I am looking to Jesus, give me hope in the race, pressing onward to gain the heavenly prize. Faithful men are my witness, who have struggled and died, and they watch from the grass and in the skies. Faithful man, faithful man Faithful man, faithful man Faithful man, faithful man Faithful man, faithful man Faithful man, faithful man Faithful man, faithful man Faithful man, faithful man Faithful man, faithful man Faithful man, faithful man Jesus joined with the faithful Joseph followed behind Moses ran with the mighty men of old There were David and Adam Then came Peter and Paul Now they chant as they run the streets of gold, streets of gold I want to follow in their footsteps. Make me, Lord, a faithful man. Make me, Lord, a faithful man. Make me, Lord, a faithful man. And we can open our Bibles to 1 Samuel, Chapter 12. And I hope that's a prayer of your heart. God, by his grace, make us faithful. Make us faithful men, right? Or women, as the case may be. All right, let the kids get out of here. And it's good to see all these children, isn't it? Amen. Praise God for all the kids that are here as part of our families. A couple weeks ago, Emperor Akihito, the Japanese monarch, declared his abdication from the throne. You might have seen that in the news. I think there was also a change in timing of the monarch as well. But this emperor gave the last public address to the people of Japan when he had served as emperor for 30 years. He said, I'm deeply grateful for the people that accepted me as a symbol and supported me. I sincerely wish, together with the Empress, that the Reiwa era, which begins tomorrow, will be a stable and fruitful one. He added, I pray with all my heart for peace and happiness for all the people in Japan and around the world. And unsurprisingly, as he ends a 30-year reign as monarch or as emperor, that there's a desire in his heart for the Japanese people that he desires in great success as they went on from his reign to this following era that was to come. Our text this morning in 1 Samuel, in chapter 12, are similar in that they're the last words, not of an emperor, but they're the last words of a prophet and a judge to the people of Israel. The man's name is Samuel. He had served the nation of Israel from childhood until old age. And in verse 1, it says, And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I hearken unto your voice and all that ye said unto me, and I made a king over you. And now behold, the King walketh before you, and I am old and gray-headed. And behold, my sons are with you, and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day." We know the story of Samuel. Samuel was a great answer to prayer in the heart of his mom as she was there. praying at the temple and asking God, God, give me a son. You know, she took that son, and she brought that son back to the temple, dedicated to the Lord. And as a child, God spoke to Samuel in the story as he cried out, Samuel, Samuel. And he had to say, speak, Lord, for thy servant cares. And from a child, people looked at this young man. They recognized that the hand of God was on him. And from a child, he came into that position of leadership over Israel. And as a man of God, praise God, at the end of his life, he could say to Israel, Israel, I did not turn aside in what God called me to do. And verse three, he says, behold, here I am, witness against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I depraved, whom have I oppressed, or whose hands, have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith, and I will restore it you. They said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken aught of any man's hand. He said to them, The Lord is witness against you, and is anointing his witness this day, that ye have not found aught in my hands. And they answered, He is witness. Now they found it in his son's hands. We talked about that last week as we talked about parenting. Sander's boys, as they became judges, they took bribes and they perverted justice. But Sander can say to people, look, examine me. And they say, no, you have been right with God. Praise God. Because what Sander was saying to the people in our text here is that turn not aside is basically the theme of his last address to them. Turn not aside. You can start out with saying, look, I haven't turned aside. It's kind of like what the Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 4, verse 7, as he said, I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept the faith. It's a great thing. I mean, this old prophet, if we could see him, great-haired man, his burden for those people had continued throughout his ministry. His faithfulness, expounding the Word of God to them and being God's voice to them. He'd just been faithful. He hadn't turned his side. Now, it's his last address. And it refers to his walk with God and his faithfulness in the position. But as he refers to that, he also refers to the fact that Israel, as a nation, had turned aside from following Jehovah. And so verse 9 says, they forgot the Lord Jehovah, their God. OK, they turned aside. He sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. In a brief history lesson they give, someone referred to it at different times during the message, he shows them that, I was faithful to God, I stood for God, but remember this about Israel, Israel at times had not followed God, they had turned aside from following God. You know, as a minister, I'm not that old, but I'm old enough to have seen some of my generation turning aside. If we look around at churches today and begin to examine what is taking place within Christianity in a broad perspective, many are turning aside from personal holiness and separation. Maybe social media or telly has made that happen more quickly, and I think that's certainly the case. If you see believers taking positions on Facebook, and people look at that and say, well, if they do that, I can do that. But the historic position was, we don't do that as believers. We don't wear that as believers. We don't go there as believers. That's not what we do, but we're seeing a generation that is turning aside from a separation from the world, right? They're turning aside from church attendance. There's a lot of churches, and I praise God for the attendance of our church, and I'll just tell you as pastors, there's things I wanna see increased, but there are churches today that are canceling services. They're not establishing services. They're looking at it and saying, but nobody comes. And so, where we've