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Amen, so John chapter number 13, so tonight we're going to look at one very specific subject in the book of John, or in the chapter of John chapter 13, so of course we've been kind of talking about this event for the last couple of weeks as we just got past Easter and we just celebrated the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but tonight in John chapter 13 we see Jesus washing the disciples feet at the last supper here, the last meal He has with them, and then He is taken after this, but in this chapter we see Judas Iscariot, and we see Jesus kind of calling out Judas Iscariot at the table in front of all of the disciples, so that's what I really want to focus on this evening is I want to look at this man Judas Iscariot, see what we can take from this situation. So let's begin if you would, back to John chapter number 6, so there's a lot of prophecy about Judas Iscariot, this is fulfilling prophecy, we'll talk about that in just a few minutes, but the first question is, and I was actually taught something very different about Judas Iscariot when I was a kid, when I was growing up, and especially when I started really pressing my Lutheran pastor on doctrinal questions, especially on the doctrine of eternal security, it was this idea of Judas Iscariot, and was he saved, was he not saved, did he lose his salvation, and of course the Lutheran Church teaches that Judas lost his salvation, so it's like where's an example of someone losing their salvation, and the example that they choose is Judas Iscariot, and it's very clear in the Bible on whether Judas was saved or not, and if you can lose your salvation or not, so this was very helpful for me actually in seeking out the truth, but if you go back to John chapter 6, we did look at this, so I don't want to spend a lot of time in John chapter 6, but the first question is, this Judas, this guy that betrayed Jesus, so obviously you can be saved and do bad things, you can be saved and betray your friends, you can be saved and really mess up badly in your life, but was Judas saved, look at John chapter number 6, and look at verse number, actually look at verse number 64 first, let's look at verse number 64, look up at verse 63, Jesus is speaking here, it says, it is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing, the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, they are life, so again, this is something that people just completely misunderstood about Jesus, he's like, I'm speaking to you in spiritual terms, not about actually eating my body and, you know, drinking my blood, I'm talking to you about spiritual life, and look at verse number 64, where the Bible says, but there are some of you that believe not, now that's Jesus speaking, if you have a red letter Bible, those words right there are read, but the rest of the words are not read, which is the narrator of the Bible, it says, for, so verse number 64 is unique, it's actually Jesus quoting something, and then it's the Holy Spirit speaking to you in the rest of the verse, so look at it says, there are some of you that believe not for, again, Holy Spirit now, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believe not, and so there were people that just didn't believe, and who would betray him, now look at verse number 70, so that's interesting, that verse right there where it says, you know, some people believe not, it really kind of gives us a good example of what it means to believe on Jesus, because Judas Iscariot is obviously who he is talking about here in verse number 70, we'll talk about him again, but Judas Iscariot believed not, so Judas Iscariot obviously believed that Jesus existed, he obviously believed that Jesus was able to do great miracles, he was there as Jesus did his ministry for three and a half years, he saw all these things, he just believed not, meaning he did not believe on Jesus, he did not put his trust on Jesus, so that's a great example of just what it means and what it doesn't mean to have, you know, that faith to, you know, believe on Jesus, to trust in Jesus, not just believing Jesus, you know, existed, or even believing Jesus died on the cross, it's like, no, it's putting your trust on that, is what believe on means, alright, Judas hung out with Jesus, he clearly, you know, believed that he was there, alright, look at verse number 70 now, so Judas, again, what did we learn from that, Judas believed not, so that is telling you right there that Judas, there is no evidence in the Bible that Judas ever believed on Jesus ever, and there's only evidence against it, there's only, so if you say, oh, well, Judas did trust on Jesus, he was a believer, there is nothing in the Bible that tells you that, you're just coming up with that on your own, it's extra biblical, alright, and it wouldn't make any sense, it would contradict the entire Bible, alright, look at verse number 70, verse number 70, Jesus answered them and said, have I not chosen you 12 and one of you is what, is a devil, and that matches exactly what we see in John chapter 13, where the Bible says in John 13, that Satan literally entered into Judas, again, we could get into this doctrine of believers being sealed by the Holy Spirit, we're indwelled, we're given that down payment, that earnest of the Spirit, a believer cannot be indwelled by Satan, a believer can't be indwelled by, you know, a demon, you cannot be possessed if you are a sealed believer and you've trusted on Jesus Christ, go to Matthew chapter 26, so he calls him a devil, he says he believed not, I mean, I don't know what else you need to see here, but go to Matthew chapter 26, we get into something a little bit different here in Matthew chapter 26, Matthew chapter 26, look at verse number 24, kind of a profound verse when it comes to Judas here, but Matthew chapter 26 and verse number 24 says this, it says, the son of man goeth as it is written of him, but woe unto that man whom the son of man, by whom the son of man is betrayed. So