Stay Loyal to the King | February 8, 2026 PM

Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.

The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us

or contact us at mylibertybaptist.org or just

look us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this

message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

Turn your Bibles, please, to Second Samuel.

Chapter #15 Second Samuel chapter #15 In the message that

I have entitled this evening, stay loyal to the king.

Stay loyal to the king. I know I've mentioned this

before a time or two, but probably has been a little bit

of a while since I had. But one of the things that

annoys me really, I mean really, really annoys me is when a

business will say something like this.

Thank you for your loyalty. You know, thank you for your

loyalty. I hear all the time from

American Airlines, almost always fly American Airlines when I

fly, not because I have some great love for American

Airlines. It just happens to be the

airline that goes to places that I need to go when I need to go

there. But there are times they will

say, oh, you know, as an advantage member, thank you so

much for your loyalty. It's incredible that I have

given them so much loyalty, quote UN quote.

But when there's a problem with the plane or I have an issue or

need a refund, that whole loyalty thing goes out the

window. That's their way of just kind of

saying, hey, thanks a lot. Will you keep giving us more

money? There's actually no loyalty

other than the loyalty I give them.

Really. There's no loyalty.

There's no acknowledging of the loyalty.

A credit cards will call you call them and you say, hey, we

see you've been a member for the last seven years.

Thank you so much for your loyalty.

Hey, that late fee, could I get that off?

They're like, hello, is anyone there?

There's no loyalty there. Is there loyalty clubs?

Whether it's CVS or Walmart or Target or whatever it is, these

loyalty clubs they want you to be a part of.

And really it's not about giving you stuff for shopping there.

It's really kind of just to track what you buy more than

anything. They want you to scan that

little fob or whatever it is. They're not really giving you a

lot back. There's this word loyalty that

is thrown around so much by the world, but really the world is

light on loyalty and honor. We expect that from the world,

don't we? Because there's no honor among

thieves. And when you consider the world,

it shouldn't surprise us that the world is not loyal, even not

loyal to itself, certainly not loyal to us.

We shouldn't be surprised that there is no honor when it comes

to the things of the world. But what about amongst God's

people? Should we be the type of people

that have loyalty when it's put in the right place?

Shouldn't we be the type of people have honor when we're

dealing with the things of God? Well, tonight we are going to

look at Absalom's coup. Absalom was dishonorable.

Absalom was disloyal. But I want us to look at this

event as David is going to make his retreat from Jerusalem and

look at 1 gentleman in particular.

There's going to be a lot of different people that we can

look at. Interestingly enough, when you

look at David escaping Jerusalem, there's kind of this

merry band of men that seemed to follow him.

And there's these stories that take place as David leaves, and

then we follow up as these same men come back to Jerusalem with

David after Absalom is vanquished.

By the way, some of these men, really great men.

Some of these men not so great. Some are giving David praise.

Others are literally cursing him out and throwing rocks at him.

So you've got all of this taking place as David is evacuating

Jerusalem with those who are remaining loyal to him.

But there's one gentleman that I want us to focus on here

tonight. There's one man that truly wants

to spend a few minutes to consider and to remind us to

stay loyal to the king. Will you stand, please, for the

reading? God's Word, Second Samuel

2 Samuel 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15. We'll read a part of this

passage here tonight. Beginning of verse #13 We'll

pick up where we left off last week.

And it says, And there came a messenger to David, saying, The

hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.

And David said unto all his servants that were with him in

Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee, for we shall not else

escape from Absalom. Make speed to depart, lest he

overtake us suddenly and bring evil upon us, and smite the city

with the edge of the sword. And the King's servant said unto

the king, Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever, my

Lord, the king shall appoint. And the king went forth, and all

his household after him. And the king left ten women

which were concubines, to keep the house.

And the king went forth and all the people after him, and

tarried in a place that was far off.

And all the servants passed on beside him, and all the

Cherithites, and all the Palathites, and all the

Gittites, 600 men which came after him from Gath, passed on

before the king. Then say the king to Itai the

Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also among us, or with us?

Return to thy place and abide with the King, for thou art a

stranger and also an exile, whereas thou camest but

yesterday should I this day make thee go up and down with us,

seeing I go whither I may return thou and take back thy brethren.

Mercy and truth be with thee. And it's I answered the King,

and said, As the Lord liveth, and as my Lord the King liveth,

surely in what place my Lord the King shall be, whether in death

or in life, even there also will thy servant be.

And David said to Itai, go and Passover.

And Itai the guitar passed over, and all his men and all the

little ones that were with him, and all the country wept with a

loud voice, and all the people passed over.

