Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

No deposit, no return.

Some of you are not familiar with the term no deposit, no return. Google the term and you will discover that at a time when glass was the essential container for drinks, a deposit was paid for the glass. If you took the bottle back to the retailer, you could get the deposit back. If the bottle was sold without this deposit it was marked no deposit, no return. It had no value to the retailer.

2 Corinthians 5:5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (NIV)

Ephesians 1:13-14 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (NIV)

God the Father has deposited in us Himself, the Holy Spirit, and He will redeem us, not because we are of any value, but for His own sake, He cannot deny Himself.

Ezekiel 20:44a,b You will know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for my name’s sake and not according to your evil ways and your corrupt practices, (NIV)

If you are in Christ, if the Holy Spirit is in you, He will redeem you. If not….

No deposit, no return.

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

Last month we have focused on faith, obedience of faith and aspects of servitude to our Lord. If we are faithful to keep His commandments we have expressed our love for Him. Yesterday I left off with our need for repentance because we are human, make mistakes, sin and are only faithful in a few things. That is faithfulness in relationship to commandments.

God is faithful. Who gives Him commands? No one tells God what to do. God does however make promises and in that He can be faithful to keep His promises. I was still struggling with how our Lord could call us good and faithful servants even though we had not performed all that was asked of us by obedience of faith. Then He answered me.

Faithfulness is also fidelity. We can make mistakes in our understanding of our commandments because were do not always hear perfectly, or perform perfectly. That does not mean we have worshipped other gods, infidelity to God.

I cannot imagine what infidelity in the Godhead would look like, I’ve never seen it. Because God is perfect in performance, I never will. We on the other hand wrestle with these issues of faithfulness. What would it mean if we did become unfaithful in the sense of infidelity? What if we stopped believing in God? Is that infidelity on our part? I should think so. What then?

2 Timothy 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

If we truly are a member of His body, He remains faithful, fidelity is His character, He cannot deny His divine nature, He is God. Because He is faithful, He keeps both His promises and fidelity to His betrothed.