he's saying, woe unto who is going to betray the son of man and then look what he says, he says, it hath been good for that man if he had not been born. All right, now, a couple of things, actually we'll do the first part of the verse second, but could you ever say about a saved person that it would be better if they had not been born? You could never say that about a saved person. You could say that they wasted their life on this earth, you could say that they were terrible to people, you could say that they did not live a profitable Christian life, but if somebody is saved, they're going to spend an eternity in heaven. So obviously, if somebody is saved, it is better that all saved people were born. I mean, you could say that there's some wicked people out there who did wicked things and just slaughtered hundreds of millions of people or killers or serial killers or whatever other kind of perverts are running around in this world, harming people, you could say for them that it's better that they had not been born. But you could never say for a saved person, no matter what they do with their life, that it would be better if they couldn't have been born because they're spending an eternity in heaven. They cannot lose what God has sealed within them. So again, just more evidence. There is no evidence in the Bible, there is no wording in the Bible that Judas was a believer, that Judas was saved. So this idea that Judas was saved and then he lost his salvation, there's just no basis in it. And it's funny because I was even a Lutheran and right away when I saw that Judas, because the question that I asked, my problem was eternal security. My problem was eternal security, my disconnect. And I asked my pastor, I said, where in the Bible does it say that someone is born again, and then again, and then again? It would be better if you believed that you could lose your salvation, and I've never met someone who believes this, but it would be closer to the Bible if you believed you could lose your salvation. Of course, that's anti-Bible right there, but say you just made that one mistake. You're just like, I believe you can lose your salvation. It would be better if you thought that you could never gain it back again. That would be more biblical than this idea that you can lose your salvation, but then you can get it back, you can lose it, you fall away, you can come back, you fall, there's just no evidence in the Bible of that at all. And if that is the Christian life, it's constantly falling out, coming back, going from salvation to not, to salvation to not, depending on some rules that are not in the Bible, you would think there would be some examples of it. There's not. And it doesn't match the actual doctrine from the Bible anyway. Judas was never saved. It is very, very clear from the Bible, and I knew that. As a Lutheran who knew almost nothing of the Bible, I was like, wait a minute. I've never read, because I had read the Gospels before, I was like, I had never read the Gospel thinking, and I didn't even really talk like saved or unsaved as a Lutheran, but I had never read the Gospels thinking that Judas was somebody that was gonna go to heaven at any point in Judas's life, because he's just a wicked person the whole time. He's an unbeliever the whole time. All right? Judas was never saved. It's very clear, okay? Look at Matthew chapter 26, and look, he didn't get saved. He didn't get saved. So how do you know that? Because it'd be better if he was never born. That's why. It'd be better if he was never born. Now look at the very first part of Matthew 26, verse 24. Matthew 26, verse number 24. Jesus says something right here. He says, the Son of Man goeth as it is written of him. So it's an interesting situation with Judas that Jesus Christ would have 12 main disciples, and one of them is a devil. He would have these 12 disciples, and literally one of them, who he knows, he's God, he knows everything, is a betrayer, somebody that's literally gonna sell him out to be killed. I mean, from our perspective, it would be odd that Jesus would choose that. But why did he choose that? Because the Son of Man goeth as it is written of him. This is why. Because this is a prophecy, as a matter of fact, if you go to, actually go to John, don't go to John 13, but go to Psalm 41. I try to make references in my Bible to all the Old Testament prophecies, but if you go to Psalm 41, there is a direct reference. I mean, just one, there's quite a few of these. But if you go to John chapter 18, I'll read John chapter 13, verse 18 to you as you're turning to Psalm 41, nine, and I'll just read John 13, 18. I speak not of you all. I know whom I have chosen, but that the scripture may be fulfilled. What does that mean? That the prophecy may be, you know, come true. He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. Now normally, you wouldn't know that Psalm, if you just read Psalm 41, nine, and you didn't know the story of Jesus, or you didn't have the gospels in front of you, you probably wouldn't make that connection. But now we can make that perfect connection. Right, there's many of these. Zechariah chapter 11, in verse number 12, you can go ahead and turn there towards the end of your Old Testament. Look at Zechariah chapter 11, in verse number 12. Zechariah chapter 11, in verse number 12, the Bible says, it says, and I said unto them, if you think good, give me my price, and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price 30 pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, cast it into the potter a goodly price that I was prized of at them, and I took the 30 pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. A clear prophecy of what Judas did when he went and he sold out Jesus, for what? For 30 pieces of silver. Again, in Psalm, turn to Psalm chapter 69. Psalm chapter 69, look at verse number 25. Psalm chapter 69, look at verse number 25. Psalm chapter 69, verse number 25, and then just make yourself a reference, Acts one, and verse number 20. So go to, let's