traditionally had these services, we're not going to have them anymore. In fact, we're just going to kind of limit ourselves. You see, they're signing. It's almost like you can even cross it out where they had four services before. You see, X'd out, X'd out, X'd out, because people just don't come. They're turning aside from following God. They're turning aside from hymnsing. I mean, that's many churches today. If you walked in and you looked at just their setup, you'd think, what is this? Is this a pub and we got an event going on here? Or is this a church? I mean, it looks just like the world with the canned lighting and all the things that, and these musical instruments that are up there on the stage just look like what they'd use in a rock concert. And it turns aside from seeing a traditional music that God's people have sung down the ages. they're turning aside for new English translations and the position is the best English translation that we have. My reasoning for that is maybe uneducated, but it's this, that for 400 years, God has used us as the Bible for the English-speaking people. It's the Bible of the modern missions movement. It's the Bible that God has used. And what I see about churches that are stepping away from this, they're stepping away in areas that I already mentioned. And that alone ought to make us stop and think, you know what, let's just get back to the Bible and find the good translation that God has given to us that's still legible, still readable, still ought to be loved by us as the Word of God. They're turning aside to join hands with liberals. We've got churches that were, in the past, some of those liberals denied the truth of the word of God. In any regard, they were separated from, but we have churches today, evangelical churches, that are not separated from those that are not separating. from liberalism. I'll just speak clearly. The Church of Scotland is an organization that no evangelical church should remain in. They have clearly thrown the Bible under the bus. They are liberal, but there are still evangelical ministries that are associated with the Church of Scotland, and these are people that have not separated, even if they're evangelical, from liberalism. They're turning a side. You're turning aside from clear Bible preaching that confronts the world and turning to music and ministry styles that cater to the world. It might just be kind of a coffee shop idea and friendship evangelism and winning the world by reaching out and putting your arms around the world instead of confrontational evangelism that confronts somebody and says, look, that is a sin, but God loves you and God can forgive you and God can save you, right? And then broadly, many are just turning away from God completely, just to walk after the world. And so, we understand kind of what's going on in the heart of this prophet as he challenges them. Really, the main point of what Samuel is saying in 1 Samuel chapter 12 is turn not aside. Don't do it. Jeremiah 6 16 says thus saith the Lord standing in the ways of where is the good way, and walk therein. And ye shall find rest for your souls. I mean, that's good advice. I mean, I wish my generation would take that to heart and say, we don't need something new, let's just go back to what they had, let's step back in the 1800s. And I'm not talking about dressing like they dressed in the 1800s and not driving an automobile or something like that. I'm saying, let's get back to what they had. You know what they had? They had holiness. They had a desire to seek God. I mean, they got on their knees and they prayed. Right? Let's get back to that. With the rest of that verse, God says, stay in your ways. See, ask for the old paths. Where is the good way? Walk through it. You shall find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk through it. A lot of our generation doesn't want to walk in sanctified Christianity. They don't want to walk in separated Christianity from liberalism. They don't want to walk in God honoring music. They don't want to walk in modesty. We don't want to walk with the good translation that God's given to us in the King James translation. They want something new. My message this morning is just the same, I hope, as Samuel's, and that is turn not aside from following Jehovah. I might earn the side of being very careful that I don't turn aside and turning aside. I'd rather have a high stand and say, you know what, this honors God, this pleases God, I know this does, than to in any way deviate. Because listen to this, if you've got God going this way and you deviate by 0.1 degree, you're just going to get further and further from God. Right? And so let's stay in the path that God desires us to walk in and turn not aside. Let's pray and ask the Spirit of God to help us as we come to the Word of God at this point. Father, I thank you for our texts and Father, I'm thankful for seeing them. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would help us to get His heart, His burden for the people of God. We're in a different time period. Boy, that was Old Testament Israel and God, you had been their king, but they rejected you for another king. But Father, you're still guiding them as your people. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God is raised to be circumspect this morning in our understanding of the Word of God, in our understanding of truth without turning that away. Father, I can't speak without your help. I don't want to speak without your help. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would please give me grace to present the Word of God in a loving way, Father, in a practical way, Father, in a compassionate way, in a biblical way, and Father, by grace, in a powerful way. And Father, I pray that we have ears to hear this morning. Father, pre-Baptist Church would be one thing, and I pray that it would be walking with God. Father, be as close to God as possible. Where there's a group, we decide, nope, this place and our families, we're gonna honor God. And we're gonna put God first. And so I just pray in the spirit, God, help me as I speak. Help us as we listen. We commit this message to you for your glory. It's in Christ that we pray, amen. All right, so four points, I think, this morning. Turn outside. Follow Jehovah with purpose. Jehovah is God. It's the covenant name of God that I am. It's a God who is, and there is none else. Follow Jehovah with purpose. We were in Ireland for men's camp not that long ago, and Leighton Kelly, our missionary that we