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Amen. Keep your place in 2 Samuel chapter 7. We're going to talk on the second sermon in our sermon series of Why David This Evening. We're looking at reasons that God chose David. Why did God say that David was a man after his own heart? God, obviously, if you've ever read through these parts in the Bible about David's life, if you read through the Psalms, you know that God had an affinity to David. Last week we talked about one of the reasons that God chose David for the things that he chose him for was because of David's willingness to accept responsibility. David certainly wasn't chosen by God because he sinned less or he was a better person as people would look at it today than other people because David made some very large mistakes in his life. He made mistakes that hopefully most of us will not make, you know, sins like murder and adultery. He committed some big sins, but David last week looked at, he was just admitting he would, the first words out of his mouth when he was confronted by God on these sins was, I have sinned. He just totally laid himself down to the judgment of God and just repented and turned himself back to the Lord right away. So that is a great thing about David. This evening we're going to look at a second attribute of David and that is found, and we're going to look at 2 Samuel chapter 7 here in a minute, but basically what I want to talk about this evening is David's loyalty. David's loyalty both to man and to God especially. Look down at 2 Samuel chapter 7 and verse number 1. First of all, David's loyalty to God, loyalty to God is the easiest maze for us to navigate in our lives because we're always to be loyal to God through good times and through bad. And David was very good at this and in 2 Samuel chapter 7 we see a good time in David's life when he did not forget about God. And if you think about your life and the life of even Solomon and other characters in the Bible, when things get great and things are, you're being blessed in your life is many times when people turn away from God, when people forget about God, when people, you know, turn off the path that God would want them on. This was not David. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 7. Look at verse number 1. And it came to pass when the king sat in his house and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies. So here David, he was done with war at this point in his life. God had calmed all his enemies down. David was done fighting at this moment in his life because God had given him this rest. And then the king said to Nathan the prophet, see now I dwell in a house of cedar but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. And Nathan said to the king, go and do all that is in thine heart for the Lord is with thee. So here we see David, that is, he's just found himself on some really good times. If you've read about the life of David even up to this point, David did a lot of fighting in his life. He fought a lot of wars. He was a warrior and at this point he had some rest. He had a nice house that he was blessed with and he knew it came from the Lord and he immediately thought of the Lord. He's like, I'm in this nice house and the ark of God is in the tabernacle, the tent is what he was thinking. And that's when he wanted to go and build the house of God. And of course in the rest of the chapter, God comes to him and says, no, your son's going to build the temple. But then God blesses him with this great prophecy that the Messiah would come from his lineage and that his son would build the temple. And even by the way, even by the way, David didn't build the house. But if you go and study out Solomon building the temple that God told David, you know, you're not going to build the house. But first of all, David thought of the house. David thought of the Lord, even in good times. And David laid up all the materials. By the time Solomon was ready to build the house, David had everything there. David had the plan, the materials, and the Bible says that David went and he was thinking about the Lord. He was very loyal to the Lord. Don't forget, turn to James chapter one and verse number 17. By the way, you know, don't forget. I mean, when you're in good times, this is why this is when we as men, as people forget about God in good times. It's completely ironic because good times, the Bible says in James 1 17, the Bible says every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Meaning the reason that we have those things, the reason that we have blessings is because of God. So it's, you know, it's stupid to actually turn and forget about the Lord after he's given you blessings in your life. But look, even in judgment, David was still loyal to God. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 12. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 12. So David was loyal in good times. David was also loyal in judgment. David made some big mistakes and he did pay for those mistakes. Judgment came down on David. Just because you're saved tonight, don't think that you're not going to get judgment in this life. We'll talk about that in a few minutes. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 12 in verse number 18. Now David is, he's just been called out on the sin with Bathsheba and murdering Uriah the Hittite and Nathan has just, we looked at this last week, Nathan has just told him that the Lord, what the Lord is going to do to him. And David, he goes and he prays for the life of this child who had gotten sick and he's praying and he's praying. And in verse 18, the Bible says, and it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died and the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him and he would not hearken unto our voice. How will he then vax himself if we tell him that the child is dead? Look at verse 19. But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore, David said unto his servants, is the child dead? And they said, he is dead. Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel and came into the house of the Lord and worshiped. And then he came to his own house and when he required, they said bread before him and he did eat. So David was fasting. David was in sackcloth and ashes. He was fasting and they were all nervous. They were all nervous to tell him that the child had died because they're like, he's in such a bad state right now. He's down. He's crying. He's praying to the Lord. They're like, we're nervous to tell him that the child has died because he's in such a bad state right now. What kind of state is he going to be in when we tell him that his prayers were not answered? You know, that his prayers were answered. You know, the answer was no from God and God took the life of the child. But then it was just a matter of fact thing. It's super important to understand verse 20 because David, he basically tells them, he said, look, while the child was alive, I prayed and I fasted. But now that the child has died, he just gets straight back to the work of God. He gets straight back to worshiping. He cleans himself up. He doesn't fast anymore. Why fast? There's nothing to God. He has the answer. Did David complain? Did David curse God? Did David say, you know, I, I'm against what God did. God, why did you do this? I mean, how many people have you seen in their life that whine about, you know, the decisions that God has made? David was just like, Hey, that's what it is. He went and he worshiped the Lord. That's it. He accepted judgment and he, his loyalty to God did not waver in verse number 20. That is a huge testament to David's character right there in verse number 20. Turn to Psalm chapter 51. Psalm chapter 51, right in the center of your Bible, you will find the book of Psalms and Psalm chapter 51. In, in this time when this child had died, this is after, you know, God took the life of this child and after he's been called out on his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite. Look at Psalm chapter 51 and look at verse number 10. We see more evidence of this. Look what David says. Look what David says. He says, create in me a clean heart, Oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. Who is he focusing on here? He's in judgment. His child has just died. He's completely focused on himself. He's saying, create in me a clean heart. He's like, fix my heart, Lord, and a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. I like verse number 12 because that's a proof of eternal security right there. He doesn't say, he doesn't say, Hey, I lost my salvation, God, give it back to me. He says, restore unto me the joy of my salvation. He's a saved man under judgment. He's under the chastisement of God. And he just says to God, Hey, give me my joy back. Get my heart right. Get my spirit right. Give me my joy back. Why? Look at verse 13. Then he's like, I need a right heart. He's like, I need a right spirit. Why? Because of verse 13. Then I will teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Can you go out soul winning? You go out, spread the gospel if you just have a wicked heart. No, you'll have no interest in those types of things. You have no interest in showing people the way of salvation and the gospel. If your heart is not right and your spirit is not right, why do you think we preach so much about keeping garbage out of your life and living a separated life? So you keep that clean heart. David is coming out of this terrible sin and he's saying, Lord, clean up my heart. Clean up my life. Give me the spirit back. Give me the joy of my salvation back. He never thought he lost his salvation. He knew that his salvation was always secure, always there, but he's like, I need the right spirit and the right heart so I can go out and I can teach people how to be converted to you. That's what David was talking about. His loyalty never wavered to the Lord, even in judgment. So we see a great example of how we are to be loyal to the Lord. You say, this is easy being loyal to God. You're always loyal to God. Yes, understood. How about this though? How about loyalty towards men? Loyalty to God's easy. We're always to be loyal to God, no matter what. No matter what anybody tells us, what happens in our life, good times, bad times, blessings, judgment, we're supposed to be loyal to God. But how about men? When are we supposed to be loyal to men? Turn to 1 Chronicles chapter 27. David, even in his flawed relationships that he had in his flawed life, he was pretty loyal to the men that were loyal to him. Look at 1 Chronicles chapter 27. Loyalty, by the way, loyalty amongst men works both ways. And you'll see that in 1 Chronicles 27. 