Please turn your Bibles this afternoon to the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 1. I had a miniature panic attack on the front view. I thought I'd lost my sermon. I found I'd stuck it somewhere else in my Bible except for 1 Samuel. So, we're good. As Pastor Michael mentioned, we are just going to be talking about some practical applications that we learned from 1 Samuel. I had a good idea going into last week that I wasn't going to be able to finish that sermon. And I had several people, I think there was some friendly bantering going around about how long I could last before I had to use more than one week to go over a book. So I may have lasted longer than some of you thought I would. I may not have lasted as long as some of you thought I would. But either way, here we are, our second week on 1 Samuel. And I think it's important that we don't miss the practical applications. It's easy sometimes when we do our personal devotions and things of this nature to simply read over it as some sort of a rote practice or something we do because it's a habit and we read through it and we miss some of what does that then mean for me today, especially in the Old Testament. Sometimes it's really easy to pick out what the practical applications are in 1 Corinthians. And then it's a little bit more difficult when we get to some of the prophetical books or books of the law, things of this nature. So I want us to be able to look at some of these stories that are found here and some of the things that were said and say, okay, well then, what does that mean for me? How then do I live some of these things out, and what can I learn from these? We have to keep in mind that the New Testament tells us that the stories that were given us in the Old Testament were given for our example, so that we can look at them and say, okay, so that's how I'm supposed to live, that's what I'm not supposed to do, that's what I am supposed to do. And so that's what we hope to be able to do. this afternoon. You'll remember we talked about some of the key doctrines in the books, being the fact that God is sovereign over everything, both good and bad, that happens, that when there's not a continuing vision from the Lord, that the Word of God becomes more precious to us and to the people that have it there in their hands, that God does not forsake his people, and the reason that he gives for not forsaking his people is for his own name's sake, is the reason he will not forsake his people. We saw that there's no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few Jonathan went up there with his armor-bearer and they were pushing each other down running away from them Because it was the battle was the Lord's and not theirs that man looks on the outward appearance But God looks on the heart see all of that in first Samuel chapter And we looked at David as a type found in the book of 1 Samuel. David being a type of Christ, a picture, a foreshadowing of what was to come. So let's move into some of these practical applications. The first one we're going to find is in 1 Samuel chapter 1 and verse 11 is where we'll start at. 1 Samuel 1.11. It's talking about a woman by the name of Hannah. And Hannah couldn't have children. And she vowed a vow. and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a man-child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head." Many times we pray prayers very similar to that. It's part of our human flesh, I suppose. It's part of the way that we operate with other human beings. And we see it throughout the Bible, people operating with God on those terms. If you will do this for me, then I promise I'll do such and such for you. And that's exactly what Hannah said. She said, if you'll give me this man-child, if you'll give me a son, then I will give him to you to serve you in the temple all the days of his life. Now, turn over to verses 27. She comes to the priest that was in those days there. His name was Eli. And she tells Eli, for this child I prayed and the Lord has given me my petition, which I asked of him. Therefore, also, I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he liveth, he shall be lent to the Lord and he worshiped. the Lord there. Hannah did exactly what she said she would do when God gave her the thing that she had asked for. And because of that, because of her seriousness in understanding what it means to vow a vow before the Lord, And in her keeping of that vow, in doing what she had promised God that she was going to do, one of the greatest prophets and judges in the Old Testament is raised up in godliness to judge and prophesy before the children of Israel for decades. Samuel will serve God as a prophet. He will be the one that anoints both King Saul and King David. So, we have this man of God that's brought about because Hannah understood the sincerity and the seriousness behind what it means to vow a vow to the Lord. In case you don't understand, when we make vows to God that this is God, I'm promising from this point forward to do that to you, Because of our human frailties, I'm afraid many times we treat a vow to the Lord the same way we treat a vow to ourselves on New Year's Day. And we think that, well, God, I promise I'm never going to do that again. If you'll just get me out of this situation, I promise God I'll never do that again. And he delivers us from that situation. And we end up falling back into it. Now, perhaps that was foolish of us to vow a vow that we knew we probably couldn't keep. Or perhaps it was weakness on our part to simply not be committed enough to keep that vow that we promised to keep. But either way, we're not understanding the seriousness of what it means to vow a vow before God. And God takes it very seriously. As we go