While we turn together to God's
word this evening, may God bless us as we consider it together,
we'll turn to the chapter we read, the first book of Samuel,
chapter 15, and we'll read verses 18 and 19. First book of Samuel,
chapter 15, verses 18 and 19. These are the words of Samuel
to King Saul. And the Lord sent thee on a journey
and said, go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites,
and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then
didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon
the spoil and didst evil in the sight of the law. This morning we were considering
together the battle that Israel had with the Amalekites, having
recently come out of captivity in Egypt. And we were considering
those important lessons for Joshua, of Moses holding up his hands
And when he held them up, the battle was won by the Israel. When they went down, the Amalekites
seemed to prevail. And we considered those lessons
that Joshua must have written down and must remember for the
future days, for future battles, for future times that they will
find them. against God's enemies, and particularly against the
Amalekites. And we were thinking how this
represented to us the Christian battle, the world, the flesh,
and the devil that we have to war against, and how we also
need those encouragements and instructions that Joshua had. Israel found themselves constantly
at war with Amalek. As we trace through the Old Testament,
we find the Book of Numbers. Just after the Israelites had
refused to enter into Canaan, it is the Amalekites, joined
with the Canaanites, who come and attack Israel, really as
a punishment for their refusal to enter into the Promised Land. Coming to the Book of Judges,
And in the time of the Judge Ehud, we find again the Amalekites
joined with the Moabites on this occasion, and they attacked the
land, and the Judge Ehud is raised up to defend the God's people. Think of Gideon. Not so many
chapters beyond that in the Book of Judges. In Gideon's day, the
Amalekites came again, joined with the Midianites this time,
to attack the land, and it is Gideon who is raised up. to defend
Israel and to fight against the Midianites and the Amalekites. And again on from the chapter
that we read today, it is the Amalekites who come again. It
is them who sack the city of Ziklag in David's day. The Amalekites
were a constant threat and a constant enemy against Israel. So after
those occasions, we thought of this morning, there was going
to be future battles. and future wars to fight. On this occasion we read of when
Saul was king, and Saul was commanded by God to go to fight against
Amalek. Why was he to fight against Amalek? Well, because God says, I remember
that which Amalek did to Israel. how he laid wait for him in the
way when he came up from Egypt. God remembered what Amalek had
done in the days of Moses. And now it is time to judge them.
Now it is time to destroy them. And Saul is commissioned, Saul
is commanded to go to fight against Amalek. And he is told to destroy
them. Go and smite Amalek. Utterly
destroy all that they have and spare them not, but slay both
men and women, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. It does to our modern age, it
seems extreme, it seems unkind, but this was God's judgment on
the enemies of Israel. They had attacked the people
long enough. Now it was time turn to be destroyed as a people. This was God's judgment and Saul
was to be his instrument. Saul was to be used to fight
them. Saul, it would seem, on first
reading obeys. He goes up to the city of Amalek,
lays wait in the valley, warns the Kenites, those who had been
kind to the people of Israel, to escape and to get out of the
city. And then we read that he smote the Amalekites from Havila
until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. So he
obeys. He gathers his army together,
he goes against the city, and he attacks and destroys. But he doesn't fully obey. He
doesn't fully listen. He thinks he knows best. He took Agag, the king of the
Amalekites, alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with
the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared
Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings,
and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy
them. But everything that was vile
and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. You see, he takes the
best First of all, he takes the king. Perhaps he had some kind
of sympathy with the king, having been the king of Israel himself. And he takes him and he spares
him. He then sees the best of the animals, the fatlings, the
lambs, all that was good. And he spares that. All of the
vile things, all of the weak things, all of the things that
no one was particularly interested in, well, they were destroyed.
They didn't matter. And he obeys God in that respect,
and in that respect alone. He destroys the weak things,
but keeps the best. And then Samuel comes. Samuel
comes, and when we know the account, it's amazing as we read Saul's
words, isn't it? Samuel comes to him, and Saul
comes out to meet Samuel, and he says, blessed be thou of the
Lord, I have performed the commandment of the Lord. You can feel Saul's
pride here, can't we? We can see how pleased he is
with himself. Look what I've done, Samuel.
