Let's take our Bible. We're going to open up in Galatians 5 as we've been doing through this series and study on the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5, we find the fruit of the Spirit specifically named out by the Apostle Paul in verse 22 and verse 23 of Galatians 5. And we know that he gives this in the midst of this contrast of the flesh and the Spirit and urging the Christians to walk by the Spirit and not gratify the desires of the flesh. And he kind of lays out You know what the works of the flesh look like in contrast to the fruit of the Spirit? And so we're looking at each of these virtues that are the fruit of the Spirit one by one, and we've come down to faithfulness. The fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness. And so let's read this together. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now, we think about this subject of faithfulness. How important is faithfulness to the life of the Christian? We would say it's very important. But what do we mean by faithfulness? The Greek term here for faithfulness, sometimes translated as faith, but the undergirding meaning of it is actually faithfulness, not faith as in the noun, as in, you know, just believing. It is deeper than that in this context. is the state of being someone in whom confidence can be placed. Faithfulness, it refers to reliability, to commitment, to fidelity. A truly faithful Christian is one who is devoted and committed, who perseveres, who is trustworthy. And so that's where you see faithfulness is wrapped up to. That's what God has called the Christian to be. And so people in the world, we think about faithfulness and being committed, Faithfulness is seen in other areas of life in which natural man may be committed to or find themselves devoted to something. For example, in order to provide for your family, you must be faithful to show up to work and do the job well. I mean, that's a general way we would see faithfulness or commitment, right? If you're gonna excel at a sport or an activity or a hobby or a talent you you got to be committed to Developing it and devoted to that, you know I remember when I first began to learn how to play golf, you know And I wanted to get better at it and it's a challenge and you know as a teenage kid I had no clue how to play golf but little by little I I got to liking it and loving it. And so I would put in hours and hours and hours of practicing, you know, chipping the ball and putting the ball and driving the ball and all those things. And I'm still nowhere near as good as I want to be because I don't play enough, right? I'm not as devoted to golf as I am to other things. Let's just put it that way. That may be a good thing, but I do enjoy it. Mankind can be faithful or committed to many things in life, but there's one ultimate realm of faithfulness that matters above all others, and that is faithfulness to Christ and in Christ. So ultimately, faithfulness, understand, is central to how the Christian is to live their life in Christ. It is something that ties into the inward nature of us, our hearts, our devotion, our commitment, and also the outward manifestation in our life of how we're living our lives out. It's a testament of our love for Christ. It's a testament of our faithfulness and commitment to Christ. It's an evidence of our knowing Christ. So faithfulness is a clear fruit that can be seen in how a person lives. Not only in relation to what we might think of the Christian realm, you know, your walk with God or the church, but faithfulness bleeds into all the other avenues of life. Having faithfulness as a husband, as a wife, as a steward of your children, of your job, of whatever area that God has entrusted to you to bring Him glory, faithfulness should be what the Christian bears out in all of those areas. So let's look at a few things regarding this subject of faithfulness. Number one is the mandate of faithfulness. It is something that we're called to because of a couple things. One, faithfulness is evidenced in Christ. It's evidence in Christ. It is seen in God Himself. Now, how true is this statement? And we hear it all the time, and we probably say it all the time. God is faithful. That's a wonderful statement, isn't it? God is faithful. And it's a common statement. Much like God is good, like we looked at last week. God is faithful. It's a common statement. We hear that we say, And this is one of the most fundamental descriptions of God. If anyone is faithful, if anyone is committed, if anyone is devoted and reliable and trustworthy to his own purposes and to his own people, it is God himself. And so Moses writes concerning the Lord in Deuteronomy 7, 9. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God. The description of Him. Notice that. The faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations. To a thousand generations. Now you kind of break that down for a moment. You notice He starts out first with that one word, know. God wants His people to know something. know something, not maybe have an idea about something, not hope that something is true, kind of like our salvation, right? First John 5, 13, you know, he writes those things to the Christians that they may know that they have eternal life, not that they might think they might have it, but that they know it. You see, knowing is an exclamation point, not a question mark. There's a difference there. Knowing it, right? Now, here's where we're supposed to know something about God. We're to know that He is the faithful God. He's unwavering. Unwavering in His commitment to His purposes and to His people. Now, you notice He says He's a faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with His people. Now, the very concept of a covenant displays the faithfulness of God. A covenant in Bible times, it was a sacred kinship bond between two parties ratified by some kind of an oath, sometimes