throughout the Bible, that's one of those recurring themes you'll see. A vow that is vowed before God is taken very seriously. That's one of the things that God goes into great detail with in the law. If a woman vows a vow and her husband hears it and doesn't disallow it, it shall stand. If a daughter vows a vow, if a man vows a vow and he's not able to keep it, he has to offer this sacrifice. And it goes through all of these things. And we already saw in Judges the man that vowed a vow to God. If you will deliver this battle into my hand, I'll offer the first thing that comes out of my house. A foolish vow before God. He never should have made, but he did. And his daughter came out to greet him and he ended up sacrificing her in a perversion. of what God had set up. So here's the first practical application. When we pray to God and we vow a vow before God, we need to keep that vow and understand it's very serious. And perhaps God will even bless our faithfulness in that area in raising up a Samuel that will one day even deliver the nation as Samuel did in more than one instance. Now that you're there, look just probably a page over so for you to chapter two. Eli was the high priest. And he had two sons, and look what the scriptures say in first Samuel, chapter two and verse 17. Wherefore, the sin of the young men, and speaking of Eli, look at verse 16 so you can get the context here. If any man said unto him, unto one of these Eli's sons, let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth, then he would answer him, Nay, but thou shalt give it to me now, and if not, I will take it by force. So people would bring the sacrifices, this is what's happening. The children of Israel would come and bring the sacrifices to the priests. And according to the law, what was to happen was the priests were supposed to take a portion of that meat for their own eating. That was their livelihood, was a portion of the sacrifice. And the rest of the sacrifice was to be cut up in a certain way and sacrificed before the Lord. And Eli's sons were perverting judgment. as the Bible says, and they were wanting to divvy it up beforehand so that they would get more of it, they would get a larger portion for themselves, and any time someone would say to them, you know, let's do this the way God said to do it, they'd say, no, give it to me now or I'll take it by force. And look at verse 17. Wherefore, the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord." He was actually causing the children of Israel to despise that thing that was holy and good, the sacrifices. Now look at verse 25. Eli's talking to his sons. He says, If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him. But if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? He says, You're sinning against God here. Who's going to be your intercessor if you're sinning against God? And the scriptures tell us this, notwithstanding they hearken not unto the voice of their father. Why? Because the Lord would slay them. So Eli's sons here are perverting judgment And according to the scriptures here, God is literally hardening their hearts in order to make an example. In order to say, when those who pervert judgment and cause the entire nation of Israel to abhor that thing that's holy and right because of the way that they're profaning the position that they hold, God said, I'm going to kill them. This is where James, isn't it 3.1? that says, be not many masters, knowing that we will be held to a higher, a greater condemnation. Here's Eli's sons. They were prophets, or priests, before God. And they used their position for their own gain, for filthy lucre, to lord over the people of God. And God said, they're not going to listen to their father's instruction because I'm gonna kill him because of the way that they view that ought to be extremely Settling and Frightening even in the right way for anyone that holds any sort of position God appointed authority Fathers that goes for you parents that goes for you ministers of the gospel that goes for us when we hold a position of in unrighteousness and use that position that God has put us in for something for our own gain rather than for the glory of God. In doing so, we not only are trespassing personally, we're not only trespassing against God, but we're causing those that are under that authority and dominion to also hate what should be good and right and honorable. When politicians, we find out they're engaged in some scandal, stifling money to their own accounts, we get upset, and right we should. We have to be very, very careful that the positions that we are put in are used for the designs for which God placed us there, and not for our own personal gain above that, because ours is the greater condemnation should such a thing Look at what the scriptures say of Eli's sons in chapter 3, moving along that same line, 1 Samuel 3 and verse 13. God is talking directly to Samuel here. The beginning of this chapter tells us there was no open vision. The word of the Lord was precious, and now we have an open vision. We have God coming and talking to Samuel. and he says for I told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not as true as it is that God had hardened Eli's sons hearts because he would kill them So true it also is that Eli did not fulfill his obligation as a father and a priest to restrain them. There is here that perfect and sometimes mysterious fusion between God's sovereignty and man's duty. Eli still had a duty that he was supposed to do and that was both as a father and as a priest to restrain his sons from this wickedness that he well knew they were involved in. And he wouldn't restrain them. And God said, because he would not restrain them, I'm going to judge his house forever. He was going