The king also himself passed over by the Kidron, and all the

people passed over toward the way of the wilderness.

Now drop down to verse #30 we'll read just verse #30 And David

went up by the ascent to mount all of it, and wept as he went

up and had his head covered. And he went barefoot.

And all the people that was with him covered every man his head,

and they went up weeping as they went.

So David has now escaped Jerusalem.

He's passed over the Kidron. He is now ascended up to mount

all of it, and then he is going to proceed into the wilderness

where he is going to eventually decide how he is going to

approach Absalom, who is now going to take the place of what

David has abdicated in Jerusalem.

But I really want us to focus on this gentleman, Itai, and we'll

talk more about him in just a few moments and why he should

bring some bearing to us this evening.

When it comes the issue of honor and loyalty, you may be seated

and let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you for

this evening. I do pray that you would help me

as I preach the word of God. Thank you for what you've given

me through study, through prayer.

Lord, I believe of what I need to preach here tonight.

Help those who are here to realize however relevant,

however helpful it is to us tonight.

Lord, we need your word, I need your help.

And so we ask that you would do that which only you can do this

evening. And we ask it in Jesus name,

Amen. So we start by asking ourselves

this question. What is loyalty?

It's not a card that you have on your key chain from a store.

It's not something that a credit card or an airline gives you.

What is this real issue of loyalty?

And if we go to the dictionary, it would say this something like

this. I saw this from several

different dictionaries. The general idea is that is the

state or quality of being loyal. Now, I don't know about you, but

that really burns my biscuits when I go and do it.

A yes, I know what that that's, that's a southern thing.

All right. But the idea that you go and

want to find out what loyalty is, and it says it's the state

of being loyal, that doesn't help me.

You have defined the word with the word itself, but it does

continue and it helps me in this.

When it says faithfulness to commitments or obligations, OK,

that's a little bit more helpful to us, isn't it, That loyalty is

faithfulness to commitments or obligations.

When you make a commitment, you're to keep it.

That is the true definition of being loyal.

Now, when I talk about making commitment, I'm not just talking

about an appointment at the doctor's office or I have having

a lunch date with someone or something of that nature.

Although certainly we should make sure that our yay is yay,

the Bible says, and our nay is nay.

We should make sure that we give our word the best that we are

able to give our word that we are doing what we were supposed

to do. But when I'm talking about

loyalty, I'm talking about something much deeper than just

an appointment at the doctor's office.

I'm talking about something deeper than just making sure

that the check is supposed to go out on the 15th and it goes out

on the 16th. No, no, I'm talking about the

deeper issues of life. Many people are very comfortable

throwing loyalty away for the sake of their own convenience or

for the sake of their own selfish desires.

Many people are very comfortable throwing away loyalty as long as

they get what they want. In fact, if I was to say it this

way, it would probably be like this.

Most people are simply just loyal to themselves.

Their loyalty goes to themselves, their loyalty goes

to their obligations, their loyalty goes to their needs.

And really, everyone else is there.

Every other business, every other organization, even a

church, could just be there to fulfill their own needs.

They're loyal really, to themselves, to thine own self.

Be true is a line from Act 1, Scene 3, Shakespeare's play

David. Be true.

No, that's all right, though. I This is why you don't call

people out during church. Hamlet is be true to thyself.

So listen, he had more of a chance than any of us did.

All right. So don't feel bad for him

because I had to look it up. Be true to thyself.

This is what the world tells you.

If you're going to be true to somebody, be true to yourself.

I do like the Merchant of Venice, though, Dave.

So we we see that this is what the world tells us is that this

is what if you're going to be loyal to somebody, listen,

you'll never let yourself down, which I feel like I let myself

down on a routine basis. But yet this is what the world

teaches. If if no one else will take care

of you, you need to take care of yourself.

Now, our text tonight gives us a stark contrast of loyalties that

I want us to focus on. Absalom has now successfully

pulled off the coup in Hebron. The hearts of Israel are now

divided. Remember, Absalom unveiled over

a long period of time this plan where he surreptitiously started

to steal the hearts of the people of Israel.

And then he took 200 men who had no idea what was taking place.

He brought them over to Hebron as a way to make it look like he

had a following, to make it look like these very royal men, these

very noble men, were following him when they had no idea of

what was taking place. But now Absalom has unveiled

what is taking place. They've sounded the trumpet, and

they are saying Absalom reigneth in Hebron.

