0:01 Welcome once again to Words of Life. We are continuing our study through the Bible. Studying it not verse by verse by book but book by book. To see what message each book has for 0:19 our time today. So today we study the first book of Samuel. And we could say the title of this book is the last judge and the first king. Samuel was the last judge. 0:45 14th judge of Israel. And then in the second half we read about Saul, the first king of Israel. So the story begins with Samuel's mother who was barren initially. This man had two wives, we read in verse 1:10 two. His name was Elkanah. And one of his wives was Hannah. The other one, Peninnah, had children. So Hannah had no children. 1:28 And they would go every year to sacrifice to the Lord in Shiloh. You know how it is when a woman has children, she taunts some other woman who doesn't have children. That's what this one wife did to Hannah, 1:50 verse six. Imagine as it on the way to the house of the Lord it says in verse 7 they she would provoke her. It's amazing how people can go into on the way to God's house and keep on 2:08 irritating others on the way. There are many husbands and wives who do that to each other on the way to a Sunday meeting. And what did this poor woman do? She never retorted. God saw her silent suffering. 2:32 She would just weep. And fast. And Elkanah would say, "Why are you weeping? Am I not better to you than 10 sons?" To that also she would say nothing. She seems to have been a woman with a meek and a quiet spirit. It is to such women that God gives sons 2:55 who later on become prophets. If you are a woman who's got a a wife who's got a meek and a quiet spirit. And others who are better off than you taunt you and irritate you. Don't worry. 3:16 Commit your cause to the Lord. In the long run the Lord will honor you. And your name will be honored in eternity. Just pray to the Lord. Forgive those who irritate you. And that's what she did. She would just go before the Lord and 3:36 weep. And she finally made a vow in verse 11. If you Lord will look at the affliction of your servant and give me a son I'll give him back to you and he'll be a Nazarite all the days of his life. See, that was a big sacrifice. 4:01 To have a son and then to give it up. Only a woman who's never had a son will know what a sacrifice that is. Most barren women who ask for sons will say, "I'll give you money or some 4:18 sacrifice like that." Most no woman says, "I'll give the son back to you, Lord." God honors those who honor him. Even Eli couldn't understand why this 4:38 woman was praying like this. And finally God answered her prayer. And it says here in verse 20, Hannah conceived. And 4:58 she got this child. And called him Samuel, saying, "I have asked him of the Lord." And when that child grew up she kept her word. And brought this little child 5:20 and left him in the temple. That must have been a tremendous sacrifice. To have a son after so many years. It wasn't easy. Just says she left him there, but it must have been a very painful thing. To me, that is exactly similar to 5:39 Abraham offering up Isaac. And then, even more than that, because Isaac came around and took back to his house. And I would see her child only once a year. 5:57 And that was from small childhood. Could not enjoy the childhood of her little son. But see how good God is. In chapter 2 verse 21, Lord visited Hannah and gave birth she gave birth to 6:15 three more sons and two daughters. God honors those who honor him. But Hannah praised the Lord. Samuel grew up 6:34 in the presence of the Lord presence. And you know the story how he heard one day a voice saying Samuel, Samuel and he thought it was Eli. And Eli said, "No, it's not me. It's And he thought it must be the Lord. Next time just tell the Lord that you're 6:53 willing to listen." These were days when there were no prophets in Israel. The last prophet was Moses more than 300 years earlier. And after that there was no prophet. 7:17 There were judges, great leaders and warriors like Joshua. But a prophet, no. And when God doesn't send a prophet to the church or to his people, it's an indication 7:34 that he's not with his people. The mark of God The mark of God church is he sends them a prophet. And I'm not talking about these people nowadays who go around calling 7:53 themselves prophets. A genuine prophet may never call himself a prophet at all. But when you listen to him, you'll know that's the word of the Lord. I have zero respect for these people who 8:12 go around calling themselves prophets. There are people nowadays who call themselves prophet so-and-so and prophetess so-and-so. I don't believe they are prophets or prophetesses. Jesus didn't go around saying son of God 8:33 Jesus, son of God Jesus. Jesus said don't take any titles except a brother. And the person who disobeys that calls himself prophet prophetess. A disobedient person cannot be a true 8:51 prophet. So, I have no respect for them and don't you have any respect for them either. That Samuel recognized him as a prophet. But how did it happen? Things were so bad that there was nobody 9:15 who was getting a word from the Lord. Chapter 1 Samuel 3:1. His sons were committing adultery. His sons were stealing the Lord's 9:33 offerings. And they were And Eli was doing nothing about it. He would just say, "Oh, it's not a good thing you're doing, my sons." Instead of kicking them out of the priesthood, he was a weak, good-for-nothing, useless 9:54 priest. And the Lord sent a prophet to Eli with these words. 