a blood oath. Covenant making was a widespread practice in the ancient world. We would think of it more, it's used more loosely in the terms of maybe like making a promise, but those are broken all the time. But a covenant was a very serious matter in ancient Israel. And when it comes to God, God's covenants are prominent in every period of redemptive history. Divine covenants reveal the saving plan of God for establishing communion with his people. Ultimately, His covenants are fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. You see, God cannot break His own covenants, for they are bound to the faithfulness of His own Word. If God were to break His covenant, He would become what is impossible, and that is a liar. God cannot break that which He has spoken. You know, Paul writes of the redemptive Covenant or purpose and plan of God in Christ in Titus 1 and verse 1 through 3 and when was the Redemptive purpose or covenant usually put it that way scripture doesn't necessarily call it that but it's a purpose That God has ordained. When did that begin? Would it God purpose our redemption after Adam fell? Oh, no man messed up and then now we got to fix it. No He purposed it before time began Titus 1, verse 1 through 3, but notice this, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness in hope of eternal life, but notice this, which God, who never lies, he promised before the ages began. He promised this eternal life before the ages, before time began. and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior. You know, Paul's kind of relaying the faithfulness of God to his redemptive purposes for us. Moses also connected God's faithfulness to his steadfast love, which is also unbreakable. So why is God's steadfast love upon his people unfailing? Because it precedes time itself. Just like His purpose precedes time, the love that He sets upon His people precedes time as well. He said through the prophet Jeremiah 31 verse 2 through 3, He said, Thus says the Lord, the people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness. When Israel sought for rest, the Lord appeared to him from far away. And here's what God says to His people Israel, I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have continued my what to you? My faithfulness. My faithfulness. Now when you understand the broad scope of redemptive Israel, you understand that it applies to all those who are in Christ. We are the children of Abraham. All those of faith. But ponder the fact that an everlasting love has been set upon you, Christian. Before you were ever born, it was set upon you. God already had your name. Had your life. You see, even when we in our flesh may struggle in our faith, He is still faithful. to his people. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2.13, if we are faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself. You see, this is a wonderful affirmation of assurance that although we're called to endure and be faithful, you understand that our salvation doesn't rest ultimately on our faithfulness. It rests in the perfect faithfulness of Christ. If you think your salvation rests in you being faithful, you have a works salvation mindset. You've got it backwards. I don't hold on to Christ in order to be kept. He holds on to me, and I am kept. That's grace. That's grace. You see, faithfulness is the character trait of God. But you say, well, God is God. Of course, He can have a perfect faithfulness. He's not like us. We're not like Him since He is unique and holy. He is God, yet He commands us to be faithful. Yes, He does. But you understand that He Himself showed what it is to be faithful, even as a man, in the person of Jesus Christ. Since the fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness, we would expect to see this virtue known and lived out by the Lord Himself, wouldn't we? Especially since He was, as the Messiah, anointed of the Holy Spirit, full of the Holy Spirit at all times. You see, though Jesus is God, In his real and genuine humanity, he experienced what it is to be faithful through every point. He suffered, he grew weary, and yet was faithful. You look at Hebrews chapter number 3 in verse 1 through 2 for a moment, and if you look at this passage, you see, therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who is faithful. to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all of God's house. You notice that Jesus is described as being faithful in his human life, faithful to the father. You see, the faithfulness of Jesus was rooted in his love for the father and his commitment to do the father's will. All through the gospels, you read of him longing and working towards doing what the father sent him to do. He said in John 8, 29, He who sent me is with me, He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him. You think about that. Christ always doing the things that are pleasing to Him. You understand that should be our conviction too. To always do that which is pleasing to the Father. You see, God's character of faithfulness is a trait that we are extremely thankful for today. You imagine if God was not faithful, what if Christ was not faithful to the father? You understand that if faithfulness was not the characteristic of God. We would have no hope. We have no assurance in this life or the next. You know, Jeremiah said concerning the Lord and His wonderful love and faithfulness and mercy, he said in Limitations 3, 22 through 23, he said, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Faithfulness. You see that there's a repeated theme here. Faithfulness is part of who God is and what He demonstrates. We have a faithful God. He brings us, which brings us to what the Christian should be. Letter B, we see faithfulness is seen in Christ. It's evidenced in Christ. It's also expected in Christians. I mean, what ought to be expected of us as Christians concerning