But then as we see in verse #13 a messenger comes to David and

tells David, you've got to do something because certainly you

are the king. But Abner, or rather Absalom,

not very far away, is saying that he is the king.

And it's very likely he is going to make his March on to

Jerusalem and there is going to be an armed conflict right here

in the streets of Jerusalem. Now, David does something that's

very honorable. Is he the king?

Yes, he is. Does he have the right to be the

king in Jerusalem? Absolutely.

He has the right to remain there in the palace.

He has a right to remain with his royal throne in Jerusalem.

But did you notice what he he said in verse #14?

It says. And David said unto all his

servants that were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us

flee, because he was scared. No, for we shall not else escape

from Absalom. Make speed to depart, lest he

overtake us suddenly and bring evil upon us.

And what smite the city with the edge of the sword?

He said this between me and my son.

Other people have got involved that don't belong involved in

this. The best way to make sure that

the people of Jerusalem are safe is if I leave Jerusalem, he may

have to lose before he wins. And he says I'm going to have to

retreat from here. My people, we're all going to

have to retreat because if Absalom comes into the city,

then he comes to the city. Now he leaves ten women behind.

It says so in verse #16 these were his concubines.

I do want to remind you that we see verses like 16 where it says

and the king went forth and all his household after him and the

king left the 10 women which were concubines to keep the

house. I do want to remind you that in

many ways the concubine system was having a legal mistress.

This is not God's plan and we should not be worried when we

see this in God's Word that this is God's approval.

I must remind you that we see this.

This is literally God reminding us or reporting to us by the

inspiration of himself of what's taking place.

This is not God's approval of it.

He is just literally telling us what's happening and it's

important that we know this because this is going to, they

become very important here in a couple of chapters that these

women have been left behind in Jerusalem because of Absalom and

his lewdness and his despicable plan of which is going to take

place, including those women that David left behind, not

realizing how much danger he is putting them into.

But interestingly enough, verse 15, Verse 16, Verse 17, over and

over David is referred to as the king.

The King's servant said unto the king, the Lord the king shall

appoint. Verse 16, the king went forth.

Verse 17 the king went forth and we see over and over again the

king left ten women. What's the idea that God is

trying to remind us He is sending us a message here?

Who's really the king? Not Absalom.

Over and over David is referred to by the inspiration of God as

the king, the king, the king, the king, the king.

Why? Because God wants to make sure

we know Absalom has no part or parcel in the throne of David.

It is him trying to usurp that which God has already put into

place. And it says that in verse 18,

all of his servants passed on beside him.

There's the Cherithites and the Pelophites and the Gittites.

And if you're not sure who the Gittites are, it says that they

are the people from gaffe. Now you may not know where Gath

is, but if you are unsure where Gath is, Gath is from the land

of the Philistines. The most famous inhabitant of

Gath happened to be a man that well David killed many years ago

and that would have been Goliath.

But yet there is this group of Gentiles who is also following

along these one who are going to see or be a part of that which

takes place. Now go to verse #23 just drop

down a little bit. We didn't read this section.

It says in all the country wept with a loud voice and the people

passed over. The king himself passed over the

brook Kidron, and all the people passed over toward the way of

the wilderness. We actually did verse, read

verse #23, but going on to verse #24 and Lozadic also.

And all the Levites were with him bearing the ark of the

covenant of God. And they set down the ark of

God. And the Biathar went up until

all the people had done passing out of the city.

And the king said unto Zada, carried back the ark of the God

into the ark of God into the city.

If I shall find favor in the eyes of the Lord, He will bring

me again, and show me both it and his habitation.

But if he say thus, say, I have no delight in thee, Behold, here

am I, Let him do to me. I seemeth good unto him to see

what happens. As David is making his retreat

out of Jerusalem, the priests come and they're toting behind

them the ark of the Covenant. And David says, hold on a

second, what are you guys doing? And I imagine they're saying,

David, if you are leaving and you are the rightful king, then

we need to bring the ark of the Covenant with us.

And I believe that God has preserved this for us in his

word to show us the true honor of David and to show us the

mindset that David had. You remember Israel had this

really weird fascination with the Ark of the Covenant where

they played it very loose and free with how the the

presentation of the physical manifestation of God was there

before him. We understand that God is not

just contained in an ark, just like He is not contained in a

Tabernacle, but He had given it to the people of God as a

representation of who He was. The mercy seat was there where

the blood was applied to remind us of the foreshadowing of what

Jesus Christ would do with His own precious blood.

And so this was an important piece of furniture, if you will.

It was one that was blessed and particularly designed by God in

the book of Exodus and then built and carried out.

