Sinclair B. Ferguson

Against such things there is no law.

We've been thinking about these words, and we've come today to the third and last triad of graces in Paul's description of the fruit of the Spirit in the life of the Christian believer.

Faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Today it's faithfulness.

Sometimes the reason a marriage breaks up, as people say, is because one spouse was unfaithful.

It's the kind of question actually young people should always ask before they go any further in a relationship, isn't it?

Do I have some sense that this is the kind of young man or young woman who will be faithful?

That's important.

And actually, it's of the essence of being able to respect someone.

You can't respect a person you can't trust to be faithful.

And actually, you shouldn't marry someone you can't respect.

It's always been very interesting to me that the words for faithfulness and faith in the Old Testament have the same root as the word Amen.

Faithfulness is just saying an ongoing Amen to the commitments that we've made.

God has given us a model of what this means.

We don't have to make it up because we see it perfectly expressed in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus.

The author of Hebrews tells us that in serving as the apostle and high priest of our confession, the Lord Jesus was faithful to him who appointed him.

He was determined to say amen in his own life to every aspect of his Father's covenant promise and covenant commands.

Indeed, Paul says that all the promises of God find an answering yes and amen in Jesus Christ.

And this was especially true when it came to the hardest to keep promise of all, going to the cross to die for our sins.

When Paul says that he became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross, he's actually describing Jesus' faithfulness.