I have obeyed the Lord. And Samuel, we read, he says,
well, what meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine
ears and the lowing of the ox in which I hear? If you have
done the word of the Lord, if you have obeyed, if you have
done what you are commanded to, why can I hear a flock of sheep?
Why can I hear the lowing of the cattle? Where have all these
come from? Samuel knew exactly what had
happened. Samuel knew that those sheep
and those oxen and those good things had been spared and had
been kept. And Samuel finds him out. Saul
blames others. Saul said, They have brought
them from the Amalekites. The people spared the best of
the sheep and of the oxen. It wasn't me. It was all the
people. They're the ones who spared these
things. They're the ones who wouldn't obey. They're the ones
that took of the good things. And anyway, Samuel, they did
it for good reason. because they did it to sacrifice unto the
Lord thy God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed. So yes,
Samuel, it wasn't my fault, it was their fault. And anyway,
it's not too bad because they did it to sacrifice to the Lord. Do you notice the Lord thy God,
he says? The Lord thy God. It's not my
God or our God, the Lord thy God." Saul, in his very language,
he shows to us that he's stepped away from the Lord. He's Samuel's
God now. The Lord, thy God. Saul is condemned. Saul is told
that the kingdom would be taken away from him, because he did
not obey the word of the Lord. Wherefore then didst thou not
obey the voice of the Lord, and didst fly upon the spoil, and
didst evil in the sight of the Lord? You see, Saul even continues
to defend himself. It almost seems he can't believe
what Samuel's saying. He says, yea, I have obeyed the
voice of the Lord, and gone the way which the Lord sent me. He
doesn't seem to realise. He's so hardened. The people
took the spoil and the sheep and the oxen and so forth. He
blames them all the time. But he is condemned, he is responsible.
He knows what he has done. It's interesting as we then go
on, it seems that Saul seems to repent. Seems to admit that
he has done wrong, but as we'll come to later on this evening,
it's not true repentance. And in the end Samuel has stood
in his own hand, take the sword and kill King Agag himself. Do
what Saul was commanded to do. It's a sad account. Saul is a sad, difficult character. And this is sad, sad reading.
God's first anointed king over Israel and this is his fall.
This is where we see what Saul really was and what was really
in his heart. Well, so for the account, what
lessons does it have to us today? Well, this morning we were thinking
about the importance of fighting the Christian warfare and how
each believer must be engaged, looking unto the Lord and fighting
against the temptations and sins of the world. But you see, this
account, I believe, shows to us that it is possible to be
seen to seem to fight the warfare. It seems that we're fighting
a good fight. It seems that we're obeying the
commandments of the Lord. We're not involved in anything
outwardly wrong. We're not involved in terrible
sins. We're trying to walk an upright life, not following or
not allowing temptation. We seem to be offering religious
sacrifices in attendance of the house of God and involvement
in the service of the Lord. It seems that there are sacrifices
being offered. We're living a Christian life,
in inverted commas. And all intents and purposes
on the outside, there seems to be obedience. And yet you don't
have to drum down very far, though it seems right at the first glance.
A heart is not in it. Saul, at a first glance, had
seemed to obey. And yet very soon what was uncovered?
Disobedience. His heart was not in it. He was
not obeying his God. And we can seem to be fighting
a good warfare, and yet the heart is not in it. It is all an outward
show. It is all on the exterior. It's
all for others to see. What we need is a Samuel to come
and wake us up and say, What means the bleating of the sheep?
What do you mean about all of these sins which are going on,
which others don't know about? Are you really obeying the voice
of the Lord? What does the Lord require? What
does God look for? Paul tells us, for in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. The Lord looks to the heart and
the Lord looks for those who are a new creature, those who
are motivated by the love of God and by love to God. Saul did not display that, do
we? Do we display love to the Lord? Do our actions come from a heart
that loves the Lord? Does our obedience come from
a heart that loves the Lord? Or is it like Saul? Where is
our heart? You see, we can perform the outwardly
expected religious activities and yet not be saved. We can live a Christian life
and yet spend eternity in hell. What was really in Saul's heart? Where was he on these events? Well, firstly, Saul's heart was
full of pride. Full of pride, full of self,
full of Saul, You see, he thought he knew best. He has been commanded
to destroy the people, the king, and all of their animals and
possessions. That's what God wants him to
do. And yet Saul thinks he knows
better. He knows better than God. He
will keep Agag alive. He will keep the best. He will
take them for himself. He partly obeys, you see. He
listens, and then he turns the commandment of God into what
he wants it to be. He partly obeys. It's all about
Saul's pride. Did you notice in verse 13, "'Blessed
be thou of the Lord,' he says, "'I have performed the commandment
of the Lord.'" There's no spirit of Moses here, is there? No spirit
of Joshua here. There's no prayer. There's no
lifting up the hands and committing himself into the hands of God.
