(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So tonight, or rather this morning, we'll be continuing on and wrapping up the series that I started two weeks ago called Rare Breeds, we're in Rare Breeds Part 3. And very quickly, if you remember, two weeks ago we talked about the rare breed of those that are saved. Talked about the fact that how many people, in fact all people have the opportunity to be saved, that God died for everybody, that Jesus died for everybody, and that He desires that all men would be saved, but the fact is that few are saved. And then we even talked about the fact within the saved, there's even a more elite group, a more rare breed than that, of those that are baptized, those that go to church, those that read their Bibles, those that pray, and those that go sowing, and so on and so forth. And then last week we talked about the rare breed of the virtuous woman, and talked about how a virtuous woman, as the Bible says, is hard to find. And the reasons were because of the fact that the virtuous woman is not something that is admired and promoted by the world, and how the fact is that being a virtuous woman is hard work. And we talked about all that, of how to become and how to find a virtuous woman last week. But I want to continue in that vein and talk about, not the virtuous woman, but today talk about the faithful man. It says there in Proverbs chapter 20 where you are in verse 6, most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness, but a faithful man who can find. So if you remember last week when we talked about the virtuous woman, it said of her in Proverbs 31, who can find a virtuous woman, her for her price is far above rubies. So not only is a virtuous woman hard to find, but the Bible also tells us that a faithful man who can find, indicating or suggesting that it is difficult to find a faithful man even as it is difficult to find a virtuous woman. So I want to preach to us this morning that last rare breed of the faithful man. And if you would, go over to Psalms chapter 12. Psalms chapter 12. And when you get there, you might want to keep something there. We'll come back a little bit later in the sermon, but go over to Psalms chapter 12. The Bible says most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness, but a faithful man who can find. Now it's not hard to find somebody who's going to tell you how great they are or who's going to brag to you about their accomplishments or how they're superior and how everybody else pales in comparison to them or is going to brag of the things that they have done, the things that they have accomplished in life. Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness. That is the tendency of man to talk about himself and how great he is, but the Bible says let a stranger praise thee and not thy own lips. I'm kind of paraphrasing that off the cuff there, but we should let other people say those great things about us. When you see somebody's going around telling you how great they are, chances are they're not that great, specifically probably in that area. Often that's usually a telltale sign that they have problems in that area when they're trying to overcompensate and convince everybody, including themselves, that they've got this thing down. They're saying, oh, my marriage is so great. My spouse loves me so much, and we have such a wonderful marriage. Look at all the posts on Facebook, and look how great everything is for us, and they're trying to go above and beyond what is normally expected. Usually that's the area they're struggling in. People will tell you really what they're weak in by bragging the most about that, trying to overcompensate, and the Bible says that most men will do this, that most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness, but a faithful man who can find. It says there in Psalms 12, verse 1, help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth for the faithful fail from among the children of men. They speak vanity, everyone with his neighbor, with flattering lips and a double heart do they speak. So before we get into some of the attributes of what a faithful man is and what a godly man is, I would point out the fact that it's a dangerous thing when faithful men become a rare breed. In fact, that's the way it is in the world, and perhaps that's why the world is what it is today. But notice there, it says that the godly man ceaseth that the faithful fail from among the children of men. And what is David's response? Well, it's there in the beginning, help, Lord. Help, why? Because the godly man ceases. Because the faithful fail from the children of men. When the faithful fail, when godly men cease, that's a dangerous thing, and it appears that it's something only God can fix. It's a dangerous thing. Things get worse and worse in a society. Go to Ezekiel chapter 22, Ezekiel chapter 22. There's consequences when people become unfaithful. There's consequences when people cease to be godly, not just for themselves, but also for others around them. And when most men begin to proclaim their own goodness, when faithful men become a rare breed, when faithful men are hard to find, when the godly man ceaseth, it's bad for society in general. And there's consequences even for the individual, for the family, and for the society. And this is the trend of our world today. This is where things are headed. The Bible says in Luke 18, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Shall he even find it? It'll become so rare, it's as if it won't even, it'll be hard. Faith itself will be hard to find. And we can see it that we're heading in that direction. Ezekiel 22 verse 29 says this, The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery and have vexed the poor and needy. Yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap for me for the land, that I should not destroy it. But I found none. So notice here that when God is looking down, He's seeing all the oppression, He's seeing all the robbery, He's seeing the vexing of the poor and needy, He's seeing the stranger being oppressed wrongfully, and He looks down to look for a man who would stand in the gap. It says there to what purpose that He should not destroy it. It's not that God said, oh, I couldn't find anybody