The word faithful simply means to be trustworthy.  It refers to those on whom you can rely to keep their word and fulfill their promises.  The world of professional sports epitomizes the opposite of faithfulness.  Contracts are broken all the time simply because of a thirst for monetary gain and the prestige of being able to say “I make more money than the next guy; thus, I am more important than he is.”  Oftentimes someone will sign a multi-million dollar contract which involves several years, only to hold out the next year in an effort get a new and better contract.  In the world of sports, a contract, or a man’s word, means very little.

Man, as a whole, has a propensity to break promises.  Paul once wrote, “…yea, let God be true, but every man a liar…” (Romans 3:4), and the Psalmist declared, “I said in my haste, All men are liars” (Psalms 116:11).  This does not indicate that we all lie habitually, but it does show that man has the ability to lie and he very often does.

But God is not like man.  We can stand on the promises of God because with Him there is no broken contracts or unkept promises (2 Corinthians 1:20).  Lying is one of the things that God cannot do (Hebrew 6:18).  Now understand that not being able to lie is a self-imposed limitation that God has placed on Himself because it is incompatible with His nature.  Nevertheless, it teaches us that God’s Word can be unequivocally trusted.  Paul simply stated it like this: “God is faithful” (1 Corinthians 1:9).  Now let’s look at some important areas wherein God is faithful.

  1. Only those in the church will be saved. This is not a very popular saying, but it is what God teaches us through His Word, and since God is faithful, we can be sure that His Word is true.  Someone may wonder where God says that only those in the church will be saved?  He said it in Ephesians 4:4 when He inspired Paul to teach that there is only one body (the church).  The body or the church is made up of all the saved (Acts 2:47).  If all of the saved are in the church that Christ built, then obviously all those not in the body or the church are lost.  Remember, while Jesus tasted death for all men (Hebrews 2:9), He is only the Savior of the body (Ephesians 5:23).  Does that not also indicate that those outside of the body of Christ are lost?  This is what God has said through His Word, and God is faithful.  If you want to be saved, you need to get into the body of Christ by obeying the gospel before it is too late (Galatians 3:27).
  1. Only those in the church who are faithful unto death will be saved. How do we know this?  God said it!  It is not enough to be a member of the body of Christ, you must be a faithful member.  There will be a weeding out process on the day of judgment, and all those in the kingdom who are found disobedient to God will be cast out.  Jesus  said, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:  Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.  So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:47-50).  Clearly, we must be faithful unto death if we expect to receive a crown of life (Revelation 2:10).
  1. The members of the church who dies faithfully will be saved. We don’t have to guess or wonder about this.  How do I know?  The bible declares it to be so, and God is faithful to His Word.  As Paul approached death, he did not worry about missing out on heaven.  He knew he had lived a faithful life; thus, he was sure about his salvation (2 Timothy 4:6-8).  Faithful Christians need not fear death.  We have victory over death through Christ Jesus our Lord (I Corinthians 15:50-58; Romans 8:14-15; 1 John 4:17ff; John 11:17ff, etc.).

Are you not glad that God is faithful to His Word?  We do not have to guess at whether or not we are on the right track spiritually.  We do not have to guess at whether or not we are doing God’s will.  He has revealed His will to us, and we can put 100% trust in His Word because our God is faithful.