Will you please turn again to Revelation, Chapter
17.
Revelation, Chapter 17, verse 14.
These shall make war with the Lamb, and
the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is
Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and
they that are with Him, called and chosen
and faithful.
Second Timothy, Second Timothy, Chapter 2.
We read from verse 11 through verse 13.
Second Timothy, Chapter 2, verse 11.
The Word is faithful, for if we have
died together with Him, we shall also live
together.
If we endure, we shall also reign together.
If we deny, He will also deny us.
If we are unfaithful, He abides faithful, for
He cannot deny Himself.
Lamentations, Lamentations, Chapter 3.
We read from verse 22 through verse 24.
Lamentations, Chapter 3, verse 22.
It is of Jehovah's lovingkindness we are not
consumed, because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning.
Great is Thy faithfulness.
Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul, therefore
will I hope in Him.
Revelation, Chapter 2, verse
10.
Fear nothing of what thou art about to
suffer.
Behold, the devil is about to cast of
you into prison, that ye may be tried,
and ye shall have tribulation ten days.
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will
give to thee the crown of life.
And finally, Luke, Chapter 16.
The Gospel according to Luke, Chapter 16.
We read from verse 10 through verse 12.
He that is faithful in the least is
faithful also in much, and he that is
unrighteous in the least is unrighteous also in
much.
If therefore ye have not been faithful in
the unrighteous manner, who shall entrust to you
the truth?
And if ye have not been faithful in
that which is another's, who shall give to
you your own?
Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, our hearts are full of
joy and thanksgiving, because such as we are,
and yet Thou hast called us unto Thyself.
We are Thy children, and we have the
rights, the privilege to come to Thee, to
call Thee up, our Father, and to worship
Thee.
O our Father, how we do thank Thee
for all Thy mercy, lovingkindness and grace.
And, Father, as we continue in Thy presence,
we do ask Thee that Thou will quicken
Thy word to our hearts.
Do speak to us, and draw us into
Thyself, and to Thee be the glory, in
the name of our Lord Jesus.
We have been considering together on this verse
in Revelation, Chapter 17, verse 14.
And that verse tells us that there is
a war going on.
There is a war going on in the
spiritual realm.
A war that has been going on through
the ages and the centuries.
But that war will one day come to
an end.
And Revelation 17, verse 14 tells us, here
is the last battle.
Now this war is a war between God
and Satan.
So in this last battle we find that
the Lamb of God, with His army, those
who are the called and chosen and faithful,
they will go out and fight against the
beast and his followers.
And the beast will be completely destroyed.
And if you go on to Revelation 19,
you will find that the beast will be
thrown into the lake of fire.
And Satan will be bound and put into
the bottomless pit for a thousand years.
And then the Kingdom of God shall come
upon this earth.
Not only our Lord Jesus shall reign, but
those who are the called and the chosen
and the faithful, they will reign with Him
during that millennium time.
We are looking into these three qualifications.
Those who are qualified to follow the Lamb
into the last battle and into the glory
of the Kingdom.
And these are the people that are the
called, the chosen and the faithful.
We have considered together on the called.
Thank God we are called by glory and
virtue.
We are not just called to satisfy our
little needs.
We are called to satisfy God's own glory.
And we are called by grace.
We are called by grace.
None of us is worthy, but His grace
comes upon us freely and universally.
And we are called according to purpose.
When God calls us, He has a purpose
behind it.
And that purpose is the consummation of our
calling.
You know, we are called out of many,
many things.
More than probably we think.
And we are continuously being called out.
We are being called out of all that
is not of God.
Now, brothers and sisters, anything that is not
of God has to pass away.
Only that which is of God will remain
to eternity.
So we are called out from all that
which is not of God, whether it be
sin, whether it be the world, whether it
be flesh or our self-life or the
kingdom of darkness.
God is calling us out of all these
things in order to call us into His
very purpose.
Not only to have Christ as our righteousness,
but to know His life, His resurrection life,
how real it is, and to know the
light of that life that is guiding us
every day.
We are called to be God's children.
We are called into the fellowship of God's
Son, Jesus Christ.
We are called to be the body of
Christ.
We are called to be part of that
eternal purpose of God, even Christ and His
bride, the Church.
So, brothers and sisters, we do thank God.
It is not because we are better than
anybody else.