and I just let them go along their merry way, vexing and robbing and oppressing and just continue in their wickedness. He said, no, when I couldn't find anybody, I determined to destroy it. You see, when the faithful fail, when the godly man ceases, there are consequences, not just for the individual, but even for whole societies. They will be destroyed and God will judge. He says there in verse 30, I sought for a man among them that I should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. There was no one there. Meaning this, that God would have spared them. God wanted to show mercy and grace and all of that, and God didn't want to destroy them. He sought for a man to make up the gap, to go preach His word, to lift up the standard and to preach and to put out the call for repentance and to preach the word of God and godliness and all of that, but that man wasn't there. There was no man there to be found. And it says in verse 31, therefore have I poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. Their own way have I recompensed on their heads, saith the Lord. So the reason why this sermon is important, the reason why we should take the time this morning and talk about the faithful man is because when there is no faithful man, people will suffer needlessly. People will suffer needlessly. And here's the thing. The faithful man is going to be made all the more rare the farther along we go. The closer we get to the return of the Lord, to the second coming of Christ, the faithful man, the godly among the children of men is going to become more and more rare. If you would, go over to Psalms chapter 12 where you were, but I'll remind us in 2 Timothy 3, it says, evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, but continue thou in the things that thou hast learned and ministered of. Why should I be faithful? Why should I desire to be a faithful man or woman? Why should I desire to be a godly person? When Jesus said He will even find the faith, people are getting worse and worse or waxing worse and worse, seducing and deceiving. Why should I do it? So that we don't suffer the consequences in our own life? So that we can stand in the gap, make up the hedge? That's what He told Timothy. Hey, look, things are going to get worse and worse. Go ahead and throw in the towel. Go ahead and quit. That church is never going to get more than a few dozen people. It's probably not worth it. You guys are never going to accomplish all that you're saying you're going to accomplish. People are just getting worse. Not enough people are going to say, you might as well just throw in the towel now and quit being faithful. You might as well just go ahead and quit. That's what the devil would have you to do. Things are going to get worse and worse. People are going to deceive and be deceived. But Paul told Timothy, continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and has been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. He didn't say quit. He didn't say throw in the towel. He said continue. He said, what is he telling him? Be a faithful man. Go ahead and be that rare breed. And that's what I want to encourage us to do this morning. To be that rare breed. To be that godly person. To go ahead and stand out in the crowd. To be that odd duck in society or whatever group we might find ourselves in. And be faithful to the Lord. Continue in what we have learned. That's why this sermon is important, but let's go ahead and look at some things about the faithful man. Let's go ahead and see and learn what a faithful man is like. Say, well, I want to be that faithful man. I can see the importance of it. And look, we might not stem the tide of iniquity that's just sweeping over this nation, but maybe we can go out and save some souls. You know, there's people out there that will get saved if we go preach to them. If we'd be faithful to the soul wedding. If we'd be faithful to God's word and go out and preach and reach the lost. They will get saved. But if God looks down and says, I can't find anybody, you know what? Destruction is their end. That's where they're going to end up going to hell. We can learn what a faithful man is like, and hopefully by this point we want to. We want to know what it takes to be a faithful man, if we don't know. What is a faithful man like? Well, one way we can see what a faithful man is like is by contrasting him with the attributes of the unfaithful. I mean, Psalms chapter 12 gives us a really good idea of what unfaithful people are like, what ungodly people are like, what wicked people are like. So if we look at what they're like and say, well, you know, one of the best things we can learn sometimes is what not to do. And just by virtue of not doing what they do, we become faithful, if you see what I'm saying. We can look at Psalms chapter 12 and say, well, what are they like? Well, the faithful man, the godly man, must be the opposite of that. It says in Psalms chapter 12, help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth for the faithful fail from the children of men. They speak vanity, every one with his neighbor, with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. So there's several things that we see here. It says, first of all, that the godly man ceaseth, that the faithful fail, which tells me that if the godly man is ceasing, if it's the faithful that fail, then faithful men obviously are godly men. Faithful men are godly men. They live godly in Christ Jesus. They have standards in their life. They don't, they don't, you know, allow, and I'm not saying they're sinless, I'm not saying they're perfect, but I'm saying they get sin out of their life. They repent of sin in their life. They try their best and their hardest to live for the Lord. They hold themselves to a higher standard. Look, the world is not going to set the bar very high for you this morning. Not at all. The bar for the world is way down here. Is that what all you want to achieve in your life is what the world says is success? Look at the things that they, they lift up and say, oh, there's nothing wrong with that. Some of the most vile abomination and filth imaginable is promoted. So the faithful man is a godly man. Look at the faithful are failing and the godly are ceasing. Those are