support, was preaching, all right? And one of his points was purpose. The reason I remember is if you know Leighton, Leighton is kind of a gruff guy, all right? You know his history of things, that God saved him out of a life of drug addiction. And so he was preaching, he'd say, serve God with purpose, purpose. And Logan afterwards is wondering, why is he preaching about porpoises? What does a porpoise have to do? And we love Leighton, and Lord willing, you're going to get to hear Leighton in our pulpit. He's one of our favorite preachers at camp. But not porpoise, purpose. Serve God with a purpose. Purpose is a person's sense of resolve or determination. It's like a soldier going into battle. It's like a fireman heading towards a fire. This is what I resolve to do. And I want to consider, what is Stephen emphasizing to Israel that they resolve to do? And I'm going to emphasize it in three ways, and they all have to do with giving ourselves to God. But first of all, give God your paths. Purpose to give God your paths. Verse 20. And so then Samuel said unto the people, fear not, ye have done all this wickedness, yet turn not aside from following the Lord. It's interesting. Samuel doesn't say, Israel, it's okay that you wanted a king. He came to them and said, look, if you get a king, it's going to be hard. He's going to take your children. He's going to take the best of your things. He's going to replace God, in a sense. And God didn't want it. God didn't desire it. Samuel didn't desire it. The people demanded it, and God didn't have it. And there's a warning in that. Isn't there that, if I so desire something, that God, in his acquiescence to our will, may allow us to have that which we ask, but it may not be for our benefit. And it was sin. They had demanded this of God, and so Samuel says to them, you've done all this wickedness in demanding a king. But he doesn't say, you've got to quit, you've got to give up, that's it, it's hopeless for you. But they had really messed up. How did it happen? Verse 12 says, when you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, you said unto me, Nay, but a king shall reign over us, when the Lord your God was your king. Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen and whom ye have desired, and behold, the Lord hath set a king over you. And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that ye die not, for we have added unto all our sin this evil to ask us a king. They had a king. King Saul. I mean, a tall man, a humble man when he started, a proud man when he ended, a man that was going to fail. But God would raise up good kings in his mercy. But at this point, there's a conviction settling into the hearts of these people that we've sinned against God. We messed up. But the king was there. They couldn't change that. They couldn't exalt the king. Okay, we're just going to go back to God. It's too late. They had to live with their past decision in the present. So what did they have to do? They had to give it to God. They had to move on from that and continue to follow God despite the fact that they messed up, despite the fact that they chose poorly. This is something kind of random that you may not know, but past your bed is three kidneys. But because of that, I couldn't play contact sports. I've got a double kidney on this side, I've got a small kidney on this side. This one will keep you alive. It's only like 50% or something. If I got hit on this side, don't kick me, it could potentially kill me. So I couldn't play contact sports. I couldn't play American football. I couldn't play basketball. Not that I could have if I could have. But I played volleyball, and that was my sport. And competitively, high school, played it at uni. intermural, you know, where it's societies. We had about 120 guys in our society. I got to be on the volleyball team. And, you know, I loved it. I love playing competitive sports. That's fun, isn't it? And any of you that have done that will enjoy that. But one thing about being on a team is if somebody messes up, or if you mess up, the thing that you need to do, you need to acknowledge your error, you understand how you messed up, why you messed up, but then you gotta put in the past. Why? Because if you don't put in the past, it affects your present. And so when somebody messes up, you don't want to discourage them and get down on them as a team and say, it's okay, it's okay, forget it, forget it, let's go, right? You want to encourage them and build them up and praise God as Samuel's dealing with his sin, he wants them to understand, look, you messed up, you erred, but put it in the past. Serve God, serve God with all your heart. Philippians 3, 13. It says, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended. But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Paul said, and by the way, Paul meant good and bad. Paul did some great things for God. Paul did some horrible things for God. But he didn't live in the past. He put it in the past and committed it to God. He could have got up every morning, and as he looked at himself, if they had a mirror of some sort that he's looking at, he could have looked at himself with sorrow and thought, and just thought, waking up about the kids screaming as their mom and dad were taken away, about the wife screaming as the husband was put to death, of the heartache of Stephen's death and the brutal murder that took place that Paul's hands were guilty of. He could have lived with a guilty conscience, but was under blood. It was in the past. And see, Satan wants to dig those things up and rattle those skeletons in the closet and say, see what you are, you can't serve God. And that's not what Satan said. Satan said, hey, you messed up, but serve God. Right? If it's under the blood, it's in the past, and that's where it needs to be. We need to deal with it, recognize it, understand the mistake that we made, but commit it to God and say, that's in the past. Right? Give God your past. And then purpose to give God your present. Notice what Paul said, I forget those things which are behind, and then he said, I press. I press. What Saul was doing now was striving for God, and so even in our text it says, yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. You live in the present. I was walking, having prayer this past week on a road by my house, and you're walking along, and I just, I said to God, I just wanna hit the pause button. You know, I've got a child that's gonna be at last year high school next year, and going to uni. Did