just read Psalm 69, 25. They let their habitation be desolate, and let none dwell in their tents. Now you would think you'd read that in Psalms, and you'd think, okay, you know, that's not anything prophetic about Jesus, but then you go to Acts chapter number one, and you look at verse number 20, and you see for it is written in the book of Psalms, let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein, and his bishopric let another take, talking about how they went and they cast lots then to replace Judas, and also the dwelling place, the potter's field that was bought by the Pharisees or the priests when he gave the money back. They bought the field, and they said, you know, nothing should be here because it's a field of blood. This is what it's talking about. It's talking about that desolation of that place, all right? So there's a lot of Old Testament prophecy that is fulfilled by Judas, okay? Now, the question is this, and I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but you're like, okay, so Judas fulfills all this prophecy in the New Testament with what he does and all the, you know, there's many other, you know, prophecies about Judas, but I just read you a few. You say, well, didn't he have free will? You know, didn't he have, was he like some robot that God made in all this? And, you know, the answer is no, but God knows the end from the beginning. You know, God knows the end from the beginning, and just like, just like Romans 8.28, where God is able to use, you know, bad things that are happening for good, God is able to use evil people to, for his purposes in this life. I mean, if people are, you know, predictable at all, is that there will be plenty of evil people. That seems to be one of the most predictable things, but look, it's just like the end times events. God will use evil people, even his enemies, to fulfill prophecy. You say, that's so strange, but I wanna just give you something to think about tonight. It's really not that strange. It's actually kind of brilliant. You say, why, I mean, think about, just think about what the point of prophecy is. Why have prophecy? Why do I have all these Psalms that call out things that actually happened in the New Testament, that actually happened? Well, I mean, it's just on its general case, it's a proof of the Bible. It's a proof that the Bible's true. And what people will say is, oh, yeah, yeah, well, Jesus, he just knew the, he knew the Bible, he knew the Old Testament, so he just made sure that he did all these things so it made it look like that that was him. It's like, yeah, he magically got all the people that hated him the most to fulfill all his prophecies. Think about that. Think about how great of a proof that is from the Bible, that he literally used people that were trying to kill him. Yeah, like the Pharisees. Like they were really trying to prove that Jesus was the Messiah. I mean, that doesn't even make any sense. Yet that's exactly what they did. When they took the 30 pieces of silver back and they bought the potter's field and they called it the field of blood, what did they do? They literally fulfilled prophecy that proved that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. That's why it's so brilliant, God using his own enemies to fulfill many of these prophecies. Because it just makes the Bible that much more provably miraculous. I mean, you couldn't look at this book and these things that happen and say, yeah, these guys, they figured all that out or whatever. Because they literally made people that, I mean, the chief priests, the rulers, they killed him. They were trying to kill him to make him go away. And while they did that, they fulfilled the truth that he was who he said he was. I mean, talk about 4D chess. I mean, this is the living God that we serve right here. So he's literally using his worst enemies to prove that what he says is true and who he says he is is true. It's pretty cool, I think. Now let's talk about Judas and this idea of Judas betraying Jesus tonight, all right? So that's, look, Judas was never saved. Judas is in hell. He didn't get saved and lose his salvation. You can't lose your salvation. He was never saved. He felt, you know, he might've felt a little guilt or, you know, bad that he betrayed Jesus and he gave the money back, but when he repented about that, he repented about that decision. It never said he trusted on Jesus because, how do I know that? Because, you know, oh yeah, he trusted on Jesus, he got saved and then he committed suicide because, you know, you see a lot of that happening, right? No, he never got saved. He never, repent means he just changed his mind about that one decision, about that one thing. That's it, all right? Repent doesn't automatically mean repent of your sins and get saved, which won't save you anyway. But anyway, that's another sermon in the whole thing. But anyway, let's talk a little bit about Judas and this idea of this Judas inside of the 12 disciples, inside Jesus's core group here and, you know, cause look, when you read John chapter 13, you can see that the disciples, they just can't fathom. They can't fathom the fact that there would be someone amongst them that would betray Jesus. I mean, you're reading it and you're just like, are they dense? I mean, what is happening? He's literally saying who it is. It's who I give the soft to and then he hands it to them. They're like, he must just be telling them to go buy something or whatever. Like, no, that's him. But you can tell it's just very hard to stomach for someone to realize that maybe somebody that could have been with you for however many years he was with them, you know, could just do something like that. It was hard to believe, all right? When I talk about this curse of no loyalty tonight, all right, that's what I wanna talk about. Many times if you have dealt with people, and I'm sure all of you have dealt with something like this. Many times if you've been in a group of people or maybe you've had a group of friends or maybe you've