2 Timothy 2:13

If we are faithless, ...

Without faith, it is impossible to please God. This is what the author of Hebrews says. A person who wants to please God needs to believe that God is, and that He is the Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. The Apostle Paul teaches us that everything that does not proceed from faith is sin. Faithlessness and all its ugly yield is sin.

Faith in God is not a mere belief, it is a settled trust in God, a resting in Him that produces wonderful fruits when we yield to Him as Lord. The Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 3 instructs the church, “in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy.” This is where faith moves toward heaven in beautiful ways. In your heart, your mind, your will, you set apart Jesus as your most worthy delight, and then you honor your Savior as Lord. This soul commitment to call Jesus Lord with real integrity is a commitment to obey. This is where the church needs to be.

But what if we are faithless? What if we, like Peter, reject the way of the cross after confessing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? What if we refuse to hear the warnings of the one we say we will never deny, and then in one night we deny Him three times? What if we act out in ways that are without rest, without trust, without faith?

He remains faithful—

Paul gives Timothy the good word of the grace of Jesus: “He remains faithful.” God is not like us. He does not waver in His commitments. He remains faithful to His own.

To us this may seem like reckless love. But what would it mean for us if God's commitment was less than this? What would be the acceptable amount of faithlessness before God walked away from us? If God demanded perfect faithfulness in us, that would be the same as demanding perfect obedience. Then grace would not be grace at all, but works; and our salvation would be dependent on our own perfect obedience. If that was the way with God, who could ever be saved?

For he cannot deny himself.

But God is rich in mercy and utterly committed to His Israel and His church. He may discipline us even to the point of what Peter, Moses, and Israel faced. What God can do for a person does not end when His days on this earth are over. God can do discipline.

But God cannot deny Himself. Why is that relevant to the question of what He will do with us? The story is here in the Lord's Supper. You are in Him in His death. When you eat this bread and drink this cup you receive the Son of God who took you with Him in His death. If He denied those for whom He died, it would be a denial of Himself.

Then what does it mean when He says that He will deny some who thought for sure that they were His most faithful servants? The surprise is this: He never knew them. But for the weak, for the prostitute, the thief, the homosexual, who truly have been claimed by Him... He loves you. And if you have an ugly moment, day, year, decade of faithlessness, He remains faithful, because you are in Him, and He cannot, He will not, deny Himself.