It is because God looked upon us, and
by His grace He called us.
We are the called of God.
But here you'll find we are not only
the called, we need to be the chosen.
That is, if we respond to what we
are called into, then we will be the
chosen to fulfill that function, that purpose that
God has called us into.
We remember the story of Moses, how when
he was forty years old, he chose God.
He chose the reproach of Christ rather than
the riches of Egypt.
And because he made that right choice, he
became the vessel of God in leading the
children out of Israel unto God's purpose.
So, brothers and sisters, we who are the
called, we need to prove ourselves that we
are the chosen.
Now, it is true that God has chosen
us even before the foundation of the world,
and that chosen is for a purpose.
But we will not be able to really
fulfill what God has ordained for us until
one day we make a choice.
We choose Christ rather than the world, and
by that choice we will be the chosen.
We will be those whom God can use
to fulfill His purpose.
Now, this morning we will come to the
third qualification, the faithful.
Not only the called, not only the chosen,
but the faithful.
You know, faithfulness is God's character.
Our God is a faithful God.
That is His very character.
He cannot deny Himself.
He is faithful to what He is.
We may deny, but He will never deny
Himself.
We may be unfaithful, and unfortunately, often times
we are.
But He remains faithful.
Now why is it?
Because faithfulness is God's character.
That is what God is.
He just cannot help but be faithful.
Otherwise He would deny what He is.
Our God is so faithful.
He is faithful to His promise.
You remember in the Garden of Eden when
man fell, and God in His mercy came
to man and offered to man the promise
of redemption, of salvation, and He said, the
seed of the woman shall come.
And when the seed of the woman shall
come, He will crush the serpent's head, even
though the serpent will hurt His heel.
Now this is God's promise to mankind from
the very beginning of man's history.
And probably it was over six thousand years
ago, God made that promise.
But God was faithful to His promise.
Four thousand years passed as if God had
forgotten.
But God had not forgotten.
He was faithful to His promise.
So two thousand years ago, the seed of
the woman came into this world.
Even our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful.
You know God is faithful to His word.
He spoke to Noah, saying that the world
is so corrupted, violence everywhere, and God repented
of creating mankind.
But Noah found favor in God's sight.
So God told Noah, He said, there will
be another hundred and twenty years, and then
He will destroy the world.
And sure enough, hundred twenty years.
Now we may think hundred twenty years is
a long period.
If we can live to hundred twenty years,
that will be a very long life.
But to God, hundred twenty years is nothing.
And yet, you find He kept His word.
The flood came and destroyed the world.
You know, this world is not what we
thought.
It was destroyed once.
Covered by water.
But God saved Noah and his family.
Now after Noah and his family came out
from the ark, and Noah offered sacrifice to
God, and the sweet savor ascended to God,
and God smelled it, and God said, I
will never destroy the world with water.
I will never destroy mankind altogether.
And God said, as long as this earth
remains, the days of the earth remains, there
will be sea time and harvest, winter and
summer, cold and heat, day and night.
And there will be rain.
And God put a rainbow in the cloud
to remind him, as it were, that He
will keep His promise, and never destroy the
earth with water again.
And brothers and sisters, do you know that
today mankind is still under the Noahic covenant?
Here we find sea time and harvest continue
on.
Winter and summer continue on.
You may not like winter, but winter and
summer continue on.
Heat and cold continue on.
And day and night continue on.
God is always faithful to His word.
And there you find God made a covenant
with Abraham.
And even 430 years later came the law,
but the law did not annul the promise
that God had made to Abraham.
God is always faithful to His covenant.
And again you find God is faithful to
what He promised David.
He promised David.
He was pleased with David.
So He promised that His kingdom and His
household shall be firm forever, and His throne
shall be established forever.
And we find how it is fulfilled in
the son of David, even the Lord of
David, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Truly His kingdom never ends, and His throne
is established forever.
The faithfulness of God is not only seen
in past history.
We find the faithfulness of God is sung
by the psalmist.
How in the book of Psalms you find
the psalmist, they sing of the faithfulness of
God.
Great is thy faithfulness.
Thy loving kindness endures forever, and thy faithfulness
remains from generation to generation.
It is the song of the psalmist.
And even the prophets you find they prophesied
of the faithfulness of God.
In Lamentations chapter 3, you know the children
of Israel at that time were in very,
very bad condition.