There's no looking to the Lord for him to deliver him and to
fight with him against the Amalekites. There's none of that. I have
performed the commandment of the Lord. It's all about Saul.
It's all about himself. Verse 12, we read of how Samuel
was looking for Saul. Samuel rose early to meet Saul
in the morning. It was told Samuel, saying, Saul
came to Carmel, and behold, he set him up a place. That is referring
really, I believe, to a monument. He has set up a place for himself.
Saul has set up some kind of monument to himself to celebrate
the victory. It's like the triumphant arch
that the emperor would ride through to celebrate a glorious victory,
a glorious battle. They've set up a monument to
how wonderful they are. That's what Saul did. I have
fought the Amalekites. I have defeated them. Here is
the monument that people can come and see and celebrate my
wonderful victory. You see, it's all about Saul.
It's all about what he has been able to do. Saul, it would appear,
has walked in obedience, but Saul's heart is full of pride. It's full of himself. Now, are we like that? Are we
like Saul? We say, will I obey the Lord?
I'll do his commands, but I'll do what I want to do. I'll twist
it so it fits well with me. So does what I enjoy. I think I know better than the
Lord. It's the spirit of the first
temptation, isn't it? The Lord knows that when you
take of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, ye shall be as gods and shall know good and evil. God,
you'll know more. He's withholding something from
you. God isn't being good. You know best. Take of the fruit. It's the same spirit. You know
better, Saul. You do what you think's right.
And are you like that tonight? You say, well, here's the commandment
of the Lord, here's the way that God directs us, but I know better.
Surely the Lord means this. Surely the Lord means I should
do something else. It doesn't apply to me. I can
discount some elements. I can discount some parts of
the Word of God. And is it, well, what I will
do is for my glory? Like Saul, what I will do is
for a glory. I'll set up a place for myself.
I have managed to do these things. I will obey the Lord. But it's
not because you love the Lord. It's for your glory. It's so
that you can say to others, look what I have done. It's so that
they will say to you, how well you have done. You see, the Jews,
as we read in that verse in Galatians, they gloried in their circumcision.
They gloried in who they were, in their heritage and in their
people. But they walked in absolute disobedience.
They were proud to be Jews in the times of Jesus, and yet they
rejected God's Son. Are we like that? I'm proud of
my obedience. I'm proud of my godly walk. I'm
proud that I seem to be fighting a good fight. And yet, you're
full of unbelief. Saul was full of pride, full
of himself. Secondly, Saul walked in easy
obedience. Easy obedience. I'll give what I want to, was
his attitude. I will take the vile and the
refuse things and I'll destroy them. That's no hardship to me. I don't want them anyway. But
look at these good things. Look at these good animals. Look
at this good produce. Look at these lambs and these
fatlings. They would be useful. They would be good. He obeyed
in the easy parts. And you see, this was contemptible
to God. He really flew in the face of God. I'll take what's
easy. I'll take what appeals to me. I'll obey in the easy bits. It
was an easy obedience. That's what Saul did. His obedience
wasn't wholehearted and full. It wasn't a sacrifice at all.
It was easy. for him to do what he did, and
he was full of pride because of it. Again, are we guilty of
easy obedience? You say, I'm walking a good walk,
I'm fighting a good fight, and yet you're only obeying, as it
were, in the easy things, the things that don't challenge you,
the things that don't ever make you think, the things that you
can do quickly, simply, easily. They never really come home.
It's an easy obedience. It doesn't cost me anything.
In fact, I quite enjoy it. You say, well, aren't I good?