attributes of a faithful man. Faithful men are godly men. It says in Psalms 5, you don't have to turn there in verse 9, for there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their inward part is very wickedness. Their throat is an open sepulcher. They flatter with their tongue. So again, there's the flattery and all of this being mentioned over and over again. But notice how a lack of faithfulness is associated with being wicked. If we're not going to be faithful men, if we're not going to be godly, it's not like there's some gray area that we're going to fall into and God's going to say, well, that's okay. There's no neutral ground. You're either pressing on the upward way. You're either reaching forth onto the things which are before. You're either pressing toward the high mark of the calling of the prize in Christ Jesus, or you're backsliding, or you're going the opposite direction. And sometimes we get in our minds that we can just go so far and then that's all the further we need to go from the Lord. And we can just hold steady right here. But the fact is we could always be going further and further for the Lord and keep pushing towards the mark. Otherwise, we're going to start sliding back. It's either you're the faithful man or you're not. It says in verse 2 there of Psalms chapter 12, they, the ungodly, the unfaithful, speak vanity. They speak vanity. What does that mean? They have nothing to say worth anything. I mean, I understand that we can look to the world in some areas of life and glean some kind of wisdom. You can chew up the meat and spit out the bones in some instances. Sometimes the children of this generation are wiser than the children of light. And they're very good at doing certain things. And yeah, we could probably learn a thing or two from them. But the end of the day, their end, what they're speaking to, all the wisdom and instruction that they have to impart is vanity if it's not found within the Word of God. What's interesting is so many times you find these even worldly people, these worldly instructors that will teach you things and you'll say, wow, that's such a great piece of wisdom and it's helpful and it benefits people. And then you look in the Word of God and say, well, there's that same principle. Well, the Bible's teaching the same thing. And without them even knowing it, they've gotten on God's page. But oftentimes what we find people doing, the wicked, the ungodly, is just speaking vanity. Just talking about just the most inane, empty, meaningless things. I mean, think about all the things the world just spends its time on that have absolutely no value at all. And look, I'm not against people blowing off some steam or having a good time, you know, cutting up every now and then. But if our whole life is just about entertainment and fun and there's nothing serious about our life, there's no serious endeavor in our life. There's no higher calling than just, you know, what the world has to offer. That's vanity. And the world will just fill your time and fill your ears and fill your mind with nothing but vanity. The ungodly, it says there, they, the ungodly, the unfaithful, speak vanity. So if that's the way the ungodly are, that's the way the unfaithful are, well, then the faithful man must not do that. It means the faithful man must have something worth saying. The faithful man is somebody who has something worth saying. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 2, Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. So Paul, who was a faithful man, is telling his son in the faith, Timothy, to commit the same things that he has heard to other faithful men. What are those things that Paul imparted unto Timothy? The things out of the Word of God. What are those things that Timothy was going to impart to other faithful men who were also in turn going to teach others also? It's the Word of God. Look, if we're going to be faithful men, you know, the Word of God should be on our lips. The Word of God should be something that we talk about. The Word of God should be something that is in our mind and in our hearts. Otherwise it's vanity. And if we find ourselves going day after day and week after week, not thinking about the things of God, not talking about the things of God, because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh, we have to step back and say, am I really a faithful man? Because a faithful man would be in the Word of God, reading the Word of God, meditating upon the Word of God, and therefore talking about the Word of God. Look, the wicked, the ungodly, they speak vanity. It's just a bunch of trivial nonsense most of the time. I mean, just go turn on the television and just all just the babble that goes on. And they always make it out. It's the most important thing that's ever taken place. Go to any news channel and just we're always, you know, some great, you know, the next big thing is going to happen. I mean, even on the weather channel, you know, even there, they always, because here's the thing with that kind, you know, that kind of that programming is that they're, you know, the television is all about getting your eyeballs and keeping them. Anything they can run with, just keep you on their station. You know, we lived in Michigan, it was like every storm that was coming in was just snowmageddon. I mean, you just stay tuned, folks, red alert, high alert. You know, you got it. You better stay tuned. I mean, watch the radar. It's a little closer. It's a little, you know, and people go, oh, oh, the snowstorm that's coming. We better board up. We better do this and that, you know, and get everything. And look, obviously there's times when there's legitimate things to be concerned about when it comes to the weather. But you don't think they might play that up a little bit? They might just kind of, well, maybe if we make it sound a little worse than it is, we'll keep some eyeballs. And look, that's what's going on out there in the world. They make it sound like it's the most important thing, whether, you know, it's the weather, sports, news, whatever. If there's just, this is the most important thing in the whole world, it's vanity. And faithful men, they have something to say. Faithful men actually have something worth telling