Follow the ancient paths

Partly based on text from “One in the Spirit” by David Watson
Preached at Clevedon Baptist Church 22/Nov/09

Our theme text for this series is from the prophet Jeremiah, chapter 6 verse 16 and what an important text it is for us. Listen

This is what the LORD says:

Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths, ask where
the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
But you said, 'We will not walk in it'. [1]

Sometimes in life we approach a crossroads and  it’s not well signposted! We don’t even notice that there is a crossroads, a decision to make, a different path to chose. The way forward is clear; it’s the way everyone else seems to be going; the main route, that wide road, like the M1. It is the general path that people follow. This wide and common way in life is this: “put yourself first, look after number one and do stuff that you want to; follow your own ideas about life, live life according to your own understanding”

But whether we see it or not, we stand at a cross-roads; the wide way of the world stretches out in front of us with all its attractions and they are many and great. But Jesus says, this way leads to destruction. Ultimately there is no goodness, no rest and no future in going the world’s way. We must all die and face the judgement of God. If we have lived lives separated from His good plans and purposes then this separation will continue in death. We cannot hope to be with Him in the peace and rest of the afterlife if we have no desire to be with Him in this life.

But at this crossroads there is another choice, an ancient path, a narrow way, a small side road of God’s. Will we walk in it? Will we ask and find this good way that gives rest to our souls?

As Christians we should know better. We should know about this crossroads. For the Cross stands at the crossroads. If you are a true Christian, a follower of our Lord Jesus, you will have at one point come to this crossroads of God’s and made a decision to step onto God’s royal road. You will have accepted that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. You understand that you have been forgiven by God for everything you have done or will do wrong. God sees from the vantage of that eternal court of Judgement. He sees our whole lives from beginning to end and he stamps on our court case file “forgiven, forgiven”. The debt you owe, because of the wrongs you have done, has been paid in full. This is the wonderful Good News; we no longer need to live with guilt or fear of the judgement of God.

If you are a true Christian you will have been born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Just as God breathed life into your physical body at birth, God breathes spiritual life into our souls if you believe. God, the Holy Spirit lives in us a makes our inner spiritual parts alive. God, the Holy Spirit enables us to understand spiritual things. It’s like this, a blind man, born blind, cannot comprehend the difference between the colours red and blue. You can try and describe them to him, but he will not be able to experience, for himself, the difference; because he cannot see. Similarly you cannot comprehend spiritual things without the spiritual insight that the Holy Spirit gives you.

Therefore, as Christians we should know better because our eyes have been opened by the Spirit. Once on God’s narrow way will we continue to ask God for direction along his ancient path?

But listen to our text from Jeremiah. Disturbingly, the Lord says that some people will say to Him 'No God … we will not walk in your ways.' Now you will say to me ‘surely these people who say no are those who are not Christians at all’. Yet is it possible that some are those who are on the ancient path, who are Christians, but will not continue to walk?

I don’t remember hearing any of us saying publically “we will not walk in your ways .. oh God” but in our hearts do we practice this? Perhaps, for some of us, these moments can stretch out for years. We are still saved, yes we are still born again but we become increasingly deaf to the Holy Spirit. We have let the fire of our first love for God, that fire from the Holy Spirit; die out. Unfortunately it seems that for some this fire has never burned that brightly in the first place.

The decisions we have made, the life we lead has nearly put out this fire; we have quenched the work of the Holy Spirit[2] in our souls and resisted God’s work in our hearts.

I do not stand here preaching in judgement of any in this church. For the Lord Jesus say ‘Judge not lest ye be Judged’. Brothers and sisters, I preach here as much to myself as to you. So I do not even judge myself; for I do believe that we have been truly and totally forgiven if we trust in Jesus. But simply let me put it like this; some of us, at some periods of our lives, do not walk forwards. We lose our way; we step backwards from a deep commitment to God.

You see living the Christian life is not easy; it is not easy and God understands this. We are not people who are naturally attuned to the way of love, self-sacrifice and putting other people first. We are born in a world that seeks to pull us towards its own ways. And we fear standing out from the crowd. We can get worn down by the stress and pressures in this life. We fear what people will say, we are worried that there will be many consequence in our workplaces, in our friendships, in the places we live, if we are too public, too overt in our allegiance to Christ.

We can also fear God, but in the wrong way. Is there anyone here who fears being swept away, being overwhelmed by the love of God? Strange as this sounds as I say it. Is there anyone here who has a secret fear that God will ask us to do things that would just turn our lives upside down? These kinds of fear are debilitating for Christians. They hold us back, keep up from the ancient paths, they can rob us of the blessing and help that God has for us.

You must understand, this is a spiritual battle we fight in; we have the world, our own human nature and the devil pulling us one way and God’s Holy Spirit and our spiritual nature pulling us the other. Even the apostle Paul recognised that it is a terrible position to be in[3]. But be thankful to God, be thankful to God; He is always on the wining side.

This is why He has provided the Holy Spirit. In the book of Romans we read ‘For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship’[4]. God doesn’t want us to fear what the future may bring. Trust in His sovereign plan, in His perfect will. ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ [5]

He calls us his true daughters and his true sons; we are part of his family. And the Holy Spirit helps our hearts, our minds and our spirit to understand that God is our true father, our “Abba, father”, our dear heavenly dad.

The Apostle John simply put like this “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear”[6] If we have a deep experience of the love of God, we will be released from all our fears and worries. If we will not be filled with the Holy Spirit, we will not know or understand the love that God has for us. We will remain trapped by our fears and worries. Its this simple.


A.W. Tozer[7], that great American pastor and preacher from the last century put it like this

“We are safe only when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, only when our intellects are indwelt by loving fire that came at Pentecost. For the Holy Spirit is not a luxury, not something added now and again to produce a deluxe type Christian, once in every generation. No, he is for every child of God a necessity, that he fill and indwell his people is more than a languid hope. It is an inescapable imperative!”

Love casts out fear. Experiencing the overwhelming love of God is the only thing that will help our limited minds understand God’s ways and want to follow them. And we experience this love by the power and presence of God, the Holy Spirit.

And what is this “inescapable imperative” that Tozer speaks of, at the end of my quote? Well it is the Apostle Paul’s command to the Ephesians “Be filled with the Spirit”[8]. The Greek tense that Paul uses is the present imperative. So the force of what Paul is saying is this: “Go on and on being filled again and again with the Holy Spirit” So it is not a one time experience; it is a processes of continually being filled afresh with the presence of God.

If I have convinced you that this is necessary, you may ask ‘How then do we go about being filled with the Holy Spirit?’ The answer can be summarised by four words: Repent, Obey, Thirst and Ask[9].