how faithful God has been to us? And consider the fact that He is far more faithful to you than you have been or ever will be to Him. We have every reason to be faithful to the Lord. See, as a believer in the faithful God, we are to be a faithful people. We are to exhibit faithfulness unlike any other in this world. Now, others may be extremely devoted and faithful to their job or to their sport or to whatever you might name, but faithfulness to God, to Christ, should surpass any kind of earthly form of faithfulness. We are to exhibit a faithfulness. that demonstrates Christ in us. And that is where we see the fruit of the Spirit. It is a fruit of the Spirit that He works and bears out through us so that we manifest Him to those around us. See, as God's people, we have to understand that we are stewards of life. We're stewards of all that God has entrusted to us. You know, Paul recognized this with his own calling. In 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 1 through 2, listen to this. He says, this is how one should regard us as servants and stewards of the mysteries of God. That's how Paul saw himself and that's how others would see him. But notice he says, moreover it is required in stewards that they be found, what? Faithful. Stewardship must equal faithfulness. You think about stewarding anything that somebody entrusts to you. Maybe they entrust to you their money, or their vehicle, or their time, or something, right? Say you're babysitting some kids, and guess what? Those parents, they're entrusting their children to be watched by you. You become a steward. That parent has an expectation of you to be faithful to watch over the most precious thing that they have in this earth, right? Faithfulness. That's just one example. But you think about Paul here. What's he called to do? He's a steward of the gospel. He's a steward of his calling. He's a steward of the church. He's a steward of the kingdom, of his life, and the Lord. And did you know that you and I also are stewards of all that God has entrusted to us? We're stewards of the gospel, like Paul was, because we are all called to bear the gospel. We're stewards of our Christian life, stewards of the kingdom of God. We're stewards of everything in our life that is to be to the glory of God. And what part of our life is not to be to the glory of God? Everything is to be to the glory of God. That could dive even deeper and further. We're to be stewards of our time, of our money, of our energy, of our health, of what we do in life, we are meant to be stewards of the glory of God. And so faithfulness is a requirement. It's evidence. It is expected of us. The faithfulness of Christians is to be rooted in our understanding of the faithfulness of God. You say, well, why should we be so faithful? Because of how faithful He is to us. That's our really foundation. Hebrews 10.23, the writer of Hebrews says this, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. You understand the context here is that these Hebrew Christians were being persecuted for their faith in Christ. They're being tempted to go back to the ways of Moses. Go back to Judaism, forsaking what Christ has done for them. But the writer calls them, hold fast your confession, the confession of their faith or their hope without wavering. How prone we are to waver, aren't we? But he says, hold it fast without wavering. But why? What's the reason? Because he who promises faithful. Understand, Hebrew Christians, he's saying, Christ is better than Moses and He will not fail you. Doesn't matter the pressure you're getting from the world around you. He is the Messiah. He is Christ. He will not fail you. He is faithful. So our faithfulness is grounded in the faithfulness of the Lord. And the Lord's faithfulness never changes. His faithfulness to us is the same at all times. Whether it's well or whether it's ill in our life. God is faithful. Whether we feel we're on a mountaintop or in a valley. God is faithful. Whether we seem to be living in a godly and holy manner, or maybe we have fallen in our flesh and we've not been. God is still faithful. It's like A.W. Pink rightly said, one of my favorite quotes. He said, he foresaw my every fall. Nevertheless, he still set his love upon me. There's nothing that surprises God. His covenant faithfulness with people doesn't change. Regardless of external circumstances. You know, Jesus said to the church in Ephesus concerning their persecution and their faithfulness in their time in Revelation 2 10, do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested. And for 10 days you will have tribulation. But notice what he says. Be faithful unto death. And I will give you the crown of life. You see, ultimately, our faithfulness should be unto death for Christ. Well, if somebody comes into the building and holds a gun to my head and says, deny Christ or die, I should refuse to deny Christ and die. Faithfulness unto death. That has happened to an untold number of Christians throughout history. Faithfulness unto death. Now, if He's called us to be faithful unto death, how much more should we be faithful in life? Absolutely. He calls on us to hold fast in the faith to the end. It's a mandate. It's an expectation. Number two tonight, I want you to see some marks of faithfulness. And these are just some aspects that I think are tied into faithfulness and to what it means. Being faithful based on its definition of being trustworthy, being committed, being devoted. And there's a few things I think that are tied into faithfulness. A faithful Christian firstly has integrity. A faithful Christian has integrity. You see, we think about what it means to be faithful, and that's a broad term, but to be faithful is reflected in certain qualities that we can hone in on. One of those is to have integrity, which is to be honest and to have a strong moral principle about yourself. If