But they had this weird, as I mentioned, fascination.

You could go back to, don't go there now, go back to the

beginning of First Samuel and what happened when the

Philistines of all people were attacking Israel?

They lost in the first day of battle.

And instead of repenting and getting right with God, what did

they say? You know what we need?

We need the ark of the covenant. That's why we're not winning.

And they towed out the Ark of the Covenant, completely missing

the message that God's trying to teach them.

And they lose the battle the next day and they lose the Ark

of the Covenant. But David had a different idea.

He could have taken the Ark of the Covenant with him as a power

play. Say if I got the Ark of the

Covenant, who could question that?

I'm the king? But he says this.

I'm not playing games with God. I'm going to get down to where

the brass tacks are. He says if God's with me, he's

with me. If God's against me, then I fall

into his hands. There's a good lesson there for

us tonight, isn't there? That just because we go to a

Baptist Church and just because we read our Bible every day,

just because we do the things that we should do, quote UN

quote, we have to be careful that we're not just doing it

just so we can get God to have favor on our side.

I don't read my Bible so I can get anything out of it.

I got to be careful how I say that as soon as it came out like

that's, I don't think that's in the notes.

Understand what I mean? I want to get something out of

reading it, but this is not a quid pro quo.

God, I'll read my Bible so you can do something for me.

Now He blesses me greatly for reading His word, but I don't

read it so I can get a blessing or so that God can do something

for me. I don't come to church just so

well. If I come to church that God has

to do good things for me. Come to church because it's the

right thing to do. I come to church because every

time God I do come, God does bless me, but I'm not holding a

gun to his head, metaphorically speaking, of course.

You've got to bless me because of what I've done.

You, Hey, we've got to win because we've got the ark of the

Covenant. God says, if you think that's

the way it works and you misunderstand who I am, and here

is David who says this, I don't need that.

It's not that I don't respect the presence of God.

Listen, he was the one who at great cost tried to bring the

ark of the Covenant back. And then when they didn't follow

God's word, he was the one who was heartbroken and searched the

Scriptures and realized, no, no, we don't need a new cart like

the Philistines did. We're just copying the worship

of the Philistines. No, no, we got to go back and do

what the Word of God says and then remember how he rejoiced

when he brought the ark of the Covenant back there to

Jerusalem. David had great respect for the

Ark of the Covenant, but he had more respect for God, the God of

the Ark of the Covenant. He says, I fall into his hands,

take it back. And then we go to verse #30

which we just read. It says David went out by the

ascent of Mount, all of it, and wept as he went.

And this shows his mindset here. He had his head covered.

He went barefoot. All the people that was with him

covered every man his head and they went up weeping as they

went up. Now in looking at our text here

this evening, there's one part that we read a little bit

earlier that I mentioned with the gentleman named Itai that I

do want us to look at here just a few moments for a few moments.

Go back to verse #19 it says then said the king to Itai the

get tight. So we understand his name was

Itai, but we also understand he was a get type.

Now what did we just say a few moments ago?

If he was a get type, that means he was from Gaff, which means

that he was a Philistine. So here is this man named Itai

the Gitai, and as David is leaving, he is one of the men

who is going to approach David, and wants to follow David out of

the city. So here is this man Itai the

Gitai, who says this? Wherefore goest thou also?

Or rather the king says to him, Wherefore goest thou also with

us? Return to thy place?

Where's this place? It would be Gath, and abide with

the king. For thou art a stranger, and

also an exile, whereas thou camest but yesterday should I

this day make thee go up and down with us, seeing I go

whither I may return thou, and take back thy brethren, mercy

and truth. Be with thee now.

I do not know what Itai's relationship to David was.

I do not know when they meant. I do not know the circumstances

of how they met. But David in just those two

verses tells us several things about Itai.

First of all, he said to to Itai.

He said, this isn't your home. He says in in verse #19 Thou art

a stranger. Me this.

You're not from here. Could we put it this way, Itai?

This isn't your fight. You're not from here.

You don't have to come with me. He says from his he was a

stranger and he's also in exile, which means this, that probably

he wasn't welcome in Gath for whatever reason that we don't

know why. The Bible doesn't tell us why.

But this is a man who had some troubles.

He wasn't in his home and he may not have been welcome in his

home. And it says in verse #20 where

as thou camest. But yesterday.

Now, I don't know if that literally means that Itai showed

up in Jerusalem the exact day before.

If he did, that's awful timing. But it seems that David is

making the point. You've not have been around here

long. You've not been around these

parts here for a very long time. You don't have a dog in this

fight, he says. I'm telling you, Itai, don't

follow me. Don't, don't stay with me.