Repent

Peter preached to the Jerusalem crowd on the day of Pentecost: “Repent ... and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’[10] . You see there are no short cuts, no easy fixes. We must mean business with God before God will do business with us. We need to make a clear, ruthless break will all known sin. We must have a determination to put right everything that we can, with the help of Jesus. All that has been wrong in our life; those wrong attitudes, those wrong relationships especially with other believers, those wrong priorities, the wrong use of our time and money, our wrong ambitions; all self-sins in our life must go. You must not compromise with sin.

Obey

“We are witnesses to these things” said Peter, “and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him”[11] The context of this verse is this: the first Christian where to obey the Lord’s command to tell others about Jesus. And when the Apostles were told not to preach, not to talk about Jesus, Peter simply replied “We must obey God rather than men”. So God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him. We must be willing for God to do what he likes with us, to use us as he wants, to send us where he chooses, to transform us into what he has planned us to be.

The late and great Anglican Preacher, David Watson put it like this: “unless I really desire to glorify God in my life, at whatever cost and in whatever way, I do not want to be filled with the Spirit. I may want comforting experiences, but I do not long for the Spirit of God to possess and control my life” Wow, what a challenge.

Thirst

Jesus said; near the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” In the preceding verses Jesus makes it clear what will lead up to such a hunger and thirst. First we must face our utter spiritual poverty in the sight of God. We are poor clay pots, we often fail to do what we should do and do the things we shouldn’t. We are spiritually bankrupt, weak and poor. Jesus says that this should lead to sadness and humility. Let us be truly honest with ourselves and with God. From this honesty before God comes a true spiritual thirst; a great longing to be right with God, to be filled with His love and power. Jesus promises that such a person will be blessed and filled.

Ask

One of the clearest passages on this is in Luke 11:5-13. Jesus describes the story of a man who is embarrassed by a hungry visitor at midnight; something a little more common then that now. The man welcomes him, but promptly goes to his neighbour and bangs loudly on his door and says ‘A friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’. At first glance we may think that this is a parable about hospitality. However, Jesus tells this parable to help us to understand the work of the Holy Spirit.

You see it is only when we are sufficiently aware of our own state, our own spiritual needs, that we honestly realise that we have nothing whatever to offer the hungry people around us; those who come to us for help. Jesus encourages us that God shall provide what we need, by the power of the Holy Spirit. He will do this not just for our own sakes, but also for the sake of others.

And Jesus anticipates two very common stumbling blocks to being filled with the Holy Spirit. The first is unbelief: we say to ourselves ‘this will not happen to me’ Therefore Jesus said, and underlined it six times, “And I tell you, Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” Jesus promises that that we can be filled with the Spirit; trust that God can do this.

The second stumbling block is fear: ‘what will God do with me? I’m not sure that I’m ready for this and what happens if I experience something that is not from God?’ So Jesus goes on to say “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?”

Don’t be afraid! God will not deceive us or hurt us. We can trust Him. Come to your heavenly father with this one desire: namely to glorify His name and you have nothing to fear. Jesus concludes “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

This is the nature of the spiritual life. We must take hold of the promises of God, believe that they are true, claim them humbly yet confidently, and start praising God for what he has done and what he can and will do. We should wait patiently, in trust and hope, and we will be filled by the Holy Spirit in God’s timing. Jesus says “whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it and you will”[12].

Please never worry about the exact nature of the experience. Leave that to God. For some people the experience of being full with the Holy Spirit is sudden and dramatic; for others it is gentle and gradual. Don’t worry about this, only believe, just trust God can do more immeasurably and more abundantly than we can think of or even imagine.

It is from the abundance of the heart that mouth speaks. If I carry a full glass, and I am jogged and jolted, what will spill out? Whatever is in it of course. As we are jogged and jolted in our daily lives; as we are given opportunities to speak about Jesus, what will ‘spill out’ of our mouths? That which is filling your heart. When we are full of the Spirit of Jesus, filled with the love of Jesus, we will naturally and spontaneously tell others about Jesus.

In conclusion let me take us back to the crossroads of Jeremiah. Will we chose God’s ways? Will we walk the ancient paths of God?

Let me encourage you by saying this. Be filled with the Holy Spirit and go on being filled with the Spirit, day by day. Watch out for the Spiritual battle that you may soon understand more clearly. Be honest and humble. Be free from fear, for the love that God has for you is so great that you have nothing to fear. Listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Obey our Lord’s command to witness and lean on the Holy Spirit for guidance and help. When you have nothing to offer others call on God, our God can supply what is lacking in us.

And so I believe we are always at a point of decision, crossroads of some kind. Choose the right way, God’s way, Look, ask and then continue on that ancient path, that path of God’s that leads to life and peace.

Amen


[1] Jeremiah 6:16
[2] 1 Thessalonians 5:19
[3] Romans 7:7-25
[4] Romans 8:15
[5] Jeremiah 29:11
[6] 1 John 4:18
[7] The Divine Conquest , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aiden_Wilson_Tozer
[8] Ephesians 5:18
[9] One in the Spirit, Pg 71-74, David Watson
[10] Acts 2:38
[11] Acts 5:32
[12] Mark 11:24

Living a full and free life

Partly based on C.H. Spurgeon exposition of Psalm 37

Preached at Clevedon Baptist Church 29/Sept/09


In our series on Financial Freedom, our pastor has touched on many practical aspects; that unless we have a correct view of work, giving and debt we will not be able to serve the Lord fully and fully understand God’s purposes. 

As I started to prepare this sermon, I was lead to psalm 37 and this Psalm spoke to me, so powerfully, that I felt that I must preach on it this evening. I have been greatly aided by the excellent commentary of Spurgeon. In this Psalm David outlines the principles by which we should live our lives. These principles are so universal, so important, so deep and practical that if we are able to live by them I believe that we would find all the answers we will ever need to the problems of our finances. Listen to the first verses, 

1Don’t worry about the wicked
  or envy those who do wrong.
2For like grass, they soon fade away.
  Like spring flowers, they soon wither . 

The psalm opens with this first principle. “Don’t envy those who do wrong” There are times in life when things can take a turn for the worse. You may have lost your job due to no fault of your own; finances are tight. You may find yourself in bad health and you are unable to do the things you used to do. Perhaps someone close to you may have died and you feel the loss greatly. Your relationships with your family may be strained; your marriage may be on the point of braking, your relationship with your children may have soured, as they want to follow their own paths. 

At these times it is easy to look around and see an unbeliever who is utterly devoid of any religious feeling toward God. This person doesn’t attend church; they have a lifestyle that is completely at odds with the Gospel. St Paul describes these type of people who are becoming more common in these last days, they’re self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God . And do you know what is worse that this? They’re wealthy, they’re having fun and it appears that they are actually prospering.  