even had, you know, family or whatever and you've had someone, you know, backstab you or turn against you or do something like that. Look, it's a very painful thing to go through. It's very hard to stomach somebody that you thought, you know, was with you and then just turns against you and stabs you in the back. Many times I read this and I'm like, I'm glad Jesus cleaned this up for the disciples before they actually had to go get to work because this would have been very something very difficult for them to deal with. I mean, look, division makes tough times even tougher. That's why Paul was like preaching so hard against the churches that like you need to get rid of these divisions. We need to knock this Gentile and Jew thing off and get these stupid cultural things out of the way. We all need to be Bible believing Christians and move forward in this Christian life. He's trying to get rid of this division. So that being said, if you've been through something like that or you've had somebody that, you know, turned against you or something like that, it's a difficult thing to go through. But I wanna point out, I wanna point out that while it was difficult to go through, who was cursed in the situation? Who was the curse upon in that situation? Was it upon Jesus? Who was the one who was betrayed? Was it upon the disciples who, you know, had someone in their midst who they thought was someone that he was not? The point is, I'm not trying to play down how difficult it is in dealing with somebody who has no loyalty or very bad loyalty. But what I'm saying is, at the end of the day, the curse is on them. The curse is on the person that lacks loyalty, okay? So the question is, turn to Joel chapter three. What I wanna talk about tonight is what is loyalty? What is loyalty and what causes a lack of it? Why do some people have it and some people don't have it? Why was there this person, Judas Iscariot, who fit right into who Jesus needed to fulfill all these prophecies? And look, you're gonna find people in your life, you're gonna find people in church life that just, they struggle with loyalty. They just cannot be, they're just not, these are not loyal people. So the question is, what is loyalty and what causes a lack of it? Because if you have a lack of it, it's a curse. You don't want that. Dealing with somebody that has a lack of it is difficult. But you're not cursed for that. Having no loyalty is a curse in your life. Look, not just church life, not just friends life, not just brothers and sisters in Christ's life, like in general, it's gonna be a curse for you. So what causes a lack of loyalty? Look at Joel chapter three and look at verse number two. See if I can explain this in detail for you tonight. Look at Joel chapter three and verse number two. Now there's a few verses, my wife and I were talking about verses along these lines, but I chose this one. I think it fits pretty well with what I wanna talk about tonight. But I mean, get past the ugliness of this situation for a minute and look at Joel chapter three and verse number two. And the Lord says, and I will gather all nations, I will also gather all nations and bring them down in the valley of Jehoshaphat and will plead with them there for My people and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and parted My land. And look at what these people were doing. Look at verse number three. And they have cast lots for My people. They have given a boy for a harlot and sold a girl for wine that they might drink. I'll think about that for a second. I mean, I don't know if it was their children or not, but let's just look at that verse number three there for a second. These people, think about that. I'm sure that, you know, if these were their own children and they've given a boy for a harlot and they've given, I mean, I kinda read that as like they're selling their own children. This is kinda how it reads to me. But look, people love their children. Like you don't have to be taught to love your children. Like you love your children. People love their children. But what happened was, there was a moment where they wanted something different. There was a moment where they wanted something more. I get that this is an extreme situation right here, an extreme case, but loyalty or the lack thereof is a matter of serving immediate self-interest or serving the interests of others. And what you need to understand is, when I say serving immediate self-interest, I really should have said serving perceived immediate self-interest. So people that are not loyal, what they do is this, they may be loyal for a time. They may be loyal, they may, you know, I want this thing, this job, this friendship, whatever it is, for a time. But people that are not loyal, what will happen is, you know, they chase squirrels, basically. They see shiny objects. And they suddenly, in a moment, think that they want something else more, and they forget about everything that was over here. I mean, Joel chapter three and verse number three is an extreme case of someone who, oh, I have this child, oh, but I really want a bottle of wine right now. Don't you think that they will regret that later? Don't you think that they will feel that curse later once they realize what they have done? So look, these are, turn to Proverbs chapter 17. This is what you would call, like in friendships, this is what you would call fair-weather friends. You know, hey, we're friends as long as you make a lot of money and you take me where I wanna go and you're really fun and everything, as long as everything is going really well for you, I'm your friend. This is like some, this is like some, you know, some millionaire or billionaire or whatever that all his friends, they just like him because he's got all these, this yacht and all these different things. And then, like when everything just goes away, like all his friends go away, too. Why is that? Because they weren't loyal friends. They were fair-weather friends. Because at that time, that was good for them. But when it