You have no reason to could we even put it this way?

You have no reason to be loyal to me.

You just got here. You're not even from this

nation. You're not even welcome in your

own nation it seems like. So maybe this isn't the place

for you to be loyal. But look at what verse #21 says.

I have this underlined in my Bible.

This is such a good verse. It's I answered the king and

said as the Lord liveth and as my Lord the king liveth, surely

what place my Lord the king shall be wither and death or

life even there also will I servant be.

He says, David, I hear what you're saying.

I'm not from here. I'm not welcome where I'm from,

and I've been here for just a cup of coffee, says, but you're

the king and where you go, I go where you die, I die.

The idea here is very similar to that of Ruth, isn't it?

In fact, my mind goes back to Ruth making that great

declaration to Naomi says this, wherever you go, I'm going to go

and where you lodge, I will lodge.

And the same ideas here. David, I hear you and you may

think I've got here a few days ago and maybe I have, but I want

you to know you're the king and I'll be loyal to you.

And David is really taken by this in verse 22.

And David said to it, I go and Passover meaning this, you can

continue with us as we go Passover, the book Kidron.

And as we depart and go into the wilderness, go and Passover.

And it's either get type passed over.

And all his men and all the little ones were with him.

So this suggests that not only did he have some of his own

countrymen with him, perhaps even those that were mentioned

from verse #18 but also they had some of his own family with him

as well. And he says, I'm going to go

with you. And he did.

And he passed over the brook verse #23 and went on.

It's amazing to me that this man had such honor and loyalty for a

man he hardly even knew. Whether he met him yesterday or

whether it had been just a few days.

He barely knew David. In fact, probably what he knew

about David was even positive. He grew up or lived in Gath,

which wouldn't have been the place where people really love

David. But he said this.

I see something in David that I want to follow.

I see something in him and there's righteous.

I see something in him that is true and because of that, I want

to follow him. By David's reputation alone, he

knew that David was the man that he needed to stick with.

In fact, I would argue this tonight, that honor and loyalty

demands you stay with the king no matter what anyone else does.

Now, I know there's a lot of people that stayed with the

king. It wasn't just it I I really

want to focus on him. And we'll, we'll, we'll dial it

in even a little bit more here in a moment.

But honor and loyalty demands that you stay with the king no

matter what anyone else does. Now, you might say tonight,

Pastor, OK, that's great. But what does that have to do

with me? We don't have a monarchy today.

We don't live in the type of society that they lived in.

We don't have to worry about civil war or anything like that.

At least we pray not. What would earth would this have

to do with me? Well, I would argue that this

has everything to do with you and with me because

interestingly enough, David, as we see him in Second Samuel

chapter #15 presents to us a type of Christ.

Now, why is that? There were different characters.

And by characters you understand, I mean real people.

There were different characters and there were different

situations in the Old Testament that were shadows of that which

Jesus Christ would have done in the New Testament.

And interestingly enough, Second Samuel 15 is one of those

places. Can I give you some of the

parallels that you see just in this text and how it relates to

Jesus? Can I do that?

I'm going to do it anyway, whether you agree, But I'm, I

like to know that you're coming with me.

All right #1 Rejected by his own people.

David Absalom, his son, publicly rebels, winning the hearts of

the people. David is rejected by those he

once ruled over, but Christ was rejected by his own people.

His teaching and authority were opposed by those He came to save

their humble departure. David left Jerusalem quietly,

avoids direct confrontation. At first.

Christ leaves Jerusalem in humility, entering willingly to

fulfill God's plan. Weeping in mourning, David weeps

for his city and people, showing deep sorrow without retaliation.

Christ weeps over Jerusalem in Luke chapter #19 foreseeing its

destruction, that he does not retaliate against its

inhabitants. Endurance through betrayal.

David's servants and advisors, many of them deserted him, but

he continued on faithfully. You know Christ's disciples,

many of them forsook him at the crucifixion.

Trust in God despite, despite the danger David expresses.

Trust in God's protection even in exile, as we see in verses

#25 and 26 as we talked about with the Ark of the Covenant,

Christ completely relies on the Father, even unto death.

Did you notice that there were two locations that David went to

that were very fundamental in the last hours of David's life?

1 He passed over to Brooke Kidron.

The other he ascended to the Mount of Olives.

What happened after Lord's Supper took place?

The Last Supper in the upper room?