At these times we need to listen to this first principle “don’t worry about the wicked or envy those who do wrong” Don’t let yourself get tied up in knots, inside. Don’t get angry. Do not get depressed. It is very easy to let yourself get jealous or envious. You see these people driving around in the large and expensive cars, they live in the large and expensive homes; always jetting off to some exotic location; they seem to have money to burn. And you, you who are trying to be faithful to God, are going through all these troubles. 

It easy to slip into their way of thinking, you can build up credit card debts, you start spending beyond your means. And before you know it you’re really in trouble. You’ve become a slave to those debts. Wow, it is at these times of trial when that old sinful nature of ours starts to raise its voice; we start to envy the rich and the famous. If only I had a small part of what they have. 

The devil is sure to be at hand with false reasoning. He has honey dripping from his tongue; for his arguments can be sweetly deceptive as he tries to lead you astray. He tries to persuade you that happiness, popularity and fulfilment comes from having stuff, from wealth and riches. He tries to convince you that to be a ‘somebody’ in this life you need loads of money. And let’s face it, it’s a powerful argument. We should be turning away in horror but at these times our eyes are only half open to God. 

But listen “2For like grass, the wicked soon fade away”; or as the AV puts it “For they shall soon be cut down like the grass.” As wonderful and beautify as this life can be remember this: this life is not all there is; and death can come suddenly. The unrepentant wicked shall find a sudden, a sure, an irretrievable end with the judgement of God; while you, believer, will live beyond death. You will live with God forever. 

If I may paraphrase John Bunyan: ‘the wicked have their good things first and they are soon over, but the righteous have there good things last, and they get to keep them forever’  

What future do the evil have? Can you really envy this future? No. What future do the righteous of God have? Can you possibly think you can do without this? For I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us . Consider these two options; on the one hand we have momentary pleasure, followed by death and destruction - fading away like the grass - and on the other hand we have an eternal glorious life, the joy that wipes away every tear and heals every hurt; the loving presence of our God. Therefore

 3 Trust in the Lord and do good.
  Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.

This is the second principle; “Trust in the Lord” Faith cures worrying and envying. Faith, trusting in God, helps to clear your mind and opens up your eyes to see things as they really are. “And do good” True faith is actively obedient. Help others, be kind and compassionate, work for charities, getting involved in the life of the church, talk to others about Jesus, and do good. This is the best medicine; the best cure for worrying about your life. There is a joy in holy activity; it can drive away any lingering thoughts of discontentment. 

“Then you will live safely in the land”. God is reminding us of his promise to the people of Israel, trust in the Lord and you will enter the Promised Land; that land flowing with milk and honey, that place of blessing. You see our outward life depends on our inward life. When you have got heaven in your heart, you will have heaven in your home. When you have got heavenly thinking in your mind you will see things differently, you will start to see heaven in your life.

And you will prosper. This is a promise; you will discover that this way of living has more happiness, more contentment and more fulfilment than any other. 

4 Take delight in the Lord,
  and he will give you your heart’s desires.  

This is the third principle. First, we have been told not to worry, secondly we are commanded to actively trust, and now we are told to take delight in the Lord. Praise Him, worship Him, love Him. In the fourth century AD Bishop Gregory of Nazianzus put it, amazingly, like this “think of God more often than you breathe”. Make God the centre of your thoughts. Some people take delight in obtaining wealth and power. Some people delight in having sexual relationships with as many different people as they can. Some people waste their lives on drink or drugs. Don’t you worry about them; don’t give their way of life a moments thought. You, oh child of God, take delight in God, meditate on His word, spend time in His presence in prayer, breath in His Holy Spirit, and above all imitate Jesus. 

“and he will give you your heart’s desire”. What a promise, what a promise, God shall satisfy our deepest, innermost, heart’s desire. Is this not enough to bring a tear to your eyes; serving God is not just about sacrifice; deep and lasting joy is what God promises us! Jesus came that we might have his joy a complete, full and overflowing joy . Do I hear an Amen?

 5 Commit everything you do to the Lord.
  Trust him, and he will help you.
 6 He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn,
  and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.
  
  “Commit everything you do to the Lord.” Give over the whole burden of your life to God. Cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you. Don’t just stop with your current worries; go on cast all your cares, every last one on Him. Throw away all your anxious thoughts, resign yourself to His will; submit the whole of your life to Him. Lay yourself completely into His hands. And this is the fourth principle: Commit everything you do to the Lord.” How blessed, how satisfied, how content would we be if we lived every day by this; “Trust him, and his will make it come true”

Let us consider the picture of a farmer, who ploughs the field and sows the seed but then leaves the harvest to God. What else can he do? He cannot make the sun shine or bring the rain. It is wise for him to realise that some things are outside his control; and this is true for all of us. When we have obediently trusted God we must leave the results in his hands and expect the promised blessing. 
 
7 Be still in the presence of the Lord,
  and wait patiently for him to act.
  Don’t worry about evil people who prosper
  or fret about their wicked schemes.

“Rest in the Lord”; this is the fifth principle, and this require a lot of grace to carry it out. To quiet your soul, to be silent before the Lord, to wait with holy patience for the time of His choosing, that time when He will clear up your difficulties – this is what we should all aim to do. “and wait patiently for him to act” Time is nothing to God and let it be nothing to you. God is worth waiting for. God is never too early and His is never too late. 

When we watch some film, sometimes we must wait until the last few minutes to find out what will happen. We must wait to find out how the storyline will twist and turn and finally resolve itself. We should, rest in the Lord and wait patiently. We must not prejudge how things will turn out in the great story of life; have hope and faith to trust Him.  

10 Soon the wicked will disappear.
  Though you look for them, they will be gone.
 11 The lowly will possess the land
  and will live in peace and prosperity.

You who are poor and humble shall possess the land. Not the rich, not the proud and arrogant, not the self-absorbed and money hungry, but as Jesus reminded us God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth . The poor shall ‘possess the land’ and this means taking hold of the inheritance that comes to us because we believe in Jesus. It is a spiritual inheritance that cannot be accepted without faith in Jesus. 
  
Even if you suffer, the comfort that God provides is greater and richer than any trouble you face. “And you will live in peace and prosperity”. If it’s peace you love then peace you shall have. God may not give you an abundance of gold, but an abundance of peace He has promised, and this will serve you better. At the end of time, when universal peace shall fill the new heavens and earth, the full prophetic meaning of these words shall become clear. 

 16 It is better to be godly and have little
  than to be evil and rich.

The wicked never have enough, they are never satisfied. But the godly are content with the little they have; they are in a better position. 