anyone should have that kind of quality, it should be the Christian, shouldn't it? It's a clear mark of being faithful in all areas of our life that we're trustworthy. We're not deceivers. We're not bending corners. We're not doing this, doing that. Faithfulness, you understand, it's broader than just being at church or doing this and that. It dives into who we are as Christians, into our very character, our very character. It extends to all areas of life. There was a plaque at my dad's auto pro shop, and it said, and we said it on the front counter, and it said, integrity is doing the right thing when no one else is watching. And that's pretty important at a mechanic shop, if any of you have ever had a bad mechanic experience, right? I mean, a lot of times you'll take your car to a mechanic shop for an oil change and they'll come back and say, hey, you got this and this and this, that'll be $3,000. No thanks. You go and look at it later, what they said was not really true. That happens. Thank the Lord for good mechanic shops. But in our shop, we wanted to make sure that we held up, we had a faithful standard, a trustworthy standard about us. Faithfulness requires a measure of trustworthiness. So you think about the Christian and how we live our life in a faithful manner, we should have integrity in all areas of our life. We should have integrity in our words and how we speak. See, a faithful person tells the truth. They don't seek to exaggerate or sugarcoat the facts for their own purposes. But sadly, there's a lot of Christians that do that. It's a mark of untrustworthiness. Proverbs 14, 5, a faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness breathes out lies. A faithful person seeks to guard their tongue from slander and be trustworthy with their words. Just giving you some conventional wisdom here from the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 11, 13, whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps the thing covered. You notice that trustworthy. Faithfulness, that's part of what it means. Integrity reaches beyond words into actions. What we do in our lives carries greater weight than what we say. We can say and say and say all day long, but what we do speaks louder than what we say. Proverbs 20, verse six through seven, many a man proclaims his own steadfast love or goodness, some translations render it, but notice, but a faithful man who can find. The righteous who walks in his integrity, blessed are his children after him. You see, a faithful man walks in what? He walks in integrity. There you have the link. That's the manner of his life. We see a great example of a faithful man of integrity. One of my favorite examples is a man named Daniel. And I want to read it just to you in Daniel 6. And I think you're aware of the background here, how these rulers didn't like Daniel because he was in the king's favor. They never could find anything wrong with him. And so we know how this story goes. It's going to lead up to him being thrown in the lion's den. But here's what's interesting about Daniel 6 and verse 4 is how they describe him. You'll notice that the high officials and the satraps sought to find ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom. They're looking for some kind of violation some kind of dishonesty, some kind of something that we can put guilt on Daniel in the kingdom. But notice, that they could find no ground for complaint or any fault because he was what? Because he was faithful. And no error or fault was found in him. He had faithfulness, integrity about him and how he lived. You understand Daniel, he's in a pagan world. He's in a pagan land he was stolen from, taken captive from, and yet he's faithful and has integrity. And Daniel's faithfulness shines through even further as they end up creating a law that would require Daniel not to pray. That's the only way they could find anything against Daniel is concerning the law of his God. So they create it. They trick to basically deceive the king into giving this edict. But you read verse 10, and what's Daniel do? Here you see faithfulness again. When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in the upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks to his God as he had done previously. You find him faithful in the realm in which he's living according to the laws of the land, but then you find him faithful to the law of his God regardless of the laws of the land. He has integrity through and through all of it. He was faithful. He's a great example for all of us. A faithful Christian has integrity. Notice letter B that a faithful Christian has dependability. A faithful Christian has dependability. You see, when we evaluate the faithfulness of God and all his purposes and promises, we know that God is dependable in every circumstance of life, don't we? Is there any area of our life where we say, oh, we can't depend on God for that? No. You can depend on Him in every area of life because He's faithful in every area of life. He's the immovable rock of His people in all things. David, in his words of praise in 2 Samuel 22-32, he said, For who is God but the Lord? Who is a rock except our God? There's no rock like the Lord. He is the rock. No one is as dependable as God. He is immovable. And He's immovable and dependable because He's faithful. Faithfulness and dependability, they are inseparable. And here's what God calls His people to be. Dependable in all areas of life for the sake of His own glory. You think about that. Are you dependable? That's part of being faithful. Are you dependable? Is this aspect of faithfulness known and seen in you? You see, we should be dependable in all areas of our life. You can just break this down a little bit. We should be dependable in our homes. You realize every husband and father should be a dependable pillar and faithful man in the home. He ought to be dependable