The Bible says they passed over the brook Kidron, and they would

have had to do so to ascend to the Mount of Olives to go to the

Garden of Gethsemane. So what do we see?

We see that David in this chapter is a type of Christ.

Now why do we find these types of Christ in the Old Testament?

We find many. I think of Joseph as an example,

a man who did write over and over and over again, but yet who

is not treated properly by his own brethren.

We find these types of Christs all over the Old Testament.

Why is it important? Again, it's not that these men

are Christ. We're not trying to say that

that's the case here tonight, but that we see the shadow of

things to come with the Savior. Why is it important?

Well, I have several reasons. One, because it shows the unity

of God's plan. These are not haphazard stories

that are thrown into 66 books of the Bible, but the Bible that

you have in front of you is the most harmonious book that has

ever been written on earth because it is from the hands of

God. It is perfect.

And there's not just verses or stories that are just kind of

jumbled up and thrown in there, but that even as this was

written, and even this was inspired by the Holy Spirit,

Jesus Christ is in mind. It shows things in shadows that

God reveals later. It gives us confidence in God's

purposes to know that He is the one that has his purposes.

That will happen no matter what man may say.

But I'll also say this, it does give us examples and

understandings of how we can relate to Christ.

To be able to see David as a type of Christ helps us

understand how we can relate to Jesus Christ.

A lot of times. Sometimes we, we, we have

problems being able to relate to how would we act around him?

How would we be around him? How would how would we do in

different situations? But seeing these types of

Christ, the Old Testament help us to understand better how we

would respond and how we should respond in our Christian life

today. So I told you just a few moments

ago that honor and loyalty demands you stay with the King

no matter what anyone else does. So we're really talking about

David now. No, we're talking about Jesus.

If this man it tie with every reason not to be loyal, but he

looked at and listen imperfect King.

He says that's a man I need to follow.

I don't care who follows him. I don't care who doesn't follow

him. I just know for me and my house.

Can we put it this way? We will serve the King not to

change the word of God, but you understand, this is the heart of

it. I, I see David, I know he's not

perfect, but this is a man that follows God and I've got to be

loyal to him. If a man like Itai who had

everything going against him, follows an imperfect man, how

much more do we who are the saved people of God, How much

more do we that are not from the outside of the household of God,

but have been brought into and grafted into the very household

of God? How much more do you and I, who

have the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us, how much it was?

Lutheran preacher didn't get excited.

That would never happen. All right.

But something over the last few weeks, I can't get rid of this

golf. I could feel it coming and I was

trying to suppress it, and that was a bad time for it.

How much more so should we be loyal to our king?

How much more should we sow honor to the King of kings and

the Lord of Lords? David is an imperfect king and

still brought loyalty from those around him.

But yet when is Jesus Christ on you wrong?

When has he ever LED you astray? When is one of his teachings

ever got you in a place where you say this isn't right?

He's never done us wrong and he'll never do you wrong, ever.

So shouldn't our loyalty be to him no matter what anyone else

does? Shouldn't we be an Itai, a man

who had every reason not to follow, but did How much more

more so should we as God's people be loyal to Him?

If that's true for a Gentile man who met David just days before,

how much more so does Christ deserve our loyalty?

Luke 9 verse 62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his

Luke 9:62

hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of

God. Galatians 220 I am crucified

with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I,

but what did we say this morning, but Christ that liveth

within me, and the life which I now live in the flesh.

I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave

himself for me. We have every reason to be loyal

to the King, but unfortunately a lot of times we're more loyal to

our flesh. A lot of times, we're more loyal

to our preferences. We're more loyal to our quiet

time. I'm not talking about your quiet

time with the Lord. I'm talking about your time,

your downtime. We're more loyal to our hobbies.

We're more loyal to our families.

We're more loyal to our friends. And the one who's never let us

down is the one who always gets pushed to the side.

Why? Because He will meekly and

quietly be to the side and be there when we're ready to come

back. And so for some reason we think

that's a good reason to be able to push Him to the side when He

should be our first obligation and 1st above all else.

In fact, it was Jesus who said you love me and you hate father,

sister, mother, brother. And again, the idea was not that

you have actual animosity and hatred to your family, but that

the gap is so great between your love for God and the love for

everything else that it would seem like it would be hatred.

Our loyalty for Him must be first.

Our loyalty for Him must be vast.

I think of the hymn when I survey the wondrous cross on

which the Prince of Glory died. My riches gained, I count, but

lost, and pour contempt on all my pride.

But the last verse says this. We're the whole realm of nature,

mine that were a presence but far too small.

Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my

all. Love, so amazing, so divine,

demands my soul, my life and my all.

This is not a message. You be loyal to Liberty Baptist

Church. That's not the message.

This is not a message. You be loyal to the pastor.

Remember I told you that there was that line of theology last

week that would try to sometimes equate the king of Israel with

the pastor. Don't touch the Lord's anointed.

Be loyal to the Lord's anointed. Here's the issue.

Don't be loyal to the church. Be loyal to Christ.

That will make you loyal to the church.

Don't be loyal to the pastor. I go into the category of David.

Not that I've done the things that David has done, but I'm a

Sinner and I'll let you down. But he's never let you down.

Be loyal to him, and you'll find that your other loyalties will

sort themselves out, as they ought to say.

You're telling me not to be loyal to my family?

Not first. Be loyal to him.

What kind of family person will I be?

One who has his or her priorities straight and will end

up being a better husband, a better wife, a better child.

Why? Because you're doing that which

God has called you to do. The Bible says that we're

crucified with Christ, as it said.

We just said a few moments ago, the best way and perhaps that we

can show our loyalty to him is to stay away from the very

things that put him on the cross.

Say, what was that sin? It seems kind of backwards that

we want Christ to save us. We know that he paid the penalty

for sin and death and judgment on the cross, but yet after

we're saved, we turn back to the very things of which he saved us

from. That seems awful.

Well, disloyal. And that's why oftentimes the

greatest way that we can really understand why living a holy

life is so important. I don't have to live a holy life

now. Well, we talked about Christian

liberty and 1st Corinthians, didn't we?

But the real question is why wouldn't you want to live a holy

life with his help? Because you don't want to go

back to the very things which put him on the cross.

Like Peter warming himself by the enemy's fire as his savior

is being buffeted and mocked and beaten beyond recognition.

That's not who we are. So where do our loyalties lie

tonight? To ourselves.

How well have you taken your care of yourself on your own?

Probably not very well. I look at myself and the

decisions I make, I told you just earlier, usually don't turn

out very well. Well, why would you be loyal to

yourself before God when He's the one that makes the path

straight and we're the ones that make the paths into something

that is unrecognizable? Proverbs 25, verse 19,

Proverbs 25:19

Confidence. An unfaithful man at a time of

trouble is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint.

You are that unfaithful man. You are that unfaithful woman.

I'm not talking about you being unfaithful in your vows or

anything like that, but I'm saying how faithful are we to

God? Let's not put that type of

confidence in ourselves because we will let ourselves down our

loyalties with our sinful habits.

It's amazing to me that I can preach on sin in all of its

different forms. We try not to discriminate in

the amount of sin that we preach on.

We try to hit them all at some point or another, but the Holy

Spirit is speaking to you about, hey, that sin needs to go, bring

it to the altar. And the Holy Spirit does speak

to our heart in this way. The Holy Spirit tells us and

communicates to us the things that are not in line with God in

His word, because He is a Holy Spirit and He tells you and

beckons you to come forward or just kneel at your seat or just

kneel your heart and prayer after reading His word or

hearing a message and your answer is no.

Are you more loyal to Christ or to your sin?

That's a question you're going to have to answer, but it's one

that begs us thinking about. I mentioned to our families our

loyalties more to our families or many people who don't go to

church because they're trying to save their family.

The best way to save their family is to be in church, not

to be out of the House of God. Are we more loyal to our own

emotions? Are we more loyal to our own

understanding Trust the Lord with all thine heart and say not

all I don't understanding in all my ways acknowledge him and he

shall direct thy paths. Our own understanding is faulty.

His understanding will never let you down.

Be loyal to him. Are we loyal to religion instead

of Christ himself? You know forms cannot replace

faithfulness. I mentioned this this morning.

Forms cannot replace faithfulness.

The idea of well, I read my Bible, well that's good.

But if you're just reading it to read it so you can check

something off your list for the day, you've missed what reading

your Bible is really all about. So what do we do?

Well, we don't want to trust in the fact that we are doing a

spiritual To Do List. And that means we're right

because the Bible talks much about the issues of the heart

and not the externals. Why is this important?

Because you can have the externals right and not have the

heart right. But if you have the heart right,

eventually the externals will always work themselves out.

The Pharisees were great at externals, but they were more

loyal to their long robes. They're more loyal to their long

prayers than they were loyal to the Savior when he stood right

in front of them. And we can't put ourselves in

the same position either. It'd be loyal even in the face

of a world that would challenge us for our loyalty.

There's a lot of people that would have looked at it tie and

say, what are you doing, man? He says, I'm following the king.

