sin, we can come back. Every time we’ve slipped and fallen off the rock of Christ, the faithful God has picked us up in His loving hands and replaced us onto the solid rock of our salvation. Every time we’ve gotten ourselves filthy with hate, greed, grumbling, sexual immorality, idolatry, apathy, God has washed us clean with the blood of His Son. Every time we’ve tried tiptoeing the line between sanctification and sin, the Holy Spirit has called us back first with God’s strong warnings and then called us again with God’s gracious promises.

God is faithful. When you are tempted, don’t look to yourself for strength – you will fall. Look instead to your loving Lord and His promises. When you feel you’re all alone, out of control, and slipping into sin, you’re not. You don’t have to be. You’re in God’s good hands. He’s handled these sins before, and He’ll handle them again – in fact, He handled every temptation and guilt and sin once and or all on the cross and in the open tomb.

For all the times you’ve given in to Satan’s temptations, Jesus resisted Satan in the wilderness. For all the times the burdens became to great for you to bear, Jesus bore them upon His perfect body. For all the times you’ve fallen asleep when He’s asked you to pray, Jesus prayed for you in the Garden of Gethsemane. For all the times you’ve shouted praises for Him with a crowd of His followers on a Sunday morning but were ashamed of Him in a crowd of His enemies on a Friday afternoon, Jesus died on Calvary’s cross. For all the times you’ve despaired at the tomb of a loved one, forgetting the promise of the resurrection, Jesus rose from the Easter grave. That’s how loving and faithful our God is.

Every time we hear those gracious words of absolution in the worship service, it is the voice of God speaking through your pastor to forgive you of your secret and serious sins. Every time we do what is right, it is our faithful God who gives us the power. Every time we have a test or temptation or a trial, God always provides a way out, never giving us more than we can bear.

Because our faithful God has promised to remain with His people, we are never left in a losing situation. His grace provides new opportunities for us to be faithful. Martin Luther wrote in his Large Catechism: “‘Lead us not into temptation’ … refers to times when God gives us power and strength to resist the temptation. However, the temptation is not taken away or removed. While we live in the flesh and have the devil around us, no one can escape his temptation and lures. It can only mean that we must endure trials – indeed, be engulfed in them. (2 Timothy 2:3) But we say this prayer so that we may not fall and be drowned in them. To feel temptation is, therefore, a far different thing from consenting or yielding to it.” (Large Catechism III, The Lord’s Prayer)

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