wasn't good for them, they're just like, no, they're just, they're off somewhere else. They just chase the bottle of wine or the harlot or whatever it is. Look at verse number 17 of Proverbs 17. So this is the difference between loyalty and lacking loyalty. Someone that lacks loyalty will serve immediate self-interest. And somebody that is loyal will serve the interests of others. Now what was Jesus doing in John chapter 13? He was only serving, he was teaching them what? He was teaching them loyalty. He was teaching them to serve each other's interests. He was teaching them, hey, it's not about who's greatest among you is a question some of you have asked before. He said, this is about serving each other. You know what he was saying? He's like, I want you to be loyal to each other. That's what Jesus was teaching. Look at verse number 17. A friend loveth at all times. You see that? And a brother is born for adversity. Just taking that first part of the verse, a friend loveth at all times. What that means is this is not a fair weather friend. This is a friend who's with you when you're down. This is a friend who's with you when you're up. A friend loveth at all times. Look at Proverbs chapter 18. This is why, I mean, a friend loveth at all times, I mean, this is why a loyal friend is not just a friend to you when everything's going wonderful in your life. This is why friends that you know, if you know people that have gone through extreme situations with each other, probably the best example is war. You know, two guys that are 18, 19 years old, they go off and they fight in Vietnam or whatever, and those guys, you'll see those guys at reunions until they're 98 years old. Because they went through something terrible together. And that really, that showed loyalty to them. They saw, you know, each other at the most down they've ever been in. And look, your friends will be the same way. The best friends that you have will be the friends that have gone through bad times with you. It's great, look, it's great to have, like, go out on Saturday, like, we're gonna go out and have great times, but what really builds friendships is the really, really difficult times. Because what does that do? That shows loyalty, and I'll get to that in a minute. Look at Proverbs 18, verse 24. The Bible says, a man that hath friends must show himself friendly, okay, and there is a friend, look at this, look at these two words right here, that sticketh. What does that mean? That this friend right here, he sticketh, he sticks to you, he stays with you. He doesn't just, oh, you know, you're not any fun anymore, see you later, or, oh, you know, two people left, or whatever, see you later, it's someone that sticks by you through it all, not when it's just good. Now look, there's Christian lines here, okay? And really the Christian lines, and if you're a mature Christian that knows even a little bit of the Bible, the Christian lines are God first. I mean, God first. I mean, you know, there's still separation in the Bible. So you have a friend that just gets into a bunch of sin, a bunch of fornication, a bunch of, whatever it is. I mean, look, that is not, I'm just sticking by them no matter what. No, God first, folks. I mean, God tells us that we need to separate from certain things. But look, there's a spectrum here, okay? There's a spectrum on one side, someone that will just never abandon anybody, no matter what kind of garbage that they're in, it's like, no, the line, the Christian line, the biblical line, is God first. God always first. But then the other side is really what I'm talking about tonight, is just people with no loyalty. They just, they can't stop chasing squirrels in their life. They can't stop chasing the next immediate thing, the next shiny object. And that is the problem. But I mean, a lot of times, people that have no loyalty will, especially in the Christian life, will use spiritual reasons to justify having no loyalty. They'll say, well, you know, the reason that I have to change jobs every month is because, like, you know, there's this guy that uses bad language at work, or whatever, and there's always some spiritual reason. I mean, look, is there spiritual reasons that, is there spiritual reasons where, you know, you shouldn't work at a certain place? Yes. But look, I mean, I was born at night, I wasn't born last night, all right? On the sixth or seventh job, or whatever it is, I mean, it's like, come on. You know, you're not fooling anyone. You have a loyalty problem here. And the problem is, if people don't have loyalty, and they have loyalty problems, they will be people that can't stay put. And that means that they will not be able to stay put, even when they get in the right place amongst the right people. They can't keep friends, they can't keep jobs. They just don't have any stability is the problem that this causes. That's why it's such a damaging thing in this life. But look, a loyal person will have long-term friends. I mean, that's why it says on our invite, you know, we wanna have lifelong friendships here. You know, we wanna have friendships that are built on the right things. We wanna have friendships that last a long time. We don't want friend of the month club, because there's a problem there. Do you remember Ittai? Remember Ittai in the Bible? Remember how loyal Ittai was to David, even though he didn't really know David all that well? He just arrived just a couple days earlier? Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 24. So, I wanna show you how to have loyal friends tonight. What good is, you know, what good is this message tonight if you don't take something out of it? I'm gonna tell you how to have loyal friends. So, you had Ittai, one of my favorite, rarely, barely mentioned people in the Bible, this man. He's like, I go where you go, and I, as long as the Lord liveth, and you're just like, you know, you wanna stand up when you're reading that verse. You know, this guy's super loyal, super brave. But just David in general, think about it. David in general had very loyal followers. Isn't that like one of the things that really stands out about David? I mean, he took these 600 men who were just these nothing people. The Bible says they were just, they were broke, they were in debt, they had nowhere to go. And what's he end up with? He ends up with these mighty men. He ends up with the best warriors that the world has ever seen. These warriors that are just accomplishing these feats, these people that will not leave his side, no matter what. So, the question is, it wasn't like David did everything perfectly. I mean, David might not even have been that great of a leader if you're reading some of these stories. I mean, I'm sure if Ittai was criticizing something about the way David handled things when he was getting kicked out of his own kingdom, he could have probably had some things to say about how David, you know, ran his family. It was his own son that threw him off the throne. So, the question is, how did David have such loyal followers? These mighty men. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 24. Look at verse number one. I wanna show you. I wanna show you the answer to that tonight and see how you can apply the same thing to your life. Look at verse number one. It says, and it came to pass when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, behold, David is in the wilderness of Nengedi. So, he's trying to kill David. Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. And he came to the sheep coats, by the way, and there was a cave, and Saul went in to cover his feet. He went in to use the restroom. And David and his men remained at the sides of the cave. And the men of David said unto him, behold, the day which the Lord said unto thee, behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as thou shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe, privily. And it came to pass afterward that David's heart smote him because he had cut off Saul's skirt. And he said unto his men, the Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth my hand against him seeing he is anointed of the Lord. So David stayed his servants with these words and suffered them not to rise against Saul, but Saul rose up out of the cave and went on his way. So just think about this situation for a second. Saul goes in there and David and his men are in the dark and they are right there. And he literally is close enough to him where he can cut off part of his garment and that's how close he is to him. Talk about some ninja stuff right there. But he cuts off a piece of the man's coat and I mean, what does that establish over Saul? That establishes just the fact that he was holding that piece of the coat, it established that David had dominance over him at that moment. And David felt guilty over that dominance. David felt guilty that he had put himself in that dominant situation over Saul. A man that is trying to kill him David was an extremely loyal person. You see, David was loyal to God who put Saul in charge, but he was loyal to the position that Saul still held. And he's like, you know, it's not my place as long as he's in that position, even though he's trying to kill me personally. He's literally, it was literally David's loyalty in that case was literally against his own personal self-interest. It was the opposite of it. Here's someone trying to take you off this earth, David. And in order for you to remain loyal to him, you have to put yourself in personal danger. But that's exactly what David did. So the answer, look, the answer is this. If you want loyalty, if you want loyal friends, if you want loyal family members, if you want loyal brothers and sisters in Christ, if you want loyalty in your life, you must be loyal. That's the answer. I mean, if you're this kind of person that throws people under the bus at the first sign of trouble, that's the kind of people that you're gonna get. You're literally gonna reap what you sow in this area. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter two. I think about this, like as a pastor, I think about this a lot, like personally, I think a lot about this. Look at 2 Timothy chapter two. Look at 2 Timothy chapter number two. I'm sorry, 2 Timothy chapter four and verse number two. 2 Timothy chapter four and verse number two. Let me just apply it to myself for a minute and I'll give you an understanding of what I'm talking about. But look at 2 Timothy chapter four and verse number two. The Bible says, preach the word. Be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, but look at this, with all what? With all long suffering and doctrine. So look, the pastor is not supposed to be this type of person that just gives up on people. He's not supposed to be, look, I mean, he's yelling at people here, reproving, rebuking, like correcting. He's not supposed to be though this type of person that's just like, oh man, you messed up one time, like you're done, punk. Like that's not what a pastor is supposed to be like. A pastor is supposed to be long suffering. And a pastor can't just give up on people. But look, that will be a direct effect, however good I am at that or bad I am at that will be a direct effect of what I am shown in my ministry. Like if I'm just this person that just throws people out, just like, just gives up on people without a second thought, then, you know, I will not have loyal people. That's leadership right there. Again, I mean, there's a line. But where's the line? Well, the line's in the Bible. The line's in the Bible. And look, that's an important line. I can't just be, the opposite side of that is I can't just be this long suffering person that's just like, hey, whatever, whatever goes here, whatever, I just suffer everything. Why, why not? Would that hurt me? No, it would damage the flock. It would damage the church. So that's why God gave the pastor the lines. But as far as, you know, I want loyal church members. I want church members that are loyal to one another, that are loyal to the church. I want, you know, that