1 Chronicles 27, look at verse number 1. Now the children of Israel, after their number, to wit, the chief fathers and captains of thousands and hundreds, and their officers that served the king in any matter of the courses which came in and went out month by month, throughout all the months of the year, every course were twenty and four thousand. Over the first course for the first month was Jasharabim, the son of Zabdiel, and in his course were twenty and four thousand. Of the children of Perez was the chief of all the captains of the host for the first month. So we see here that David has a new captain every month. And if you keep reading this chapter in 1 Chronicles chapter 27, you'll see that men are named, a different man is named to rule each month for the first month, the second month, the third month. But here's what's interesting. If you go up and you look at the mighty men listed in 2 Samuel chapter 23, ten of the twelve captains here were mighty men listed. So ten of the twelve captains that were listed in 1 Chronicles chapter 27 were part of David's mighty men. So these men that were part of the six hundred, the mighty men, David was extremely loyal to them because they were loyal to him. So loyalty works both ways with men. So what can we take from this? Of course, our loyalty to God should be unquestioned. David is the example here. We're to be loyal to God at all times. Turn to Hebrews chapter twelve, Hebrews chapter twelve. Look at verse number six. Even in times of judgment, you say, I'm saved and I'm going to get judged in my life. What in the world? Look at Hebrews chapter twelve and verse number six, Hebrews chapter twelve and verse number six. Look what the Bible says and make sure, by the way, when you're out soul winning and you're out giving the gospel that you explain this to people, that you explain this to people because many times you will come up to a Catholic, you will come up to someone who believes in works based salvation. They believe they have to work their way to heaven. They believe that, you know, maybe they get saved and then if they do something bad, they can lose their salvation. Make sure because, you know, a lot of these people will tell you, are you saying that I can just trust on the Lord Jesus Christ and then I can just go do whatever I want? Well, to get to heaven, yes, that's what I'm saying. That's what you need to make sure that you explain to people. However, you are going to be adopted into God's family and who the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. On this earth, you will receive the chastening of the Lord. Look at Hebrews chapter twelve and look at verse number six. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth. Once you are saved, you are an adopted son of God into his family and the Bible says that once that happens, you are going to be under the chastening of your heavenly father. Look at verse number seven. If he endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? The Bible here is saying, he's like, look, if you're getting chastened by God, that's actually a sign that you're saved. That's actually a sign that, you know, you are adopted into God's family because what son wouldn't the father chasten other than how people raise their kids today? Look at verse number eight. But if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers, then ye are bastards and not sons. The Bible says, look, if you just go out and you just sin and sin and sin. Look, that's why people, that's the answer for people who ask, how can there be a God if all these terrible things happen? If all these wicked people are out there getting away with all this stuff because they're not sons, they're not under God's chastisement. Look, those people, when they die, they're going to pay in hell. That is a much worse punishment than anything that could happen to them on this earth. But you as a son are going to deal with God's chastisement in your life. Look at verse nine. Furthermore, we have had fathers, now this is super interesting. Verse number nine. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live? Look at verse number 10. For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure. What the Bible here is saying is like saying, like fathers, like an earthly father, they punish their children like for their own good. Like I just can't stand like my kids acting up. That's why, that's the thing that just perplexes me about kids today that are just completely undisciplined. Like how can these parents put up with it? I'd be insane. But that's what the Bible here is saying. It's saying worldly fathers, they chastise their children, they spank their children, they punish their children for their own good. So they don't go insane. But look what the Bible says about our Heavenly Father. It says, but He for our profit that we might be partakers of His holiness. The Bible here is saying that your Heavenly Father is chastening you when you do something and God comes down on you in this life. And He punishes you. He's like, that's for your own good. That's for your own good. That we might be partakers of His holiness. Now look at verse number 11. Now no chastening for the present seemed to be joyous but grievous. He's like, you're not going to like it at the time, he says. Nevertheless, afterward it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Look at verse number nine. Verse number nine, notice how the Bible says when these people, look, when you had a father of your flight, when you had your dad punish you, when you were a kid, it's like you gave them reverence. You gave them reverence. You gave your dad reverence. He's like, why would you not do that with God, is what he's saying. And then in verse number 11 he says, you know, it yields, that punishment should yield the fruit of righteousness. Meaning, you should become a fruitful Christian after you're punished. So the Bible here is saying that, yes, you're going to be under chastisement in your life, but look, you should deal with chastisement in your life with reverence to God. You should not be this person that's being punished by God and says, you know what, God, I think you're being too hard on me. You know what, these people out here are way worse than I am. It's like, are you kidding me? I mean, I do this little thing and you're bringing my life to a screeching halt and all these people that I work with