others, something worth imparting onto another person. Paul said, hey, you know, I've taught the things that I, that thou has heard of me, the things that I taught you, the things that I said to you as a faithful man, you need to commit thou to them to what? To faithful men. Bible says there that, continuing on in Psalms chapter 12, that they speak with what? In verse 2. They speak with vanity, everyone with his neighbor, with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. I mean, the flattering lips, we've talked about flattery, you know, people who are just just laying on thick, who just want to lift you up. That's what they do. They speak, every man with their neighbor with flattering lips and a double heart. They'll flatter you, they'll tell you all these great things about you, but they have a double heart, meaning they have other intentions. They'll tell you what you, you know, what you want to hear. So, again, looking at Psalms 12, trying to figure out what is a faithful man like, well, he's the inverse or the opposite of the unfaithful. So, if the unfaithful, if the wicked are speaking with flattering lips and a double heart, that would mean that the faithful man will tell you the truth. The faithful man is the man who's going to tell you the truth and not just what you want to hear. And look, there's a lot of people out there today that'll just tell you whatever you want to hear. They're in pulpits all across this country. Just come on in and sit down and I'll just tell you whatever you want to hear. Just make sure you keep putting that money in and buying my new cars and my three-piece suits and we'll make this a big show up here. We'll entertain you. We'll fill, you know, you can't get enough vanity out in the world, you can come right in here. You know, you can't get enough vanity out in the world, you can come right in here in the so-called house of God and we'll give you some more vanity. And then I'll go ahead and lay some more flattery on you and I'll go ahead and speak with the double heart and I'll just tell you whatever you want to hear. That's everywhere today. That's all across this country. You don't think there's people right now getting up in this country and across the world that are doing exactly that? People who know what the Bible says, people who know, thus saith the Lord and say, well, I'm not going to say that because I wouldn't want to have said anybody. But the faithful man, the one who's going to be faithful to the word of God, is going to get up and not worry about what you want to hear and tell you what you need to hear. That's what the faithful man does. They will tell you the truth, not just what you want to hear. The Bible says in Proverbs 14, a faithful witness will not lie, but a false witness will utter lies. I mean lies to a false witness, I mean it's just like breathing air to them. He just utters it. It just comes pouring right out, just lie after lie after lie. That's what the false witness is like. And I love in Proverbs 14, I didn't have you turn there, but it says a faithful witness will not lie, right? But a false witness will utter lies, plural. Meaning this, that if we're going to be a faithful person, we're going to be consistent. We won't even tell you one lie. The false witness will lie to you and lie to you and lie to you. Look, the faithful guy doesn't just lie less than somebody else. Well, I lie a little bit, but not that much. I mean I tell people mostly what they need to hear. There's a few things I hold back on and say, well, not that though. And we walk into, you know, that kind of place takes place as well. So this is great, you know, they're preaching the counsel of God, yeah, but are they preaching the whole counsel of God? Oh, no, they're preaching most of it though, but look, a faithful witness will not lie. Not even a little bit. Look, the faithful man is consistent. He doesn't hold back. He preaches all the counsel of God. So we see that, first of all, faithful men are godly men. They live godly. They have godly lives because it's the godly man that is ceasing from among the children of men. It is the faithful that fail. And the godly man is the one who has something worth saying. The godly man is the one who actually is worth listening to, that will actually benefit you, that you will actually glean from in your life if you apply what you hear. And look, not just in the pulpit, not just here, you know, there's plenty of faithful men in the pews today, people that you could go to that would tell you the truth, that would tell you something out of the word of God that is worth hearing. You know, parents are a great example of this. Parents who love the Lord, who know the word of God, who live for the Lord, who are godly themselves, who are faithful people, they're worth listening to. Believe it or not, they have something worth hearing. Believe it or not, they actually have wisdom to impart. And I don't know what it is, you know, and I'm sure I'll find out soon enough when my kids get old enough, but, and I'm sure I know I was the same way. You turn a certain age, it's just like, no, I figured it all out on my own, just overnight. I just turned a certain age and now I just know everything, and it's like, and my parents are complete idiots, and they have nothing, and you know, we joke about that, but that's not good. That's a recipe for disaster. You know, and it always, it always bothers me when I see that type of thing taking place because I, you know, I want to say it in a bad way, but I envy people who have that. I said, man, I wish I would have had parents like that, I wish I would have had parents that would have taken the word of God and say, hey, this is what the Bible says and held me to a higher standard, instead of just turning me loose, let me go say, hey, go figure it out the hard way. So look, you can find faithful men outside this pulpit, I'm not just trying to say the faithful man is the only guy, is only the guy that's going to preach, you can find faithful people in your house, you can find faithful people in your friends, hopefully, faithful people can be found, they're a rare breed, but they're out there, and if you find them, you found something special, you found something that's worth hearing, worth listening