'It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with Him,

We shall also live with Him:

If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him:

If we deny Him, He also will deny us:

If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful:

He cannot deny Himself' (2 Tim. 2:11-13).

'I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not

consumed' (Mal. 3:6).

'As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as

touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.  For

the gifts and calling of God are without repentance' (Rom. 11:28,29).

He cannot lie, He cannot deny Himself, He cannot change, He cannot

repent, for any of these would impinge upon His faithfulness.  Not only the

covenant made with David is sure of fulfilment because the Lord will not

suffer His faithfulness to fail, it is true also of all the covenants that He

has made with Abraham and his seed:

'The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye

were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all

people: but because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the

oath which He had sworn unto your fathers ... know therefore that the

Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God' (Deut. 7:7 -9).

In that chapter of Isaiah where the Messiah says 'I have spent my

strength for nought' (49:4), and where Israel is 'not gathered' (49:5), and

where the Messiah is called 'Him Whom the nation abhorreth' (49:7), it is the

faithfulness of the Lord that is the anchor and stay:

'Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the

Lord that is faithful' (Isa. 49:7).

The faithfulness of the Lord to His Word of promise is so fundamental

to all our hopes, that we should lay hold upon every passage with eager

thankfulness.  Let us tabulate the references to the Lord's faithfulness that

occur in the New Testament:

'God is faithful, by Whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son

Jesus Christ our Lord' (1 Cor. 1:9).

'God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that

which ye are able' (1 Cor. 10:13).

'The very God of peace sanctify you wholly ... faithful is He that

calleth you, Who also will do it' (1 Thess. 5:23,24).

'The Lord is faithful, Who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil'

(2 Thess. 3:3).

'If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself' (2

Tim. 2:13).

'Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for He

is faithful that promised' (Heb. 10:23).

'Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed

... because she judged Him faithful Who had promised' (Heb. 11:11)

'Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the

keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful

Creator' (1 Pet. 4:19).

'lf we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our

sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness' (1 John 1:9).