are just wicked people like day in and day out and nothing ever happens to them. Hey, rules are different for you. Rules are different for you. That's what the Bible is saying here. And you are never to lose your loyalty to God. Remember, last week's sermon, when we looked at the contrast between Saul and David, when they were confronted with their sin and one man said, I've sinned. And the other man said, no, I haven't. I haven't sinned. The people made me do it. Notice the difference in judgment that came down on both of those saved men in those cases. Be careful that your loyalty does not waver to God, even when he is chastening you. That is the key here. How about good times in your life? Turn to Psalm 100. Here's a good contrast on loyalty to God in good times in your life. Look at Psalm chapter 100. Psalm chapter 100. I'm looking at a church full of people who I consider to have been blessed in the last year and a half. You know, with all the stupid garbage that has happened, I'm looking at a bunch of people who have been blessed in their life. Look at Psalm chapter 100. Look at verse number 4. Look what the Bible says. It says, enter into his gates with what? With thanksgiving. And into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless his name. This is implying that good things have been happening to you and that you should be thankful to the Lord and bless his name. Now turn to Romans chapter 1. Being thankful is huge to the Lord. Being thankful in times of blessing and good times means that your loyalty to God is there, even through good times. That you haven't forgotten. Look if you get, if you have a birthday party and a bunch of people bring you presents and gifts and you just like don't say thank you to anybody. I mean everybody at that, I mean people are going to be mad. Imagine God who has blessed your life and has given you all these blessings and good times in your life, has given you peace in your life. I'm looking at a bunch of people who are in peace. I don't see anybody at war in this room. Be thankful for that and show that your loyalty to God is good, is strong even in good times. Now look at Romans chapter 1. In Romans chapter 1 we see a chapter describing the worst of the worst. People that have literally been given up by God, given over by God. And how does it all start? How does it all start with him? Look at verse 21. It says because when they knew God, they glorified him not as God. So these people knew who God was, probably had some good things going on in their life and they just didn't even, they didn't even acknowledge that God was there. These are the people that, you know, they had the birthday party and all the presents were given to them and they're just like thanks, party's over, presents stay. That's who these people were. And then, I mean then we see the path that it goes down, but look at the next, the next few words. It says neither were what? Neither were thankful. And then, and then all the horrible things happen to where they're given over to God and all sorts of perversion, which isn't the point of the sermon, but the point is these people started out knowing God. They knew God. They were, they were, they were in good times, but they weren't what? They weren't thankful for the things that were put in front of them. They weren't thankful. It all began there and their foolish heart was darkened. It is super important that we were always thankful and we are always loyal to God in our lives. Good times, bad times. Turn to Psalm, chapter 118. Now, the main point this evening is loyalty to men. That's what we really want to dive into a little bit here. How can you decide when to be loyal to a man in your life? This one's a little trickier. This one is a little bit trickier. Look at Psalm, chapter 118. Look at verse number 8. Psalm, chapter 118, verse number 8. The Bible says it is better. I mean, when should you be loyal to men? The Bible says it's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Now, that's a super interesting verse because it doesn't say never trust a man. It says it's better to trust in the Lord than to put your confidence in man. It doesn't say never trust man. It just says it's better to trust the Lord. So, it's implying here that the Lord and the man in this verse are on two different pages. Does that make sense? Because look, if I'm trusting a man that trusts the Lord, I'm trusting the same thing. If somebody's saying, hey, go this way and the Lord's saying that and the man's saying that, it's the same thing. But it's saying, look, in the case where there's a man saying one thing and the Lord's saying another thing, it's better to trust the Lord is what this verse is saying. God is saying go this way. A man is saying go the other way. It's better to trust the Lord. But here's the problem with most people. Here's the problem with most people. Turn to Matthew chapter 15. You say, okay, that's a pretty simple lesson. Like, you know, just follow the Lord and not somebody that says something other than what the Lord says. But here's the problem with most people. Most people have no idea what God says. Most people have no idea what the Bible says. Most people have no idea what the word of God says because they don't read it. They don't know. I mean, the Bible is probably the book that people claim to know the most about and they've never read it. I mean, how many times, oh, the Bible, oh, yeah, this and that and this and that. Look, you will never find any other book like that. You will never find people going around saying, oh, yeah, you know, Tale of Two Cities, let me tell you about that book. And they've never even opened it one time. Nobody would do that. It's dumb