And actually they were destroyed.
They were taken into captivity.
But thank God, when they look up, they
found that great is His faithfulness.
It is not because of the loving kindness
of God we shall all be consumed.
And how true it is.
But we are what we are today.
It is not because of what we are.
It is because of what He is.
Because of His faithfulness to Himself.
Brothers and sisters, you come to the New
Testament.
And who do you find as the faithful
one?
Our Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, there is none in the whole
world who is so faithful as our Lord
Jesus.
He is faithful to His Father, even until
death.
And let the dead of the cross.
So in the book of Revelation, you find
again and again, He is called the faithful
witness.
In Revelation chapter 1, He is the faithful
witness.
In Revelation chapter 3, you find God is
the Amen, Christ is the Amen, the faithful
and true witness.
And in Revelation chapter 19, you find when
He shall come, He is called the faithful
and true.
Our Lord Jesus is the faithful one.
He is faithful to His Father.
Now thank God.
Not only our Lord Jesus Himself is faithful,
but you know, He is the one who
brings faithfulness.
Do you think that naturally we are faithful?
Now you may find in this world, some
people are more faithful than other people.
Now that is true.
But when you come to the will of
God, you will find no matter who you
are, the natural man is never faithful to
God's will.
So naturally, we are unfaithful.
That is what we were.
But thank God, our Lord Jesus, He is
not only faithful, but He imparts faithfulness into
us.
Why?
Because the life that we received from Him
is a faithful life.
In other words, in that life of Christ
that we receive, we receive, there is that
nature of faithfulness there.
And it is on that basis that He
expects us to be faithful.
You know, He never demands what He has
not given.
If He shall demand faithfulness from us and
it is not in us, then we are
under the law and it will bring death
to us.
But thank God, what is grace?
Grace is His always give first before He
demands.
He demands on Himself.
He does not demand really on us.
So here you will find the Lord is
looking today for people who are faithful to
Him.
We are not only to be the called.
We are not only to be the chosen.
Now after we are chosen, then it requires
faithfulness to Him.
That we may be faithful to Him to
the very end.
So this is what God is looking for
among His people.
We may go to the Bible to find
some of the faithful people who are faithful
that really satisfies God's heart.
Now first of all, of course, we like
to think of Moses.
Why?
Because in Hebrews chapter 3 we are told
that Moses was faithful to all his house
as a ministering servant for a testimony of
the things that are spoken for.
Now Moses was faithful in all God's house.
Now we know Moses was called and Moses
was chosen.
He was chosen to be the leader of
the children of Israel.
Now when we read Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
and you will find when Moses led the
children out of Israel on the way to
Jerusalem to the promised land, during that forty
years, how faithful he was in the house.
His faithfulness was such that when the children
of Israel worshipped the golden calf, and God
wanted to destroy that nation, and God said,
I will destroy that nation and I will
raise you up as a great nation.
Now think of the faithfulness of Moses.
Moses was so faithful to God that not
only he refused that he would be blessed
by God to substitute the children of Israel,
but on the contrary he pleaded with God
how he insulted for the children of Israel.
Even to the extent that God, if you
will not forgive them, blot my name out
of the book of life.
Now brothers and sisters that is a tremendous
thing.
Only those whose names are written on that
book of life, they will be able to
enter into what we call heaven.
And that is the blessed hope of everybody.
That is the final thing.
And yet Moses as a servant of God,
he was so faithful to that which God
had entrusted him, that he would rather see
himself destroyed, than to see the people of
God destroyed.
Now that is faithfulness.
And then afterwards, if you go to Numbers
chapter eleven, you know, they began that wandering
journey, and when they began that wandering journey,
now how did the children of Israel were
difficult.
They were very very difficult.
You know, they want everything to satisfy them,
and if something happens they murmur.
And they not only murmur against God, of
course Moses was the target.
They murmur against him, they blame him for
everything, they want to kill him, to stone
him to death.
Now that was the situation of Moses was
in.
And often times you find that in the
controversy between God and the people Moses was
in the middle.
God was angry, and the people was angry,
and Moses was in the middle of the
whole thing.
Now you will think, a person who was
in that situation, what will you do?
And you know one day Moses really complained.
And Moses said, God why do you allow
these things to happen to me?
Why do you say that I have to
take the children of Israel in my breast
and carry them as nursing father, carry the
babies?