to cut his feet off. Both his sons would die, as we're going to find out here in a moment. truth, this duty of parenting is so fundamental and so foundational throughout Scripture. And there's reasons for it. There's reasons God puts such an emphasis on biblical roles within the family, on biblical parenting and discipline. and chastisement, and nurture and admonition. The old proverb is, a hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. That's true. And the scriptures tell us things along the same lines. That a foolish son is a shame to his parents. is going to find out. I don't think we're actually going to go to there, so I'll just tell you, Eli's going to find out that both his sons die on the same day. They're both killed in battle and the ark of the Lord is taken. And God says here to Samuel, the reason for that is because you didn't restrain them. There's a story about a man who had been a thief for years, ended up killing someone in the middle of his thievery. And he was caught. He was brought to prison. He was condemned to die. This was quite a few years ago. This was over 100 years ago, and they still hung people as he was being carried to the gallows. They asked if he had one request. He said, yes, I'd like to say something to my mother. So he brought his mother forward and he leaned over as though he would whisper something in her ear. He clamped a hold of her ear with his teeth and bit her ear off. And he proclaims to everyone listening there, he said, this woman, when I was a child, I would steal things from my classmates. And she would not punish me for it, and in fact, at times praised me for my cleverness. He said, had she restrained me then, I might not be on my way to die now. quite a difference from the Proverbs 31 woman whose children would rise up and call her blessed. Eli found the same thing. Mothers and fathers, if you don't want to be weeping over your children because of the wicked situations that they put themselves in, train up a child in the way they should go. And when they're old, they won't depart from it. Are there children who have been raised in godliness and still make sinful decisions? Absolutely. But so much of it comes down to the way we raise our children when they're young. It's no light matter. It's no small matter. It's going to direct their path for the rest of their life. and to make decisions on your parenting and on your discipline and on the rearing of your children based on convenience or what's socially acceptable rather than on what the Word of God says, you're making a decision to the detriment of their lives and their souls and very possibly even the nation around them. God puts a lot of emphasis on this. And look at chapter eight of First Samuel. Eli's dead. Samuel's grown. Samuel has sons. And First Samuel eight three says his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre and took bribes and perverted judgment. You'd think that maybe Samuel would have learned the lesson from Eli. The first word that Samuel ever heard as a young child from God was, I'm going to judge Eli and kill his sons because he didn't restrain them when they walked in wickedness. And Samuel grows up and doesn't restrain his sons. We have a pattern here. Learn from it. Don't be the one who has now heard the story of Eli and heard the story of Samuel. And you do the same things. Restrain your children. Beat them with the rod and save their soul from hell. According to the scriptures. As I read through this book, moving on to my next point, I noticed something. I found that when you sit down, you just read a book cover to cover in the Bible. Read 1 Samuel 1 to 1 Samuel. I don't even remember how many chapters this has, 31? You notice patterns, much more so than just reading a chapter a day, 30 days or something of that nature. And a pattern I began to recognize was the phrase, a son of Belial. or children of Belial, was used several times throughout the book, and that kind of piqued my curiosity. I thought, what is this deal about the sons of Belial? Why does it keep calling them the sons of Belial? Well, turn over to John chapter 8. You're probably fairly familiar with this passage of scripture. This is Jesus talking to a group of Jews that the Bible says believed in him. Exactly what that means, I'm not sure, but he's talking to these Jews, and in verse 37, Jesus says, I know that ye are Abraham's seed, but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my father, and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. What do you mean we're acting like our father? We isn't. Abraham's our father. Jesus said unto them, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. What was the work of Abraham? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. So he says, if you were the children of Abraham, you would have done the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth, which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham. Ye do do the deeds of your father. Then they said to him, we be not born of fornication. We have one father, even God. So now they're getting a little, OK, maybe Abraham isn't our father. God's our father. What Jesus says, Jesus said unto them, if God were your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word, ye are of your father, the devil. and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh it of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it, and because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not." So Jesus says to them, you're children of the devil. The devil's your father, and we can see it because you hate me. Now, God could see their hearts, but even those standing around would be able to say, here's a mark that they're the children of the devil. Because the devil hates God. And Jesus was sent from God. And therefore, the children of the devil will hate the child of God, the son of God is how we see that. Well, even before Jesus ever came on the scene. There were some distinguishing marks given to us as to what the children of Belial looked like. Literally, children of the devil. What they looked like. What were some distinguishing marks about them? And there was, it wasn't just one person. Throughout the book, we see several different people mentioned as children of Belial. Turn back to 1 Samuel. Let's look at some of these people and what are distinguishing marks of a child of Belial? What does that mean? Well, 1 Samuel chapter 2 says the sons of Eli were children of Belial. 