you know that, Kaylee, at some point it's gonna go to uni? They may not be in Scotland, right? That's sad, isn't it? Not really. You know, the kids are growing up, you know, we love them, you know, Max had a really fun age. I just kinda want you to pause life and stay that side. But life's not like that. And so I'm praying. I'm saying, well, I'd like to pause life. But as I'm walking, as I'm praying, and the scenery's passing me, if you stop, the scenery stops passing. The experiences stop passing. The wonderful things stop passing. We live in a speck of time. Listen, when I started this point, the present was there. But now the present's here. And now the present's here. And now the present's here. That's where the present is. It's incredible. Don't think about it too hard or it'll get real confusing. And Samuel says, in the present, serve God with all your heart. Now. It doesn't matter, you might have done something great for God in the past, that's the past. What about the present? Are you serving God right now with all your heart? Can you honestly say today, you know, pastor, I know my heart, I'm serving God with all my heart. Samuel didn't say, believe in God. Go to temple. He said, serve God with all your heart. Give God your everything. Logan had major head surgery at six months of age. We refer to it occasionally just by the word testament. God did some great things. provided for a $60,000 medical bill that we had, that he miraculously provided for after two years of praying about it, because our insurance refused to cover the surgery. Many, many testimonies to the grace of God. But his surgeon was one of the best in the world, recognized in this field of cranial surgery. You know, Dr. Morasco is her name. She does surgery standing on a stool. And that's because she's kind of bent over. She has spina bifida. And she does spina bifida surgeries, and she does cranial surgeries. But this woman doesn't just do surgeries because she's a surgeon, she gets a big paycheck. This woman does surgeries because she has a desire or a heart for it because she's experienced it. That's a great thing, isn't it? Imagine if she's going to uni and she's studying this tough. She's not going to quit because it's from her heart. It gets tough. They're doing so many surgeries and they're so busy. They are booked way out. We said, we believe this has to be done soon. It's a neat story. God allowed it to be done next week, but they said they were booked out several months. But they had to work it in on a day they normally take off. Why would she do something like that? Because it's not just something that she does, it's something that she is passionate about. Listen, are you passionate about serving now? See, that omnipresent experience that, Pastor, in God by your grace, I'm just striving to serve God. I want to serve God with all my heart. It's in my heart. I desire it. I desire it. Give God your present. And then purpose to give God your future. Paul said, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of Christ Jesus. I'm pressing, that's present. My past is forgotten. But I'm pressing for the mark. That's future. That's how I'm striving. I don't want to cheat. Listen, do we want to cross the finish line for the Lord? Some of us run. We know what it's like. You're running, and especially if you're in a race and you're running against other people, you want to give your best. I mean, you might be hurting and in pain and feeling nauseous, and it's horrible, but you want to get past that finish line. You're just going to keep running until you get there. Are you looking to the future and saying, you know what? It's not just, Pastor, I want to serve God this week. this pastor, but next year, this time, I want to look back and I want to see how far I've come. I want to see the progress that I've made in my walk with God. And so Samuel sets out the future for Israel, but it's not just the future of obeying God, it's the future of, if you don't. And so he says, if you'll fear the Lord, verse 15, and serve Him and obey His voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the Lord your God. I mean, that's great. I mean, purpose, and it's gonna get done. Do you see it? It's like a promise. If you serve God with all your heart, listen, in the future, you're gonna be both following God. It's gonna be great. But sadly, he's got to come out with the other warning. And that is verse 15. But if you will not obey the voice of your Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, as it was against your fathers. And so, Stanley, what's your advice? What are you saying about the future? He's saying this. Give it to God. Turn not aside. Verse 21. He says, "...and turn ye not aside. For then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain." See, as you look at your life and you think about, what am I living my life for? Is it vain? Is it empty? I was witnessing two young men, three young men for a brief time, as I mentioned, at the Falkirk Wheel. As I spoke with them, speaking about life, they asked me, they said, they asked a lot of great questions. But Grant said, who is first in your life? And I said, God. And he said, I don't get it. He said, if I have kids someday, he's 16, if I have kids someday, they're going to be the most important thing in my life. Maybe he's coming from a family where he feels neglected or something like that. You know, and I can sympathize with him. And I said, well, look, Grant, it's like this. Luke is over there. I said, if I love God, then I show my love for my brother Luke. The way I show my love to him is by doing right to him because I'm right with God. See, that's not vain. There's value in that. There's something glorious in that. But there are things in life that are vain, like the young man that I witnessed in Roslyn briefly as I stopped my run. And there's two guys, and I wanted to invite them to the football tournament. They don't play football, but one had his hand down my side, 14 years old. I said, listen, football's better for you than that. He had a cigarette tucked down there. I said, how old were you? 14. I said, that's against the law. Do you care? No, I don't care. I said, it's going to kill you. It's going to kill you. Vain. You know, that's extreme vanity, but listen to this. If you live your life for your family, or for work, or for sport, or pleasure, and not for God, it's vain. It's pointless. You're going to stand before God someday, and He's not going to ask, you know, how big a paycheck did you bring in? He