1 Samuel chapter 2 and verse 29 and 30. 10:14 "You honor your sons more than you honor me. So, I reject you and your house. Because those who honor me, verse 30, I will honor." This is a wonderful verse. A verse that you must always remember. 10:35 And here, Samuel comes there at that stage as a little baby boy. And he is the link between this backslidden Israel in the book of Judges and King David, the man after God's own heart. So, he was a very important person. 11:02 And he was born as a result of one woman's prayer. Don't think women are unimportant. There would have been no Timothy if it was not for Timothy's mother. And there would have been no Timothy's mother if it were not for a God-fearing 11:18 grandmother. That's what we read in 2 Timothy 1. Women have a tremendous ministry in raising up prophets and apostles for the church. So, Samuel 11:37 he when he heard the Lord's voice next, he says, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." And that is the mark of a true prophet. For him, prayer is listening. Not talking. 11:54 But a lot of people, prayer is talking. Give me this, give me that, give me the other thing, give me this, that, and the other. But Samuel prayer was listening. You know, when we talk to God I'll tell you, you'll get a lot more out 12:12 of listening than by talking to him. See, we talk because we want to tell people about things they don't know. What can you tell God which he doesn't know? But if you listen, you can learn a lot 12:29 of things which you don't know. So, Samuel's attitude was, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." He had that attitude right through those years. And the result was verse 9, chapter 12:47 3:19. The Lord was with him and none of his words fell to the ground. What a way to preach. That if there are 25,000 words in your sermon all 25,000 go straight to people's hearts and none of them fall to the 13:07 ground. Have you ever heard a message like that? That's how Samuel preached. Not one useless word. He would only speak as much as God told him. And he spoke that 13:27 and it went straight to people's hearts. After 300 years, verse 20, all Israel recognized at last a prophet has come into our What do you How How is that? 13:46 Was it because he went around with a bag saying prophet Samuel? There was no need for that. What he spoke convinced people this is a prophet of God. Because it went straight to their hearts. Showed them how God could meet that 14:06 need. The whole secret is listening. Why are there very few prophets today? First of all, because most preachers love money. And they seek the honor of men. 14:24 And they don't listen. Samuel was not interested in money. He wasn't interested in anybody's honor. And he listened. And he spoke what God spoke to him. God's word never falls to the ground. It went straight to people's hearts. 14:43 So that's what we see. And we see in chapter 4, that there's a time when the Israelites were fighting the Philistines. And they were defeated. So the Israelites said, "Oh, this is because we don't have the 14:59 ark of the covenant in our midst." So let us bring the ark of the covenant. So they brought that, verse 4. And all Israel shouted, verse 5, when the uh ark came. It said that the shout was so loud that 15:20 the echo came back from the earth. It literally shook the ground. I've been in many loud meetings in my life. I enjoy raising my voice in praising the Lord. But in my entire life I have never been in a meeting where the 15:40 shout was so loud the earth began to shake. What a powerful meeting this was. But God was not there. It's only the ark that was there. That's how it is in many churches. A lot of noise. 15:59 God is not there. Just the form. Like doctrine, like the ark. And what is the result? The Philistines went and defeated them even more this time. It says 30,000 soldiers of Israel were 16:16 defeated, verse 10. They thought the ark and their shouting would praise them, would save them. It's God who saves. And then further down 16:35 we see in another incident in Samuel's life. Samuel was a person who was always traveling. Chapter 7. It says he is to go on his circuit from Bethel to Gilgal, verse 16. He had traveled all over Israel and 16:57 returned to Ramah where his house was. I can imagine he was away from home about 10 months in a year. Going everywhere, preaching, preaching, preaching, judging. And he had two sons. Can you imagine how two sons will grow 17:16 up if their father is away from home for 10 months in a year. And there we see Samuel failing in the same area where Eli failed. And this is the one instance where we read 17:35 a man of God appointing his own sons, chapter 8 verse 1, to replace him. Did he listen to God now? Obviously, he didn't. 17:55 A warning from Samuel's life. A person who starts listening to God can stop listening to God after some time. Your love for your sons can be so great that you want to promote your sons into 18:15 your ministry. And they may not be qualified for it. Somebody else who's not in your family may be more qualified. Like Moses appointed Joshua. He also had two sons. But he heard God very clearly. 