1 Samuel 2.12 says now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial. They knew not the Lord. Children of Belial, as I mentioned, use holy things for their own pleasure and gain rather than for the glory of God. So you mark the man that is only interested in using holy things for his own gain. And they're going to look a lot like Eli's sons, who God says were children of Belial. You mark the man who only uses church as a social status quo. You mark the man who only loves to pray flowery in public as the Pharisees did. You mark the man who loves to have the first seats. You mark the man who uses those things that are holy and right simply for a status simple, for what it can gain him, for how it can please him. You mark the man who only uses holy things as they please his flesh and give him an emotional high. You mark that man. Because in 1st Samuel, we see men like that. And God said their children of Belial, they didn't know the Lord. They were of their father, the devil, and his works they would do. They'd used holy things for themselves and not for God, for which they were created. Turn over to chapter 10 of 1st Samuel. God has anointed Saul king, albeit not in the best way, not under the best of circumstances, you might say. God said, if you want a king, you're going to get a king, but he's not going to be like what you want. But nevertheless, God gave them a king. God picked him out. God said, this is the man that's going to be your king. Look at verse 27. But the children of Belial said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him and brought him no presents, but he held his peace. Saul was a much better man in his younger days than he was as he got older. It's one of the things you'll find out as you read 1 Samuel. But these children of Belial, here's another distinguishing mark the scriptures give us about them. They despise God-appointed authority. They looked on the outward appearance and didn't trust God that this was the man that was best fit for the job. Saul was to be anointed king and he went and hid himself. And you can imagine that probably didn't go over well with everybody. How will this man save us? He can't even stand up and be anointed king. He's going to deliver us from the Philistines? He's a chicken. He's a coward. But wait a second, children of Belial. This is the man that God shows and he has been publicly appointed as a God given authority. He is prophesied publicly. The thing is well known. But you look upon him with your eyes and you say, ah, that's not the person I would have wanted in charge. I'm not going to bring him presents. I'm not going to honor the king as the scriptures command us to. I'm going to despise him. And apparently it was public because Saul knew about it. Saul understood there were these people who despised him and refused to bring a presence, but he held his peace. He was wise in that situation. Mark the man who despises God-appointed authority and watch him closely because that is a distinguishing mark of a child of Belial. They despise proper authority that God has placed Look at chapter 25. David goes and asks a man by the name of Nabal, basically for payment for services rendered. David and his men have been protecting Mabel's shepherds and sheep and all his possessions for some time now in the wilderness. So David's traveling through and he says, hey, we helped this guy out for quite a bit of time. We're running low on food and wine and things of this nature. Let's stop and ask him to help us out to get to our next point. So they go and they ask Mabel and Mabel says, I don't care. I'm not giving them anything. And his shepherds come to him and say, this guy helped us out. We were out in the wilderness and he guarded us and protected us and kept our flocks. And we didn't have as much work to do. And he said, well, sounds like a personal problem to me. Send them on their way. I'm not going to deal with this David or any of his men. And Nabal's wife, Abigail, was righteous. And she interceded for her wicked husband, Nabal. And she came to David with many gifts of raisins and all sorts of food and wine. And this is what she said, I'm sorry, this is what one of his servants said to Abigail. He said, for he is such a son of Belial that a man cannot speak to him. What does that mean? He's such a son of Belial that he's unapproachable in his rage. He's such a son of Belial that he can't be reasoned with. He's going to do what he wants to do, when he wants to do it, how he wants to do it, and you're not going to tell him any differently. That is a very, very dangerous attitude to have and oughtn't be named among believers. This is how the servant describes his master to his master's wife. You know, Mabel, don't you, Abigail? You know how much of a son of Belial he is. He's such a son of Belial, you can't even talk to him. You can't reason with him. You can't approach him. He's so proud and so haughty. He's so wise in his own conceits. He's such a man that can't control his temper. We're afraid to approach him. We