The Faithful Few

Text: Matthew 7:13-14; Revelation 3:4

Series: Restoration Sermons

Date:

Speaker: Ed Rangel

Location: Waupaca Church of Christ

Bible Version: NASB 1995

Sermon Type: Expository

Learning Objectives

By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:

1. Recognize that the faithful have usually been a minority, in both Testaments.
2. Resist the pull to follow the majority away from faithfulness.
3. Resolve to be among the faithful few, whatever the crowd does.

Thesis

Throughout Scripture the faithful have been the few, not the many — the narrow gate is found by few, and only a remnant has ever held true — so the disciple must have the strength to stand in the minority and be faithful when most are not.

Burden

"The gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matt. 7:13-14). That is not a comfortable verse for people who measure truth by numbers. Most of us instinctively want to be with the majority; it feels safe, normal, validated. But Scripture's testimony is relentless: the faithful have almost always been the few. From Abel to Noah to Caleb and Joshua to the handful at the cross to the few names in Sardis, God's faithful have been a remnant swimming against the current. The burden of this lesson is to give us the strength to be in the minority — to be faithful not because the crowd is, but because God is worth it when the crowd is not.

Introduction

It is difficult to be faithful; the majority have rarely been faithful — there has always been only a few. Most people dislike being in the minority, and only the strong will stand there. This outline proves the point from both Testaments — the faithful have been the few — and grounds it in God's own way of working through a remnant.

I. Old Testament Examples

1. Abel, not Cain, was the faithful one — one of two.
2. Noah alone "found favor in the eyes of the LORD" (Gen. 6:8) when the whole earth was corrupt — one faithful man and his house.
3. Abraham stood faithful, called out alone from his country.
4. Sodom was condemned because not even a faithful few — not ten — could be found in it (Gen. 18:23-32).
5. Of the whole host of Israel numbered in the wilderness (Num. 1:46 — over 600,000 men), only Caleb and Joshua remained faithful to enter the land (Num. 14:30). Two, out of a nation.

Again and again, the faithful are a vanishing minority — yet through them God carried His purpose.

II. New Testament Examples

1. God chose the Jews for His purpose, but few proved faithful — "there is none righteous, not even one" (Rom. 3:10-18).
2. When Christ came, "His own did not receive Him"; only some did (John 1:11-12).
3. At His trial all forsook Him, even Peter — the faithful shrank to almost none.
4. Two women were first at the tomb when most had scattered.
5. Sardis had only "a few people... who have not soiled their garments" (Rev. 3:4) — a faithful few in a dying church.
6. And it is the faithful few who are rewarded — few find the narrow way (Matt. 7:13-14), and the crown goes to those "faithful until death" (Rev. 2:10).

The pattern of the Old Testament holds in the New: the faithful are the minority, and the reward is theirs.

III. God Chose Israel When They Were Few (Deuteronomy 7:7)

God's whole way of working has favored the few over the many: "The LORD did not set His love on you... because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples" (Deut. 7:7). God has never needed a majority; He works through the faithful remnant. So the smallness of the faithful band is no proof it is wrong — it is the very pattern of God's dealings.

Application

Get free of the tyranny of the majority. We are trained from childhood to find safety in numbers, to assume that what most people do must be right and that standing alone must be wrong. Scripture says the opposite: the broad way that most travel ends in destruction, and the narrow way that few find leads to life. So do not measure faithfulness by the size of the crowd going your direction. When most are careless, be faithful. When most compromise, hold. When most drift from the assembly, the word, the narrow way, be one of the few who do not. It takes strength to stand in the minority, but that is exactly where God's faithful have always stood — and where the reward is found. Better to be one of the faithful few than one of the comfortable many.

Conclusion

From Abel to Sardis, the faithful have been the few. The gate is narrow, the finders are few, and God has always worked through a remnant rather than a majority. Do not let the crowd decide your faithfulness. Have the strength to stand with the few — for theirs is the narrow way that leads to life, and theirs is the crown.

Invitation

The narrow way is open, and few find it — but you may be one who does, today. Enter it: believe on the Lord Jesus, repent of your sins, confess His name, and be baptized for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38), and then be "faithful until death" (Rev. 2:10), whatever the crowd does. Come, and join the faithful few. Come while we sing.

Word Study

Scripture Interlock Table

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Converted from H. Leo Boles, Outline 61. Doctrinal audit: no doctrinal issues; the biblical remnant/minority theme and the call to faithfulness regardless of the crowd. Style audit: this was the most heavily OCR-corrupted page in the book so far (handwritten marginalia bled into the scan); only clearly recoverable content was reconstructed, the largely illegible detail under point III was NOT reconstructed (disclosed in the raw split), and references were cleaned (Sodom "18:23-30"→Gen. 18:23-32; Caleb/Joshua supported by Num. 14:30 beside the census Num. 1:46). All retained citations verified. Boles' stated text (Matt. 7:13-14; Rev. 3:4) kept.