to even think about something like that. But here people do it with the Bible all the time. Everybody thinks they know what the Bible says and they never even read one page, most people. This is why I'm constantly telling you, you need to read the Bible. Look, you need to read the Bible. You need to come to church, but you need to read the Bible too. You need to listen to preaching, but you need to read the Bible. Why? Because you need to know what the Bible says. You need to know what God says. Otherwise, how would you ever know what trusting, if what a man says is what God says? How would you ever know if you don't know what the Bible says? Look at Matthew 15. This is a problem with most people. This is a problem with most churches. People go to a church and they have some man that's just saying a bunch of stuff. He's like saying, hey, do this and do this and give me this or whatever. And people are like, oh, yeah, that sounds great. Maybe he's a good speaker. Maybe he's, you know, he's got a good presence or whatever, but people have no idea if that's what the Bible says. That's a problem. Why is that a problem? Look at Matthew 15, 9. Jesus said, this is going to be a problem. It says, but in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men, talking about false prophets. Look, he's saying that people are going to go out there and they're going to teach, they're going to teach what they want to teach. And they're going to, they're going to try to pass it off as God's word. They're going to try to pass it off as like, God says this, the Bible says this, and people are going to be like, oh, okay. And why do they do it? It's vanity. They do it for themselves. Second Peter chapter two talks about the false prophets. What are they doing it for? They're doing it for the money. They're doing it for the money. That's one of the big parts. They're doing it for the power. They're doing it for all these things. Men will say things and they will pass it off as God said this. That's why you need to know the Bible. That's why you need to know the Bible. You need to trust the Bible. I'm up here preaching the Bible to you. And it needs to, look, you need to be looking in your Bible and saying, does the Bible say this? And then once you know your Bible, turn to Hebrews chapter 13. Because, I mean, look, there's responsibility for you. It's not just come here and listen to preaching every week. You need to know what the word of God says because that's what's going on out here. That's what's going on with 99% of churches in America today is people are getting up and teaching the doctrines of man as the commandments of God. That's what they're doing. And people don't know the Bible. We've never had a society that's dumber on the Bible. So everyone's just like, oh, yeah, okay. You know, do this and your life's going to be great. Do this and, you know, whatever. Look at Hebrews 13, 17. And then once you know your Bible, look at Hebrews 13, 17. The Bible says, obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you. This is talking about spiritual leadership in your life. Turn to Colossians chapter three in verse 23. So we're talking about how to decide if, you know, man is who to be loyal to as a man in your life. Hebrews 13 is talking about spiritual leadership. Look, there's leadership out in the secular world. You're going to go and you're going to work for somebody. You're going to have a boss. Now that one's easy. I'm just going to cover that one real quickly in Colossians chapter three in verse number 23. The Bible says this, it says, Whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord, the Lord Christ. The Bible here is saying, whatever you do, just pretend you know, you're just working for Jesus. Who to be loyal to in your secular life, your work life is an easy one. You go out, you go to work, and you work like you're working for Jesus Christ. That's what you do. Every single Christian should be the hardest worker, the most loyal employee. But I mean, is that the case today? It should be the employee that's the one that doesn't complain, the one that just goes after it has the best attitude. Because, look, I don't care who my boss is. I've worked for some I've worked for some crazy people. It doesn't matter because I'm working for the Lord Jesus Christ. Like, what if they tell you to do something that's immoral? Well, I just don't do it. I told you several cases over the last two years. People coming up to me and saying, Hey, we need you to sign this. We need you to put your name on this. Well, you put your name on it. That's easy. If it's immoral, it's evil. Hey, can you stamp this? Hey, you stamp it. Oh, I don't have a stamp. Yeah, I can see why. Look, you work for people like you're working for Jesus Christ. And if there's ethical things or something goes outside the Bible, just you stick to the Bible. That's it. So easy. But you're like, Oh, I don't know what the Bible says. Once again, you're gonna have a problem. You need to know what the Bible says. But as far as spiritual leadership in your life, the Bible says that you should have spiritual leadership in your life and there should be loyalty there. Look at Hebrews chapter 13 17 we just read, but go to Jeremiah chapter three. The key for spiritual leadership in your life and loyalty there is in Jeremiah chapter three. Jeremiah chapter three, look at verse number 15. You go to work and you just you just work like you're working for Jesus Christ. And if there's a bunch of people in the corner that are complaining about the boss every day and saying, You know what, this boss is a jerk. You know what? Maybe he is, but I'm working for Jesus Christ. It's really simple. It's