don't know what he'll do to us. He's a son of Belial, and we know it because this is what we watch and see from him from day to day. He's unapproachable. He's proud, he's haughty, he's got his own way of doing things, and that's the only way that's going to be his way or the highway. And he's mentioned as a son of Belial. And then lastly, we see it in chapter 30. A city's been sacked. The people who came in and torched the city have taken the women and spoiled the city. And David and his little band of men decide they're going to go rescue They asked God, and God said, yes, go after them. Rescue them. So David and his band of men rush off to rescue them, but there's a small portion of his group that have been so long without food and drink and are so tired from the battles they've already fought in their long travels that they say, we can't go any further. So David says, OK, you stay here by the sack city and we'll go after and catch these people. That's exactly what David and his men do. The rest of the group go off. God delivers them into their hand. They destroy the wicked men. And David gets his wives back. And many of the other men that were with him got their wives and children back. And all the excess, they spoiled them. They took all the extras. And listen to what the men of Belial say in chapter 30 and verse 22. Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial. of those that went with David and said, because they went not with us, we will not give them out of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart. It says those who are too tired to fight with us, let them have their wives and kids and that's it. And we're saving all the excess for us. Anything that's left over, we're going to take a child of Belial is greedy and incompassionate. To Mark. of a child of the devil, one who is not willing to have compassion on those that were to these men weren't cowards. These men weren't afraid to go and fight. Their bodies simply couldn't hold up anymore. They were just as concerned as anybody else. They had wives and children that had been taken. But the children of Belial said, that's not our problem. We went and fought. Give us what we need. We want extra. We want more. Once again, absolutely a mindset and an attitude that we see around us all the time. His loss. He gave me extra, that's not my problem. I worked hard for this, I deserve this. I'm going to keep it for myself. And it's not an attitude that a child of God would have. That's not the way Jesus Christ would have acted. That's the way the devil would have acted. That's the way his children act. They're going to be greedy and incompassionate. Mark them very closely and be careful in your dealings with them because you'll just be the next on their list. That's going to get ripped off by them with their greediness and their incompassion. You're going to be the next one that gets your head bit off when you try to approach them with wise counsel. You're going to be the next one that's going to get sucked into their rebellious ways when they won't honor God appointed authorities. Watch them work their ways and beware of them. First annual chapter eight, turning back a little ways now that we've looked at those passages talking about the children of Belial. Gives us a very practical story. Look at verse four. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah and said unto him, Behold, thou art old and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us and Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they have said unto thee. For they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day wherewith they have forsaken me and served under gods, so do they also unto thee. Now, therefore, hearken unto their voice, albeit yet protest solemnly unto them and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, this will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots and to be his horsemen. And some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands and captains over fifties and will set them to ear his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his instruments of war and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries and to be cooks and to be bakers. And he will take your field and your vineyards and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them unto his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants. And he will take your men's servants and your maidservants and your goodliest young men and your asses and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep and you shall be his servants and you shall cry out in that day because of your king, which you shall have chosen you. And the Lord will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the other nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye, every man, unto his city. We are blessed to have the opportunity to three to four to five times a week, depending on how much you afford yourself, the opportunity to hear the Word of God opened and preached and practically applied every week. to where it's told us and it's rehearsed in our ears in the Word of God that we already know we're reminded of, the way of the transgressors is hard. And Christ says, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. We're told evil and wickedness and sin and rebellion and covetousness, all of these things will bring you sorrow, they will bring nothing but death, there will be bitterness in your belly, though they may taste like honey for a moment. But God's ways are eternally good, and in them is life and reward and blessedness. And so many times, we do exactly what the children of Israel do, and we hear that rehearsed in our ears, and we say, yeah, but everybody else has that. But all the other nations have a