to, worth giving heed to what they're saying. They don't speak vanity. They don't have, they don't use flattering lips and a double heart where they're just going to tell you what you want to hear and try to never offend you or say anything that might rub you the wrong way. No, they'll tell you what you need to hear. And they're going to be consistent. So to be a faithful man is all these things, but it is also to be someone who is responsible, somebody who is trustworthy, somebody who is reliable. I mean, if that's probably what we think of when I say, hey, what do you think it means to be faithful? Well, it would mean to be trustworthy, right? It would mean to be responsible, somebody you can rely on, someone who is reliable, somebody you can say, I know if I tell so-and-so this or ask them to do something and they say they're going to do it, it's going to get done because they're trustworthy. And if you would, go over to Luke chapter 19, Luke chapter 19. And look, if we're going to be faithful, it's important that we be faithful people, faithful man, faithful woman, whatever. Because we, as God's children, have been entrusted with something very special, the Word of God. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 4, let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ and as stewards of the mysteries of God. And Paul's saying that, I mean, did you hear what Paul's saying here? He's saying, let a man so account of us, saying, well, who's Paul? What's Paul like? Let me tell you who Paul is. He's a minister of Christ. That's not something to take lightly, to be a minister of Christ. And he is the steward, he said, and stewards of the mysteries of God. He's not the steward of unsolved mysteries, Monday nights at eight. He's the steward of the mysteries of God. I mean, how would you like that for a title? Put that on your business card. Steward of the mysteries of God. That's a pretty big deal, isn't it? And look, that's not just Paul. That's all of us. Anyone who's going to handle the Word of God, anyone who's going to preach the Word of God, anyone who's going to teach and instruct out of the Word of God, or line their lives up with the Word of God, you are a steward of the mysteries of God this morning. Take it seriously. It's serious. And it says in verse 2, moreover, it is required in stewards. Oh, great, I get to be a steward of the mysteries of God. Oh, great, I'm a minister of Christ this morning. Aren't I a big deal? Aren't I special? Yes, you are. You are special, by the grace of God. But you know what, there's something that comes, there's a responsibility that comes along with that. Moreover, it is required in stewards. It's not optional. It's required. It's required in stewards that a man be found what? Faithful. Faithful. You have to be faithful. You're going to handle the Word of God, you can't handle it deceitfully. You have to preach the whole thing. You have to line up with the whole thing. And look, people, even Christians, they say they love God and they love His Word, but there's things in there that say, well, I love it, but not that part. That part, I'm just going to tear that out, just pretend that I didn't say that. And I always think about that example that I heard that preacher who got up and he preached something about wives submitting their husbands and this sweet little old godly looking lady walked up and said, oh, preacher, see that, they're in Ephesians, I just took a black marker and just crossed that right out of my Bible. Literally did it. Took a black marker out and said, oh, I don't like that, wives, you know, submit unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Nope. That's not being a steward of the mystery of God. That's not a minister of Christ. That's not being found faithful. I mean, that's borderline reprobate business in my, I mean, like, how could you be so brash and so bold? We might never physically take on a marker and start crossing things out in our Bible, get a big bucket of white out and just start, nope, like that, but we'll do it in our minds sometimes. We'll do it in our hearts. We'll say, well, that goes against the grain, well, I don't know about that. I don't know if I could go along with that. Well, it's required to be found faithful. I mean, think about the position I'm in. I got to get up and preach the whole thing. I can say, well, if I do that, you know, so-and-so might leave, so-and-so might get mad. Got to be faithful. Got to be faithful to the Word. Faithfulness is non-optional. Faithfulness also is not subjective to the task. Did I have you go to Luke 19? If you want to go back to Luke 16, just a few chapters, Luke 16. Keep something in 19. We'll come back. Look, faithfulness is not optional. You say, well, I'm going to be a steward of the mysteries of God. I'm going to be a minister for Christ. Okay, well, it's required that you're found faithful then. It's required that, you know, there's going to be some things that are just going to be expected of you, some things that are just inferred that we're just, oh, yeah, well, I'm supposed to be a mystery of the sewage of God. I'm going to be a faithful man. Well, then you're probably going to live godly. Then you're probably not going to speak with a flattering tongue and a double heart. You're going to have worse something, worse saying. You're not just going to be living a life full of vanity. You know, it's non-optional, faithfulness, and it's not subjective to the task. You can't say, well, I'm going to be faithful in this area, but not this one. I'll be faithful here, but not over here. Look at Luke 16 verse 10. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. That's a very true saying. Look, it's the people who are willing to be faithful in the littlest things that'll be faithful in the big things. And people often get this idea like, well, you know, I'll be faithful if I was given a big important job, but I'm not going to bother with these little things. Let somebody else do that. Look, the person who's not willing to do the little things, mark it down. They won't be faithful in the big things. I remember I knew this guy, he was always kind of wanting to, you could tell he wanted to get some part in the ministry beyond just, you know, some menial task. He wanted some kind of pulpit ministry. He wanted to be in the limelight, you know, like that's some great thing to be desired. It's special, don't get me wrong, it's a privilege, but there's more to it than just that. You know, this isn't the only place you can serve God. And I remember he's saying, oh, is there anything you need, any help, any way I can help around the church? Well, you know, the bathrooms need cleaned. I don't, I want to do that. Okay. Guy turned out to be completely unfaithful. Unfaithful to his pastor, unfaithful to his church. You know what, we saw it coming. The guy, it was no shock to us because we already knew the guy was unfaithful and that which is least. Look, faithfulness is not optional in the Christian life and it's not subjective to the task. Well, of course he wasn't unfaithful to clean a toilet. Who wants to do that? Nobody wants to clean toilets. And if you do, you know, don't come talk to me about it, right? It's not subjective to the task. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. And he that is unjust in least is unjust also in much. Look at verse 12. And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give that which is your own? This is, these are words that I think about often, you know, maybe more so than other people just because of the position I'm in right now because everything that's this church, these chairs, this pulpit, the paper this sermon is printed on, the ink that put it on there is not mine. It's another man's. You know, a lot of people that are here are not here because of the efforts that I put forth. You know, most people here are here because they found out about Pastor Anderson. And I'm not, I'm glad for that. I'm not one of these guys that's gonna be like, well, I just, you know, I got to prove that I'm my own man, you know, get my own listeners, whatever. I'm grateful for every one of them, you know, and the other ones that have, you know, are staying home, I wish they'd get here because there's more of them out there, right? And I want to squeeze every Pastor Anderson listener I can out of Tucson and get them in here and get them to work and let's do something for God. I'm all for that. But look, all I'm saying is I think about these words because I need to be faithful in that which is another man's. Say, well, you know, when's Tucson going to go independent? When's this church going to grow? When are we going to do great things for God? Well, let's just focus on being faithful in that which is another man's first. And when we do that long enough and consistently enough, then God will give us that which is our own. In the meantime, you know, we just got to be faithful. That's our, what do you think we're going to do if we get independent to become a pastor? We're just going to keep on being faithful. But how do we know that's going to be the case if we're not faithful now? So we see that faithfulness, you know, it's not optional and it's not subjective to the task. Big task, little task, somebody else's business, somebody else's, you know, that which is another man's or our own. We need to be faithful in all of it. We need to be faithful in all of it. I mean, you can apply that to people who want to own a business or run their own business one day, but they're terrible employees. I'm going to run my own business. Good luck. You don't even understand how to be a good employee. How do you expect to be a good boss? Anyway, that's another subject. The other thing I want to point out, you know, what's the point of being faithful? I mean, I understand it's not optional. I understand that it's required that a man be found faithful, that a steward be found faithful. I understand that it's supposed, that we're supposed to do it, you know, but that sounds like a lot of work. It doesn't sound easy. Well, it's not. But here's the thing about faithfulness is, yeah, it's required, yeah, it's not optional and it's not subjective, but here's the other thing, it's rewarded. Faithfulness is rewarded accordingly. Bible says in Proverbs, you want to go to Luke chapter 19 where you were, it says in Proverbs 28, a faithful man shall abound with blessings. A faithful man shall abound with blessings. Oh, I want God to bless me. I want to just overflow. I want to abound with God's blessings. You know, and often what we think, what God considers a blessing, you know, we don't see it as such. You know, the world certainly doesn't. You say, oh, a wife and kids and a big family, what's a blessing? And the world goes, no, it's not. Man, you call that a blessing? Yes, I do. And we say, well, you know, I want that. I want to have God's blessings in my life. Well, you've got to be faithful. And that's the great thing about faithfulness. Yes, it's required. Yes, it's necessary. Yeah, it's not optional, but it's also rewarded. It's also blessed. I mean, God is a God who likes to bless. I mean, He sends His reign upon the just and the unjust. He wants to bless. Who's He going to bless? If God has all these blessings to pour out on people, to help and to aid and to just be there for and to give them good things, who's He going to do it to? The guy that's faithful or the guy that's unfaithful? It's going to be the faithful guy every time. Look at Luke 19 verse 16. It says, then came the first. This is, of course, the parable of, you know, the talents, you know, when the master goes away and he gave ten talents to one, five to another, and one to another, and he came back to receive of his own and more. It says in verse 16, then came the first saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant, because thou hast been faithful in very little, have thou authority over ten cities. Now look, I don't think this is him just being figurative. I believe that this applies to the millennial reign of Christ. That he's not just saying, you know, ten cities for no reason. He's, and you know, we are going to rule and reign with him in the kingdom of heaven. That doesn't mean everybody, but not everybody's going to rule and reign to the same degree. Some people are going to be given more authority than others. And he's saying here, look, thou hast been good and thou hast been faithful in very little, be thou, have thou authority over ten cities. The