are just, I want loyal people around me. Everybody wants that. Nobody would say I want disloyal people around me. But you will be, you will be rewarded with the loyalty that you show in your life. And that's what you need to understand. So dealing with loyalty problems in your life, turn to Jeremiah chapter 17. Let me just give you a couple tips here. Say, how do you deal with loyalty problems? All right, you know, I'm gonna be long suffering with people, but look, it's just, it's a fact of life that there's gonna be people in your, like there's gonna be people in this church that are loyal and that are not loyal. That's just, that's just the way it is. There's gonna be people in an organization that you run that are loyal and not loyal. There's gonna be people around you in your life that are loyal and there's gonna be those that are not loyal. So I'm gonna show you how to figure out who's who and figure out like, how should you act? All right, look at Jeremiah chapter 17 in verse number five. Jeremiah chapter 17, look at verse number five. The Bible says, thus saith the Lord, cursed be the man. So the first tip is this, just do the right thing. No matter who you're around, do the right thing. Jeremiah chapter 17 verse number five, thus saith the Lord, cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord. So just keep that line of doing the right thing. Psalm 118, eight, I'll just read it for you. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. So honestly, just like at the very top level, is just like do the right thing, do what God wants you to do. That doesn't help you out if you have to rely on people though. If you have an organization, I have a church here, I can't do everything myself here. I can't do everything myself. One of the hardest parts of the church was when there was hardly anyone in it. Now that there's people in it, there's things that get easier as you can delegate things and do things like that. But look, turn to Proverbs chapter 31. Let me give you a little interesting twist on this verse. Placing trust in the wrong people can cost you. So you need to know who the loyal people are and who are people that struggle with loyalty. You need to be able to figure that out. I'm gonna tell you how to figure that out. I'm gonna tell you how to figure that out. I'm gonna tell you, look, I'm gonna tell you how to see the future tonight. I'm gonna tell you how to see the future. Look at Proverbs 31 in verse number 11. This is talking about, Proverbs chapter 31 is the virtuous woman. It's talking about this woman who's just like, ladies, read it, that's what the Bible wants you to be. Just this perfect wife, she's out there just like, she's just killing it every day doing exactly what she's supposed to do. And look at verse 11. The Bible says because she is this virtuous woman doing all these virtuous things, the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her. But now look at this. So that he shall have no need of spoil. Isn't that interesting? The Bible is literally saying that trust equals prosperity. So what's the opposite if there's no trust? Poverty. Destruction. Ruin. The Bible here is saying because he trusts in her, there's just no need of spoil. I mean, even just the stay-at-home mom today, that's not the point of this sermon, but just the value is unbelievable to the family. It's just been totally dismissed today. But look, her husband safely trusts in her and he has no need of spoil, meaning he's prosperous because of this woman, because of his wife, because he trusts her. But if there's no trust, if we just look at the other side of what that means, if there's no trust, that means there's disaster. So the question is this, how can you tell who's not loyal and who is loyal? And I'm not even saying like not loyal and loyal. Like there's a spectrum there, right? How do you tell who struggles with loyalty and who doesn't struggle with loyalty? And look, there's gonna be a whole spectrum of people in there. How can you tell? So here's how you can tell the future. Let's get into a little time machine tonight, but here's how you can tell the future. It's easy. You can tell the future from the past. That's how you can tell the future. This is why a track record is so important. This is why, as the Bible says in Proverbs, a name is so important. If you just look at things that even the world does, like job interviews, what are they asking you? They're not asking you what you're gonna do in two years. They're asking you what you've done in the previous two years. They're asking you what you have done. What does it matter what you've done? Because what you have done is the best indicator of what you will do. That's why they ask all these questions. That's why I've said many times, I've said many times, and a lot of you guys aren't old enough to know this, but after you're into a career 10, 10 plus years, people don't really care where you went to school. People don't really care. Think of if you're a business owner. You don't care where somebody went to school. You don't care what their GPA was. You don't care. You know what you care? What they can do. That's what you care about. And what's the best way to figure out what somebody can do? By what they've already done. That's how you see the future with people. Not what somebody's resume says or whatever. It's what they have done. This is why homeschool moms, this is why a new graduate or somebody that has no experience, an entry-level person, they will rely on things like honor societies and certificates and degrees and GPAs and all these things because that's what they have to show what they have done. You see what I mean? This is why 10 years into it, all those things don't matter, but it's the things that you've been doing out there in the world that matters. Like, you know, I got a 1.9899 in college and they barely let me graduate, but I'm not saying this was me, but look at all these things I've done. Look at all these projects, look at all this stuff, and people are like, who