for his wife, for his family to lean on, to fulfill what God's called him to do. Ephesians 5.23, the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the church, his body, and is himself his Savior, as the head, he is to be dependable. Christ is who is dependable for the church, the husband is to be dependable for the wife and children. Every wife and mother should be dependable for her role. in the home, manifesting that example to her children and to her husband. Proverbs 31, 10 through 12, an excellent wife or a virtuous wife, who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband does what? Trust in her. And she's dependable. And he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and will not harm all the days of her life. And you go on reading through that passage and you see the children connection there too. We have to be dependable in our homes. We got to be dependable in our jobs, part of faithfulness. You see, whatever vocation the Lord has given you, you should be the most dependable and hardworking employee there is. The Christian ought to be outworking every other secular person in the job. Say why? Because they're doing it for something more than just a paycheck. They're doing it for the glory of Christ. Colossians 3, 23 through 24, whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. Notice this, you are serving the Lord Christ in whatever you do. You're serving the Lord Christ. One of the greatest examples of this kind of faithfulness and dependability is seen in the guy who has the best name in the Bible, except Jesus, Joseph. I'm a little partial to his name. Although Joseph was unjustly taken captive, wherever he was, he was the most diligent, hard-working man there. He was dependable, even so much that the pagan rulers saw something different in him. Genesis 41, 38, Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find a man like this in whom the Spirit of God is? He knew that there was something majorly different in Joseph. He was dependable. He manifested this fruit of the Spirit. We should be dependable in our churches because you understand that the churches where we are called to and where the gospel is preached, it relies upon members being faithful. It rests in members being faithful. The gospel work has to go on. It's not to be taken lightly, it's not to be treated as secondary, because it is eternal work. 1 Corinthians 15, 58, Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. You understand Paul's writing that not to preachers and pastors and elders, he's writing that, it includes them, he's writing that to the church, the local body. He says, know this, your labor is not in vain, be steadfast, immovable. This is being dependable in the work of Christ. Every church ought to have dependable members who are faithful to continue on the work and be faithful to worship him as he's been called, as they've been called to do. So are we are we dependable in the areas that we've been called to as a husband, as a wife, as a parent? father and mother, as a worker, as a church member, whatever area it is that you think of, are we dependable and faithful in that area? Letter C, faithful Christian has loyalty. And this is probably the most common way we think of faithfulness is loyalty or commitment. You see, to be loyal is to give or show firm and constant support or allegiance to a person or institution. See, we are to be loyal To who? What does it mean to be faithful and loyal? It's to be loyal to Christ. Our allegiance must rest with Christ. Christ above all others. He's first. Our loyalty to Christ is first expressed through our following of Him and our own personal obedience of Him. We follow Him as the Lord of our life. And if He is indeed the Lord of our life, Do we obey Him and follow Him as the Lord of our life? We know that He is the Lord. You understand that you don't give Him authority to be Lord. That's kind of a common thing today. Once you make Christ your Lord, He already is Lord, whether you like it or not. You submit to Him as Lord. But if you say you submit to Him as Lord, Jesus said this way, Luke 6, 46, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not what I tell you? If I really am your Lord, why don't you obey me? Because that's the only implication of the one who is Lord, you obey the one who is Lord, right? Our allegiance is to be to the Lord that we take our last breath. We've got many examples of faithful Christians in Bible history who followed the Lord by faith and trusted him and followed him. Hebrews 11, we know is the ongoing list of loyalty and faithfulness by real men and women. of God throughout Old Testament history, men like Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Sarah, Rahab, Moses, David. I mean, you go down this whole list and there's a large number of people throughout this passage that demonstrate a faithfulness and a loyalty to the Lord in the face of great opposition, in the face of great temptation. These people forsook power and pleasure, they forsook comfort and convenience, all so they could be loyal and allegiant to the one true God. And as I read this passage, one does stick out to me in regard to that, and that is the man named Moses. We've looked at him a little bit tonight. But Hebrews 11, verse 24 through verse number 27, notice this. It says, by faith, Moses, when he was grown up, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith, he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured seeing him who is invisible. That is what faith is. Faith leads to faithfulness. Loyalty. He did not count the pleasures of Egypt, which were right there at his fingertips, the power of Egypt. He had all of that right there within grasp. But he knew the one true God and forsook it all. Beyond the Old Testament, you go to people like Peter and James, John, Matthew, Paul, Aquila, Priscilla, Phoebe, you name them. Faithfulness