21 The wicked borrow and never repay,
  but the godly are generous givers.

Giving and borrowing often prove to be opposites. It is hard to give freely when debt overwhelms you. Scripture says the wicked borrow and do not pay back. They cannot or will not; because of the extravagance of their lives; because they neither care to, nor want to live any other way. All they see is their own needs and wants. 

As believers, we should avoid getting into debt; and if we have debts, we should seek to repay these debts as soon as we are able. In this modern western world ‘leading and debts’ are all around us. I take the biblical view of debt to mean simply this: if you owe more than you own, then you are in debt. A mortgage on a house is not necessarily a debt here, as the house is hopefully worth more than the mortgage. Therefore, in principle, you could be free from this arrangement by selling your home; and remember you do need somewhere to live. Nevertheless, if God called to move to another place, to go off and become a missionary somewhere else in the world then you could do this, after you sold your house. 

However, if you owe more than you own, then these are debts that bind you, that ensnare you. The only escape may be to pay back the money you owe, little by little, over a large period of time. You will have to work hard to earn money and you will not be as free to serve God. 

And there is another consequence of debt. The psalm says ‘the godly are generous givers’ Godliness is shown by the fruit of generous giving. Thus, real debts are like the chains of slavery that will restrict your actions, debts curtail your freedom, they make it very hard to give, and they can restrict what you can do for the Lord.  

 23 The Lord directs the steps of the godly.
  He delights in every detail of their lives.
 24 Though they stumble, they will never fall,
  for the Lord holds them by the hand.

As a parent we look at our children as they take their first steps and we are interested in every wobbly effort to stand and walk. We naturally take delight in every detail of their lives. We are, by nature, not as loving as God. Our Father God directs every step we take. He guides us. He takes delight in every detail of our lives. Doesn’t this just blow your mind? He loves to view your holy efforts as you press forward to heaven. In the trials and in the joyous moments Jesus is with us, our Father God looks down from above, and God the Holy Spirit is within our hearts. God delights to be our sympathetic companion. 

‘Though you stumble’ Disasters and apparent misfortune may lay you low. You may even, if you are holy enough, be striped of everything like Job; or like Joseph you may spend years in prison; or like Jonah you may be cast into the depths of the sea. ‘Though you stumble, you will never fall’ you may be brought to your knees but God has promised that you will not be crushed completely. No saint shall fall finally or fatally. Sorrow may bring us to the earth, and death may bring us to the grave, but lower than this we cannot sink. And from this lowest place we shall rise to the highest place. 

‘for the Lord holds you by the hand’ or KJV puts is like this ‘for the Lord holds you by his hand’. God take you by the hand, placing your hand in his. Even in our stumbling God sustains us. Where His grace doesn’t keep you from going down; His grace shall save you from staying down. In the end Job had his wealth doubled, Joseph was raise to reign over all Egypt and Jonah was safely placed on dry land. Believers do not rise, after they stumble, because they are strong, or wise, or even praiseworthy. They rise, after every stumbling, because God is their helper, holding them by his hand.


 26 The godly always give generous loans to others,
  and their children are a blessing. 
 27 Turn from evil and do good,
  and you will live in the land forever.

As a summary, David repeats the theme that the believers should be generous givers. This is our calling; this is how God wants us to live. Free from debts, free to serve. Your way of life will be followed by your children; they shall be a blessing to others. Don’t be led into an evil or wicked way of living. You, oh child of God, do good. Then you will live in the promised land of prosperity forever. 

In conclusion, we have five principles of a full and free life,
 
(i) Don’t you worry about or envy others, especially those who are wicked. 
(ii) you just trust God and do good. 
(iii) Delight yourself in God; meditate, think about Him as often as you can.
(iv) Commit everything you do to the Lord. Place your whole life in His hands 
(v) Rest and wait for God’s timing, wait for His answers. 

And we have five blessings God has promised us
 
(i) He has promised safety and spiritual prosperity
(ii) He has promised to give us our heart’s desire
(iii) He has promised to guide our steps
(iv) He has promised to raise us up when we stumble. 
(v) He has promised us peace of heart that will last forever 

I pray that we may be open to God’s word, His ways and His purposes. Amen

God has a Plan

Part of series on life of Joseph

Genesis 41

Preached at Clevedon Baptist Church 19/Jul/09

I want to ask you a question, this evening. Does God speak to us? Does God want to talk to us? Did you know that God is thinking about us all the time?[i] But you may say to yourself, “who am I, I’m nothing special, I’m no Moses, I’m no Paul, why should God be so interested in me?” Well the message of scripture is this: “He is”, He loves each and every one of us. Like a caring father He has concerns about how His children are living their lives; and we are His children. Each and every one of us is like a son or a daughter to God.

Now what loving father doesn’t constantly think about his children? What loving father doesn’t think this “If my daughter or my son would only listen to my advice, then …” If you are parents you will understand that children, being children, have a desire to be independent, to follow their own ways. And we are no different; we often would rather go our own way, live our own lives.

God, our wise and loving Father, has given us freedom to live our lives how we will. I can choose to follow my own plans, to live my own way or I can listen to God and go with what He considers best. Listen to prophet Jeremiah

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future[ii].

But sometimes it quite difficult to understand God’s plans.

Joseph had to learn this truth. Through life’s up and downs, our father God knows better than us. You see “He knows better than I, He knows the way”.

The younger Joseph, the boy, was given a great gift of prophetic dreams by God. He was able to hear messages from God, through these dreams. The prophetic dreams where for himself, his family and the people God. In having this gift he was just like his father Jacob. We could say he was born into a family of dreamers. But he was also born into a family with a history; and this history of was one of conflict and deception. It was a family that was far from perfect.

Just like his father Joseph was not mature enough to understand how to use that gifts wisely. It was not entirely his fault. Jacob loved Joseph more than the other sons; for two reasons. Firstly Joseph was much younger than the other half-brothers; he was a son of the older Jacob. Joseph was almost like a grand-child and it is very easy to spoil grand-children. The second and more important reason why Jacob especially loved Joseph was this; at that time he was the only son of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel. Joseph reminded Jacob of his true love Rachel so he favoured him more that he should have.

It is true that Joseph was not wise or let us say tactful in the way he revealed his prophetic dreams. But the ground had already been sown by his father. His brothers felt undervalued and even unloved. Nevertheless this is no excuse for what they did to their young half-brother.

I don’t know whether you have noticed but there are times when emotions can run very high in families. And this family had a history of some pretty major bust ups. If you read the earlier chapters of Genesis, you will see the feud between Jacob and his brother Esau was caused again by the favouritism of their father Isaac.

So Joseph he went from hero to zero, and all in the space of a couple of hours. Thrown into that pit he probably thought that his brothers would relent and come back for him. Only to find out that they really did hate his guts; they actually sold him into slavery! Wow, going from the freedom and comfort of a loving home into slavery.