I haven't brought them out, I haven't formed
them.
Now why do you put this burden upon
me?
You see the point?
You see Moses felt that God has entrusted
him with the house of Israel, and he
was a nursing father to them, and he
wondered why?
Why God should do such a thing to
him?
He said that's too much for him.
And yet he was faithful.
He remained faithful.
And even though the children of Israel provoked
his spirit, and he lost his temper, and
because of that he was unable to enter
into the promised land.
But you'll find, he wasn't one who said,
well if I could not enter, nobody should
enter.
But instead you'll find even before his death,
he pleaded with the children of Israel to
be faithful to God that they may enter
in and possess the land.
Brothers and sisters, that is faithfulness.
And not only that, but he was faithful
in all God's house.
And God's house, representatively, is the tabernacle.
You know God commanded Moses to build a
tabernacle.
And God gave him instruction to the very
last detail.
Now it was almost like God was insulting
Moses.
You see Moses was a big man.
He had all the learnings of Egypt.
And Egypt was famous for its architecture.
Now even today people go to Egypt to
see these pyramids.
And if you study the pyramids, you will
find it was built with such precision.
And we were told that in the big
Great Pyramid there is a hole there, and
that hole points to the North Pole.
And because of all these thousands of years,
you'll find that it shifted a little bit,
but it shows how accurate when it was
first built.
Architecture was one of the glory of Egypt,
and Moses was a builder.
And yet God insulted him.
Asked him to build a little tabernacle.
And what is that?
And told him to the very last detail.
Not only the material, the measurement, even a
nail, even the color of it.
God told him everything.
And Moses was faithful.
And what is faithfulness?
Faithful to God's Word.
To the last detail.
He did not stab him and say, well
I will improve it.
But you'll find his faithfulness is doing God's
will.
That is faithfulness.
And Moses is faithful in God's.
And you know that has much to do.
Why?
Because what he did is a testimony of
the things that is to come.
Because this tabernacle is only a shadow.
It is the shadow of a reality.
And the reality is the New Jerusalem.
So it is a big thing, not a
small thing.
But it is a shadow of the reality.
Now you cannot change the shadow.
If you change the shadow, it won't see
the reality anymore.
So it is a tremendous thing.
Now brothers and sisters we often think that
a small thing, what does it matter?
But you know it is a testimony of
the things to come.
It does matter.
Moses was faithful in God's help.
Think about that.
Think of David.
You know in Acts chapter 13 it says
that God has chosen David.
Why?
Because God saw in David a heart.
He is a man at the God's own
heart who shall do all God's will.
There is in the heart of God, heart
of David, to do God's will.
And this is faithfulness.
You know when David was a shepherd in
the wilderness, what a faithful shepherd he was.
Why?
Because the lion came, the bear came, and
they came upon the sheep that he was
entrusted with.
And of course he was just tending a
few sheep as his brother said.
You know and yet how faithful she was
to his sheep.
He would sacrifice at worst his very life.
He would fight with the lion.
He would take hold of the bear and
tear it up in order to save the
sheep.
He was faithful to his sheep.
And how faithful she was to Saul.
Saul yielded to him.
Saul wanted to kill him.
But there was no one faithful among Saul's
servants as David.
And this was what Ahimele the priest said
about David.
No one is faithful in your house than
your son-in-law David.
He was so faithful to Saul.
He was so faithful to God's word.
Because Saul was God's anointed.
So he wouldn't help himself by killing Saul.
It is as if God tested him, put
Saul into his hand twice.
And his people said, now kill him and
all your trouble will be over.
And David said, no, I cannot touch God's
anointing.
He was faithful.
And how faithful he was to God.
When he ascended to the throne, the first
thing he did was to take Jerusalem.
Because Jerusalem was the appointed place of God.
You know, even in Deuteronomy, God said one
day he would choose a place to put
his name there.
But all these hundreds of years passed and
that place was still not there.
But David knew by revelation Jerusalem was the
place.
So the first thing he did as king
was to take Jerusalem.
That God may have a name on earth.
And he brought an ark into the city.
And he intended to build God a house.
Now that is his faithfulness.
You know, he was not allowed to build
the temple.
Because he was a man of war, he
shed blood too much.
And yet not because he was not allowed
to build it, he would have nothing to
do with it.