said, I gave you one life to live for me. How did you live it? See, what do you have of eternal value? Are you serving God with all your heart? What are you doing with the time that I gave you? What are you doing with the money that I gave you? What are you doing with the talents and abilities that I gave you? How have you exercised those for me? Give an account! And if we decide today by the grace of God and say, hey, you know, I get this idea of what Samuel was saying, turn not aside, but follow Jehovah with purpose. I purpose to give my past, that's in the past, cleansed by the blood, my present, I'm going to live for God right now, my future by the grace of God. That's where I'm going. And then we can look back and say, I turn not aside. Praise God. So turn not aside, follow Jehovah with purpose. And then turn not aside, follow Jehovah with privilege. Okay? Follow Jehovah with privilege. Do you understand? We're talking about this morning at Sunday School. It's kind of a reiteration of Sunday School, but what we have as the people of God. Israel was favored by God. Israel had God guiding them. Israel had God bringing them into eventually His promised land. So Solomon isn't speaking to people who don't know about God or know God. He's speaking to those who know about God and should know God. It'd be like if it was Samuel here preaching today, Samuel would be preaching to us as a church. He's not out on the street saying to others out there, don't turn aside from God. He's trying to keep us, as the people of God, aware of the privilege that we have as the people of God. So you're privileged to be his people. Don't turn aside. Verse 22 says, for the Lord will not forsake his people for his great namesake. because they have pleased the Lord to make his people. I think it was Thursday night in our Bible study, as we're talking about Jacob, that we mentioned that why didn't God, when Jacob and Samuel messed up in the world, Dinah got into fornication with Shechem, and Levi and Simeon murdered this group of people, and they kidnapped the family. Why didn't God just turn his back on Jacob? We talked about God's mercy. One of the things that we considered is that God, for his namesake, is going to continue to work with his people. Praise God. What a privilege today. Praise God. If I'm a child of God, there's a great protection upon me. Why? Because God has put his name upon me. I am God's child. As a child of God, God has faithfulness. What we talked about last Sunday, as we talked about, whom the Lord loveth, he chastens. Why? Because he's his son, for his namesake. What a privilege. And so, as he gave them the history lesson, he spoke about the generations of Israel that had turned away from God, but got his mercy in verse 10. It says, they cried out to the Lord and said, we have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord and have served Balaam and Ashereth, but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies and we will serve thee. And the Lord sent Jeroboam, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt safely. It's like they finally, God judging them, chasing them because they're his people, they finally repented and they cried out to God and said, God deliver us, and God sent Moses. And God sent Gideon, and God sent these other judges to bring them back to himself. What a privilege. in our wealthy, affluent, democratic societies that we live in. It's a sad thing to find people that don't understand the privilege. In the United States, we've got players that refuse to or take a knee when the national anthem is sung. We've got people that are taking flags and burning flags. We've got others degrading the nation's military, protesting against the military, treating the military with contempt when we've got the best militaries in the world that have helped so many people. We've got people that have a sense of entitlement. Even though they've been given so much, they just are greedy for more. And they complain. Look at these people, and you want to just say to them, they don't understand what you've got. They don't understand the privilege of being in Scotland, the privilege of the liberties that we possess in a democratic nation. They don't understand it. I mean, you kind of want to say to somebody that doesn't want it, just move, right? Go ahead, turn aside. Because you don't understand. You don't appreciate the benefit of what you have. You know, it's like Samuel is saying to the people, you can turn aside, but don't understand. And I'm preaching this this morning, you might think, but Pastor, we're not going to turn aside. But listen, there are people that start out serving God, they start out following God, but they don't make it. At some point they stopped appreciating what they had in God and they stopped walking with God. And so it's good for us to follow Jehovah, understanding the privilege. And then to realize that you're privileged to have His answered prayers. Verse 23. It says, moreover, ask me, God forbid, that I should sin against the Lord and cease Him to pray for you. If you were to ask Samuel, Samuel, are you burdened for history? He'd say, I'm burdened. I'm burdened. And it's my responsibility as spiritual head of Israel that I pray for this nation. And listen, I'm not going to stop praying for this nation, but it's what we see in the heart of Paul as Paul says in Galatians 4.16, am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? There could have been some in Israel that looked at Samuel and thought, Samuel, you're not burdened for us. Santa, you're just against us. You're always hard on us. Every time you get up and preach, you tell us how poorly we're doing. Yeah, it was a hard Santa that was coming to God and just pleading with God for God to work in the lives of his people, just like Paul. Paul said in Romans 10, verse one, for the unsaved Israel, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. See, it's like this, it's for him. Don't turn aside, God is for you. God is for you. God's greatest desire, and the desire, I pray, of the pastor, the teacher, preacher, anybody that stands in this pulpit, this pastor included, is that our desire is that God would so work in the hearts of God's people that they would be so steadfast with God that they would never in the future turn away from God, understanding the privilege of what they have. And part of that is, I pray, a pastor and people that pray for one another and are burdened to see this church succeed. Why? Because God does. See, God is for