cares about all that? We want to know, can you do that stuff for us? They look at your past. That's what they do. This is why homeschool moms, homeschool parents, certificates matter. You go and you get all the certificates you can get. Like, I don't know, should we homeschool? Should we take the California exam, whatever that exam is called, and the GED and get these certificates and all that? Get every single certificate. Get them all. Get every single one. You know, then you go on past that and you get journey cards and all these different things. Get them all. Why? Because people look at those things, they look back on those things and they say, oh yeah, he had to do something to go through to get that. That means that he's gonna be a hard worker and all these kind of things and he'll do things for us because he's done it in the past. All these things are super important. You should get as many of those things, as your kids go through junior high, high school, whatever it is, as possible. Because look, the smart people know that the things that you have accomplished or not accomplished are the best indicator of what you will accomplish. So all these things are very important. And if you're sitting there tonight and I'm making you feel bad and you're like, I have no track record, well, start building one. That's what you need to do. You need to start building one. You know, that's what I, one of the things like, one of the things that really was like one of the biggest hurdles for me moving to California was, turn to Philippians chapter one, one of the biggest hurdles for me moving to California was like, you know, I had this huge track record in this certain industry. And I was like, I guess I'm just starting over. Because when you started another place, guess what you got to do? You got to build a track record again. You got to start building the track record. So you're like, I don't have a track record. Well, start building one like now. Like everybody's had to kind of reset that clock and start building a track record, but start building it. Don't build a track record every five months or build a track record every year or whatever it is. Look at Philippians chapter one. Look at verse number one. The Bible says, Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, the bishops and the deacons, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Now, just look at this for a second. He's talking to the church at Philippi, always in every prayer of mine, for you all making requests with joy. So he likes these people. And look at, he says, here's why. Look at verse five. Four, your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. You see that? You know what these people have? You know what he's explaining? These people have a track record. He's saying, I am praying for you and I have so much hope. And then look at this word that he uses. He says, being confident of this very thing that he which had begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. You know what he's saying? He's like, I have confidence in this group of people here. Why? Because they have a track record. From the very first time I came there and preached the gospel to them, they just been killing this thing. They've been out there, they've been preaching the gospel, they've been keeping the doctrine in the church. He's like, because of this, four. Because of this, he's like, I have confidence in you. I'm sure Paul doesn't just have confidence in people he just met five minutes ago. That's how it goes. They had a track record. So it's super important that if you wanna be, you're like, I wanna be a loyal, I wanna be known as a loyal person. Build a track record and you will be. Be a loyal person. Have a track record of being a loyal person. And look, in your personal life, in your work life, I know, I'm listening to you guys, some of you guys started new jobs and you got into some pretty good situations and I'm just like, man, God puts you in a good position. I'm just like, just be loyal and just like, just kill it for those people. You know, have some loyalty. And look, and that's, look, you will get loyalty. You will get loyalty. This is why people end up in situations where, you know, people just like bosses and companies just like cover for them and just help them. And don't, you know, they will never let them go. Because they have loyalty towards that employee. Well, that employee showed loyalty towards them. I might've told the story before, but during COVID, everything was shut down. And there was this one kid at this Midas shop where I'd get my oil changed. And I'd go into this Midas shop and like, nobody was there. He was like doing the counter and then he was like doing the oil changes and he was going back and forth and back and forth. And this was the time. And I just talked to this kid while he's changing my oil and I'd go back there all the time during COVID. And this kid, he's like, you know what? He's like, everybody just went home because they make more money, like just going home. He's like, but I don't want to do that. He's like, I don't want to just go home. He's like the owner of this place is really glad that I'm sticking around and I've always appreciated him. And you know what? This is a loyal kid right here. He's loyal. You know what? He's running the place now. I mean, why? Because he was loyal, so he gets loyalty. That's how it goes. That's how it goes in your life. You can't build a track record without this building block of loyalty. You can't do it. I'm not saying go be loyal to bad people. I'm saying though, be a loyal, stand up person. You see, he's a stand up guy. That's what it means. He's got loyalty. That's what that saying means. It's a fundamental building block to getting this track record, right? Loyalty is a prerequisite to success. And the main success you want is in this Christian life. And if it's missing, don't forget. That's what Judas shows us. If it's missing, it's a curse. It's a curse. Let's move our heads and have a word of prayer.