You find he prepared all the materials for
the temple.
Because he loved God and his house.
Now that is faithfulness.
Think of Daniel.
How faithful was Daniel to God.
As a teenager he was taken as a
hostage to Babylon.
And ironically you find that it seems as
if luck came to him.
Because even though he was taken as a
hostage when he was a teenager out of
his country, out of his family and transplanted
into a foreign country.
But he was chosen to be educated, instructed
to stand before the great king.
And yet he was given the king's food
and the king's wine.
But here you find a young man.
He was determined not to pollute himself with
the king's food and the king's wine.
In order to keep himself pure for God.
Now what is wrong with enjoying the king's
food and the king's wine?
Well, because the king's food and the king's
wine were usually first sacrificed to the idols
before they were given to be taken.
So Daniel wanted to keep himself pure for
God.
He wouldn't let himself be polluted.
Because his life was for God, not for
anybody else.
And God honored his faithfulness.
God opened a way for him.
He was able not to drink the king's
wine and the king's food.
And yet he was fatter than the other
young man who had the king's wine and
the king's food.
And God gave him wisdom, understanding, discerning, interpreting
dreams and visions.
How faithful was Daniel?
He was put into the first place in
the government, next to the king.
You know, not only in the Babylonian empire
under kings, but even after Babylonia was destroyed
by Medo-Persia.
And here you'll find, again, he was almost
like a prime minister in Medo-Persia.
And of course the other people were very
jealous of him, so they wanted to find
fault, pretext to accuse him.
And they couldn't find anything.
He was the prime minister.
He must be managing tens of thousands of
things, the whole country, the whole empire.
And yet his enemies couldn't find a fault
in all the things that he did.
Why?
Because he was faithful.
And finally they said, if we want to
find anything in that man, we have to
find it in his relationship with God.
So they persuaded King Darius, you know, try
to boost up his ego, that during these
seven days, nobody can ask anything from anybody,
from any God, but from you.
Well that really boost up his ego.
So he fell into that trap.
He signed that decree.
And Daniel knew it.
He went to his room, as usual, knelt
down and prayed.
And also opened a window towards Jerusalem.
Now he could close the window and pray,
and nobody would see it.
But he opened a window towards Jerusalem, and
he prayed.
Faithful.
Even to the point of death.
And God honored him.
God shut the mouth of the lions.
And God delivered him.
Brothers and sisters, that is faithfulness.
Well we can think of Paul.
Paul is another one, who represents the faithful.
God has not in called him, God has
not only chosen him, but God has given
him power.
Why?
Because he said, God has counted him as
faithful.
So God used him as an apostle.
And how faithful he was to God.
You know, you remember on his last trip
to Jerusalem, he called the elders of the
church in Ephesus to come to my liturgy,
and he shared his heart with them in
Acts chapter twenty.
He said, during the three years and half
that I was with you, how I ministered
to you with loneliness, with tears, with tribulations,
that I have not withhold anything good for
you, that I have shared with you the
whole counsel of God, that I help you
day and night, not only in public, but
from house to house.
Brothers and sisters, how faithful that servant was.
And no wonder, when he was tried by
King Agrippa, his testimony was, oh King Agrippa,
I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
That's why I'm here.
He was faithful to that heavenly vision that
God has given to him.
And he was faithful even.
So brothers and sisters, we do know that
because God is faithful, because our Lord Jesus
is faithful, because the life that he has
given to us is faithful, therefore he expects
us, who are the called and the chosen,
to be faithful to him to the very
end.
Here you find in the last seven letters
to the churches.
His letter to the church in Smyrna said,
you are in tribulation, but do not lose
heart.
Do not be afraid.
There will be ten more days of tribulation.
You know, ten in the scripture means very
short time.
That is the meaning of eight or ten.
You know, you remember when the servant Abraham
sent to get Rebekah, and the servant next
day said, now since you have already given
Rebekah to Isaac, all right, my mission is
fulfilled, so we go.
And of course, the brother and the mother
said, no, no, no, let her stay a
little longer before he go.
Ten or eight days, not just a short
while, ten or eight days.
You know, but the servant, no, God has
blessed me, why should you delay him?
And Rebekah said, I'll go.
You know, so eight and ten means a
very short time.
Brothers and sisters, in this world we have
tribulation.
But remember, it is only ten days.