us. In preaching a message like this, we think about staying with God. It's not that God's pushing us away, saying, hey, look, you're not good enough. It's God saying, I'll take all that stuff away that's pulling you away from me so that you can be strong with me. And so turn that away. Turn that aside. Follow Jehovah with privilege. And then turn not aside, follow Jehovah with protection. By the way, how many of you think that there was a chance that Israel was going to turn away? It wasn't vain, the message that Samuel was bringing to the people as he challenged them to say, look I was faithful to God, I didn't turn aside. But look, Israel has at times failed. And I'm just telling you, as modern Israel at that time, don't turn aside. Why? Because there's a chance you will. Sadly, there's a great chance you will. You know, we've seen that hymn, the one that says, prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. That in each one of us there, without the grace of God and the things that God can give us to protect us from turning aside, that in each one of us there's a potential that will turn aside. Right? And so what keeps us there? Well, first of all, we're protected by scripture. Follow Jehovah with protection. Don't turn aside. You're protected. Be protected by scripture. As Samuel says, I think it's the end of verse 23, but I don't have the verse here. It says, but I will teach you the good in the right way. Right? I'll teach you. So they got in a spin, they got away from God. How? They closed their ears. Santa said, you don't want a king. You really don't. And here's why. They plugged their ears and they said, we want a king. And they got what they wanted and it was bad. But Santa says, look, if you'll listen, I will teach you the good and the right way. If you'll desire that, our church in Georgia that we went to when my wife and I were in Bible college had a brilliant family. in the church. I mean, brilliant, like academically. The mom and the dad both had doctorates. One of the sons, the younger son, got into the National Geography Bee, which means he represented Georgia. He won state, Georgia, and then went to the National Bee, and he got my fifth. Hosted by Alex Trebek, if you've ever seen the show Jeopardy. It was the same man that does that show. And some brilliant kids. The other son went to the same university my wife and I went to, and he got a four-year university degree in medicine and piano performance, double major, and he got it in three years. Okay, these guys academically were hungry. I mean, I just see them at home reading geography and art. They're taking it in. They wanted it. They came to Bob Jones, and that's the university where we were at. And, you know, they were academically prepared to say academic feasts before them, and they just took it in. Because they were what? Teachable. If you're hungry today for the truth of God, God has a table full of food for the teachable. Right? I mean, God's willing to set the table and say, hey, come and eat. There's as much as you desire. If you really desire Christ, have Christ. Because it's there. And you know what, it's a great thing when people are hungry for God. Matthew 5 verse 6 says, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. If you really have a desire to say, you know, I'm saying pastor because I don't know if you're talking, but to say to God, God, I really hunger and thirst after God, I really desire you, listen. Come unto me, eat, drink, right? God's got an abundance. If you really have an appetite, God has the ability to make that appetite. Preachers love a teachable audience. There's a clue for you. We did. There's something wonderful about teaching people that really have a hunger for God. Paul spoke about it. He says in Acts 17, 11, These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. These weren't skeptics, they weren't searching the scripture to find out how it was wrong. They're hungry for it, they're like taking it in, they're teachable, they go to the word of God and say, hey, it's in there, that's great, and they apply it to their life. That's good. Do you know what, you can help somebody that's teachable? I'll just tell you a prayer this pastor prays often and it's that God gives teachable people. Our church can help anybody that comes here that has a teachable attitude with anything that they're struggling with if they'll take what God says. That said, if somebody is ready to take in what the Word of God says, then hey, God is ready to help that person. But if they're going to scorn it, you can't help them. Proverbs 9 verse 8 says, Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Proverbs 13 verse 1, A wise son heareth his father's instruction. But a scorner here if not rebuked. I can't, and you can't, help anybody that doesn't want to be helped. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. If you're here today and you don't have a hunger for God, a thirst for God, a desire for God, this creature can't help you. Your parents can't help you if you're a child. Until you have a desire, until you have an appetite, until you want to take it in, there's nothing that can be done. I mentioned witnessing to these young men in the dock, and so we have Luke, and we have Grant, and Grant's asking great questions. If I want to be forgiven, what do I do? That's a good question. And I said, Grant, I said, this is tough, but you gotta say this. God, you're right, and I'm wrong. Will you please forgive me? Grant, 16 years old, living in a fornication. We talked about that. And he's defending his lifestyle, and here he is, he's already seriously messed up his life, and pray to God this guy gets seen. God gave me a great divine appointment. I witnessed these guys for an hour. I said, Grant, you've got to say, God, you're right, I'm wrong. Please forgive me. That's us today, if we're teaching, we've got to be willing to say, God, you're right, I'm wrong. Please forgive me. I don't want to turn aside, but I'm going to turn aside if I stubbornly hold on to my way and I say, God, no, I see it in the Word of God, but it's not going to happen to this person. It's not going to happen to this family. Right? I'll turn aside unless I say, God, God, you're right. I'm wrong. Please forgive me. Got to be teachable. And that protects us because we're protected by scripture. I mean, this is the book that God's given to us to help us to stay on the right path. We've got to be teachable. and be protected by submission. Verse 24 says, only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart. Do