What was God doing? I do not believe that God was punishing Joseph, but God had a great plan to save the entire people of God. Joseph was going to be the means by which this salvation was going to come about. This would come to pass some twenty years in the future. Joseph’s life is an Old Testament picture of our Lord and saviour Jesus. Like Jesus, Joseph was one who was brought very low in suffering before being raised up; in order that many people could be saved. Joseph’s whole life was a prophetic account of what God was going to do through His own son Jesus.

In Egypt things initially got better. He was bought by the Captain of Pharaoh’s guard, Potipher, who treated him well as a slave. He worked hard and honestly. Joseph showed that his heart was humble; he showed that he still trusted God. Even though he had lost everyone he loved. However, God’s spiritual gifts are never taken back[iii]. God remained close to him, in his inner life, in his dreams.

But as we all know this good interlude didn’t last long. He was thrown in jail because of the scheming of sex-mad wife of Potipher. God brought him even lower; he was now a slave and a prisoner. Could things get any worse? Yes, they could. We may remember the passage from last week. Joseph helps Pharaoh’s cupbearer by correctly interpreting his dreams. Joseph hopes that the cupbearer will put in a good word for him with Pharaoh. He hopes that this good word will get him out of that dungeon. However as the days passed by, days turned into months, and months into years, Joseph probable gave up any hope of this route out of prison.

God brought Joseph down to the very lowest place in life; to the very depths of despair. Joseph was still a young man, but he had nothing left, he had no plans, he nothing to do, he had nowhere to go. Would he ever get a girl and marry? No. Would he ever achieve anything, amount to anything? No. His own plans for his life were in tatters. What hope was left? He would die in this dungeon. However, God’s spiritual gifts are never taken back[iv]. God remained close to him, in his inner life, in his dreams.

Joseph began to learn, deep down in depth of his being, that “You Lord, know better than I, You know the way, I’ve let go the need to know why, For You know better than I”. Joseph didn’t have all the answers, in fact at this point in his life he had very few answers, but he never let go of trust in God. I would say that it was these years in the dungeons of Pharaoh that gave Joseph an unshakeable reliance on God. From a worldly perspective these years were lost years, but from God’s perspective these years of darkness and isolation taught Joseph that God is all you need, with God you lack no good thing. It was these years where God fanned into flame all the spiritual gifts, all the prophetic incite. And this came through time spent in prayer, time spent with God alone.

This is a sobering and challenging teaching from scripture that sometimes God has to strip away all our supports structures, so that we rely only on Him. Sometimes God has to bring all our hopes and plans to naught so that we may begin to see that His plans are better than ours, His ways are better than our ways.

Then out of the blue, the humbled Joseph was brought before Pharaoh. He was shaved and cleaned up, dressed in new cloths and presented before the great ruler of the most powerful nation in the world. I don’t think that Joseph was expecting that.

¹⁵"I dreamed a dream," Pharaoh told Joseph. "Nobody can interpret it. But I've heard that just by hearing a dream you can interpret it."

¹⁶ Joseph answered, "Not I, but God. God will set Pharaoh's mind at ease."[v]

Joseph takes no credit for the interpretation, he makes no boast that it is because of any attribute that he has. Joseph gives glory to God alone. As the protestant reforms said “Soli Deo Gloria - Glory to God alone”. Those years in jail had strengthened his resolve to be a humble servant of his Lord God; to give everything over to God.

^17-21 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile. Seven cows, shimmering with health, came up out of the river and grazed on the marsh grass. On their heels seven more cows, all skin and bones, came up. I've never seen uglier cows anywhere in Egypt. Then the seven skinny, ugly cows ate up the first seven healthy cows. But you couldn't tell by looking—after eating them up they were just as skinny and ugly as before. Then I woke up.

^22-24 "In my second dream I saw seven ears of grain, full-bodied and lush, growing out of a single stalk, and right behind them, seven other ears, shriveled, thin, and dried out by the east wind. And the thin ears swallowed up the full ears. I've told all this to the magicians but they can't figure it out."

I can imagine Joseph pauses, and silence settles over Pharaoh’s court. What was this slave/prisoner about to say? What ritual of magic was he going to perform to figure out the meaning of Pharaoh’s dream?

Joseph, simply and humbly responds; he has drawn close to God through his years of trial and suffering and is so open to the prompting of God’s Holy Spirit he immediately knows what to say. He knows with a divine knowledge, a revelation knowledge, he knows what Pharaoh’s dream is all about.

^25-27 Joseph said to Pharaoh, "Pharaoh's two dreams both mean the same thing. God is telling Pharaoh what he is going to do. The seven healthy cows are seven years and the seven healthy ears of grain are seven years—they're the same dream. The seven sick and ugly cows that followed them up are seven years and the seven scrawny ears of grain dried out by the east wind are the same—seven years of famine.

^28-32 "The meaning is what I said earlier: God is letting Pharaoh in on what he is going to do. Seven years of plenty are on their way throughout Egypt. But on their heels will come seven years of famine, leaving no trace of the Egyptian plenty. As the country is emptied by famine, there won't be even a scrap left of the previous plenty—the famine will be total. The fact that Pharaoh dreamed the same dream twice emphasizes God's determination to do this and do it soon.

The truth, God’s truth resonates in the mind of Pharaoh. Dreams, especially lucid and vivid dreams, prophetic dreams, are figurative and symbolic pictures. But they are not just a TV channel in our sleep. While our dreams play out in our minds they come with a rich sense of emotional and even spiritual meaning. We intuitively know this. Often the emotions that go along with them are more powerful and troubling than words can convey. This is why Pharaoh was so troubled by his dreams. He was unable to ignore them. He couldn’t believe that they were due to something he had eaten the night before. The emotions within his dream troubled Pharaoh, literally frightened and terrified him.

So he sought counsel from his magicians. The term “magicians” comes from an Egyptian word. It is a title given to those who were experts is handing ritual books of priesthood and magic. They would have consulted their extensive literature on interpretation of dreams. They were the expert psychoanalysts of their day. In the ancient world people believed that dreams were very important.

However, they could not provide an interpretation that satisfied Pharaoh. This is an important principle of dream interpretation. The dreamer of the dream should believe that the interpretation is correct. Pharaoh felt, in his spirit, that Joseph had hit the nail on the head. He knew that what Joseph had said was right because it felt right. For Pharaoh, the first conformation that Joseph interpretation was right was that it rang true within.

Joseph went on to add some prophetic and wise advice,

^33-36 "So, Pharaoh needs to look for a wise and experienced man and put him in charge of the country. Then Pharaoh needs to appoint managers throughout the country of Egypt to organize it during the years of plenty. Their job will be to collect all the food produced in the good years ahead and stockpile the grain under Pharaoh's authority, storing it in the towns for food. This grain will be held back to be used later during the seven years of famine that are coming on Egypt. This way the country won't be devastated by the famine."