is seen in Christians all through history because it is a work of the Spirit in them. Of course, we'd be wrong not to mention the faithfulness of Paul here, as he himself testifies of it in Acts 20, verses 22-24. His loyalty to Christ, despite knowing that he's going to suffer for Christ, he still goes forward for Christ. That is allegiance. Acts 20, 22 through 24, and now behold, I'm going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that, notice this, the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. Well, that's an encouraging news, isn't it? Paul, you go here, you're going to suffer. Paul, you go there, you're going to suffer. What about that city? Yep, you're going to suffer there too. He knows ahead of time what awaits him, but what's his conviction? What's his allegiance? But he says, but I do not account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course in the ministry that I've received from the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. What you find there is the faithfulness in Paul, the loyalty in Paul that's committed to go on regardless of what lies ahead of him. Do we bear these marks of faithfulness? Do we have this integrity, this dependability, this loyalty? Number three, and lastly, the motive of faithfulness, I think this is very clear, we've touched on it, but ultimately understand this, that Christ is worthy of our faithfulness. And that's really what it all boils down to. Is it worth it to be faithful? Absolutely it is. There's many things in this world that we would consider unworthy of our time, our energy, our sacrifice. But when it comes to Christ and all that he has called us to do in obedience to him, he is worthy of our greatest faithfulness that we could possibly give him. He's worthy of 10,000 lives of faithfulness, if that were even possible. Worthy are you, O Lord, O God. to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created. Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and glory. William Carey was a great missionary to India who did not see much fruit of his labor for a long time, if you read about William Carey. And he once wrote to a friend, he said, pray for us that we may be faithful to the end. And you'll find that in the end, the Lord gave him fruit that eventually did come. And William Carey would become one of the leading men of what we'd call the modern missions movement. There's great faithfulness. There's great fruit in being faithful. And what faithfulness to continue laboring even when fruit is little. His eyes were on Christ, not His own circumstances. But how greatly we must realize afresh the worth of Christ. We fail to understand the worth of Christ. Christ is worthy of your life. He's worthy of everything that you could give to Him. He's worthy. You name it. You name anything. He's worthy. He's worthy of our faith. He's worthy of our labor, our sacrifice, our worship. Scripture says in reference to the faithfulness of the saints and the local church and how much we need each other in this. Hebrews 10, 24-25, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day approaching or drawing near. That was a call to those Christians. To stir up each other into their faithfulness. Because Christ is worthy. Now that was written to persecuted Christians. How challenging it must be to gather with the saints when persecution arises. And you've got to meet in secret when you're maybe a little on edge. Who's going to pop through the door that's going to haul us off? And yet in our day, so many forsake the gathering of the saints for far lesser things. Far lesser things, especially in our nation. But you understand that faithfulness, Christ is worthy of it. He is worthy of faithful people. But not only that, let it be, and lastly, Christ is pleased with our faithfulness. He is pleased with our faithfulness, our loyalty to Him, our trustworthiness in Him. You understand, there's coming a day when we will stand before Christ. There is judgment for the Christian, as well as the non-Christian. Now, praise God by His grace. You understand, Christian, that our judgment is not based upon God's justice being enacted on us for our sin. You know why that is? Because on the cross, Christ took that justice for us. I don't have to fear hell ever again because I've already been saved by faith alone and Christ alone. Christ already endured God's wrath for me. But one thing I do want is that in the end, I want to be a faithful Christian and know that as my life is judged and evaluated, that what I did with Christ, I was faithful to what he called me to. You know, he gives that parable in Matthew 25, 21, where he talks about these servants who have been entrusted their talents to steward them. Go read Matthew 25, and you'll see it. His master said to him, but the one who had stewarded it well, he said, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a little, I will set you over much, enter to the joy of your master. I think all of us here tonight would say that we want to hear those same words. Well done, good and faithful servant. Good and faithful servant. Luke 16 is another passage, I won't go there tonight, but 10 through 12 reveals some further information about faithfulness and being entrusted with the Lord. But all of this culminates in really what the fruit of the Spirit is. Paul says the fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness. It is faithfulness, it is a fruit that bears out from the Spirit, but there's also accountability on our end to actually be faithful, to seek to fulfill that and bear this fruit. So we ask ourselves, do we bear the fruit of faithfulness? It's faithfulness, a virtue in our life that is seen, even in the little things. So hopefully there's some things there we can ponder and think about and bring application to our life and rejoice in the fruit that God has given to us through the Spirit.