Finding a Faithful Man in a Sin-Cursed World is a sermon teaching men and women five ways to be faithful in the sin-cursed world we live in today.

Key verses:
Proverbs 20:6-7
Genesis 6:5-19
Genesis 7:1-7
Genesis 8:21-22
Genesis 9:1, 8-17

Proverbs chapter 20. Without the unexpected circumstance, I was still scheduled to preach here. I just wasn’t scheduled to preach in the morning, so I’m glad that he (Pastor McClure) is back and that’s a good thing for all of us here. Proverbs chapter 20.

Desiring Fatherhood

I want to share with you something a little personal here. I’ve told a few people. I told my wife this afternoon when we were having lunch. Maybe you’ve heard this, maybe you haven’t. I mean, I had for those who have been here while, you know the desire that I had to get married and to have my own child. But of course, as I had gone into my late 20s, early 30s, I was like, yeah, it’s probably not going to happen. I kind of gave up on that idea.

And then of course, I know the ladies who love to clean on Tuesdays with their great service, I heard later on in life, Mrs. Shaw, Mrs. Spitzer, and others, would pray every morning and say, “Lord, bless Chris with a wife.”

I had told some kids, some camp kids, and they were like, “When are you gonna have children?” l said, “Oh no. I gotta get married first before that happens. That’s the way I believe. You have to get married first and then have children.”

And so, I told them, “You know what? Here’s what’s gonna happen. If I’m not married or have a child by 35, well, if I’m not, I don’t have a child by 35, I’m going to adopt a kid. Of course, here I’m coming to 30, 31, 32, 33, 34. 35 was last year. Actually, earlier this year too, but three months, three weeks, before my 36th birthday, God blessed us with Abigail. So, you kind of say that maybe I was foretelling my future. I don’t know.

But I mean I was serious about that. If I wasn’t married at that point and I hadn’t had a child, I was seriously considering trying to adopt because I really felt that I wanted to be a father of a child in some way, shape, or form. I think this is the easier route though, as far as being married and then having your own child and children. But I just wanted to share that little thing there. I hadn’t really made that public because it was, kind of even then, there are some doubts along that line.

Troubling Trend

But looking at this evening’s text and looking at some of the verses this evening, I wanted to speak to you about finding a faithful man in a sin-cursed world. There are a lot of things that are happening in this world today. Looking around, examining the world today, there’s a trend that seems to be troubling. The rise of fatherless homes, the rise in immorality, and the rise in divorces have caused a lot of issues in a home and in America, I think, today. I read a statistic that one out of every four children does not know who their father is, or their father isn’t present in the home.

I think it’s very concerning along that line for reasons I don’t know. I’m not going to explore them or anything like that. But I feel and I’ve seen this a lot, I could be wrong, but from my personal experience I’ve seen when families have separated. It does affect the children quite a bit, and more in some ways than others. Some more than others, some not as subtle, or some may be very subtle.

But it’s sometimes hard to find someone who’s willing to stand in the gap. Just say, “Hey, I’m going to be that faithful person. I’m going to be that one who’s going to stand in the midst of trouble, in the midst of adversity.” This world goes through phases.

Tonight’s example should comfort you and encourage you fathers, especially, to be faithful, and for the women to know they too can stand strong in the midst of a sin-cursed world. We’re going to look at a proverb here and then we’re going to jump into an example of a man this evening.

Be Strong, Be Faithful

Proverbs chapter 20, verse number 6, the Bible says these words:

Proverbs 20:6: “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?”

Proverbs 20:7: “The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.”

I submit to you this evening just one simple statement. Be strong and faithful in the Lord no matter if you’re a father, you’re a man, you’re a woman, you’re a mother, you’re a teenager, you’re a child, baby, whatever. It is: Be strong in the Lord, be faithful to the Lord.