³⁷ This seemed like a good idea to Pharaoh and his officials.

So the second conformation, to Pharaoh, was that Joseph’s proposal was eminently sensible. Pharaoh was no fool, he knew his kingdom. He knew that his kingdom was vulnerable to the treats of the east wind, the withering desert wind that was known to devastate a crop. The Egyptian fertile plain was a thin strip of land along the Nile and this strip was surrounded, on both sides, by desert. If the crops failed this spelt disaster for his nation. It is twice indicated by the Egyptian records that when this happened; food became so scare that the inhabitants resorted to cannibalism. So what Joseph was suggesting was at the very least a prudent insurance policy. Build storage facilities and store up grain against that possible future.

Pharaoh believed in many gods. He also believed that the “gods” spoke to us in our dreams. Joseph’s God was clearly a powerful one that had provided a warning to Egypt. So the final conformation to Pharaoh was that the interpretation of the dream was of divine origin, it was literally from God, like the dream itself. The interpretation and the dream form a prophetic whole; both were a message from God.

Joseph had spoken what God has placed on his heart. I do not believe that he was expecting what came next.

³⁸ Then Pharaoh said to his officials, "Isn't this the man we need? Are we going to find anyone else who has God's spirit in him like this?"

^39-40 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "You're the man for us. God has given you the inside story—no one is as qualified as you in experience and wisdom. From now on, you're in charge of my affairs; all my people will report to you. Only as king will I be over you."

In the dungeon, Joseph’s life was over. He had lost is family, he was rotting away, wasting away, alone in a foreign jail, with no future. Then suddenly, unexpectedly God raises him up, God blesses him double what he has lost. God takes him from zero to hero, all in the space of a couple minutes. You see God knows better than us “You know better than I, You know the way, I’ve let go the need to know why, For You know better than I”.

^41-43 So Pharaoh commissioned Joseph: "I'm putting you in charge of the entire country of Egypt." Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his finger and slipped it on Joseph's hand. He outfitted him in robes of the best linen and put a gold chain around his neck. He put the second-in-command chariot at his disposal, and as he rode people shouted "Bravo!" Joseph was in charge of the entire country of Egypt.

Joseph receives the royal signet ring, the royal seal form Pharaoh own hand. God has so worked in Pharaoh’s heart that he shows great affection to his new overseer. It is almost as if Pharaoh is taking a new son. Joseph is outfitted in the finest linen robe; and there is an interesting twist here. Archaeological evidence that suggests this robe may have had a multicoloured trim. Our God raises up, our God restores, our God has a way return things that we though we lost.

God plans, have a way of surprising us, for God can bless us far more abundantly than we think or even imagine.

Finishing off

In finishing I would like to say a few more words; to apply this text we have considered today to our lives.

I believe that God has a plan and purpose for all our lives. I believe that this is a good plan. We should seek to follow it. But we do have some choice. When life got hard, in the depths of Joseph’s suffering, he could have chosen to give up on God. If he had done this, he would have not used his spiritual gifts, he would have probably died in that dark dungeon without ever seeing the light. But Joseph didn’t leave God and God didn’t leave him.

There are times in life when things get so difficult that we wonder what God is doing. But we must remain with him, listen to voice, understand, as far as we are able, his plans.

God can speak to us in many ways, through the beauty and wonder of His creation, through the actions and words other people, and most importantly through His revealed word, the Bible. But never forget that, through all these ways, it is God’s Holy Spirit that makes our understanding alive and real. It is a spiritual process. Spiritual things can only be discerned and understood spiritually. Listening and drawing close to God means that we rely on this spiritual communication between our spirit and the Holy Spirit.

And God can and does speak to us through our dreams[vi]. Scripture has a lot to say about dreams. In the bible there are over 130 references to dreams and over almost 100 references to visions the bulk of which come from the Old Testament[vii]. A sizeable chuck of scripture deals with God talking to his people and I believe He still wants to talk to us now. His ways never change; God does not change.

Sometimes vivid and lucid dreams can be a means by which God is trying to communicate with us. Dreams, the interpretation of dreams and Prophetic gifts are closely linked in scripture. You may think that I can leave that, … that’s not for me, but listen to the apostle Paul.

¹Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.[viii]

We are to eagerly desire a deep spiritual union with God. The Holy Spirit of God communicates with our spirits, in a mysterious way. And this is to impress upon us a part of God’s purposes and plans. This is the some of what the prophetic gift is about. The prophet Joel prophesied this

¹⁷" 'In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.[ix]

And the Apostle Peter said on the day of Pentecost that this was to be fulfilled in the Church. We are to be a prophetic people, dreamers, interpreters and visionaries.

Let us listen to God, will all our heart, mind, soul and strength. Whatever may come, let us follow His plans for our lives. Let us listen to the Holy Spirit in all the ways He tries to speak to us; for I believe God has a lot to say to us. And God will surprise us with the blessing He has in store for us.

Amen

---

[i] Ps 139:17-18

[ii] Jeremiah 29:11

[iii] Romans 11:29

[iv] Romans 11:29

[v] Gen 41:15-16 [Message]

[vi] Job 33:14-16

[vii] Russ Parker, “Healing dreams” Chapter 2

[viii] 1 Cor 14:1

[ix] Acts 2:17

"Action, Obedience and Trust is what I require"

Part of series on life of Saul

1 Samuel 14-15

Preached at Chew Magna Baptist Church 28/Jun/09

Our text today, is chapters 14 and 15 of the first book of Samuel. It is part of the story of the first King of the people of Israel, the first King of the Jews, Saul.

The prophet Samuel paints us a picture of Saul’s reign. Samuel recounts the critical events in his life, and shows us how it is possible to fall short of God’s perfect best for our lives. The story of Saul mirrors, in many ways, the history of the nation of Israel. They were both chosen by God, but ultimately they failed, for the most part, to follow God’s plans and missed out on God’s best.

You see the fundamental problem was that they found it hard to fully obey the Lord. Obedience is what the Lord requires. This obedience flows from a heart and soul that loves the Lord and wants to serve the Lord; listen what Moses told them in the book of Deuteronomy,

¹²“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. ¹³And you must always obey the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good. …¹⁶Therefore, change your hearts and stop being stubborn.

It is a hard heart and stubborn will that opposes what the Lord requires. In His mercy and wisdom, God has given us all freedom to serve Him, to love him or not. If we choose His ways we will be blessed. But if we follow too much the desires of our own hearts we will miss out that blessed best that God has for us. Do we believe this?