really I mean, it's really easy to be a good employee today, especially if you have that attitude. I look, I don't care if he's been divorced three times, and his family's a mess and all this kind of stuff. Look, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna do that job. Like I'm working for Christ. And I'm gonna I'm gonna submit myself to the leadership authority. But if it gets outside the Bible, hey, you're on your own. Good luck. Look at Jeremiah chapter three, spiritual leadership now. This has been the most challenging one in my life. And I'll give you a little bit of a perspective here at the end of the sermon, but finding someone in your life that you can follow spiritually because look what the Bible says in Jeremiah three. Look at verse 15. The Bible says, And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. Now there's a key there. There's a key there in the first part of that verse where it says, God says, I will give you pastors according to mine heart. Look, you know what this is saying? This is saying that the pastor and the Lord should be on the same page. That's what this is saying. Look, and much more to just not just the same page, they should have the same heart. Is that a big statement to anyone but just me? That the pastor and the Lord should have the same heart. Now, once again, you have to read, I mean, how do I know if my pastor's heart is the same as the Lord's heart? You have to read the Bible. I mean, you can't just stand up here and just listen to me. I mean, you could, but you know, you're at risk. You must read the Bible. You must read the Bible. Is my heart the same as the Lord's heart? But guess what, folks? This is super interesting. Because today, you have all these pastors, you have all these pastors, and they're up and they're telling all their people, God is love. God loves you. And all these people, they come and oh, just love, love it. I mean, look, does God love you? Yes, God loves us. But God is also judgment. I mean, what Bible are you reading? What Bible are these people that think that Jesus is this long-haired guy that walks around with a sheep and a cane and just, you know, talks about, I mean, have you read what Jesus said? Have you read the Gospels? Look, God is love, but God is also judgment. God is wrath. God is chastisement. And the Bible says that the pastor is to have the same heart as the Lord. Look, a true pastor is going to follow the commandments of the Bible. That's what I'm getting at. He's going to be loving to his people, but he is also going to be firm. You know why these people, these pastors, they get up and they just preach nothing but good news and nothing but love and nothing but acceptance? First of all, they're destroying their people, is what they're doing. They're ruining people's lives. They are ruining the next generation. They are sending people to literal hell, if that's how they are preaching, because that is not the heart of God. God is the Gospel, but God is also judgment. Turn to 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5. A true pastor is going to have the same heart. I mean, when you read the Bible, is there not a lot of wrath in the Bible? Is there not a lot of judgment in the Bible? Look, God in the Bible, he's just doing nothing but correcting things and making things right and preaching doctrines that people don't want to hear. We're going to preach the whole thing here, and your pastor's heart needs to be the same as the heart of God, which you read in the Bible. Look at 1 Peter 5. The elders are among you, which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, elder being the same as a pastor in the Bible and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof. That means you're a watchman, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. This here is comparing the pastor to a shepherd, and I love that analogy, saying, you know, you need to feed the flock of God. So if I came up here and just preached the same message to you every Sunday morning, would you be fed? I'm supposed to tell you? Look, I'm supposed to tell you what the Bible has to say, whether you like it or not. And trust me, I can stand up here, and one thing that Pastor Jimenez said that is one of the things that is so true. When you're standing up here and you're just preaching a hard sermon that you know affects people and people don't want to hear, I can see it in your faces. I can see you guys are all, you know, and you know, it's, look, but you got to be fed. You got to be fed. I'm hurting you if I don't have the same heart as God. But it says, you know, not by constraint. I'm not supposed to be this controlling, you know, this controlling person and all this, but willingly, look, you are all here willingly. Did you know that? Did you know that no one forced you to come here today? But willingly, not for filthy lucre. I mean, I can definitely tell you that's the case with me. If you think I'm doing this for the money, this is the worst business plan ever. But anyway, but of a ready mind, but here, but being examples to the flock. I love the analogy of a shepherd. What does a shepherd do? He's protecting. He's protecting. He's hurting, right? He does not sit around all day, petting the sheep. Does that make sense? I mean, what kind of shepherd does that? You're working, you're feeding, you're hurting, you're guiding. And at times, you know, there's going to have to be some protecting that's done because look, I mean, protecting from what you say? Well, from other sheep, and from predators that would hurt the sheep. I mean, look, folks, one thing you have to understand, and I don't think I'll ever be able to get this across. Because I think that