I come to the Lord's house. Well, you see, you like being
with the people. It's an enjoyable occasion. You like the people. You like the company. It's an
easy obedience. It's no hardship at all. But
in other things, well, I don't want to be involved in that.
I don't want to obey in those things. You see, it's easy to
give up idols that don't have any hold on us. I hope you'll
pardon the simple illustration. Many of you in my family will
know that as a child, I couldn't abide sprouts. Probably most
of your children join with me in that. If someone had said
to me as a child, you must give up eating sprouts, you must never
eat one again, I wouldn't have complained at all. I'd have been
quite happy with that. Wouldn't have been any hardship
whatsoever. If they'd asked me to give up something I really
loved, that would have been a hardship. You see, if you say, well, I'm
going to give up this thing, this particular part of my life,
but it has no hold on you, you don't really enjoy it anyway.
It's an easy obedience. There's no hardship. There's
no heart in it. And you congratulate yourself
and pat yourself on the back and say, how well I've done.
What a good fight, I'm fighting. There's no fight at all. That's
what Saul was guilty of. What a good boy, what a good
man, Saul. How well you've done. And yet it was easy for him to
do what he had done. But there are other things, well,
we want to hold on to them, don't we? Other idols, we don't want
to let go of them. Other things that the Lord tells
us we must do, that comes too close. And we flee from the Lord's
command when we're challenged. That's what's on Saul's heart. Third, Saul was full of self-righteousness. Self-righteousness. He thought
God would be pleased. Blessed be thou of the Lord,
he says to Samuel, I have performed the commandment of the Lord.
He thought God would be pleased with what he had done. He was
full of self-righteousness. He didn't see any problem. I've
done a good deed. I have obeyed the Lord. He was
righteous in his own eyes until Samuel points out his sin and
his failure. Again, are you like that? You
say, well, don't the good deeds outweigh the bad? Doesn't my
Christian life outweigh my sin? Doesn't God accept me for what
I do? Doesn't God accept me because I'm better than someone else?
I'm not as bad as them. They don't obey in anything.
They don't keep the Lord's Day. They don't read the Bible. They
don't spend any time with the Lord's people. I'm far better
than them. You're full of self-righteousness. You say, I'm walking a Christian
walk. But your heart isn't in it. There's no love to the Lord. Full of self-righteousness. What
happened to Saul when he was full of his self-righteousness?
Well, Samuel says, well, what meaneth then the bleeding of
the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
And he says it were this evening, the Lord says to you, as you
justify yourself and your own self-righteousness, he points
the finger and he says, what about the bleeding of the sheep?
What about the sin that no one else knows about? What about
the idol that you're clinging on to? What about the things
you're involved in? What about the thoughts that
go through your mind that no one else knows? The Lord knew
where the sheep and the oxen were, and he knows where your
and my sins are as well. You standing full of pride before
the Lord? What a good, obedient life I'm
living. He looks on your heart. He sees
your sin. He was full of self-righteousness. He was also full of self-justification. You see, it wasn't my fault,
says Saul. It's not my fault. The people spared the best of
the sheep and of the oxen. They did it. It wasn't my fault
at all. The people took of the spoil,
the sheep, the oxen, and the sheep things, which should have
been utterly destroyed. You see, he says, yes, I acknowledge,
Samuel, they should have been utterly destroyed, but the people
did it. It wasn't me. I couldn't help
it. It was their fault. It's their
sin. And anyway, as I said earlier,
they did it for good reason, to sacrifice unto the Lord. unto
the Lord thy God in Gilgal. They did it for good reasons. You see, even when Saul comes
to what seems to be repentance, he says, I have sinned, for I
have transgressed the commandments of the Lord in thy words. Now,
that seems to be good words. Saul is acknowledging his sin.
But you see, even that is joined with a spirit of self-justification.
He says, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
The only sin he acknowledges is bowing to the will of the
people. He acknowledges that he was weak
under the insistence, he would say, of the people. No, no, Saul, you're guilty.
You're their king. You have committed their sin.
Don't hide behind the people. So you see, even his repentance,
or so it seems, is not heartfelt. He blames everyone else. He blames
them for dragging him into sin. Are we like that? Or we acknowledge
that we've done wrong. We acknowledge that before God
we're a sinner. We say, but They dragged me into
it. They pulled me into it. It's their fault, really. Or
maybe you say, but, like they did, but, well, what I did, I
did it for the Lord. I did it so that perhaps I could
spend time. Or these sacrifices, they did
it so that they could sacrifice, they said. And you try and justify
sin by saying, well, it's meant that I could perhaps do something. I could come to a service, or
I could do something else. And you justify sin because you
think it has a good end. Again, I'm sorry to use these
simple illustrations, but it's like saying, well, I could rob
a bank so I can give money to the church. You see, the ends
doesn't justify the means. There is sin. in the heart, and
Saul knew it. Saul was guilty of it. It wasn't
the people. It was him. Are you full of self-justification? Again on this line, the devil
can use this temptation. Is this the way you're thinking
this evening? I will sin. I will indulge in sin, because
if I sin, I will then Appreciate grace. Have you ever thought
like that? If I know great sin, then one
day I will owe great grace. What a convoluted way of thinking.
What a wrong way of thinking. And yet, what a temptation. You
see, it justifies sin so that one day we will appreciate grace. What a wrong, what a terrible
way to think. Saul tried to justify himself. Are you trying to justify
sin? The Lord knows. He hears the
bleating. Saul also was concerned for his
own reputation. His own reputation. You see,
again, what he says seems to be right, but it's not. How do we see his own reputation?
Well, he says, he asks Samuel that he would turn and that he
would worship with me. Verse 30, he said, I have sinned,
yet honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people
and before Israel, and turn again with me that I may worship the
Lord thy God. You see what's interesting there? What was Saul's concern? That
Samuel would stay with Saul that they would have this time of
offering a sacrifice to the Lord, this time of worship, before
the elders and before Israel. Saul's concern was that if Samuel
abandoned him, and he was left with Samuel's condemnation, that
the people would turn against him. He would no longer have
the authority of the prophet Samuel behind him. And if he
lost that connection, he would lose his reputation and his authority
as a king. He needed to secure his reputation. Though he knew Samuel's anger,
he needed to secure his reputation by keeping Samuel close to him,
to worship in front of the elders and in front of the people. So
as far as they were concerned, all was well. He was trying to
guard his own reputation, really for his own pride. Coming right
back to the first point tonight. Again, are you guilty of that?
Am I guilty of that? We want others to think well
of us. And is that our motivating force, our motivating thoughts?
We say, well, I want others to think well of me. And I enjoy
and I appreciate the praise of others. Really, are you resting
your hope of heaven tonight on the good thoughts of other people? Are you resting your hope of
glory because someone once commented on a good thing you had done? Do you think you're going to
heaven? Because you've lived an outwardly Christian life,
or because you've seemed to fight a fight in the Christian pathway. What are you resting on? Saul
was resting on the good opinion of other people, and he was desperate
to secure it and to keep it. And that's why he wanted Samuel
to stay and to worship with him. But you see, other people don't
know where your heart is, though they may know your outward walk.
And though other people may have been fooled by Saul's display
of outward worship with Samuel, his heart was known to God. The
Lord knew what he had done. And the Lord knew he was full
of himself and full of pride. And his kingdom, as a result,
was wrenched away from him. Really, from this moment, though
he physically stays as king of Israel for the time to come,
really the Lord has chosen another. The kingdom has shifted into
the hands of David. Saul and his family are rejected
because he is full of disobedience. You see, this is a hard, hard
lesson for us to learn. It comes so close. If I'm honest
about you, I don't enjoy reading the passages of Saul because
it comes so close to home. It challenges us that Saul is
an example of one who can seem to walk so well. chosen of God,
does good things, says right things, and yet it would seem
was far outside the kingdom of God. The challenge for us, we can
seem to walk this right way, and we can rest on that And yet
obedience is half-hearted and it is not from within us or motivated
from love. It's just an easy, self-centred
obedience. Contrast this, contrast this
king with the next king to come. Contrast Saul with David. You
all know David and you all know what he wrote when he comes to
repentance in Psalm 51. Saul's time of repentance, or
so it might seem, was still full of pride. It was still full of
blaming other people. It was still concerned about
his reputation, his time of repentance. What was David's repentance like?
Cleanse me, O God. Wash me. David's concern was
his heart, his soul. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies. Blot out my transgressions. You see, David instantly acknowledges
that his sin is his fault, and it's from his heart I was shapen
in iniquity. In sin did my mother conceive
me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts. In the hidden
part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Create in me a clean
heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. What a contrast to Saul. Now,
David was not perfect, as Saul was not perfect. David fell. We could say, if we can categorise
these things, worse than Saul fell. And yet his heart was different. His relationship with God was
utterly different. His repentance was heartfelt.
It flowed from his true concern that he had grieved God from
within, and he longed to have that fellowship with his living
Lord again. David comes and pleads. that he needs reviving within
his heart. How different from the prayer
for the repentance of King Saul. And David is the one who enjoys
the mercy of God as a result. Saul does not. David is blessed
because he knows that the problem is within himself. Those are the people who are
blessed of the Lord. Those are the people who come
to know Him as their Saviour, who acknowledge that the problem
is their heart, that they are shapen in iniquity. They are, by very nature and
being, sin. The publican and the Pharisee.
We all could almost say there we see Saul and David. There
is the believer and the unbeliever. The publican, the Pharisee rather,
prays with himself. Thanks God for what he is. Tells
God how wonderful he is and what good things he's done. The publican
acknowledges what he is. A sinner. What he needs. Mercy. I tell you, says Christ, this
man went down into hell's justified rather than the other. There's
a promise for us today. When we read King Saul's life,
do we say, but I could be like that. But I could do what Saul
did because of the problem within me, because of the malady of
sin that's in my heart. I would be no better than King
Saul. You join with a publican tonight and you say, God, I could
be like Saul, be merciful to me, a sinner. The Lord said the most encouraging
words to anyone that's praying that tonight. I tell you, I tell
you, That man went down to his house justified. And you can
take that word and you can cry the prayer of the public and
you can say, Lord, thou hast said that man went to his house
justified. Could that not be this man going
to his house justified? The sin, the need is within me. What did Samuel say to Saul?
When thou wast little in thine own eyes, wast thou not made
the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee king
over Israel? The Lord looks for the little
man, as it were, the humble man, the one who doesn't think he's
great and important, the one who rests and relies on God.
That was when you were elevated, Saul, when you were little in
your own eyes. Are we small in our own eyes, needy of God? That's when we're blessed, not
when we're like Saul on this occasion, when we are the all-important
one. Are we tonight justifying ourselves,
thinking all is well, thinking we're a Christian, and yet really,
Our religion is just skin deep. It's just an outward observance.
It's just an impressive walk. It seems to be obedience. And
yet our heart is not in it. There's no motivation from within. No knowledge of the Lord. No
love to the Lord. Saul didn't do this in love to
the Lord. And is your walk a walk of love? to the Lord, I will obey, I will
follow, I will serve because my Lord has told me and my Lord
has showed me his love and I love him in return. Or are we missing
this vital element of life within our heart? Are you missing that
tonight? Do you say that really this cuts me out? It shows me
my sin, it shows me I'm missing This vital element of religion
in my heart, it's all been an outward show. Tonight, cry to
him. Plead with him who can give you
life within. Life within the heart, within
the soul. What did Christ say when he spoke
to the woman at the well? What encouraging words he said
to her. And he says to us, whosoever
drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give
him shall be in him. A well of water springing up
into everlasting life. That's what we need. And cry
for that tonight. The water of life. the blessing
of Christ, because what He does is within us. And it's a well
of water that springs up onto everlasting life. It's reviving
within ourselves. And it's that that motivates
us to obedience. Saul didn't have that. And Saul went his own way. And
Saul thought that his obedience was enough. And yet the Lord
knew what he had done. May we not be left like that,
but rather see the Lord where he may be found for that water
of life within us. So as we bring the two messages
of the morning and this evening together, may we all be found
with a true heart, a heart that loves the Lord and as a result
walks in his ways, the vital thing. And then as we go on with
that hope of life and the blessing of God in our heart, may we then
look to him and those lessons of this morning to continue in
the fight. May the Lord add his blessing.