second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds, and he said, likewise to him, be thou also over five cities. But God bless his faithfulness. And maybe not to the degree in this life that we would like, but look, if we're faithful and we serve God with our lives and we are faithful men and women and we serve him, there is a reward in heaven. God will reward us. Why be faithful in little? Because there's much to be gained. And look at the reward versus what he was given responsibility over. Five pounds. You know, whatever denomination that is or however that works out in currency, I don't know. But he calls it very little. Thou hast been faithful in very little. He said, I just gave you this little bit to do. I just gave you this little bit of responsibility and you were faithful in it, now have authority over ten cities. I mean, he gives him this huge reward, this huge responsibility, and it goes back to that principle in chapter 16. He that is faithful in little shall be faithful also that which is much. He said, look, I look at this guy, I've given this little bit to do, and he's been faithful what he was given to do. Now I'll go ahead and allow him to do so much more, because I know he's faithful. Same with the second guy. He gets, you know, five pounds turned into five cities. Then there's the other guy, right? And another came, verse 20, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound. Just one. That's all he was given. Look, who had the greater responsibility here? The guy with ten pounds or the guy who won? The guy with ten pounds. There was more at risk. He took on more risk. This guy just had one pound. All he had to do was get two pounds. If he had just gone and taken one pound and just gotten one more pound, he would have been rewarded. Be thou over two cities. That's all he had to do. He was giving even less. He says, thou hast been faithful to that which is little. That's what he said to the guy with ten pounds. How much more so the guy that only had one? Just one thing to do. And he said, Lord, here is thy pound which I have kept laid up in a napkin. For I feared thee because thou were an austere man. Thou takest up that thou layest not down, and reapest where thou didst not sow. Now, I don't know that that's a true testimony. He's the one giving out the pounds. These are his pounds that he's giving out. He's the one that's sowing. This guy kind of has a bad understanding of the master here. And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth I will judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow. Wherefore then gavest not thou money into the bank that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds. For I say unto you, that unto everyone which hath shall be given, and from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him. Look, if you're not faithful with the little bit that God has given you, the Bible says He's going to take even that from you. That just makes sense. Well, you're not faithful with it. What good is it doing with you? Let's just give it to somebody else who's faithful. And that can happen in this life. We're replaceable. I don't say that to downplay the importance of the role that people play in a local church. But from the pulpit to the pew, we're all replaceable. And we think, well, no, nobody else is going to meet the requirements. Who else is there? They could come out of left field. Some other option you haven't even thought about, some other person you haven't thought about, God could just say, well, if you're not going to be faithful in that which is little, I'll just replace you. I'll take what you have and give it to somebody else who I know will do a good job at the pulpit. But the point I'm trying to make is this, is that if we are faithful, if we do conduct ourselves responsibly, if we do conduct ourselves as a faithful individual, God's going to reward us. Faithfulness is rewarded. It's required, but it's also rewarded. What's another reward of being faithful? Well, how about the privilege to know the Lord better? How about the privilege of knowing the Lord better? To me, that's a pretty big reward. Go over to 1 John chapter 14. I'm sorry, John chapter 14, I always do that. John chapter 14. The Bible says in Numbers 12, if there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches. And with the similitude of the Lord, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. God is telling us here that Moses was unique. He wasn't like other prophets of God. He said, if there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream. That's how God used to speak to his prophets in times past. But in these last days, he has spoken unto us by his Son and in his word. But before that, he would come to these prophets and he would speak to them in visions and in dreams. But not Moses. Moses was different. Moses had the privilege of knowing God better than that. I mean, wouldn't it be cool if God came to spoke to you in a vision or a dream? You might wake up and think you had some bad pizza or something, I don't know. But I think that'd be cool to be one of these guys. It's kind of a unique position to be one of God's prophets. God didn't just do that to anybody. But what about Moses? I mean, he got to even go beyond that. Where it says, I will speak with him mouth to mouth, even apparently I'm going to appear to him and not in dark speeches, not in visions and dreams, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. I mean, he was so close to Moses. The Lord and Moses were so close that he actually got to behold his similitude. That's how he spoke, communicated with the Lord. He got to see him to some degree. I remember when he put him in the rock, allowed him to see his hinders parts. That was a privilege that Moses had. Nobody else got that. What made the difference? Faithfulness. He said, my servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. Why was Moses allowed that privilege? Because of his faithfulness. One of the privileges of being a faithful person is that you get to know the Lord better. And it only makes sense because if you're going to be a faithful person, what are you going to be? You're going to be a godly person. You're not going to be double-hearted. You're going to be somebody who is