I don't know what you are doing, but I'm going to follow the king

and my kids are going to follow the king.

And we have to be the same. Several years ago, when I was in

Bible college, I interned at that church in Missouri and we

were about an hour away from Kansas City.

Of course, I grew up in Tampa. And I remember the pastor who

was there at that church says, hey, do you want to go see the

Kansas City Royals? And I did, I wanted to go down

to Kauffman Stadium and to see the game.

And to my surprise and enjoyment, they were playing at

the time what were called the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Now I'm glad I got the devil out of them.

Amen. They're just the Rays now.

But I remember going down to see the Tampa Bay Rays and I had a

Tampa Bay Rays shirt and I grew up in Tampa.

I was a Rays fan. And so I walked into Kauffman

Stadium about 30,000 people. You know how many people in

Kansas City were rooting for Tampa?

Probably three. And I was one of them.

And I was the most alone I may have ever felt in my life.

Yeah, though I walked through the valley of the shadow.

I can't even say it right. The valley of the shadow of

death. No, I I remember being there,

felt so alone. And.

And the team was bad. They were awful.

The Rays were awful. Those years especially.

Interestingly enough, they were ahead.

Even more interestingly enough, at the end, they won.

And I remember walking out of that stadium, my chest was out.

I felt good. Like, that's my team.

Yeah, they lost 100 games last year, but that's my team.

They won tonight. And then I remember moving up

here, and I did something that caused a lot of people that I

used to know in Tampa a lot of problems.

I remember I thinking, well, if I'm going to move up here, I'm

going to live up here. When in Rome, you do as the

Romans do. And I took a picture and I put

it on social media of me with a Red Sox hat on.

You know, why live in Boston? My loyalties are to where I

live. You can't do that.

What are you doing? Like, I didn't know there were

rules about this. Who says I can't do this?

But the idea was, if I'm going to live here, well, then I'm

going to be loyal to this team. I was loyal to them before.

And it's amazing to me how passionate people are about the

teams. It's amazing to me.

They're so loyal, like living in Tampa, growing up when people

played the Rays, when teams played the Rays, a lot of times

there's more of those fans from those other teams that came to

watch the game because they were snowbirds that were living from

those other places. And we had more Red Sox fans

than Rays fans in Tampa and more Yankees fans and Rays fans in

Tampa. And it happened on a regular

basis. Say, Pastor, what's the

spiritual value of all this? I'm glad you asked.

Nothing. Nothing.

And I understand of the shadow that looms over even us here

tonight with the Patriots in a few moments, you know what it

has to do with anything of value?

Nothing. But if we can be loyal to that

which has no value for eternity whatsoever and be so passionate

about it and they're going to be people out there tomorrow, go

pets. Hey, man, Pat well, maybe they

won't. I don't know.

It depends on what happens. Like, hey, man, what's it going?

Drake May. How about the Drake may?

How about Stefon Diggs? All right, man, what a game.

You see that fourth quarter? Do you see that field goal?

Man, that was awesome. Isn't that great?

People are strangers hugging each other, talking to each

other, because if somebody has a patch jersey on the other guys a

patch jersey, they'll walk up to each other with chest bump.

They'll do all those different things.

It's amazing. And don't tell me I'm not

telling the truth because you know that's exactly the way

they'll be. There'll be people at bars

tonight don't even know each other and they're going to be

hugging and and tearing up on each other and snotting and

probably vomiting on each other because if the if they win, they

are going to be so excited and it means nothing.

But we're Christians saved by the King of kings and the Lord

of Lords. And we don't, we don't really

want to talk about Jesus. We don't want to talk about

good. We do.

We somebody might, somebody might get offended somebody,

somebody might get offended. We don't want offend anybody.

So we just don't talk about Jesus.

Don't you? I don't know.

I don't want to know. We go to church.

If I have a Bible, I have my Bible.

I don't want, I don't want anybody to know what are we

afraid of? The world shows their loyalties

on their sleeve. And we've got the ultimate

loyalty to the ultimate and only Savior, and we want to hide it

under a bushel. Friend, you've got it backwards.

We've got it so backwards. If a man who have been in

Jerusalem for a total of 5 minutes from the city of Gath,

if he could get it about a man that was imperfect, how much

more do we have the spirit living inside of us and have a

perfect King of kings? How much more so should we be

loyal to him no matter what the world says or whether they

follow him or not? Thank you for listening to the

sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.

If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we

can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at

[email protected]. Or you can visit us this Sunday

at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.

May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.