These passages talk much about battles and wars. When we read this Old Testament history we should remember the New Testament says our battles are not warring against other people for we have a Gospel of love to proclaim. We understand the Old Testament through the lense of the New Testament. For the clearest revelation of God is given in Christ our Lord and God. Today, our battles are against evil spiritual powers in the heavenly realms[1]. We should view all the Old Testament battles as mainly figurative. We can view them as symbolic of the spiritual battles we are involved with. They teach us to rely of God first and last.

Let’s get down to the text now; the first chapter we shall look at is chapter 14. At this point in history the philistines had been growing in influence and were trying to expand into the territory of Israel. The Philistines had occupied the plains near the coast; like the Jews they were also invaders of Canaan. But unlike the people of Israel they were technologically advanced, they had developed Iron weapons. They had chariots and horses. Additionally, they had a far superior political system, with a well established monarchy. With this monarchy came a large and organised army. In the previous chapter Jonathan had caused a racheting up, an increase in the tension between the two sides by attacking an outpost of the Philistines at Geba. This resulted in the mass mobilisation of the Philistine army that was matched by Saul and Israel.

Initially Saul mustered three thousand men; this was a reasonably large army. But this was nothing compared to the Philistines army, with three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers and soldiers more numerous than the sand on the seashore!

Saul and his troop were quaking in their boots; I don’t think they were going to do the attacking. As they waited confidence ebbed away and Saul’s army started shrinking. Eventually only six hundred were left; a quaking, demoralised six hundred.

So Jonathan, the head strong son of Saul, decides to attack another outpost of the Philistines. He is not put off by the consequences of his previous actions. You see he figured that this conflict between the Philistines and Israel was inevitable. They wanted Israel’s land; they were more advanced, more affluent and more powerful. Nothing on earth would stop them. Israel was using sharpen wooden ploughs and sticks against the state of the art, high tech, army.

But Jonathan believes in the God of Israel; he trusts that his God was able to do what humanly speaking was impossible.

Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, "Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few."[2]

Jonathan believes that the Lord will save His people and he figures that the Lord may chose to use him. He is willing to risk his life; giving it to the Lord. He is not an egotist. He doesn’t believe it is all down to him. He trusts that if God doesn’t use him then the God must still save His people for He is their God. But if God does choose to use him, like Gideon, like Samson, then wow. Jonathan wants to see God’s plans unfold and he wants to be a part of God’s plans as they unfold. Are we like this? Do we want to see God’s plans unfold and be a part of God’s plans as they unfold?

What a contrast we observer between father and son; Jonathan trusting, believing and hoping while Saul was fretting and doubting. Saul was sitting under a pomegranate tree; this so small only one person could fit underneath it. He was alone with his thoughts, pensive, brooding over the rebuke that Samuel gave him in the previous chapter. He was worrying about the imminent battle. ‘What should they do? How are they going to get out of this situation alive?’

Saul’s inaction is contrasted by Jonathan’s action. His youthful head had had enough of waiting about; ‘let’s get on with it’ he thought. If his father had lost the plot he was going to act. With his loyal armour bearer he climbs the rocky outcrop, up to the outpost, and takes on and kills twenty men almost single handed.

As a result, panic sets into the Philistine army. Other outpost troops retreat to the main body of the army. At this very moment divine providence supplies an earthquake. God not only strengthen Jonathan in battle but makes the very ground shake and this casts fear into the hearts of the Philistines.

The Lord does use Jonathan, and this is the story of scripture. Even one man, just one faithful man plus God equals great things. Let us all remember this, what ever the situation you face, God can do far more immeasurably than we think or imagine. For our part we must trust Him and be ready and willing act in keeping with God’s purposes and plans.

Hearing sounds like panic and seeing the Philistine outpost troops fading away in all directions; Saul is still hesitant and fearful. He decides to count his forces to see who’s left. Then, after this process in complete, its time for a spot of prayer. Let’s spend some time trying to find out what God thinks. But this is not a quick faithful prayer like Nehemiah, or a deep powerful daylong prayer like Moses. It is a time-wasting exercise. Saul is so uncertain about what he should do that calls up the high priest to perform a special discerning ritual. What is Saul doing? They had been camped there for at least a week? Why didn’t he pray before, why didn’t he discern the Lord’s will earlier?

Anyway during this attempt at discerning the Lord’s will, news comes to Saul. The Philistines are actually in retreat and are fighting each other. Apparently some of Saul’s initial army had deserted and hidden themselves in the surrounding hill country. Some others had changed allegiance and had gone to fight alongside the Philistine army. It is amazing that they did this. Perhaps they had intermarried with Philistines and had some bond with them; perhaps they just wanted to be on the winning side, to live. This shows us that Saul’s Israel was greatly influenced by the surrounding nations. It was not completely dedicated to serving the Lord their God.

But God had turned the circumstances around and showed these deserters that “if God for you, who can stand against you?” So these deserters re-enlist on the Lord’s side and start fighting the Philistines from within their own ranks.

At this point Saul, the military man, sees that tide had turned, and now is the time to act. So he stops the high priest from performing the discerning ritual. Saul shows that he is not really interested in discerning the Lord’s will after all. They plunge headlong into battle with the Philistine army and drive them out of that region. Therefore, the Lord rescued Israel that day, but the battle with the Philistines moved on to another place.

Most of the rest of Chapter 14 is a subplot, to the events we had already looked at. It is a parallel theme which Samuel uses to describe the mind of Saul. We find out on the day before the battle Saul binds his army, with an oath, to fast from food. He threatens them with a curse, on pain of death, if they break this oath. Samuel leaves us in no doubt that this was not a wise thing to do.

There is a time and a place for fasting and this was not it. Fasting usual signifies a commitment to God and Saul felt sure that this was kind of thing God would like. He was trying to ensure God’s support in the battle. But to go into battle physically weak is hardly ideal.

This tells us a great deal about Saul’s understanding of God. He somehow believed that distressing and threatening his own faithful men was a necessary way of ensuring God’s help. Never believe that you can move God to love us more than He already does. God is always true to his nature and his nature is to love us. But Saul does not get this. Saul burdened his men with unreasonable demands and this kind of behaviour may have explained the desertions in his army.

Now Jonathan, did not hear the about the fast. Samuel paints this vivid picture. The army enters some woods and they come across a fallen honey comb on the ground. You can imagine the honey oozing out of the comb. At the sight of it, the men’s tongues are hanging out of their mouths. Then Jonathan just reaches down and immediately starts to eat that lovely honey. This is not today’s world when you could pop down to the local supermarket and buy some tomorrow. You could live for a lifetime without tasting anything this sweet.