So, first of all, who is the faithful? Who is the faithful man? Who is the one who’s going to stand out there? Chapter 20, verse 6, again, says this, “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness.” I feel that as a man, sometimes it is good just to say, “Hey, here’s what God’s done in my life. Here’s how God has blessed in my life.” This morning, I had the fathers tell us how many years they’ve celebrated Father’s Day, how many children they’ve had, how many grandchildren they’ve had, or great-grandchildren. I feel like it’s a joy to know that. God’s led you. God’s led your home and you’ve been able to be faithful for these years.

But there are some people though who, for lack of a better term, they kind of quit. There’re some men out there today who think that fatherhood gets too tough, and they just stop. They don’t want to be a part of their lives, the children’s lives. They’ll do many different things to try to find a way to separate from that. But I challenge us, especially men. The end of verse six, “But a faithful man who can find?” Who’s going to be that faithful man?

Verse seven says this, “The just man walketh in his integrity,” – his innocence here, and “his children are blessed after him.”

As Abigail gets older, I want her to see the influence of a godly man. I want her to understand that her dad and her mom are serving the Lord faithfully. And it’s both of us having to be on the same page, on the same mindset. So, that way, when that time comes, from a kid, she gets to be older, and she starts to go on these dating things, which I don’t want to be prepared for.

Yeah, I always joke with my wife that once she’s 13 she’s gonna be locked up in the room for the rest of her teen years. She’s not going to school at all. I joke about that, but I mean that time comes when people get interested and some dads are very protective of their daughters, and rightfully so. I’ll be the same way with that.

How are you gonna do it? I’m not telling you, not in the pulpit anyway. But, there are ways that I’ll want to make sure my daughter is safe and make sure that she learns who God is. First, she gets saved and secondly, she serves the Lord faithfully, and that’s the responsibility of the role, of my role, as a father. To do that and to any of the other children that we have along that line. Proverbs asks, “Who can find a faithful man?”

Noah Stands Out

Many years ago, before this proverb was written, a man answered that call in a sin-cursed world. Let’s look at his example. So, I know a guy, literally. Genesis chapter six let’s move back there. Genesis chapter six, and we’re going to look at Noah. So, literally, we know a guy. Ha, ha, ha, okay, not being funny here.

Genesis chapter six. How was Noah faithful? How was he faithful? I want to submit to you a few reasons why Noah was faithful. We’re going to jump around between chapter six and chapter nine. We’re not going to read through every single verse here this evening. If we do, well, we’ll be here until nine o’clock. I mean why not? We can preach all night. I’ll just make sure none of you sleep or you fall out of a window.

The next passage anyway, is Genesis chapter six. How was Noah faithful? How was Noah a faithful man in a sin-curse world? Number one is that he stood out in the midst of a sin curse. Well, verse number five:

Genesis 6:5: “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

You think to yourself, “Well, that sounds very familiar.” Yeah, think modern-day. There are a lot of things going on in the modern day that make us really think that every thought of man is only evil continually. Do you doubt me? Just go on the news. You’ve got people who are murdering people and doing this and doing that and expressing their sin, out wide open for everybody to see. And all this stuff is going on in this world is riddled with sin and it’s trying to override the foundations that we have had in this country.

Many years ago, well, this would be probably four or five thousand years ago, Noah had a situation. Now, did they have the Internet back then? Probably not. Did they have TV? Probably not. But sin was rampant. How do we know that? Well, the Bible says, it says, “God saw that the wickedness,” – was made by man – “was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” It was great and then, because of that, verse six:

Genesis 6:6: “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”

I’m sure God is grieved with how this world is acting today. I mean think about it. We’re in June, and June is now associated with Pride, being expressive, showing off your sin, essentially, and how people will call that hate speech. No, this is a sin. “It’s not, it’s my life.” Yeah, you chose to live that lifestyle, okay? You weren’t born that way. You didn’t feel that way. It’s a lifestyle choice. Why? Romans chapter one, we’re not gonna get into that tonight. But people choose to live in this lifestyle. Think about Pride what does the Bible say about Pride? Pride comes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall – anti-God as you can get.