And the Lord Jesus said, in the world
you have tribulation, but in me you have
peace.
And the Lord said, be thou faithful even
unto death, and you shall receive the crown.
And you know, in the third letter, the
letter to the church in Pergamos, he said,
you are faithful to me.
You still keep my word, you still honor
my name, as long as my servant Antipas,
the faithful Antipas, was living.
You were faithful.
But now Antipas was dead, and you became
unfaithful.
Now who was this Antipas?
Now Rebekah was in church history, we do
not find a person named Antipas.
As a matter of fact, in all the
seven letters, you find these names are symbolic.
In other words, Antipas, pas means people, pas
means all, and anti means against.
In other words, here is a man who
is against all.
This is such a world, that here is
a man who is of the other world.
So he seems to be a person that
is against all.
And because he is so faithful to God,
he is Antipas.
And he suffered, probably martyrdom, for that reason.
But his faithfulness sustained the church in Pergamos,
as long as he lived.
So you know, faithfulness is not just a
personal thing.
If one is faithful, he is able to
affect other people to be faithful.
And of course, in the letter to the
church in Philadelphia, he said, hold fast, lest
any man would take away your crown.
In other words, faithful to the very end.
So what God requires is faithfulness.
You know, one thing is very interesting, and
that is, in the scripture, in the New
Testament, the word faithfulness and the word faith
is one word.
Pistis is one word.
You have to know whether it refers to
faithfulness or whether it refers to faith by
the context.
It is the same word.
Why?
Because faith in Greek means three things.
Number one, it means a firm conviction, an
acknowledgement of God's revelation or truth.
Now that's faith.
It is a firm conviction, acknowledgement of God's
revelation or truth.
Secondly, faith is, based upon that conviction, you
make an absolute surrender to God.
Now that's faith.
See, faith is, it is a full surrender.
Now if you believe in God, then you
have to surrender to God.
If you don't surrender to God, what is
your faith?
And thirdly, because you surrender to God, therefore
you find there is faithfulness produced within you.
You are faithful.
So faithfulness and faith actually cannot be separated.
You know, Dr. Lightfoot, he said, he was
an Anglican Bishop and he was a most
learned person.
He wrote some commentaries which almost cannot be
surpassed and when he interpreted the word faithful,
he said the scripture called believers faithful, the
faithful.
Now what does that mean?
Does it mean that they have a faith,
a belief, or does it mean that they
are trustworthy, they are faithful?
He said you cannot be rigid about it.
You have to let the two things come
together.
In other words, those who have faith will
be faithful.
Those who are trustworthy is because they are
trusting.
So brothers and sisters, how can we be
faithful?
We can be faithful if we have faith.
Faith is the secret to faithfulness.
You know, if we believe in God, our
faith will give us that faithfulness and this
is something that God has promised what He
is looking for from His own people.
Here you find the Apostle Paul, how he
encouraged Timothy to be faithful.
You know, 2 Timothy is a very special
letter.
Every book in the Bible is special, of
course, and every book in the Bible speaks
to us, but 2 Timothy is most relevant
to our days.
You see, there is a great difference between
1 Timothy and 2 Timothy.
Even though it is just a matter of
a few years, Paul wrote 1 Timothy after
he was released from Roman imprisonment, and he
revisited Ephesus, and he was in such a
hurry he couldn't stay there long enough, so
he left Timothy there to help build the
church there.
And the church is the house of God,
of the living God, the pillar and the
base of the truth.
And in other words, here you'll find the
church, even though it was very weak, and
yet it was still church in God's eyes.
And God left Timothy there to help build
up the church, that it may truly fulfill
its testimony as the pillar and the base
of truth.
And that's the reason why you find in
1 Timothy Paul instructed Timothy as to how
to build the church.
But in 2 Timothy, it was only a
gap of a few years, and you know
the situation in the Roman Empire completely changed
during that few years.
Because in AD 64, you remember, Nero burned
Rome.
And the people were murmuring, so he tried
to find a scapegoat, and he said the
Christians did that.
So from that time onward, to be a
Christian becomes a crime.
You know, when Paul was first taken to
Rome to be a prisoner, to be a
Christian was not a crime.
At that time, the Roman Empire considered Christianity
as a sect of Judaism.
And Judaism was a recognized religion in the
Roman Empire.
So the Roman Empire didn't persecute Christianity.