When he is told of his father’s foolish command he shows no sign of guilt. As far as he was concerned he thinks that sending the army into battle without food is crazy. We cannot question Jonathan’s dependence on God. It just this, Jonathan believed that God works through His people and that God expects them to play their full part in He will. For him religion was not something that you do on a Sunday (or a Saturday!); it could not be separated from actions of everyday life. It was not about rites and rituals; it was about living and acting in line with what you know of God’s purposes and plans.

Samuel leaves us in no doubt that it is Jonathan rather than Saul who has the better understanding of what the Lord requires; and by implication it is Jonathan who has a better understanding of God Himself.

I will skip over the rest of the detail of this chapter, which you can read for yourselves. I want to move onto the next chapter, chapter 15. We move many years, perhaps decades, later in the life of Saul and Israel. Even though Saul had clear faults he was successful in defending and establishing a kingdom. His rule was not perfect but he achieved some good things. It is interesting that he reign was approximately 40 years, as many as David.

At this time, God spoke through the prophet Samuel saying that Israel should go and destroy, completely, the Amalekites; and also destroy all their possessions. They were to bring nothing back from this evil nation.

I confess I find this command a very difficult thing to reconcile with the God I know. However, when we face passages of scripture such as these, we must be willing let them challenge our incomplete understanding of God. With our modern eyes, it seems hard to understand. War with mortal enemies is difficult to grasp for many of us because we have only known peace within our shores.

So who where the Amalekites? Well, they were a nomadic people who had attacked Israel, again and again when they were in the wilderness. Their mode of operation was to attack the weak and vulnerable, those who lagged behind the great body of Israel as they moved around the wilderness. They massacred a great number of people in Sinai[3]. They would have dealt with other peoples as they dealt with Israel, showing no mercy, no signs of changing their ways. God had waited nearly 400 years, until their sins were complete, to judge them. But there comes a time when God will judge all; as the apostle Paul say in Romans

“⁵For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. ⁶He will judge everyone according to what they have done. ⁷He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. ⁸But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. ⁹There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil”[4]

No-one will escape God’s judgement. You see this world, and this life is not all there is; it is a prelude, the first chapter of a book, an opportunity to choose good, to choose faith in Jesus, to choose life eternal with God.

This is the picture scripture paints for us. God has given us all free will. To some degree we are able to choose between right and wrong, between good and evil. God is completely good; nevertheless the freedom that God has given humanity allows evil people to flourish, but only for a season. God provides many opportunities for repentance and choosing good. But there comes a time when God must judge and restrict evil people for the sake of weak and vulnerable. He cannot permit evil to engulf the whole world; as this would thwart his plans and purposes for humanity. For God wants a people to be His own family, out of each tribe and out of every nation. A people chosen by God and choosing God, dedicated to doing good, a holy nation called out of darkness into His glorious light. That peace, and faith and love may grow and have a presence everywhere and for ever, Amen.

Scripture talks about how God uses one wicked nation to judge another wicked nation. In fact this is the history of Mankind. One civilisation grows, normally by conquest, only to be supplanted at some ordained time by another civilisation. In this way, and many centuries later, God used the evil Assyrian empire to judge Israel because of Israel’s sin and evil ways; the ten northern tribes of Israel were defeated and carried away into slavery never to return.

Please do not conclude that the victor is always in the right. No, scripture doesn’t say that. Evil is a destructive force and God cannot permit it to grow unbounded. At pre-ordained times God prunes back evil nations, and He even permits one evil nation to cut back another evil nation; so both are reduced as a result.

At this time, God wanted to use Israel to be His instrument of judgement to restrict the growth of evil. However, Saul failed to completely obey the command of God. Israel went to battle and defeated the Amalekites; however they plundered the property of the Amalekites; their cattle, their possessions, and their King.

Then God spoke to Samuel: "I'm sorry I ever made Saul king. He's turned his back on me. He refuses to do what I tell him."[5]

Saul could see that it made sense to defeat the growing Amalekite threat at his southern border. It was pragmatic and expedient; for it was politically wise to protect his kingdom. However, to destroy their property, well that didn’t make any sense and he had never done that before. He placed his own judgement above what he had clearly been told was God’s will. In his heart he had become self-reliant and arrogant. In his heart of heart he was following his own plans not God’s plans.

When Samuel came to meet him, Saul tries to persuade him that everything is alright. It’s strange he actual believed he could dupe God. When Samuel notices the large amount of sheep present Saul tries to spin Samuel the story that he captures these to sacrifice to God. Samuel is not buying this and so Saul tries to blame his soldiers. Samuel now is left with no choice but to pronounce God’s judgement on Saul, and this is what he says

“Do you think all God wants are sacrifices— empty rituals just for show?

He wants you to listen to him!

Plain listening is the thing,not staging a lavish religious production.

Not doing what God tells you is far worse than fooling around in the occult.

Getting self-important around God is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors.

Because you said No to God's command, he says No to your kingship.” [6]

Saul responds with false contrition and repentance, but Samuel does not accept it.

²⁷As Samuel turned to go, Saul tried to hold him back and tore the hem of his robe. ²⁸ And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to someone else—one who is better than you. ²⁹And he who is the Glory of Israel will not lie, nor will he change his mind, for he is not human that he should change his mind!”

Samuel loved Saul as a father, and his heart was broken by him. Samuel left Saul; he would never go to see him again.

These difficult chapters of Samuel tell us much of the seriousness of God’s ways. Following Him, is not a game, or a hobby that we play at while we have nothing better to do. It must entail an entire way of life. Our duty is to love God with all our heart and strength and to love our neighbour as ourselves and this duty is a weighty and serious one. But it must always come from a free-will offering to the Lord, a freely given heart response from the depths of our being. And remember that it is God who seeing our hearts is able to work in us and with us to this glorious end. So we must never think that we work alone for God, we work always with God.

We must never think that “looking religious” or “sounding religious” is what we need to do. This is the trap that Saul fell into. He thought that saying the “right things” and appearing to do the “right ritual” was sufficient. But in his heart of hearts he didn't want to go God’s way. I pray that we don’t fall into this trap. Obedience is the best measure of faithfulness. Sticking heart and soul to God’s commands of Love is the greatest sign of this obedience. In doing this we must be moved to action. Like Jonathan we must be willing to get out there and live the life to which we have been called. Our only hope of discovering God’s best plan for our lives is to faithfully trust Him and live with that due sense of responsibility, as people who know what the meaning and purpose of life is not as those who don’t. Paul puts is like this;

“Live a life of responsive obedience; … be energetic, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.” [7]

Amen

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[1] Ephesian 6:

[2] 1 Sam 14:6

[3] Exod. 17:8–16

[4] Roman 2:5-11

[5] 1 Sam 15:10 [the message]

[6] 1 Sam 15:22-23 [the message]

[7] Phil 2:12-13 [the message]