this is just a perspective that you have to be in, in order to understand it. But there's a lot of things you don't see. There's a lot of dangers that you don't see. That's why you need to trust your pastor. That's why you need to know what the Bible says. So in times where maybe you don't really understand why pastors being such a meanie head, or you know, why he's got to be so, you know, because look, I'm telling you one thing, we are going to run this church, like the Bible says it should be run, because I do not, I do not fear any of you. But I fear the Lord. This church will be run like the Bible says. And that's the difference between us and everybody. We will run this church like the Bible, because I mean, I'm afraid of God. It's really that simple. And that's why you need to trust your pastor. That's why you need to be reading the Bible, you need to have that confidence that you can read the Bible for yourself and say, you know what these things, these things that he preaches, when I sit here, and I don't really I didn't really like that sermon. You know, I always liked getting punched in the face. I maybe it's just me. But I always liked it. But some people don't. You have to read the Bible, you have to go read it, and you have to look at the Word of God and you say, but it is what he say is his heart with God when he said those things. And then you prove those things that the pastor says, and you're like, yes, well, that's what the Bible says. You know what, if you don't, if you don't have this attitude that if it's in the Bible, I'm going to believe it, you are not going to do well here. Because this the Bible will be preached here every single bit of it. And if you pick and choose the Bible, if you're like, you know what, I like that page. But this page, I don't really like that page. You're gonna have a hard time here. People in a church like this, they either get right, or they get out. That's how it goes. That's how it goes in a Bible preaching church. But look, it's not fun. It's not fun. It would be more fun for me to just stand up here and just tell you everything you wanted to hear about yourself. It would be more fun to be like, you know what, every you guys are all great. And everything that you do is great. You know what, all those movies and stuff. Well, tell me about movies after church. Don't ever do that, by the way. And you just tell me all the sin you're in. And I'm just like, oh, okay, whatever, all this. And you know what, that would be easier. Now, actually, I hate it already, just even saying it. But the point is, it's not fun standing up here and preaching the Bible to people in a time where people don't want to hear the truth. And I could stand up here and say the public school is great. And just put your kids in public school. And there's no need to homeschool. And public school is really not that bad. Look, just leave this church if I ever say something like that. This world is wicked as hell. And we either preach the truth, and we either preach the whole Bible, or what is the point of this whole thing? But the point is, you need to find someone to be your spiritual leader that you can be loyal to. And it's a problem with people. I don't know why. But it's a problem with people. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 3. You know who it was a problem with in the Bible in David's life? It was a problem with Joab. It was a problem with Joab. Joab had a major loyalty problem to David. He was never really on David's agenda. Joab was on Joab's agenda. He was loyal to himself. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 3. I'll just give you one example. Here we had Abner. He was a general of the enemy. Abner came and he made peace with David. And David decided that, you know what, I'm going to accept this peace offering. And look at 2 Samuel chapter 3. Joab, he had a bone to pick with Abner, killed his brother. When Joab and the hosts that were with him were come, they told Joab saying, Abner, the son of Nur came to the king, came to David, and he has sent him away, and he is gone in peace. Then Joab came to the king and said, What hast thou done? Behold, Abner came unto thee. Why hast thou sent him away? And he is quiet gone. He is quite gone. Thou knowest Abner, the son of Nur, that he came to deceive thee, and to know thy going out and coming in, and to know all that thou doest. So he's sitting here and he's saying, he's like, you accepted peace from this man? He just came to trick you. So David made a decision as a leader to make peace with this man, and Joab says, I don't agree with that. He says that right to David's face, not in a respectful way either. Look at verse 26. And when Joab was come out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, which brought him again from the well of Sirah, but David knew it not. He goes behind David's back. And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him under the fifth rib, and he died for the blood of Asahel, his brother. Look back at verse number 22 now. This is really the key with Joab right here. So Joab, he just, Joab's got an agenda. This guy, Joab's agenda was this guy killed my brother and I'm going to kill him. That was Joab's agenda. He makes up a bunch of stuff and tells David he's just a spy. He's just trying to turn David on Abner is all he's trying to do. And at the end of the day, when David says no, when David said, this is the way we're going to go, Joab went his own way. And look at verse number 22 of 2 Samuel chapter 3. This is super interesting that the Bible points this out. In 2 Samuel chapter 7 that we just read, the Bible calls David my servant. God calls David my servant. That means, you know what