And God, I’m sure, is grieved at that and other things in this world, grieve. The fact that people are murdering people just because they want to do it, people thieving and stealing and looting and discriminating and all this stuff. I’m sure God’s grieved at this point, and in how the things in this world are going. God doesn’t show favoritism. God isn’t prejudiced. A lot of people tend to do that today, unfortunately. I thought it was over in the 60s, still rearing its ugly head in some circles today. It’s wrong. No one needs to act that way.

Genesis 6:7: “And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”

Noah Walked with God

God felt sorry for this. He had pity. It was like, “Hey, time for me to get rid of this.” So, number two, why was Noah faithful? Number one, he stood out in the midst of a sin curse rule. Number two, verse eight, he found grace.

Genesis 6:8: “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”

He found God’s unmerited favor, God’s loving-kindness toward him. Noah found that he knew who God was and he served God. How do you know that? Well, number three, he was a just man. Why? How was Noah faithful? He stood out in the midst of a sin-cursed world. He found grace. And number three, he was a just man, verses 9 to 13.

Genesis 6:9: “These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.”

He had integrity, he had truth, he had sincerity. A lot of people today don’t have any of those traits today. He was just and notice at the end of verse 9, “and Noah walked with God.” Noah had a relationship with the Lord. A lot of people don’t have that today, especially fathers. A lot of men don’t think that. They think, “Oh, I don’t need that. It’s like a crutch.” No, I think we need God more than ever.

Genesis 6:10: “And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”

Genesis 6:11: “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.”

Genesis 6:12: “And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.”

Genesis 6:13: “And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”

So, how was God going to do that? You know the story. He builds a boat, he builds an ark. Let’s skip down. Number four, how was Noah faithful? He obeyed God. God gave him the instructions to build the ark. Verse 18:

Genesis 6:18: “But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.”

Skip down now to verse number 22. He explains how, everybody is going in two-by-twos, male and female and all that. And what does he do? Verse 22:

Genesis 6:19: “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.”

Noah obeyed God. Sometimes it can be hard to obey God. Noah did and his family. Notice how his leadership permeated throughout his family. His wife was there, and his sons Ham, Shem, and Japheth, and their wives, all obeyed what God wanted. Why? Because of the example of faithful Noah, because he stood out in the midst of this world, he found grace, he was a just man, and he obeyed God.

Noah Finds Favor

I come into chapter seven here, verse number one:

Genesis 7:1: “And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.”

So, verses two and three explain who’s going to come in there. Come down to verse four:

Genesis 7:4: “For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.”

Now, notice verse five is very similar to chapter 6, verse 22:

Genesis 7:5: “And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.”

Noah listened. Noah obeyed. And it says that about him twice, at least. He found favor. He found grace. God gave him instructions. He did it. He was told this is what’s going to happen. Flood’s going to come. You’re going to be in there for at least 40 days and 40 nights. It was a lot longer than that because the waters had to come down because it flooded the entire Earth.

So, then we see in verse six:

Genesis 7:6: “And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.”

Genesis 7:7: “And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.”

Let’s skip down a little bit here now and to verse 13:

Genesis 7:1: “In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;”

So, his family enters the ark, they listen, they obey. Number five: how was Noah faithful? He stood out in the midst of a sin-cursed world. He wasn’t like everybody else. He found grace. Number three, he was a just and perfect man, a man of integrity. Number four, he obeyed God. And then number five, after the flood comes, about 370 days or 378 days later, he gives praise to the Lord.

After the Flood

Genesis chapter eight now. Skip ahead to the end of Genesis chapter 8, verse number 20. After they come out of the boat, that is, after he has sent the raven, he sent the dove the first time, sent the dove again, and then the dove doesn’t come back until after it brings back the branch, and then finds a place. The dove goes out three times. First time, finds nothing. Second time, finds a branch. Third time, doesn’t come back at all. Finally, gets out of the boat.