But then, you know, Christianity and Judaism were
separated completely.
And to be a Christian became a criminal,
a crime.
Now think of that.
Under that kind of atmosphere, how it had
affected the church at that time.
So when Paul wrote 2 Timothy, the situation
had completely changed.
Paul said, all Asia has forsaken me.
They haven't forsaken God, but they've forsaken Paul.
Why?
Because they want to protect themselves, keep a
distance between them and Paul, because Paul was
a criminal.
And brothers and sisters, it was during the
time of great tribulation, great trouble at that
time.
The church was shaking.
And many God's people became unfaithful.
You know, when you are put into that
kind of situation, are you able to remain
faithful to God?
Faithful to your brothers and sisters?
Faithful to the vision that God has given
to you?
Some people may not deny God, they deny
their brothers and sisters.
And we find this happening everywhere, under the
communist rule.
And some people even go to the extent
of denying Christ.
And why is it so difficult?
It's too difficult.
When you lose faith in God, you lose
your faithfulness.
And there you find Paul.
Under that kind of situation, he knew Timothy
was timid.
You know, Timothy was a shy person, naturally
timid.
So Paul was encouraging him.
Paul said, be faithful.
If you are faithful, if you endure, you
will reign with Christ.
If you are unfaithful, if you deny, God
will deny you, but God will not deny
Himself.
In other words, be faithful.
And Paul said, by the grace of God,
look at me.
I have fought a good fight, I have
finished my course, I have kept the faith,
and now there's a crown of righteousness waiting
for me.
Not only for me, but for all those
who wait for the coming of the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, in our days, this is
a day of unfaithfulness.
This is a day that people are losing
faith.
And especially in such a time, how we
need to be faithful.
And the only way to be faithful is
to have faith.
You know, when you look around, it's full
of unfaithfulness.
The world is unfaithful.
Even your brothers and sisters may prove to
be unfaithful.
And what will you do?
There's only one you can look to, and
that is God.
And you'll find He remains the same, yesterday,
today, and forever.
He is always faithful.
And because He is faithful to Himself, He
is faithful to you.
And He expects you to have faith in
Him, and to be faithful to Him.
And not only that, but there you'll find
in 2 Timothy, what Paul says.
He said, He said, Be
thou therefore my child, be strong in the
grace which is in Christ Jesus, and the
things which thou hast heard of me in
the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to
faithful men, such as shall be competent to
instruct others also.
You know, we are in a time when
you find the testimony of God is severely
contested.
We are living in a dangerous time.
We are living in a time of apostasy.
We find falling away on all sides.
We find the church is not what it
ought to be.
Now, when we are living in that kind
of situation, what should we do?
Is it because others are unfaithful, therefore we
can be unfaithful?
Is it because others lose faith in God,
that we should lose our faith too?
Or should we, under that kind of situation,
that we should, by the grace of God,
be strong in the grace of God, and
keep all that God has entrusted us.
And not only that, but entrust to those
faithful men.
In Proverbs it said, faithful men who can
find.
The gospel said, when the Lord shall come,
will he find faith upon this earth.
Brothers and sisters, we are severely tested today
in this matter of faith and faithfulness.
But God is faithful.
And He wants us to be faithful, and
not only ourselves be faithful, but entrust all
that He has given to us, to faithful
men, that His testimony may continue on.
Brothers and sisters, thank God, He is faithful.
Therefore have faith in God.
And the called, the chosen, the faithful.
They will be faithful.
They will be with Him.
Following the Lamb, today, where so ever He
goes.
So in the last battle, when the Lamb
came to the last battle, they will be
there, with Him, and they will enter into
glory with Him.
May God bless us.
Shall we pray?
Dear heavenly Father, we do realize that we
are living in an unfaithful world.
We do realize that faith is falling away
all around.
We do realize that even among Thy people,
faithfulness is rare.
But Lord, we do look to Thee.
Thou hast given us that life of Thy
beloved Son that is faithful to the very
end.
So we just, we cannot trust ourselves, but
we do trust in Thy life.
Lord, we look to Thee.
We know that Thou art God and Thou
art ever faithful.
So Lord, keep us faithful to the very
end.
Lord, raise a faithful man and woman among
Thy people throughout the world, that they may
maintain Thy testimony in this age, in the
name of our Lord Jesus.