king, God. I want something else to lord over my life. Yes, I know that you said that this is going to bring trouble. But in spite all that, I want it anyways. And sometimes the scriptures tell us God turns us over to them. God forbid. I know I'm foolish. I know I've done that before. And I, I pray to God that when that happens, when I say nay, but I will have a king, that God doesn't give me a king. But he chastises me as a son and brings me back under his kingship and under his lordship. But the hearts and the minds of men are no different today than they were 4000 years ago. And we still think just like the children of Israel think. And we have it rehearsed right there in our ears. This is the right way. This is the way that will be best for you. And we say nay, but we will be just like all the other nations. Give us a king. It ought to cause great fear to strike our hearts. We ought to examine ourselves closely and recognize we want God as our king. and only God. Turn to chapter 12, verse Samuel 12 and verse 20. Just a couple of chapters, you know, I'm reading some of this and I'm I'm thinking of Wicked kings later down the road like Ahab, remember he stole the vineyard from the man and brought it to himself, killed the man and took the vineyard for himself according to the instruction and counsel of his wicked wife Jezebel. God promised, I give you a king, he's going to take your vineyards for himself. And that happened. But it didn't even take until Ahab, look at this, a couple chapters later, in chapter 12. Look at verse 19. And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we die not, for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king. No time at all has passed here in the scheme of things. And they're already saying, You were right! We were wrong! This was evil to ask us a king! But look at Samuel's response. Samuel said unto the people, Fear not, ye have done all this wickedness, yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And turn ye not aside, for then should ye go after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain." Like I just said, we do that. We say, in spite of everything I've just heard, in spite of everything I know, in spite of everything I've been reminded of, I still am going to go and do my own thing. And it doesn't take much time at all till we figure out, oh, yeah, I was right. I was wrong. You were right, God. And look what Samuel says. Samuel says, you're right. You were wrong. You're right. You have sinned. You're right. Adding yourself a king was just a cherry on the top. of the wickednesses that you had already heaped unto yourselves, but don't stop serving the Lord. Yes, you're right, you sinned, but don't turn aside from following the Lord. Serve the Lord with all your heart. If there's a practical application to be had here, it's this, we fall many more than seven times. So that's the number given us of perfection in the scripture. And what Samuel says is having sinned, don't despair, don't give up, get up and keep serving God. Keep following after him. You sinned in the past, so commit in your heart that you're not going to do it again in the future and go on serving God. Having fallen down in his power and by his grace, stand back up and keep serving him with all your heart. OK, so you asked for a king. You've got the king. Now you're going to have to live with it. I'm not taking the king away. But keep serving God. Keep following after him. Try again. Get up and go again. Having sinned once doesn't mean, well, that's it, I blew it. I guess that's it for me. Samuel says, no, that's not it for you. Continue to serve God. Look at verse 23, he says this, Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord. Samuel, what do you mean? How would you sin against the Lord? In ceasing to pray for you? But I will teach you the good in the right way. The sins of omission are very prevalent in my life, in the apathy in which it's so easy to get caught up in. Samuel says it would be a sin against God for me to stop praying for you. How many times have we sinned against God? in ceasing to pray for those that we should be praying for. And ceasing to intercede for those that we once committed to intercede for regularly. How many times have we sinned against God and man and tell someone, yes, I'll pray for you, and then we never did. Samuel took prayer pretty seriously, and he said it would be a sin against God for me not to pray for you here. I am going to pray for you. God forbid that I don't pray for you, because in praying for you, I'm obeying the commandment of God and I'm obeying the commitment that I made to you that I'm going to pray for you. Continue to pray. Turn to chapter 15. God told Saul, go in the Amalek, and by the time it's done, don't leave a spider crawling across the rubble. Squash it. Every man, every woman, every child, every dog and cat and sheep and oxen and ass that you find alive in that city, kill it. Destroy it, wipe it out. These are people that have hated God. These are people that have been at war with you for centuries. These are people that have rebelled against me, despised me and my commandments. Go in there and kill them. We all know what happens. Verse 9, But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them, but everything that was vile and refused, that they destroyed utterly. Everything that isn't going to help them, everything that isn't going to enrich them, they have no problem killing. But anything that looks good to them, they're going to keep. All the good sheep, all the good oxen, the king, the spoils of the city, they keep for themselves. Obeying God only when it fits in our plans and leaving the rest undone is open rebellion against God. Listen to what Martin Luther said. He