you like simple truths? I kind of like it when the Bible boils something down to something very simple. Only fear the Lord. Dennis and I went on a run slash bike ride last Sunday night. I'm running, he's riding his bike, and we went up to Flatterstone. We went past the first reservoir up to the second loading lane. But on the way past the first, there was a sign. It was a very straightforward sign. Deaths occur in reservoirs. I said to him, I said, that is not a cheery message. You know, you're running, and it's like, deaths occur at reservoirs. But I get what they're saying. I don't have to stop and think too hard about what they're trying to communicate to me. They're saying, do not jump in the water, because it's very cold, and people don't realize how cold it is, and you cramp up. And deaths occur at reservoirs. You know, God gives us a very simple truth here. if you wanna take a simple truth away from our Bible study this morning is only fear the Lord. Only fear the Lord. I'm not gonna turn aside today if I'm fearing the Lord because verse 14 says, if you'll fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the Lord your God. Just fear God. in your heart this morning, it'd be good to cultivate a fear of God. Awesome respect, God, you're a God. I don't wanna mess with God. I don't wanna disobey God. I don't wanna displease God. God, you give me my breath that I breathe. You give me the food that I eat. You give me the clothes on my back. God, I don't wanna mess up in my relationship with you. Proverbs 8, verse 13 says, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. You wanna examine your heart today and say, do I fear God? Do you hate evil? Do you despise the path of wickedness? Proverbs 14 verse 27 says the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death. See the snares of death are the path outside of the way and so I'm not going to turn aside if I'm walking the fear of the Lord because I'm going to be on the path of God-given ability that this preacher and no preacher has is probably a very good thing, and that is that he can give them an object lesson. Right? And so Israel disobeyed God. He's still dealing with that sin, telling him, look, get back on the path and turn not away. And so he says this in verse 16. Now therefore stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest today? I'll call unto the Lord and he shall send thunder and rain that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great which ye have done and beside the Lord in asking you a king. So Samuel called unto the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. They lost their harvest. They had rebelled against God, and this is part of their fear, is they say to God, we have sinned against God, right? Because a storm comes and obliterates their crops. And they went, wow, God is powerful. I've seen recently some storms in the United States that there must be some significant storms taking place because hail, just golf ball size and bigger, that is coming down. Can you imagine the fear that would be in your heart if a preacher prayed and said, God, send a storm. I mean, it'd be great. You want to witness to somebody, hey, you need to get saved. If you don't, we use it too often. But listen, is God that able to snuff out somebody's life that mocks God? Right? He that being often recruited, hardened at his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. And so what would protect that person to submit to God? Fear God. Just have a fear in your heart for God. And then lastly, Turn not aside, follow Jehovah with pondering. Think, think. Proverbs 4 verse 26 says, ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. Stop and think about what's going to happen if I go down that path. In the Bible, Joseph was protected from Potiphar's wife as he stopped and he thought. He said, there is none greater in this house than I. Neither have you kept back anything from me but thee because thou art his wife. How then can I do this great witness and sing as God? He stopped me and thought about it. He said, that path of immorality, that's not right. I'm going to obey God. I'm going to honor God. It protected him. And so let's stop and let's think, lastly, about following Jehovah. First thing, ponder God's goodness. He says, for consider how great things He has done for you. Consider how good God's been. Listen, if you're a prodigal, you're thinking about running away from home, you're thinking about running away from God, stop and think about how good you have it. The prodigal son of Eden stopped and thought, you know what? I've got all the food I want. You know what? I've got protection, security, I've got provision, right? but he wanted to do his own thing. He turned away, he took his inheritance and wasted it with wicked living. He had so much that he left. Listen young people, you can grow up, you can turn away from God, not to your benefit. You want it best. Stay where you're at. Stay honoring God. Stay obedient to God. That's where the blessing is. It's not in drugs. It's not in sex. It's not in swearing. It's not in smoking. It's not in deviating from God and going after wicked music and wicked pranks. It's not there! Right? Where is it? It's where you're at. Get your heart right with God. Enjoy what God has given you. God has been good to you. Listen, it's the same for us as animals. Don't deviate. Don't think, well that will satisfy my life. It's not satisfying. Listen, find satisfaction in God. If there's a problem and you're satisfied with God, there's a problem in your heart. Right? Get it right. And then you'll understand that closeness, that sweetness of fellowshiping with God. Ponder God's goodness. And so, secondly, ponder God's displeasure. Verse 25, but despite all this, I preach indeed on my last day, Samuel says, he says, but if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your kin. I try. You know, as a preacher, you can understand this. You preach your heart out. Come on, let's go for God. But if you turn aside, my mom and dad, my dad was a preacher too. So my dad, he'd be preaching, and he said, you know, my wife and I have prayed that if our kids turn away from God, and we've told our kids this, and they have, if our kids turn away from God, God just takes them home. That's what my parents prayed. Do you think that put the fear of God in my heart? Yeah, that's a serious prayer. You know, I pray... I want to pray that for myself. I do. I want to say, God, if this preacher is ever going to