responsible with the things that God has given you. You're going to be a good steward of the mysteries of God. So if you want to be closer to the Lord, and look, you can be saved and very distant from God. You can be saved and not know what the Bible says. You can be saved and not know much about God other than He died for your sins, was buried, and rose again. That's possible. But if you want to be closer to the Lord, you have to be godly. You have to be faithful. It's required in stewards. Are you there in John chapter 14 verse 21? Look what Jesus said. Verse 21, John 14, 21, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. Oh, I love God. Do you have His commandments and keep them? Well, I have His commandments. I have a Bible. Yeah, but do you keep it? Do you live it? Because that's the person that loves God. Not just the guy that says, I love God. It's the person that actually has His commandments and does them. That's the guy that loves God. Then He goes on and says, He that loveth me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love Him and will manifest Myself to Him. I've thought about that, what exactly that means, and I've heard people bring that up. That's a very interesting phrase, isn't it? I will manifest Myself to Him. What's He talking about? I don't think Jesus is ever going to show up in your prayer closet in some physical form, and anybody who says that is probably a Pentecostal or something. I've heard Him say things like that. I saw the Lord. No, He didn't. But He is saying, look, I'm going to manifest Myself to Him. Verse 22, Judas saith unto him, not a scariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not the world? So they're thinking, how are you going to? Because they're thinking physically, what do you mean you're going to show up? We're going to see you, but nobody else is. How does that work? You're partially invisible. How does that work? He's confused by this. How are you going to manifest yourself unto us but not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep My words. That sounds an awful lot like faithfulness, doesn't it? If a man loves me, he will keep My words. What? He will be faithful. And My Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. Wouldn't you love to have that? Who is it? It's Jesus and the Father. We're here to make an abode with you. All right, well, let me clean the place up a little bit. Let me put some clothes on, brush my teeth, comb my hair, straighten things up, do the dishes, and then you can come in, right? That would be a pretty big deal. That would be a pretty big deal if God came to your house today and knocked on your door and said, hey, let's hang out. But that's exactly what Jesus is saying can happen. Not in that sense. Don't get me wrong. I should clarify. All the kids are going to go home and be like, when's Jesus coming over? He's using this analogy. He's trying to make it. Because as real as that is, of someone coming over to your house, that's how real God coming and making his abode with us is. That's how real God is manifesting to himself to us is. We just doubt it. We say, oh, yeah, yeah, that sounds nice because we can't physically see it. But it's a supernatural thing that God is talking about here. And he clarifies what he means here. He says, he that loveth me not, and keepeth not my sayings. The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to remembrance whatsoever I have sent unto you. So what is the Father? What is Jesus? What is God coming and making his abode with us? What is that when he comes and manifests himself to us? It's the Holy Spirit. Look, God's not going to come knock on your door and come in and sit down with you and have a cup of coffee and chit chat. But you know what is available to the faithful today is the Holy Ghost coming and dwelling with us. Look, we all have the sealing of the Holy Spirit. We're all sealed on the day of our redemption. We all have the earnest of the inheritance, which is the Holy Spirit. You know, and he's never going, that's there, that's permanent, you know, the sealing of the Spirit. But the full, the indwelling of the Spirit is there. But having the fullness of the Holy Spirit, that's something that not everybody gets. And it's determined by how faithful we are. And a good measure of how faithful we are is whether or not we have his commandments and keep them. And people that love God and keep his commandments, they have the privilege of having their faithfulness rewarded by God manifesting himself to them in the form of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. You know, it would be a real shame if we lived our whole Christian life and never knew what that was like. Never knew what it was like to have the Holy Spirit come and speak to our hearts through his word and just know that God is right there with us. I mean, hopefully we've all had those moments. We're just thinking about the Lord, meditating on his scripture, reading his word. We're in prayer and it just feels like God just shows up right in front of us. And you say, oh, that's just a funny feeling. That's the Holy Spirit manifesting himself unto the faithful, those that have his commandments and keep them. That's available to any one of us. That's available to any one of us that will keep his commandments and love him. So you can see how being a faithful man today is truly a rare breed. There's not a lot of people going around talking about that. What were you doing earlier? Oh, I was hanging out with somebody. Who? Who were you talking to in there? God? No. People, they're talking to a lot of other people. It's a rare person that's going to have that testimony. So we see that to be faithful is to be a rare breed, but you know what? To be faithful is to love God. What does it mean to be a faithful man or faithful woman? What's going to make you a faithful person today? What's going to make you that rare breed? To love God and to keep his commandments. And if we'll do that, which is required of us, it's not optional. But if we'll do that, it'll be rewarded. Rewarded in one of the most amazing ways that you can, I mean, what else in life could compare that to having God that close to you? There's nothing I know of. Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer.