Amen. So I want you to briefly
look in Acts 13 at our context, verse 21, and we're going to
take up where we left off last week. I want to build into the
proposition of point four, but in Acts 13, verse 21, where Paul
is giving a historiography of the nation of Israel to his own
brethren, we have turned the corner and in verse 21, he states
plainly and afterwards they desired a what? And so this is where
we were last week. And I want to build on that today
and deal with both the historical facts about the king, the people
desired, and then also its implications to you and me today. How that
we too make the mistake of desiring a king in the stead of God, when
God always wanted to be Israel's king. When God has redeemed you
by his grace, he is your king. And should you and I seek any
other authority, any other king, any other sovereign, we would
be committing idolatry in doing so. And the consequences are
horrible. Notice what it says. Afterwards,
they desired a king and God gave unto them Saul, the son of Kish,
a man of the tribe of Benjamin for the space of how many years?
40 years. And so just for information,
if you are people who are able to take notes in your head or
are very active in your listening, 40 years is what we call a Jewish
generation or Hebrew generation. It's not a hard, fast number,
but it's a Jewish generation. The number 40 is constantly featured
in scriptures as a type of a full period. Israel was in the wilderness,
how many years? Moses was in the wilderness,
how many years? How many days was he in the mountain
receiving the law of God? 40 days. That's right, in 40
nights. The Lord Jesus Christ, who was
our new Moses, was in the wilderness, how many days? 40 days. So 40
features in the scriptures as a whole period of time wherein
God shows the true colors of a person. Now, Israel had 40
kings. That is the total of Israel.
20 kings for the 10 northern tribes and 20 kings for the two
southern tribes. So 20 and 20 equals 40. And from
time to time, what you will see in the kings is some kings ruling
for a generation, 40 years, some ruling a little longer than that
if they were obedient to God. And then those who were disobedient
being cut off in 20 years or 10 years or six years, or in
some cases, six months. As the Proverbs says, because
of the transgression of the land, many princes there be. Because
of the transgression of the land, there'll be many princes in the
nation. And you may not know what that
Proverbs means, but what it means is when the relationship between
the leadership and the people are not good, The leadership
is always in danger of a coup. Because of the transgression
of a land, many be its princes. This is why you'll often see
in third world countries where a person will rise to power and
then there's a coup after two or three or four years. You guys
have seen this with the Arab Springs here recently because
of the transgression of the land, because God does not favor the
conduct and trajectory and path of that leadership or that people.
He does not give them wisdom. He does not give them the peace
where they can grow. Anywhere the leadership is honorable
to God and serving God in a proper fashion and all leaders are obligated
to serve God, all leaders. All leaders are obligated to
serve the true and the living God. That's only logical, don't
you think? I mean, I might have to defend that proposition, but
isn't it logical that if God made us and God speaks to us
through his word, isn't it logical that every leader in the world
needs to listen to God? That's just logical, right? I
mean, it might be hard. It might be hard to conceptualize
how that's going to get done. But it's logical that if a leader
is raised up by God and the Bible says God raises up kings and
he sets down kings, that there's no authority that set up that
God didn't set up. So all leaders, it doesn't matter
whether they acknowledge him as Lord or not in the salvific
sense, all leaders are obligated to hear from God. God has given
a word, he has given us a code of conduct, hasn't he? Called
the Bible. And if leaders were to follow God's word, and we're
gonna read a little bit about this here in a moment, leaders
would do their people very good. If leaders were to read the Bible
and learn the wisdom of scripture, they would do their people very
good. Now follow this, this is leadership in every category
of life. If you are a political leader,
if you are an educational leader, if you are a religious leader,
if you are a domestic leader, if you're a leader in business,
if you are a parent, you are obligated to listen to God because
your office comes from God. And if you want to do your family
well, you better obey God. If you want to do your church
well, pastor, you better obey God. If a nation wants to be
blessed, it better obey God. Its leaders better fear God.
You guys following me? And this is so very important.
So this is what's going to make it germane, because I will tell
you that over the last 8, 9, 10 presidents, we have gone further
and further and further away from God. Further and further
away. So as the apostle is giving the
historiography of Israel, he says afterwards, they desire
the king. We're now looking at point number
four in our outline, and I'm gonna be on point number four
for the most part tonight, because I want to develop what I started
last week. Man's choice is always what? Right, I want you to understand
what we were dealing with last week, I'm about to affirm now.
If God leaves you and me, to the arbitrary exercise of our
own decisions, we will always make the wrong decision. If God
leaves you and me to the arbitrary exercise of our own choices,
we will always make the wrong choice. Let me see if I can affirm
that for you so that you don't go around telling people something
that is not true. So that you don't go around telling
people that you have the ability to make the right choice. Because
that would be wrong on your part from the explicit teaching of
scripture. You and I are like, since the
fall of Adam and Eve, since our parents fell into sin, you and
I are like an airplane without a compass. And the pilot cannot
possibly fly that thing straight without a compass. And so long
as you and I don't have the moral ethical compass of God's word
guiding us, our choices will always be wrong. This is why
we find ourselves in so much trouble in our lives, because
we don't have the innate ability to know where north is. We don't
have it. Once man has fallen, man now
is lost. Have you ever been lost in your
life? Help me now. Don't go to sleep.
Have you ever went somewhere and got lost? Isn't that a funky
feeling? Right. And here's the thing that
unhinges you when you're lost. You are helpless. Because when
you look for points of reference, you have none. And that's the
state of man who is cut off from God. And you find yourself drifting
for a long time, unless you inadvertently get back on the right path, see
a marker that lets you know, I'm back on the right path. Or
if someone comes and does what? Rescue you. And that's what salvation
is. Man is lost. God has to rescue
him. Otherwise, he will perish Because
he has no moral ethical or spiritual compass to get back to God. Am I making some sense? Here's
my first Textual argument to substantiate that and then we'll
get into our three points for tonight I want you to turn in
your Bibles to the book of Proverbs chapter 20 verse 24 Here's the
first statement And I want, I just want to make
sure those of you who are with us tonight, if you have never
been taught biblical anthropology, the doctrine of man, and then
the doctrine of the fall, I want to make sure you know it tonight.
So in Proverbs, here's what Solomon says. And Solomon knew something
about human depravity and making wrong choices, didn't he? He
knew a little bit about it, didn't he? Proverbs chapter 20. I want
you to listen to verse 24. Are you there? Man's goings that
little word going means ways or conduct man's goings his conduct
his ways are of the Lord Do you guys see that line? So I want
you to mark this now because it won't make sense If you haven't
really learned how to think biblically So in our Greek class, we teach
different cases of how nouns function and what work don't
wait. I We talk about what we call the nominative case. And then we talk about what we
call the dative case. And we talk about what we call
the accusative case. These are rules in English grammar
as well. And then we talk about what we
call, I have just intentionally absented one case. And what does
it call? The genitive case. In the genitive
case, in noun functioning in Greek, and this is true in English,
there is a key word whenever a genitive is used, and that
key word is what? Of, O-F, O-F. Like whenever you read about
Jesus Christ, he is called the Son of God. The Holy Ghost is called the
Spirit of God. The church of Christ is called
the church of God. Every true believer is called
a child of God. When we speak in the genitive
form, what we are saying is that particular noun has its origin
in God. The church has its origin in
God. The Holy Ghost, the son does. Every individual believer
does. Are you following the logic right
now? And so what we say is, if you cut the son off from God,
he's lost. If you cut the spirit off from
God, he's lost. If you cut the child of God off
from God, he's lost. If you cut the church off from
God, he's lost. Why? Because they all have their origin
in God. They have their origin in God.
Their birth was in God and God possesses them by right of ownership.
Just like my children are my children. They are of me. They
are of my bone and flesh. My sons and daughters can never
deny that I am of that man, Jesse Gistan, and of Barbara Gistan. We, as it were, possess them
genetically. They have their origin in us.
Therefore, because we are of God, man's goings are of God,
the last line says, how can a man then what? Understand his own
way. Are you following the logic?
Watch this now. If God made you and he had a
plan by which you would live a blessed life and you get up
and walk away from God, how on earth do you think you're going
to land on the promises of God or the blessings of God when
in fact God is the one that owns you? You won't. And when the Bible says man's
goings are of the Lord, how can a man then understand his own
way? The rhetorical answer is what he can't. That's exactly
right. This is such a powerful proposition
here because right now our world is demonstrating vividly that
it doesn't understand what's going on. Is that true? Right
now our world is saying, I don't know who I am. I don't know what
to believe about myself. I don't know where I'm going.
I have no idea. The way they're expressing themselves,
it's proving to us they don't have any idea where they came
from. They've already denied God, haven't they? And in denying
God, haven't they cut off their own way? If God is the source
of our way and we cut ourselves off from God, the only thing
that's left is for us to be agnostic. I don't know. How can man understand
his own way? He cannot. Therefore, Proverbs
16, 30, 25, plainly says there is a way that seems right. You know what he's doing? He's
desperately making choices without the origin of his being. He's
trying to figure this out in his own wisdom. Is he not? But the end thereof are the ways
of what? Proverbs 16 25 want to just make sure they see that
just in case they don't have their Bibles This is Solomon's
assessment and Solomon was said to be before Jesus came what
the wisest man in the world So when Solomon says there is a
way that what seemeth right stop right there You can go to work
on another whole biblical worldview around that statement Cause you
can ask the question to a person. So what seems right to you? And
they'll give you an answer. That'll be different from her
answer, from his answer and everybody else's answer. And it will seem
right to them. But what God says is the end
thereof are the ways of what? That's exactly right. So you
and I are actually living in a culture of death. You guys
believe that? We are living in a culture of
death. Help me. Help me. I'm going to move to our text,
but I want to be relevant right here. because I am so passionately
concerned about our young people understanding how much our nation
and our world is tampering with death as a culture, that we are
destroying that one nucleus entity by which life proliferates. That's
the family. When was you destroyed the heterosexual
complimentary relationship by which life actually is produced?
Once you tamper with that, you're tampering with the existence
of human life. Is that true? You're actually,
you're saying, I want to stop a process that God ordained by
which the world has proliferated to billions of people now. I
want to stop that process. You have advocated a culture
of death. Can two men produce? Can two women produce? You understand
my point? And so when you and I make choices
and don't care about the implications, we are fools. And it doesn't
matter how we feel. I can feel so empathetic and
so desirous to want people to prosper. But if they're actually
violating the rules of life, death is gonna be the outcome
anyway. So what I tell people who are confused is, you are
confused because you refuse to know the God who made you. And
until you get to know the God who made you, you're gonna always
make the wrong choices. Go with me in your Bibles now
to Jeremiah chapter 10. Jeremiah chapter 10, verse 23, I wanna
show it to you again. Jeremiah 10, 23, because I'm
setting down again, an idea, a concept, I'm offering a supposition
or a proposition that for some people is really hard to buy
in because in the process of what I see is a disintegration,
a dissolution of reason in our culture. And I simply use the
term that men are losing their mind. The disintegration of our
culture that I see, man is also doing a magnificent job of making
it appear like he's got everything together, like everything coheres.
There is a false unity perpetrated and propagandized in our culture
as if we are really all coming together. Like if we would just
break down these dividing lines of religion and ethnicity and
gender, we could all be one group. Do you guys hear that language?
If we could just break down the distinctions and the barriers
of gender and religion and ethnicity, we could all be one. But God
put those barriers up there in order for us to be one in God.
Did you guys hear what I just stated? He put those boundaries. He put those parameters. He put
those frameworks there so that we could live with some sense
of normalcy and propriety. God doesn't want you having sex
with animals. Are you hearing me? That's breaking
a boundary. Now people that got a little
scintilla of sense knows that that's extreme, right? But we're
doing the same thing when we cross the line in the areas of
sex among the human species. Am I making some sense? We're
doing exactly the same thing. Because we're breaking God's
boundaries and whenever we break God's boundaries consequences
occur. Listen to what Jeremiah says.
Ah, oh Lord. I know that the way of man see
that phrase the way that's the goings same same verb in Proverbs. I know that the way of man what
is not in himself. Didn't he just affirm Proverbs?
He's saying Lord. I know that they don't have the
answer. It's not in them. It is not in man that walketh
to direct his own steps. Now, Jeremiah was the prophet
of his day, as faithful ministers of the gospel are prophets of
their day. And we see our culture going the wrong way. And you
know what we know? They don't know what they're
doing. We know that they don't know what they're doing. And
this is what Jeremiah struggled with. Jeremiah was the prophet
who saw Babylon coming Are you following me? Isaiah warned about
it, but he didn't see it But Jeremiah conceived Nebuchadnezzar
coming way Up from the north that he saw the dust of the horses
coming And he kept warning Israel week after week after week after
week after week Israel Church Babylon's coming We're gonna
be brought into bondage. We're gonna be killed. We're
gonna be made slaves. I can see them coming and And you know
what the people of God continually said? Ah, the day of the Lord
is far off. It's not coming. It's not coming. And Jeremiah was able to surmise
between the way the people were acting and how he saw increasingly
the distance being shortened between Israel and Babylon. He knew that they didn't know
what they were doing. See, if you and I are falling
from a skyscraper that's hundreds and let's say thousands of feet
high, We're falling 32 feet per second and we're going to smash
in a minute and gravity is going to kick in. I don't care how
much you actually think you can fly. Gravity going to kick in,
right? But between your jump and gravity,
you can deceive yourself. You can deceive you and you can
act like everything's cool, but you are still descending and
eventually you're going to hit reality. And that's where our
world is right now. Our world acts like the people
of God don't know what they're talking about. They're celebrating
that they have been able to push back on biblical truth for the
last 30 or 40 years. They're glad that the idea that
sex should take place in the context of marriage only, and
that between a man and a woman, that is so passé, so old, so
archaic, so irrelevant. It can't apply anywhere. That
would be revolutionary. For men and women to actually
obey the word of God in middle school, in high school, in college,
on the job, in church, wouldn't that be revolutionary? And we're
not doing it anywhere. This is how much the Babylonian
system has gotten a hold to our culture. Are you guys hearing
me? This is how much has gotten a hold to our culture and our
culture is headed to hell. Israel did not think it would
go into captivity. And the church does not think
it's going into captivity. And our nation does not think
it's going into captivity, but we're already in captivity. We
don't even know it. See, if I stay on this point,
I'm gonna bore you because I know you don't, we don't really want
to face the music. One of the evidences, and I'll
use this as I'll go into our context. This is for your personal
application. And may the Holy Ghost affirm my words. And he
will, if you don't believe me. Cause I don't do this for effect. When you and I are not doing
what's right before the Lord, one of the areas that the Lord
will quickly, um, Disrupt in order to prove that
we're out of his will is our finances Because you and I are so dependent
upon our finances for our well-being that when God starts Peaching
off your capacity to make income to pay your bills immediately
you get sensitive as to what's going on. I Now you're ready
to ask questions. Now you're ready to examine yourself
to determine whether or not your practice, your protocol, your
conduct has something to do with the loss of your income. Now
you're ready because God's touching that pocketbook. Am I making
some sense? All of us know that. You actually
can deceive yourself as our culture did back in the early 2000s in
the housing bubble and the housing industry when we all thought
you can buy a house and let the equity grow and make a couple
of 10, 20, 30, $40,000 off that house and then take the money
out of that house and buy you a nice car in front. We had a
whole lot of people fronting on the credit system and they
were appearing to do well. But sound, concrete, money managing
people were saying, hey, you're never doing well when you're
operating out of a debt system. Are you guys following me? I'm
using analogy going somewhere. You're never doing well operating
out of a debt system. And what's so crazy is our government
allowed that hopes to go on until the bubble busts. because they
know that they can hoodwink the whole nation so long as that
propaganda machine called the media gets on the television
and calmly says, you know, we're doing okay. Our economy is gradually
coming back. I mean, you know, we're moving
up 1%, 2%, you know, unemployment, 3%, 4%, unemployment, 5%. I mean,
what they are saying at the end of the day, if it was applied
to your own household, you would still be sunk. The reality is,
is we're not doing well when a nation is in debt to the tunes
of hundreds of trillions of dollars. We are in debt to the tune of
hundreds of trillions of dollars. But what our government is hoping
that we can do is kind of scratch our way out of it, which hopefully
some kind of savior will come along. Some technique, some type
of new invention will deliver us from our debt crisis. In the
meanwhile, all kinds of people are drowning financially. and
that financial instability takes away your rest. Remember I told
you God gives his people what? Rest. And he gives us three kinds
of rest. Economic rest, He gives us spiritual
rest and then he gives us domestic rest. That's what God promised
in the garden. He promised to take care of us
financially if we obey him. He promised to bring us near
to him and worship him if we obey him. And there's rest in
the soul when you know Jesus. And he promised domestic rest
in the context of family whereby the children can grow up safe,
they can grow up with a biblical knowledge, and God protects the
household that does it God's way. Am I making some sense?
Now you know Where you messed up your money, you lost your
rest. You know where you messed up your walk with God, you lost
your rest. You know where you messed up
your relationship in the context of marriage, you lost your what?
Rest. Can I get a witness? I wanted to contextualize where
we're getting ready to go now in our text. So you got a lot
of you guys know I do talk radio on Mondays, right? You guys know
I talk politics and religion. Two things nobody's supposed
to ever talk about. That's what I do. Politics and religion. Why? Because those are the two
most important things in your life. That's crazy. They tell
you don't talk about it, but politics runs your life. They
don't ask you what they're doing in Washington. They just send
you the bill. Is that true? And on the other hand, if you
and I are careful, not careful about the truth of the gospel,
you will find yourself sitting in a false church until you die
and perish under the wrath of God. Those, these are the two
most important areas of your life. So you better talk about
religion. You better talk about what the
true gospel is. You better talk about what the Word of God is.
You better talk about what salvation is. You better debate men and
women as to the only way that men might be saved. There's no
other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved but the name of Jesus Christ. You better talk about it. You
better talk about the consequences of rejecting the gospel. You
better talk about the consequences of backing away from God's Word.
You better talk about it. You better talk about what's
going on politically, because you look up one day and you're
getting tickets for this and bills for that. And you and I
are finding ourselves swimming just to survive, are we not?
People be talking about coming to California. And they say,
Pastor, I'm thinking of coming to California. I say, why are
you coming to California? I want to be under your ministry.
I say, listen, if you come to California, you better be a hustler
when you get here. Because you're not going to make
it in California if you're not a hustler. If you're lazy and
sloppy and not ready to start off by working two or three jobs
and then get on top of your money, you're not going to make it because
California will knock you out of the game. Am I telling the
truth? California will knock you out of the game. I've had
people to come from nice little quiet towns in the South where
they can make it on minimum wage. Rent in the South is $700 for
a full bedroom house, three car garage, two acres of land with
fruit trees everywhere. You come here, you can't even
get a studio for $700. You can't even get a studio for
$700. If you ain't coming hustling, you're going to get spit out
of the well like Jonah got spit out. California will spit you
out right back where you came from. Are you be sleeping under
the underpass? Now I tell people when you come
here, you better be ready to hustle because we got to hustle
here in California. And it's a shame. It's a shame
that we have to work so hard. The prices we pay for what we
pay for are ungodly. Are you guys hearing me? They
are ungodly. But like the proverbial frog gradually being warmed up
in that pot of hot water incrementally. That's how you and I are. We
get used to it until we look up one day a calamity comes and
then we're broke. That most people are living from paycheck to paycheck
is a shame. It's a shame. But that's what
the system does to you when you disobey God. It's lopsided. Are you guys hearing me? It's
lopsided. I'm glad I'm making my point.
Let's go back to work now. I want to show you a man who
was the choice of the people. This is King Saul. This is in,
uh, uh, first, uh, Samuel chapter 12 verses 14 through 19, because
this is where, uh, the apostle Paul has taken us, but they wanted
a King for themselves. And I want you to see how this
opens up in first Samuel chapter 12 verses 14 through 19. because it's the consequence of wrong
choices. We already learned earlier where
God had told Samuel, just don't worry about it, Samuel. They
haven't rejected you. They rejected me. And in first Samuel chapter
12, we read over, I'm going to start at verse 12. I want you to mark this. Now
watch this now saying, this is where all this started. And when
Israel, that's ye, this is God talking to Israel. When you saw
that Nahash, the king of the children of what? Now who was
Ammon? Ammon and Moab were the incestuous
children of Lot. I'll come back there later. The
important word I want you to see is the word saw. And when
you saw, you set your eyes on the king of Ammon who came against
you, you said unto me, nay, but a king shall reign over us. when the Lord your God was your
what? Verse 12 describes how we will
choose something lesser over that which is greater because
that which is lesser appears more appealing to us. When they
saw the king of Ammon and all of his regalia and all of his
pomp and all of his beauty and splendor and the soldiers And
they realized that for the last 500 years, they have been worshiping
and serving a king. They can't see because God can't
be seen. They chose a king that they could
see, didn't they? I want you to see how this works out. It
goes on now, verse 13. I'm going to read through these
verses quickly. Now, therefore, behold, The king whom you have
chosen y'all got that so it's important because for those of
you who are serious about bible study When I told you that king
Saul was not god's king. Some of you said how could that
be? There it is right there God just said you chose him And when
god gives you and me over to what we want, it's always going
to be bad Are you following me So I you
know what I love about my job. I love actually teaching people
the scriptures You know why I love doing what I'm doing Because
when was I have helped you set your eyes on the text and I've
explained the text to you whether you like it or not You won't
ever be able to say pastor. Jesse didn't tell me the truth.
I love what I do Because you can hear a lot of teaching where
it's secondary to the scriptures And you never set your eyes on
the text and people go to talking and babbling And saying all sorts
of things and it's never rooted in the word of god here You can't
get away from this clear explicit statement where god says you
guys chose him You chose him over me Now god's going to describe
what goes on You desired and behold the lord has set a king
over you If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his
voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then
shall both you and your king that reigns over you continue
following the Lord your God. But if you will not obey the
voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandments of the
Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be what? Against you.
See, what we call this is a conditional covenant promise. Isn't it conditional? Yes. Now therefore, against you
as it was against your fathers, now therefore stand and see this
great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes. I want you
to see this children of God. This is for you and me. God's
talking to a whole nation who has just chosen to reject him. Watch, watch what God does. Now
watch what God does in verse 17. He says, I'm going to show
you something before your eyes. I'm going to show you a great
thing. Is it not wheat harvest today? They're in the harvest. In other words, this is not the
season for what? Rain. He's getting ready to reason
with them logically, show them how they've been operating carnally
and have completely stopped walking by biblical faith, trusting in
the reality of God. They've been functioning out
of protocol. You know what that's like? So long as the check comes
in the mail week after week, you don't have to believe God.
But as soon as the check is not coming, now you got to ask yourself,
where's your faith? And so a lot of people will say
they believe God, but really all they're believing is the
normative process of the system. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? Here's what God's about to do. He's about to show them that
he was there all the time. And that because he allows seasons
and years and days and cycles of things, they don't operate
on their own power. See, when you and I use terms
like natural law, The laws of physics, the laws of thermodynamics,
first, second, third, laws of thermodynamics. We start using
laws of geometry and laws of inertia, all that terminology.
You know how we use all that terminology? All that's basically
saying is we don't believe God. Because what we're doing is attaching
a law to what God is actually upholding every nanosecond of
the day. And then we start depending on
that law and not the God who set those things in motion. You
guys aren't hearing me at all. But I'm showing you how we imperceptibly
move away from acknowledging the personhood of God to acknowledging
the instrumentality by which he allows things to work. Are
you hearing what I'm saying? Then we're acting like agnostics
and atheists when we talk like that. Now, it's okay to tag things
with rules or what we call nomenclatures. You give them nominatives, you
give them names. God told us to do that. But you
never trust in the system. You never trust in those laws,
you know those laws they fail from time to time You know what
God does he pull the rug out from under you plays games and
show you that he's the one upholding And then the scientists say we
don't know what happened. I can tell you exactly what happened
God is in control of the laws and he manipulates them and moves
them in ways that are imperceptible to you and me because he is inscrutable
and Then when they happen we are in what we call a conundrum
called a mystery and you can only have mysteries answered
by humbling yourself before God Am I making some sense? This
is so very important. So now watch this he says in
verse 16 Now therefore stand and see this great thing which
the Lord your God will do is it not we harvest today? I will
call unto the Lord and he shall send thunder and what? Boy, look
at Samuel look at Samuel So stay with me, children of God. I believe
all of you guys believe you're children of God. I believe that.
So I'm going to assume that you are. I don't know. Only God knows.
Like you don't know that I am. Do you believe? If God wanted
to. He could respond to my word.
And give rain right now in the middle of the summer. Oh, yeah. Now, see, that's easy to believe.
That's easy to believe. Do you understand that? It's
easy for you and I to theoretically believe that. But there are things
that require lesser power that you and I won't believe. Are
you hearing me? I'm saying to you, Samuel put
himself on the line. He put God's glory on the line
because you know, a thousand false prophets who have said
the same thing and what they said never came to pass. And
this is why the unbeliever mocks God. Am I making some sense? But what God is doing right here
is about to show Israel that the very substance of life himself
was in their midst and they completely missed him and chose a man who
can't even keep breath in his own body. Let alone the heavens
intact and the rain pouring down when God says so some sister
asked me a couple weeks ago Can you show me in the Bible where
it says that God directs the rain? He directs the clouds and
he gives rain here and he withhold rain over here and he blesses
for this reason and he does not bless for that reason I said
I sure can I Sure can And I took her directly to the Bible verses
that teaches that God directs the clouds, pours water when
he wants to, withholds the rain when he wants to, and he tells
us why he does it. Now, you and I have the choice
to decide whether we're going to believe the weatherman or
God. Are you following me right now?
So, and kind of what I'm doing right now is testing your faith.
I'm poking at your faith and mine. You feel it, don't you?
I'm poking at it because we really talk believing God, but there
are so many mechanisms in place where we don't have to really
believe God. We just hope those mechanisms don't go away because
while those mechanisms are there, we can pretend we believe God.
See what I'm getting at? Our man Samuel is about to, he's
about to demonstrate something remarkable and it's going to
be humbling to Israel. Look at verse 17. Will call upon
the Lord and he shall send thunder and rain in order that you may
what? Perceive see that's their problem.
They had lost perception and what see that your wickedness
is great See when the heart hardens Having
chosen to go contrary to God You cannot measure the level
of your rebellion Because the heart is hardened Until God intervenes
and interrupts our life. Remember what I said? We're cool
as long as that check comes in week after week We could be living
an abject rebellion against God, but we can't feel that measure
until God starts taking things away Am I telling the truth now
all of a sudden we know we've sinned against God now we're
whining and we're crying Lord have mercy You should be whining
and crying when you did it but the heart hardens the heart hardens. And then God has to do something
supernatural to get your attention. Does anybody know what I'm talking
about? God has to do something supernatural to get your attention
because you, though you profess to be the people of God are walking
in abject blindness, right? That's what's going on here.
Watch it. He says, now God's going to show up. In order that
you might perceive how great your wickedness is which you
have done in the sight of the Lord in asking for a king This
is it. This is remarkable. I know i'm
being a little psychological here, but I have to Because I
I listen to christians today I listen And I I say to myself
they don't understand many of them don't understand what they're
saying when they say things to me They don't understand the
depth of the implications of their statement in relationship
to the god. They say they believe And you
can tell there's a disconnect, that they don't quite get the
inferences of their statements. And this is where Israel is right
now. They don't see how horrible an act they committed in rejecting
God. They just killed themselves.
They just totally killed themselves as a nation. I mean, they just... And the same thing with America.
America does not know what it has done. It does not know what
it has done. Are you guys hearing me? It does
not know. This is why people are not in
awe. See, if God would have showed up last Friday when they made
that decision and did something massively supernatural, then
a few, not all, a few of God's people would have got it. The
rest of them wouldn't have got it. And the world would have
tried to find a natural solution to it. But some of us would have
known that was God who showed up and gave his clear disapproval
to where we're going. And all of what I'm saying right
about now is, are we walking in a dynamic of faith that's
sensitive to God? Or is our faith really dormant,
couched in mechanisms of comfort that allow us to pretend that
we're actually walking with God? Am I making sense? If you and
I were living in third world countries, where we had to survive
every day for our food, we'd really be able to determine whether
or not our faith is authentic, wouldn't we? Let me keep going.
Notice what he says in verse 18. So Samuel called unto the
Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the
people, what, greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. Now watch
verse 19. And all the people said unto Samuel, pray for thy
servants and to the Lord your God that we, what, for we have
added unto all our sins this evil in asking for a king. Oh, the scriptures are amazing. What they said was right, but
their hearts were still wicked. See, if they really believe that,
they would have revoked their request in their right. You aren't going to read anywhere
in the next 20 chapters a revoking of the request. Now watch this. And so it goes on to say in verse
20, and Samuel said unto the people, fear not, you have done
all this wickedness yet turn not aside from following the
Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart and turn you not
aside for then should you go after vain things, which cannot
profit nor deliver for they are what? Vain. Right. And so Samuel
says, okay, we got to go down this course. So the course that
they're getting ready to go down now is the course that I'm going
to show you in Deuteronomy chapter 17 verses one through four, where
God already knew even before he brought them versus verse
14, rather go to Deuteronomy 17 verse 14, where God already
knew that they were going to ask for a king and reject him
before they even got into the land. So, you know, God is omniscient,
isn't he? He sees the end from the beginning,
doesn't he? Does he know when we get ready to commit that sin?
Is God indifferent to our sin? I'm going to say it one more
time. Is God indifferent to our sin?
Are there consequences to every sin? Every sin shall receive
a just recompense of reward. That's the thing that you have
to learn. You're going to learn that you can't sin against God
and get away, especially when you do it intentionally. There
are always consequences. You may not know what they are,
but they come. And us mature Christians know that, don't we?
We know that we think we can commit a sin here there and then
there are no apparent consequences But down the line there are consequences
that we weren't even anticipating Because whatever a man's souls
that shall he also what? Deuteronomy chapter 17 notice
what it says in verse 14 now when you come into the land which
the Lord your God give you and you shall possess it and and
shall dwell therein, and shall say, I will set a king over me,
like as all the nations that are around about me." See it?
Did he anticipate it way beforehand? Way beforehand, because God sees
what they're doing. He sees at a certain point, their
faith will lapse and they will start looking at themselves and
looking at the other nations and saying, I want to be like
the other nations. Now, Under our fourth proposition,
let me quickly run through these three. I want to work through
these three and show you something about the danger of having chosen
salt. I'm going to do this for 10 minutes and I'll open the
floor for some Q and S about anything. And then we'll pray
and go home, do some ministry tonight. Under point number four,
I said, man's choice is always wrong. You can challenge me on
that. Theologically, I'm secure. Emotionally,
it doesn't feel good. I say, theologically, I'm secure
because long ago, Men understood what I'm talking about. We don't
today, because we have accepted as in our culture, Western culture
has accepted that man is not fallen. He's basically good.
He just needs a little guidance. But biblical Christians know
that our problem is that we're falling. And the sooner I realize
that every time I make a choice without asking God about it,
I open myself up for danger. And the gift that's required
to make sure that you don't do that is the gift of humility,
right? And when you're humble, you're
gonna ask God for help every time. That's Proverbs 3, 5. You
know it by heart by now, don't you? Trust in the Lord. With all my heart. Don't lean. Lean not. Don't trust. Don't recline. Don't depend. Don't find confidence in. Don't
rest in your own understanding. That's the thing we have to battle
against every day. Is that true? Every day of our life, we have
to battle against that. Listen to what he says. Verse
15, thou shalt in any wise set a king over thee, whom the Lord
your God shall what? Did you guys see that? Oh, I'm
sorry. I jumped back to my choice. I
shouldn't, I shouldn't, I shouldn't do that. That's verse 15 of Deuteronomy
17. Read it in your own time. God said to them, you shall set
over you Only the king whom the Lord your God shall choose now
going back to our PowerPoint because I wanted to say the request
of a team To our PowerPoint. Yeah, I'm sorry Jerry. I'm running
you all over the place. Go back to our PowerPoint Because
they got that PowerPoint number four. There we go Man's choice
is always wrong the request of a king anticipated does Deuteronomy
17 affirm that right point be God's choice is best. Is it I?
God's choice is best. Now I need you to see two verses
on this because Hosea is a 7th century prophet who existed 300
years after Saul. And Hosea is going to explain
to us how God felt about Israel choosing Saul. I want you to
see this so that you can know. In Hosea chapter 13 verse 9,
notice what it said. O Israel, you have what? You
have destroyed yourself. Now I want you to hear this.
This is exactly what we could say to America. Oh America, you
have destroyed yourself. But in me is thy what? Read the
next verse. Watch this. I will be thy king. Isn't that good? God said, I
will be thy king. Now watch this. Where is any
other that may save you in all your cities? And your judges,
whom you said, give me a king and a prince. You see what Hosea
is saying? Hosea now is reflected upon all these years where Israel
asked for a king and a prince and a king and a prince. And
all they had all the days they had kings and princes was war.
All those days that they had kings and princes was war. Look what it goes on to say in
Hosea. Notice what it goes on to say
there as we deal with it. Hosea chapter 11. I gave you
a king in my what? Stop. There it is. I love teaching
the Bible because I love anchoring my conclusions in explicit texts
of scripture because you and I by nature are so incredulous.
You know what I mean by incredulous? Like you don't, like, if you've
never heard a truth before, you're not going to believe me because
I tell you, because we just are incredulous like that. Because
actually what we think, now follow this now, just follow this now,
you ain't gonna like this one either, but it's true. We actually
think that we have good sense and we intuitively know what's
right. Now follow this. Therefore, when
someone says something to you that you don't like, it's wrong
because you don't like it. Are you following me? You don't
know whether it's right or not, but just because it rubs you
the wrong way, it's wrong. Do you know what that means?
You have exalted your feelings over the facts. This is why as a public pastor,
I am in a public teacher. I have so many people that don't
like the way I teach. And it's because I challenge
you to think. So what I have stated last week
was God didn't choose King Saul, the people chosen. Y'all saw
that today. God was very angry with their choice. You guys saw
that today, right? And we're still working through
that proposition because what I'm trying to nail down is what
Paul is teaching his own Jewish brethren is that the mess that
we are in is because of our own choices. I gave you a king in
my anger and I took him away in my what? And I took him away
in my what? Who knows how King Saul died? He died at the hands of the Philistines
who killed him as a consequence of not believing God. And he
had went to the witch of Endor to get his advice. When God says,
I forbid you to go to astrology, tarot cards, prognosticators,
witches, goblins, goons, every other source of so-called revelation
than me. Remember what God had said to
Saul when Saul had, um, rebelled against Samuel back in first
Samuel chapter 15, go there now. First Samuel chapter 15 verse
23. I'm going to show you how Saul
died. So that we can understand how involved God was in on the
preparation of Saul's death Even though God allowed the children
of Israel to have Saul He gave them the king they wanted He
let even let this king live for 40 years in his ministry but
all the while God was angry with this king and And if you and
I were to take five weeks to go through the whole history
of King Saul, at every turn, King Saul rebelled against God. Did he not? At every turn, he
showed himself not a believer. At every turn. And even though
the heavens are silent, because God wasn't talking at every event
that King Saul did wrong, the heavens were trembling with the
anger of God. This man who dares to represent
God before the people Lesson just because heaven is silent
doesn't mean heaven isn't angry Just because heaven is silent
does not mean heaven is not angry Listen to what it said. I'm gonna
back this up maybe verse 21. This was a time when Samuel was
supposed to wait on Saul to do sacrifices. Now notice what it
says in verse 15 verse 21 chapter 15 to it. But the people took
of the spoil of the sheep of the oxen and the cheap of the
things which should have been utterly destroyed. This is also
as it was in Jericho. The cursed thing was not to be
touched to sacrifice unto the Lord your God in Gilgal verse
22 watch this. And Samuel said, have the Lord as great delight
and burn offerings and sacrifices as in what? Obeying the voice
of the Lord. Mark it right there. What did
God just do right there? He distinguished between religion
and obedience. Did he not? He just distinguished
between people going to church, raising their hands, shouting
hallelujah, and still living like hell. Isn't that what he's
just saying? So now watch this. See, we live
in a day where we are actually manipulating God in our worship
services. We're thinking God is so jazzed
about the music, jazzed about the singing, jazzed about all
the people clamoring in the building. Read Isaiah chapter one in your
own time. He's not. God has always and always will
only accept worship that is done in spirit and in truth. Are you guys hearing me? Now,
what I'm describing is how you and I continually labor to bring
God down to our level. And that's what church does.
Church brings God down to his level. If you don't hear in the
pulpit reverence for God in the church, run out. Examine yourself Because God
is never in any church that has brought God down to a bellhop
for that system never Never I'm just letting you know So then
the next time you go to church and it's feeling all good, but
you you might Inadvertently actually wait a minute. Wait a minute.
I only remember last time he quoted the Bible verse But everybody
all excited God's not there. That's just your religion. That's
just your religion. It's a social club. They may
be good at what they do. It's just a social club. God
is not like you and me. God is to be worshiped one way
and specifically. And apart from that, God is not
present in that worship. I don't care if everybody in
the church says, you know what? We had a great time. Samuel said does the Lord
take as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices in as
in obeying the voice of the Lord Do you see that? Behold to obey
is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams
Look at the next verse watch this now verse 23 hit it for
rebellion is as the sin of what and Stubbornness is as iniquity
and idolatry. This is Samuel talking to the
king Now what Samuel just did in verse 23 was prophesied the
death of Saul. Why do I say that? Because God
sees the end from the beginning. God saw already that Saul never
sought God's counsel, that Saul would just as quickly go to the
newspaper to get his advice or the television or to the internet
than to read his Bible. And that when Saul really gets
in the heat of the trouble, he'll go talk to a witch whom God has
condemned before he falls down on his knees and say, Lord, have
mercy on me. Are you guys hearing me? Worse than that, he's the
king. He's the king. And as the leaders,
so are the people. And God knows this. So when leadership
is put in a position of influencing the masses, know this, they will. Your leaders will corrupt your
heart. I will corrupt you if I'm a corrupt man. I will teach
you how to harden yourself against God if I'm a corrupt man. Because
you can't help yourself but to take the same leeway that's demonstrated
in my life. If my life is raggedy, you're
gonna be raggedy too. Are you hearing me? You're gonna
be raggedy too. If I'm not serious about God,
you cannot be serious about God or we're going to be enemies.
You're not going to like me if I'm clowning and acting a fool
and I'm blaspheming God's name and I'm bringing him down and
making him my buddy and I'm saying things about God that you know
are not biblical. If you sit there and accept that,
you're just like me. How can two walk together except
they be agreed? That's Amos chapter 3 verse 3,
by the way, just in case you need a Bible verse. Are you guys
following me? It is therefore important that
the rulers in the church, rulers in the family, rulers in the
business, rulers in the state, rulers over the country, obey
God for the good of the people. This is where the heavens are
waxing dark and heavy with the wrath of God over Saul's head
and over the people of Israel. Do you know why? Because the
people chose him. You know what that means? They
were just like Saul. Listen to the last line. Because
you have rejected the word of the Lord, Saul, he hath also
rejected you from being what? Saul had to live for about another
30 years with the conscious awareness that God had rejected him. Isn't
that horrible? Horrible, horrible, horrible.
Go with me in your Bible now to 1 Samuel chapter 28, show
you where his error was. 1 Samuel 28. Then we'll open
the floor for some questions and close. First Samuel 28. In first Samuel chapter 28, this
is where Saul is having a real problem because he sees the incoming. The Philistines are one of seven
nations in Israel that God had promised that he would overcome
if Israel obeyed them. But the Philistines seem to be
the one nation that Israel almost never could overcome. With the
exception of one reign for one period of time. And who was that
king? David. David. I want you to follow the logic.
Some of y'all gonna get this. The Philistine represents in
the New Testament sense, the flesh. The flesh. It was for this reason they were
called uncircumcised. The uncircumcised Philistines. And what was meant by that was
that they represent fallen humanity and they represent our fallen
nature. Because we still have a fallen nature, don't we? That
we call the what? The flesh. And the flesh is the
most formidable enemy that you have. While you have Amorite
enemies and Jebusite enemies and Hittite enemies the real
enemy that if you don't do battle with is the philistines He'll
get you and if you are carnal and not spiritual he already
has you And that's what happened to israel They had a carnal king
because they were carnal and the philistines killed him but
watch what happens here. This is what it says verse chapter
28 verse 7 let me see here let me
start at verse 4 nope I better start at verse 3 I want
you to see this and here's the reason why I'm starting at verse
3 because Samuel who was the last judge of Israel had just
died and what that meant was because Samuel had died King
Saul's probationary period to repent was over. Okay. Once Samuel, the prophet died,
who told him that God had rejected him. As long as Samuel was alive,
God was merciful to Saul, not in a saving way, but in the way
of leadership and preparing his next King whom he loved, whose
name was what? That's right. But as soon as
Samuel died, Saul has to go. Why? Because Samuel has already
anointed David. Are you following that? So Saul
is just buying time. Now watch this. I want to make
sure we establish a theological point before we close it. God
told Saul 30 years earlier, the kingdom is going to be taken
from you. Saul had 30 years to do what? Repent. 30 years to repent. 30 years. There are a couple
of lessons for us to learn in that. The first is when God actually
decreases judgments on us, and lets us know his judgment is
on us, God is kind to us. That's point number one. There's
some folks who don't even know the judgment of God is on them.
When the prophet comes and tells you that while you're outside
of Christ, you're headed to hell. That's God's mercy to you. This
is why you can't just tell people God loves you, has a wonderful
plan for your life. If they're not saved, they're
under the wrath of God. Is that true? And if they die tonight, where
are they going? So, if I give a person a sense of comfort that
they're okay and they're headed to hell, I haven't done them
any good. I have not loved them. Have I
loved them? Tell them that you are under
the wrath right now The Bible is very clear He that hath the
Son hath life the man that does not have the Son of God does
not have life But the wrath of God abides on you right now That's
the best thing a lost sinner could hear so that he could struggle
in his soul and fall on his knees and ask God to have mercy on
him Is that true? Now will God hear a sinner when
they cry out like that every time I Can a sinner like that
just arbitrarily fall on his knees not without God's mercy? Here's the other awful truth
Saul represents every human being Gotta warn you and warn you and
warn you and warn you and you still won't turn He saw all of
God's acts of providence the blessings that came on him the
judgments that came upon him God's mercy and stainless judgment
saw saw all of that and still hardness heart against God. He
kept trying to kill David Now you guys know no murderer hath
eternal life abiding in him, does he? Does he? So Saul was
demonstrating perpetually that he really didn't fear God. This
is how we know. Once Samuel dies and the enemy
is coming after him, Philistines have covered the whole camp.
Does Saul run to the tabernacle? Nope. He runs to a witch. Now Samuel was dead and all Israel
lamented him and buried him in Rama even in his own city and
Saul had put away those that have familiar spirits and the
wizards out of land. Oh, isn't that cute? He put him
away. He put him away. Yeah, but the
problem is he knew where he put him. Verse 4 verse 4 gotta have
a little levity because I know the spirit of God is working
on some of us tonight and the Philistines gathered themselves
together and came and pitched and shoon him and Saul gathered
all Israel together and they pitched in Gilbea Saul did like
to fight That's the other thing the flesh loves to fight Saul
did love to fight and he fought in the flesh You don't read him
going to God. I It's like we learned in our
Psalm study on Wednesday. We learned in our Psalm study,
David made a major mistake, didn't he? Verse five. And when Saul
saw the host of the Philistines, watch this, he was afraid and
his heart greatly trembled. Why? He doesn't have God on his
side. He doesn't have any basis to
be confident. You guys know what the word confidence
means? Confidel is a Latin term that
means with God. Confideo. Confideo, with God. Con, with God. You guys got that?
And a man or woman has no right to be confident if they're not
with God and God's not with them. You can get that one for free.
You can write that down. That's free. It's good stuff. I mean,
this is all good stuff. Am I telling some good stuff
tonight? It's very important. Good stuff. Very important for
you to know. Because a lot of people don't know at all, in
reality, how to walk with God. And I'm just sharing with you
how it's done. Sharing with you. I'm very thankful to be teaching
for 25 years. Thankful to be teaching because
I can see the sun going down. I don't know who I was talking
to the other day, but yesterday I was talking to my brother Paul.
The sun is going down. We've been talking about where
we are in America for the last 15 years at grace. We've been
talking about where we are now for the last 15. I've been warning
people all over the nation for the last 15 years. And here we
are, we're right on the cusp now of the judgment. Because
I am so glad that God has kept me all these years and allows
me to open my mouth and tell the truth with boldness and clarity.
Because that's a gift. You can't talk like I talk unless
God has kept you Because you have so many enemies Outside
of the church and in the church when you talk like I do so many
enemies and This is the pattern of scripture. I'm not saying
feel sorry for me at all None of God's servant had the majority
on their sides This is a sad thing about where we are You
shout and you cry and you beseech and people still don't hear you
and our churches are still playing games with God Verse 26 verse
6 and when Saul inquired of the Lord the Lord had nothing to
say to him Another insight into God another
insight into God another insight into God time to learn something
about God and Time for you and I to learn something about God.
See, what I know about the church age I live in is God is depicted
to most of us as a consumer God. Our God is so desperate for your
fellowship that you can mistreat him any kind of way you want
to all the time. And then as soon as you need
him, like a sugar daddy comes running, he's right there as
soon as you call on him. No, he's not. No, he's not. No, he's not. Now tell the truth. Am I exaggerating this false
notion of God that's being perpetuated by the church? That you can just,
you know, you can call on God anytime you want to hear you.
No, he won't. There's one verse. I can give
you a bunch of verses, but we're supposed to know our Bibles.
Jeremiah seven in your own time. God told Jeremiah, Jeremiah,
you can pray for him all you want to. I'm not listening to
him. You might as well stop praying for him, Jeremiah 7. I'm not
hearing him. Why, pastor? Why? Because he
sees the heart. Like I told you, we love to manipulate
God. We love to manipulate God. We love to think we can hook
with God. Now, we get a lot of practice on the horizontal level.
What do you mean, pastor? In our back slapping churches,
where we slap each other on the back and we practice religious
talk and phraseology. And then we go to telling each
other how the Lord is really blessing you and how the Lord
is giving you a gift. And I can see the Lord using
you. All that's flattery. Read the Proverbs. And flattery
works ruin. All that's flattery. And it's
steep in the church as you can get. Well, all they do is flatter
flatter flatter flatter flatter And then you're hanging out there
on the on the on the plank out there and the sharks are circling
And they've got you way out there in your pride. You actually think
You're all right with god Now here's the reason you think you're
all right with god because you've equated god to the people around
you And because you've hoodwinked these people into thinking you're
godly Well, you think god Feels like they do. God has to be talking
through them. No, but the whole mass of the
group are ignorant of the character of God. And so they're sharing
something with you. That's a distortion of the nature
of God. God does not agree with them.
Can I give you another Bible verse before I close it down?
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Am
I quoting Bible verses? I've been doing this ever since
I was 19 years old. Since I was 19 years old so if I'm harboring
evil if I'm if I'm if I'm harboring the fugitive the enemy of God
in my heart and feeding him and Nurturing him and learning from
him. I Am now actually a traitor in the kingdom. Am I not? When
I should expose that traitor to God so God can handle him
and save me But when I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord
will not hear That's where Saul is I think it's somewhere around
Psalm 68. And when Saul inquired of the
Lord, the Lord answered him not neither by dreams nor by Urim
nor by prophet. Everyone in Israel kept their
mouth shut. God shut the prophet's mouth. He shut the priest's mouth. He shut his own mouth. Saul was
left to himself, was he not? You and I are in trouble when
we are left to ourselves. Here it goes. Verse seven, then
Saul said unto his servants, seek me a woman that hath a familiar
spirit. Goes on in the White House all
the time. Goes on in the White House all
the time. For years, our presidents come out on Sunday with their
big old black Bible with the cross on it. And in private meetings,
call on seances and tarot cards people who conjure up spirits. This is the, every president
way, way back with the exception of the first few presidents who
authentically believe God and fear God. But when, once we started
removing the 10 commandments, humanism came in, our presidents
became secular. Those men are seeking demonic
powers. I'm gonna close our deal, but
I told our church this, those of you who are new, you probably never
heard it, but I told my church this, and I'm gonna tell you again,
you can't be, in a position of power over people at the level
of government and not have some power behind you. You can't be
in a position of authority over the people of the measure and
statute of our leaders and not have some power governing you. Will you hear me? You can't be
a leader over millions of people without either the devil and
his demons giving you intelligence through his mechanism and his
means, or you listening to the servants of God. Now, pray tell
me, how confident are you that faithful gospel preachers get
to go up into the White House? How confident are you that faithful
gospel preachers with their Bibles get to go up in the White House
and counsel President Obama, counsel the Senate, counsel the
Congress? Especially with the decisions
that have come out right. Do you think they are listening
to God with the decisions? They've come out with over the
last 40 50 years Do you see we used to have it what prophets
could go up in there? But even them They have become
corrupted as we're gonna learn on Sunday because I'm gonna reintroduce
you to Jehoshaphat And show you how Ahab had a whole group of
false prophets that would lie to him whenever he needed him
to lie. I And the one prophet that didn't lie was thrown in
jail. Nothing's new. Are you guys hearing
me? Watch it. I need my verse back. Oh, just lost it. Should've just
left it. I'm glad y'all got y'all Bible.
Let's look in our Bible. There it is. Jerry, what did y'all, what you
wanted us to do? To quote that Bible by faith? Okay. You have to give me at least
a week to meditate on it. Then said Saul unto his servant, seek
me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her,
inquire of her. And his servant said to him,
behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit in Endor,
verse eight. And Saul disguised himself, put
on other raiment, and he went and two men with them. And they
came to the woman by night. And he said, I pray thee divine
unto me by the demons. Bring me up him whom I shall
name unto thee am I properly interpreting that passage are
familiar spirits demons verse 9 and The woman said unto him
behold thou knowest what Saul hath done How he had cut off
those that have familiar spirits and the weirdos out of the land
Wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life to cause me to die?
She is asserting that she does not recognize him and he's coming
in a disguise, right? I Verse 10. And Saul sweared to her by the
Lord. See how they do? See how they do? Is it possible
for a rank blasphemer to use God's name in vain? There it
is right there. Happens in church all the time.
I can tell you stories about congressmen and senators that
I know. Raise their hand and say, I swear on the Bible, I
believe Jesus. I'm a Christian. And then you
come to discover how much of a crook they were. Are you guys
hearing me? I can, I can, I can name names.
Don't want to be, I don't want to have to do it now. I know
that tonight's study was heavy, but what I am saying to you is
we are living in the same time. There's absolutely no different
of the time that you and I live. The only difference, the only
difference, and I hope there's a difference is that you are
serious about God. Cause if you're not, you and
I only fall in one or two categories, the hypocrites, are the category
of a small minority of people who are actually taking God serious.
Are you guys following what I'm saying? There's no difference.
The Bible, in fact, you know why we read the Old Testament?
Because the Bible says those things that were written before
time were written for our learning, that we through patience and
consolation of the scriptures might have hope. The other reason
it's written, that we might learn not to do what they did. I'm
almost done. Saul swears saying as the Lord
liveth there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.
How can he know that? How can Saul be a paraclete for
this woman? Great boasting words. Verse 11. Then said the woman, whom shall
I bring up unto thee? And he said, bring me up Samuel.
Okay, let's go. Verse 12. And when the woman
saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice and the woman spake and
said, Saul, saying, why have you deceived me? For you are
Saul. It's amazing. She just had a
revelation. She had a revelation that she
was a pawn in a battle between God and hell. She was a pawn
in a battle between God and hell. But she was always a pawn. She
was always a medium between hell and heaven. But now she realizes
how much danger she's in. Because she's gonna die and the
man that has requested of her to conjure up Samuel gonna die
too. Are you guys hearing me? She knows she's dead. This is
a horrible mess for her. And the woman said unto Saul,
I saw gods ascending out of the earth. Verse 14. Verse 14. And he said unto her,
what form is he of? And she said, an old man comes
up covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was
Samuel. And he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed
himself to the ground. This is exactly what Isaiah said. Do not do, do not bow to the
ground, calling up these demons. Bowing to the ground was one
of those ancient forms of calling up people out of hell. You know,
when the elect die, they don't go down. I'm sorry. Don't go
get on your knees and call Jesse, Pastor Jesse. I'm going up when
I die. Did you understand I'm going
up my body's going down, but I'm going up That's the expectation
of all of the righteous When they die they go up Only hell-bound
sinners go down You guys follow that only hell-bound sinners
go down The Saints don't have no business looking to the earth
for any revelation of anything Our revelation is always heavenward
always heavenward And Samuel said to Saul, why have you disquieted
me to bring me up? And Saul answered and said, I'm
so in distress, man, I'm in trouble. For the Philistines make war
against me and God's departed from me and he's not answering
me neither by prophet nor by dream. Therefore, I call thee
like Samuel could do something. I love it. This is what we call
divine humor. Like Samuel could do something. This shows you
the insanity of a man who departs from God. Do you understand? This is the desperate insanity
of a man who could depart from God. Now watch this. He says,
I have called thee that thou mayest make known unto me what
I shall do. In other words, I'm going to
drag your soul out of hell so you can help me rebel against
God too. Now, if Samuel could tell Saul what to do when God
has shut up all of his living prophets and closed his own mouth,
Would not Samuel be in rebellion against God? Would he? Verse 16. Then said Samuel, wherefore
then dost thou ask me, seeing the Lord's departed from you
and become your enemy? Ain't no whole lot of comfort
in that. In other words, Samuel said, hey dude, don't ask me.
I've been dead, I can't help you. The Lord had done to him as he
spake by me for the Lord had ripped the kingdom out of thine
hand and given it to your neighbor even to David verse 18 Because
thou did not obey obey the voice of the Lord nor execute his fierce
wrath upon Amalek therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto
thee this day verse 19 Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel
with thee into the hand of the Philistines and tomorrow you
shall you and your sons will be with me and The Lord also
shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.
Verse 20. Then Saul fell straightway all
along the earth and was so afraid because of the words of Samuel
and there was no strength in him for he had eaten no bread
all day nor all night. He never should have went to
Samuel, should he? Samuel gave him some very bad
news, didn't he? Why would you want somebody to
tell you when you're going to die? How are you going to die?
Where are you going to die? Isn't God merciful to us not
to? OK, so I'm going to close here, knowing that some of y'all
are struggling with this particular revelation. I'm going to help
you with it, and then we'll come back later. This was a demon. This was a demon. Because the
Bible doesn't contradict itself, OK? But this demon is God's servant. So God allows demons to deceive
people and to affirm judgments that God has already laid out.
For instance, there's nothing in this prophecy that this demon
is bringing that Saul didn't already know was going to happen.
But Saul is being deceived and affirmed in his deception because
of his rebellion against God. Some of you will learn that on
Sunday when I show you how in God's sovereignty, he uses demons
to deceive people who want to be deceived. Are you hearing
me? Let me close in prayer. Father,
thank you for this time. Thank you for all of the souls
here that are willing to study your word and want to draw near
to you in a much more serious fashion. We live in some dark
days and a lot of questions about a lot of things that are going
on. And we are amiss as to how we should really be functioning.
These things are greater than we can ever imagine in terms
of their power and their depth and their impact and their influence. We just ask, oh God, that there
won't be one soul in here who would be given over to the folly
of King Saul. Or like the children of Israel
choosing a servant who is not true to God and faithful to his
word, Deliver us from all such inclinations of evil in ourselves
and in others. Help us to take your words serious,
and that we might honor you and live before you. Forgive us.
Forgive us, O God, of our sins. Wash us clean in the blood of
the Lamb. Purge our conscience from dead
works. Humble us. Keep us from falling. And present
us faultless before the presence of your glory. Only you can do
that. We cannot. If you take your hand off of
us, if you leave us, we perish just like Saul. And we pray in
Jesus' name. Amen. Remember now, two weeks,
two weeks, the 10th and the 17th, we won't be here, but I will
be in Berkeley. I'd love for you guys to show up and enjoy
the time with us. God bless you.