Loyalty June 16^th 2002

[32] And king David said, Call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king. [33] The king also said unto them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to Gihon: [34] And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon. [35] Then ye shall come up after him, that he may come and sit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my stead: and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah. [36] And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen: the Lord God of my lord the king say so too. [37] As the Lord hath been with my lord the king, even so be he with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David. [38] So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride upon king David's mule, and brought him to Gihon. [39] And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.

I want you to notice something here regarding the people in this passage:

Look at Nathan, Bathsheba, Zadok, and Benaiah. These were loyal to king David. In the face of tremendous opposition they stood by David and his plan for the nation of Israel.

Nathan had proved himself in times past by pointing out David’s sin when it could have cost him his life. After all David had just murdered Uriah.

Zadok stood by David all through his reign. The Zadokite line of the priesthood continued right into the Qumran community of AD 70.

Benaiah was supportive of King David’s decisions.

Bathsheba was obedient to her husband’s wishes concerning Solomon.

The Cherethites, David’s personal bodyguards, had proven faithful during the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba, and now they stood beside him in his old age. The result was that all the people could shout, "God save king Solomon".

These were faithful men and women of God. What was at stake here? The very throne of the Lord Jesus Christ. To choose the wrong side in this matter would be to oppose the very purposes of the God of Heaven!

Loyalty.

There is no substitute for well placed loyalty.

I want us to look at some areas where we need to be loyal:

Where are the faithful servants of the Lord?

Have ye any meat? Fathers, today is Father’s Day. Have ye any meat to share with your household? How about to those to whom you minister in the church? Are you serving the Lord faithfully today? Are you loyal to the Lord? What is it that God is telling you to do?

Take a page from the life of Josiah,

Let me tell you a little bit about what God had me go through before I became the pastor of Toronto Baptist Church. After I was saved I never preached, except to give a testimony. By the time I went to Bible College, at 21, I had already completed 30 correspondence courses with a 99% average. I worked part time all through College. I was told by the president of the school that the pulpit was not the place for me at that time. (This was in the context of wanting to preach to my unsaved Dad at a church near to where he lived. I had been scheduled to preach but they later chose someone else.) Later, I got into a good church and planned to train for the ministry. I received no encouragement from my pastor. He told me that I was too late for Bible College (KLBS only offered a one year program, which I completed.) At one meeting with my pastor, he told me I could not handle Bible College, it would "kill me". I stayed there for five years. I tried to submit to his leadership. At his counsel I joined Toronto Baptist Church. Dr. Mosbacker encouraged me to study and I completed a four year Bible College program in two years. My first opportunity to preach in came in January of 1997, eleven years after God called me to preach and 13 years after I was saved.

Please don’t talk to me about being ready to teach and preach until you have paid the price in diligent study. If you will not study you are not called. I am the pastor of this church by the grace of God but God always calls and uses men who are prepared for the ministry to which He calls them.

Perhaps some of you will understand why I have no patience for those who will not do even the minimal work to prepare for the sacred work they are responsible for.

Now if I am slothful there is no need to be loyal to me. I work 7 days a week and the only time off I take is to go away for 2 or 3 days. I recently looked into working a security job on Friday and Saturday nights, on top of my other part time job, but God closed that door. By the way, I was planning on going soulwinning on Saturday and preaching on Sunday as well as working –I’ve done it before.

Now, this is not to blow my horn. God knows my motives. I say this to make it clear that God has called me to this ministry and with His help I am going to fulfil this ministry. There are lots of alternatives. There are plenty of men who will preach to you smooth things in order to keep his pay cheque. There are lots of options out there for you but not for me.

Also, I’m going to know what goes on in your life. God is not going to keep me in the dark when He has called me to shepherd the flock.

I was meeting with someone on Friday and just in passing, no gossip or bad intent –we were discussing something else, out came a little statement and a whole picture was instantly brought to clarity.

Turn to:

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There is always a physical location that God’s people are to identify with if they are going to serve God. For us, in the New Testament, it is the church. Not the building but the body of believers. We are to meet together that we might get the job done. Are you here by conviction or is this just a place to hang your hat until you get mad and quit?

What I mean by this is family. We need loyalty in the home. We need to be loyal to our spouses and our children. We need to guard another’s home as well. There are families that are on the rocks: they need to be built back together not weakened.

One of the best ways to show loyalty to your lineage is to pass on a godly heritage to them. Seek the salvation of your children, your parents, your extended family. Shame on you if you fail to invite your family to church. Shame on you if you allow your Christian parents to remain in error and never challenge them on it. Love is not silent-love, Jesus said, shouts it from the roof tops.

If you’ve got nothing to shout about maybe there’s nothing there!

Learning:

Study. Preparation. In the bulletin, a few weeks back, I offered good books to anyone who was interested. Only three people have asked me for books. Even that was encouraging. God commands it in 1 Timothy 4:13, Till I come, give attendance to reading, -and yes I am aware that this verse is speaking about reading the Bible. But this verse and

Both these verses can be applied to good reading material.

This speaks to giving. I do not need to preach to give more but to continue to give your tithes and offerings. If you do not tithe your finances will be cursed and you will not prosper. If this is where God has lead you, you need to give to this ministry, not Perry F. Rockwood or Freedom Village.

Labour:

For the church, and in your employment and daily tasks.

Loyalty. Nathan had it. Zadok had it. Are you loyal in these areas of your life and ministry. If you are not loyal it will cost you dearly some day. You’ll blame God or someone else but you will be responsible.