Standing, Even In The Midst Of Faithlessness Series

There are words that every Christian is striving to hear one day, and they are found in:

Matthew 25:23 - His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

While we know that this portion of scripture is within the context of the parable of the Servants that were given talents to multiply for their master, we also know that the Lord was comparing the Kingdom of God to this story since it says in verse: Matthew 25:14

For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

Jesus would often use parables to explain to the people of that day what the Kingdom of Heaven was going to be like. In this parable, he let the people know that each person would be given a measure of goods to be stewards of, and it would be according to their ability that He would give it out.

The desire of the master in this particular parable was that they would take the money given to them, and multiply it for the good of the master. The one with 5 turned his into 10, the one with 2 turned his into 4, however, the one who had received 1 went and buried his, and therefore would receive tremendous rebuke from the master upon his return.

The key element in this story though has nothing to do with the amount of talents given, but the degree of faithfulness that was exhibited by each of the servants.

The same degree of commendation was given to each of the faithful servants as they applied what was given by them, and were faithful stewards regardless of being given 5 or 2 to work with.

I know that today the Lord still requires faithfulness in all we do for the Kingdom of God.

I am of the firm belief that each one of us here today are simply stewards of gifts, abilities, time, talents, and finances that God has placed into our lives, and it is totally up to us what we are going to do with those things, however, it is totally up to God as to how we are going to be held accountable one day.

When we hear the term today, “He or she has been unfaithful” – Our mind is immediately drawn to thinking the unthinkable about a husband or wife.

Today, when I use the term, I am going to be referring to the fact that we can be “unfaithful” in our vows to the Lord, and our life has not exactly lived up to what we have claimed with our lips.

The greatest thing that many people will fight in these times is “condemnation” and deep sorrow over their lack of faithfulness and commitment to the Lord in spite of the many claims of going with Him all the way.

They have sung songs such as: “I will serve thee, because I Love thee”, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back”, “I surrender all”, yet to find that indeed there have been areas in their lives they have not surrendered, and have in fact turned their back on the Lord looking for an easy way out.

How do we stand in these times of Unfaithfulness? Is there hope for the one who has been unfaithful? Even when we do not understand our bad choices, is there hope?

I say there is, and we are going to look at the life of Peter, one of the Lord’s disciples to gain assurance in this area.

Again, as last week we are going to look at three areas today:

The Test

The Travail

The Triumph

First of all today, we see:

I. The Test – To Confess Or Deny Christ –

We all have heard the story of the Last Supper, and on that very first Communion service, Jesus gave each of them the bread and the wine, and then he said these words: Matthew 26:21

And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.

All of them were very sorrowful as it says in verse 22, and each one of them asked the Lord, “Is it I?” Finally, it came time for Judas to ask “Is it I?” Vs. 25 Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.

After they partook of this first Communion, we read in Matthew 26:31

Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. Matthew 26:32 But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.