Genesis 8:20: “And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.”

He comes, and he worships.

Genesis 8:21: “And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.”

Genesis 8:22: “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

Basically, God’s saying, “I’m not going to do this ever again. It doesn’t matter what the time is, what the season is. I’m not going to do what I have just done.”

Genesis 9:1: “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”

He gives the command to multiply, also some other things that He commands about having the fear and eating certain animals you can eat now and some you shouldn’t. It talks about capital punishment in verse six.

God’s Promise

I want you to skip down to verse number eight. God gives a promise to Noah because of his obedience.

Genesis 9:8: “And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,”

Genesis 9:9: “And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;”

Genesis 9:10: “And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.”

Genesis 9:11: “And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.”

This is what we would term or call the Noahic Covenant. What is that? God would never destroy the earth again the way he did it by the waters of the flood. Verse 11 continues, “Neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.”

Genesis 9:12: “And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:”

The true meaning of the rainbow comes here in verse 13:

Genesis 9:13: “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.”

So, when you see that rainbow pop up after these rainy days we’ve had, that’s God’s promise. That’s not to advocate sin, which is what it’s being used for today in some circles. Now, the rainbow is there to show the promise that He will never flood the earth again with water.

Genesis 9:14: “And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:”

Genesis 9:15: “And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.”

Genesis 9:16: “And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.”

Genesis 9:17: “And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.”

So, God is worshipped. God was given praise for making it through that time. Imagine being in that boat for a year plus with all those animals. I mean, especially if you don’t like spiders, you don’t like frogs, you don’t like snakes. Some of you probably wish, “God, I wish we would not put those on the boat.” But he did two of every living creature. He was there for a whole year. He faithfully listened to what God told him because if he wasn’t, he would not be here, and we wouldn’t have this story to learn from this evening. Noah was faithful.

How to Be Faithful

How can we be faithful in this world? Let me give you five ways that we can be faithful, and then we’re going to close. These, I believe, are on the screen behind me. If not, I’ll just read you these verses. How can we be faithful?

Number one: be faithful in all things. Matthew 25:21 says this:

Matthew 25:21: “His lord said unto him, Well done, thou 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.”

This is that parable talking about talents and all that. And this guy was faithful in keeping that. So, being faithful in all things is one way we can be faithful.

Number two: Be faithful in the little things. Luke chapter 16, verse 10:

Luke 16:10: “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.”

Be faithful in the big things. Be faithful in the little things.

Number three: Be a faithful steward:

1 Corinthians 4:2: “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”

Be a faithful steward. Do what God wants you to do, and do it faithfully.

Number four: Minister faithfully:

Ephesians 6:21: “But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things:”

Paul is writing a conclusion here to the Ephesians and is referring to Tychicus as this man who’s a faithful minister and servant. God wants us to serve faithfully, minister, and help others out.

Number five: How can we be faithful? We can be faithful in soul-winning:

1 Timothy 1:15: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”

Paul writes and says to Timothy, tells him, “Hey Jesus Christ came, obeyed that promise, and I’m the chief of sinners.” If you knew Paul’s life before he was saved, he did not do the things that he should have done. He was against God, but then God saved him and changed his life completely. And God can do that to anybody.

In conclusion, we need faithful men and women in this sin-cursed world. This world has enough wickedness anyway. We should commit to being faithful in all things, whether it be big, whether it be small.

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Father, we pray. As we get ready to conclude this service here and as we go to the invitation time, I pray that you will just help us. That we can look at ourselves and see where we’re at in our relationship and walk with you. And you’d help us to be faithful men, help us be faithful women, faithful children, that we can serve you and we can honor you. I pray that you will bless and move in this invitation time. May we be able to be sensitive to what you’re speaking to our hearts this evening, and we ask these things here in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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