that means? That means he's loyal to me. Look what the Bible says in 2 Samuel chapter 3 in verse number 22 about Joab. And behold, the servants of David and Joab came from pursuing a troop and brought in a great spoil with them. Notice how Joab wasn't put in with the servants of David. You know that Joab was a mighty warrior. Joab fought many battles. You know Joab was not one of the mighty men. Joab was not loyal to David. He was never David's servant. Throughout his life we just see story after story. Whether it be killing Absalom, you know, just he has his own agenda and he does whatever he wants. That is the story of Joab and David. And finally, I mean, it costs him his life. He kills Abner. He kills Absalom. But here's the thing. Joab was his own servant. He was serving himself. He never got on David's agenda. Back to loyalty. Correctly placed. Correctly placed loyalty to man is a good thing. With God it's easy. With God it's easy. We're always to be loyal. Let me give you my philosophy with men. Because look, in my life I struggled to find a spiritual leader. I struggled to find a pastor that I could be loyal to. Look, I wanted to be loyal to a pastor. I wanted to be loyal to a pastor and I struggled to find that for many, many years of my life. Even after I got saved I struggled to find a pastor, which is why we moved to California. Because we finally found that. The first step is this. The first step to find a spiritual leader in your life that you can be loyal to is you need to find somebody that you can be loyal to. That's step number one. This, in my experience, is the hardest part of loyalty to man. It's the most challenging thing. You need to find a man whose heart is with the Lord. You need to find a man, look, who has the life to match. I mean that was always, you know, where my struggle was. Because every man will tell you his heart's with the Lord. Every pastor will tell you my heart's with the Lord. You need to find a man who's got the character and the life behind it to match that. And that's what we found in Sacramento. And that's why it was so, and look, who's got the right gospel, who's got the right heart, who's got the right qualifications according to the Bible. Look, there's a lot of people out there who are pastors, who are lazy, who are not qualified, who just want to be a pastor for their own vanity, for their own sake, for money or whatever. After their own gain. But here's the thing, once you find that, once you find that, be loyal and serve with all your heart. And that's where we were in Sacramento. Once we found it, it was all in. It was all in. Find the pastor's agenda and get on it. And help and serve and just get on that man's agenda as, look, I don't do halfway. I don't do halfway. Look, think about how weird it would be to find a man that you wanted to be loyal to and then just kind of like be halfway. Imagine if like, I mean, like I said, none of you have to be here at church. No one's forcing you to be here. Imagine somebody who would come to like a work day as we're trying to get this building fixed up so we can move. And you come to the work day and you just complain the whole time. That would be bizarre. Wouldn't it? I mean, it never happens, but imagine somebody that, that's somebody that comes into a church and just like causes trouble and just wants to just like, you know, have their, be a Joab in the church and just have their own agenda. That's like, there may be nothing that I appreciate more in being in the ministry than loyal people that I can rely on, especially at times like this. I mean, I am so thankful for all the people that help out with this church that are on the agenda of this church that are pulling for this church. Cause guess what? This isn't a one man show. You know, no one man could do this by himself. And guess what? There's going to be, there's going to be, we're, we're in a busy time right now. We're in a busy time, but there's not really any huge problems there, but there's, guess what? There's going to be, there's going to be battles. There's going to be attacks because if we're effective, if we're effective in the ministry, we're, we're moving a building that's whatever. If we're effective at carrying the gospel to Fresno and we're effective at doing the first works and we're effective at preaching the gospel, we're effective at reading our Bible and we're effective at being mature Christians and growing spiritually in this Christian life. Look, there's going to be attacks. The Bible tells us that there's going to be tribulation coming our way and we will all need to be on the same agenda. I will be, I will need to be loyal to you and you will need to be loyal to me. I'm just a man just like you. David was the loyalty with men works both ways, folks. So David was a great example of loyalty in the Bible, which is why I believe that another reason that God chose him, chose him to be king, chose him for the royal lineage of Jesus Christ. David has great examples of loyalty and we can learn from those examples. We always need to be loyal to God. You know, we should be loyal to each other. We should be loyal to each other. I'm not just standing up here saying, I'm your pastor, be loyal to me. I need to be loyal to you. I need to serve you. And you know what? You need to be reading the Bible. And if the man that you're loyal to exits from the Bible, you hit that door as fast as you can. And look, I'm going to do, it's not going to happen because I'm in my Bible too. All right. But you have a responsibility there. You have a responsibility here. We're all working for Jesus Christ in this church. Loyalty is a big deal. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.