turn away, just take me. Right? I don't want to do that. I'd rather God took me, but listen, we ought to walk in the fear of God and say, God can take me at any time. Listen, young person, you can harden your heart against God. God doesn't have to give you another day. He doesn't. We can be stubborn a long time, you know. You know, the Spirit of God is speaking to our hearts. You need to do that, and you need to obey God. God doesn't have to be merciful. That's turning aside. You could be in church and turn aside. Do you know that? You could be here today and you're turning aside. You're not really on God's path. I don't know that. I don't want to think evil of anybody here. I hope not. Right? But stay on the path. Because God is serious about the path. Ponder the path of thy feet, let all thy ways be established. Stop and think about it. That's going to help you not turn aside if you stop and think. And so you look at Samuel. And he's given his final address to Israel. It's interesting. It's negative and it's positive. Negative, don't turn aside. Positive, look, if you stay with God, it's going to be good. It's going to be good. And I just want to reiterate that to us today. Don't turn aside. How serious are you, preacher? Well, I'm so serious that you ought to examine your schedule and say, have I turned aside in the way I use my schedule? You got to extend your bank account and say, you know, God sees that and I turn aside in my finances. How are you using your finances for God? Preach, are you serious? You know, I'm serious because the Word of God teaches timing. The Word of God teaches giving. It's in there. What about my time? What about my talents? Listen, what do you do for God? What is there that you've done? How are you serving God? Serving God means doing something, correct? So, I mean, it's gotta be us doing something. So what are we doing? And so follow Jehovah with purpose, first of all. And that's this, God, I'm serving you now, I'm serving you in the future, and the past is under the light. I've given it to you. Follow Jehovah with privilege. I'm a child of God, God favors me. God's men pray for you, they're asking God, use this person for you. Follow Jehovah with protection. The scripture protects me if I'm teachable. I come to the house of God and say, God, if you speak to me, God, we've got it. You've got it. I'm teaching you. That's going to protect you. Submitting to God. God, I'm going to submit to you. I'm going to yield to you. That's going to protect you. And then follow Jehovah with ponder. God, I'm going to think about this thing. I can follow my own way, but it's going to be rough where I can follow God's way because God can be good. Have you turned to the side? It doesn't mean that you're living a life of secret sin. It doesn't mean that. It does mean, are you serving God with all your heart right now? And is it your plan to serve God with all your heart in the future? And that if God wants anything, He's got it. That's what it is. And so, may God help us to not turn aside, but to fear God and to follow Him. Let's pray. Father, may the Holy Spirit speak to hearts. Father, just now in the quietness of our heart, as we babble for a holy God, you know our hearts. And Father, one of the blessings of being human is we can't see each other's hearts. It's a blessing to us because we wouldn't want somebody else to know our heart as you know our heart. And Father, it's a blessing as well because we can't know whether somebody is genuine or not. We're not the judge. But I pray right now as we bow before the judge, I pray the Spirit of God will speak to our hearts. So it might be somebody has to deal with sin this morning. They turned aside after pornography, they turned aside after a slandered spirit, a critical spirit. Lord, they turn aside to just live their life for employment, or to live their life for family, or to live their life for sport and recreation, instead of living their life for God. Father, it might be that somebody has to confess that they have robbed God, we're in every robbery, in tithes and offerings. Father, your word says that. And Father, we're not going to be blessed in that path, it's turned aside. It might be somebody needs to get saved. Or they need to agree with God and say, God, you're right, I'm wrong, please forgive me. They might need to get baptized and submit to the Word of God and what the Word of God says about believers' baptism. Or they might need to submit to church membership and attendance to this local church. God, we need to charge this church. We need to talk about it as a church. We need to join and have a membership. But God's got to be in the hearts of God's people to say, no, this is my church. And God, if you want to do that in that person's heart right now, I pray God do that. And Father, I pray... that we'd be different as a church because we fear God. We're not going to turn aside in areas of compromise after wicked music or from the Word of God as we've got it here in the King James translation, Lord, or after standards that are less than Godly. Word to weak preaching that compromises the Bible. Father, I just pray, give us grace as a people to say, no, we're going to serve God with all our heart. And Father, thank you for this time we've had and the Word of God this morning. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. We'll stand, please, and we'll sing a hymn of invitation. It is always an invitation, and I just encourage it. Spirit of God, speak your heart. It's okay to sit down in your chair and do business with God, and kneel, if you want, and do business with God. But don't leave church, if the Spirit of God spoke to your heart about something specific, don't leave church without deciding what you're gonna do about it. Decide ahead of time that God's gonna have his way. 366, have thine own way, Lord. 366. Shall we sing? At thine own will, Lord, at thine own will, Thou art the water, I am the flame. Lonely and waking after Thy will, While I am waking, guilty and still. Have Thine away, Lord, have Thine away. Search me and try me, Master, today. Why dread this cold, Lord? Wash me just now. As in Thy presence only I am. Have I no way, Lord? Have I no way? Whom take and where be? God be I pray. Power of power, Surely is Thine. Touch me and heal me, Savior be Thine. Have Thine own way, Lord, have Thine own way. Hold on, my King, and salute me. Fill me, my Spirit, till I shall see Christ only, always living in me. Amen. Praise God. Pleasure here today. Remember tonight...