said, where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved. And to be steady on all the battlefront beside is near flight and disgrace, if he flinches at that point. He said, it's easy to stand in line as a soldier if all you have to do is stand there. But if at the point of attack, if at the forefront of the battle, to flinch there, it doesn't matter how long you've stood when there wasn't any adversity. If you couldn't stand in the day of adversity, then it doesn't matter. You were no soldier. And if we're soldiers for Christ, then to say, I'm going to obey. Look at how much I obey God. Look at what I do for him. I go to church every Sunday. Look at what I do. I'm a good parent. I'm a good son. I'm a hard worker. I'm honest. We do all these things that fit into our plan, into how we want to live. And because me and God happen to agree on that point, I'll obey him. But when there comes a conflict of interests, And God asked me to do something that doesn't fit my plan. I'm not going to do that. You're an open rebel, and there's no obedience there at all. And that's exactly what Saul and the people did here. They were not being obedient to God to kill everything that was vile and refuse. Because God commanded them to kill everything, not to spare anything, the good along with the bad, the pretty along with the ugly, the vile along with the noble. He said, I want you to put it all out of way. Put it out of sight. I don't want it to be a temptation to you and your children afterwards, which it was. They didn't kill him. And because of that, many lives were lost. We'll get later to Hester, a child of Amalek. Come from the loins of the man that Saul was supposed to kill, and he didn't. And because of that, many Jews died. Years and years down the road. Lastly, this turn to chapter 15. This is a point I think I've made before because it really hit home for me the first time I heard it, and I think it's an important one. So, if you've heard it before, I'll remind you now. Chapter 15, and look at verse 23. Saul's not supposed to sacrifice anything. Samuel's the priest, he's supposed to sacrifice, but Saul goes ahead and does it anyways. He saves these vests of Amalek and says, well, I was going to sacrifice them. Look what Samuel tells him. Samuel said, hath the Lord is great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold, to obey is better to sacrifice and to hearken better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. I want you to follow the progression here with me. Saul, this is According to Scripture, the breaking point. This disobedience here of Saul in not killing everyone in Amalek is what caused God to reject him as king. Just saw that right there. Samuel said, because you didn't kill them, because there was rebellion in your heart against God, you're going to be rejected as king. Years down the road, David's been anointed as the king and waiting. The Spirit of God has left Saul. And Saul doesn't know whether to go and fight or not. Why doesn't he know whether to go fight or not? Because he's been rejected as king, and God's no longer with him. So, Saul rebels, God rejects him as king, Saul can't talk to God, so he goes to the house of a witch. and asks the witch, asks the necromancer to bring up the dead before him. Did you ever think that that was such a big deal to only obey 90% of the way? It wasn't that big a deal, was it? Saul obeyed mostly. He killed most of them. He just saved the very, very, very best alive. He just left the king and a few of his oxen and sheep alive. It wasn't that big a deal. Yet, that not big a deal, that little sin, that little white sin, as we so often call them, that harmless, once-in-a-lifetime sin, as Saul would probably try to justify it with himself, ended up leading him into witchcraft. And it was a direct line of activities that caused that. And Samuel told him that. He said, you think it's not that big a deal that you just saved a few of them alive, and I'm telling you that rebellion is just as bad as witchcraft, and in prophecy, he tells them that's where it's going to lead you. I bet Saul was shocked and offended. Witchcraft? I'd never be involved in witchcraft. I just didn't obey all the way." Well, in not obeying all the way, it was rebellion, and according to God, it was as the sin of witchcraft, which is exactly what Saul ended up being involved in. Going to the house of a witch, and it was a direct result of his partial obedience, which was full disobedience. We have before us the Word of God. We have before us that thing which the scriptures tells us. Gives us everything necessary for life and godliness. And to obey it 90 percent of the way. Don't underestimate the power of sin and where it will land you. Because sin is deadly, rebellion is deadly. Let's pray. Father, we confess before you that we are weak and feeble and needy. God, I feel like we've only not even skimmed the foam off the surface of what's here in these books, as though we're just rushing through them. But even in doing so, we have so many practical applications that We're going to go out this week and. Father, I I'm afraid I will fail to keep some of them. Father, I pray you protect me. That greater condemnation that is reserved for those who hold the truth and unrighteousness, who preach one thing and live another. That should help each of us, God, in our respective roles. to live in obedience with your word, to live a life that is wholly committed to serving you. And Father, when we do fall, when sin does overcome us, that you give us the strength to not give up, but to continue to serve you with all of our heart. We ask you to do all of this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. God bless you. Have a good afternoon. I hope to see you Wednesday.