18:34 Samuel didn't. Samuel acted like Eli. And he also acted like Saul who wanted to promote Jonathan after him. Three bad examples in the book of 1 Samuel. Eli, Samuel, and King Saul. 18:55 Out of them, Samuel was a very godly man. And even he made this mistake. And we read in chapter 8 verse 3. His sons were taking bribes, perverting justice, till the elders got fed up. 19:15 And they came to Samuel and said, "See, your sons are not walking like you." Verse five. fed up of these such judges. "Give us a king." Why did they say, "Give us a king?" Because they were fed up with Samuel's 19:33 sons. You know, when a servant of God travels so much like Samuel did that he neglects his own children. In the New Testament, he cannot even be an elder. Abraham, God said, "I'll fulfill my 19:54 purpose for him because he'll bring up his children in a proper way." 1 Timothy 3 says a man cannot be an elder if he does not bring up his children properly. So, that is the example we have here, 20:12 which is a warning to all of us. And I want to show you one more verse about Samuel in chapter 12. Samuel says in 1 Samuel chapter 12, verse 23. The only failure that we see in Samuel 20:30 was concerning his sons. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Bible is very honest. He was the godliest man in his generation and a mighty prophet of God. But like Noah got drunk and made a 20:50 mistake there. And Noah could do anything to save the world. Abraham, great prophet, told lies. David, the man after God's own heart, fell into adultery. Sa- Samuel also made a mistake in appointing his sons as judges. We never seen scripture anybody 21:13 appointing their children to take over their ministry. Peter was a married man. We don't know what whether anything about his sons. Anointing does not flow down 21:30 according to your next generation, your descendants. In the church, our relationship is not physical. We don't know anybody according to the flesh. The Bible says I have met in my life very few people 21:49 who recognize that. 99% of God's servants do not recognize it. They allow their children to take over their ministry. But see here, Samuel says in verse 23, "God forbid that I should sin against 22:07 the Lord in ceasing to pray for you." Samuel and Moses were the two greatest men of prayer in the entire Bible. If you read Jeremiah 15:1, 22:26 it was a God's words. Moses and Samuel were the greatest intercessors. Samuel says, "If I don't pray for you, my people, I'll be sinning." We've got many list We've got a list of 22:44 many sins. Murder, adultery, hatred, bitterness, jealously, love of money, many, many things. Add this to the list. Not praying for your flock. A lot of people don't consider that as a 23:02 sin. Samuel said, "If I don't pray for you, it will be a sin against the Lord." What a sense of responsibility he had for God's people. So, he was an amazing man. And God used him to anoint the first 23:21 king that Israel asked for. You know, when they said in 1 Samuel 8, "We want a king." The Lord said to Samuel in 1 Samuel 8:7, "Listen to their voice. 23:40 Because when they ask for a king, they're rejecting me as their king." And the Lord Samuel warned them, "If you get a king, he will take your sons and make you all slaves for himself. Your sons and daughters will be his 23:58 servants. He will support you financially. And then you'll begin to cry out to the Lord and say, "Why did we have a king?" I'm warning you in advance. But the people said, "That's okay. We still want a king." And 24:18 then he said, "Okay." Verse chapter 8, verse 20. "That we may be like all the other nations." Actually, God wanted his people to be different from all the other nations. So, the Lord said to Samuel, 24:36 "Okay, listen to their voice. Verse 22, appoint a king." See, very often when God does something, it's not because it's his perfect will. Psalm 106, verse 15. 24:53 It says God gave them their request. He sent a lean nest into their soul. So here also God gave them and said, "Okay, if you want have it." But they missed out on God's best. There are warnings and encouragements in 25:14 the example of Samuel. Let's learn from both. Amen. Welcome again to words of life. In our study through the Bible, we continue now 25:32 from the middle of 1 Samuel. We finished studying most of Samuel's life. In the rest of 1 Samuel from chapter 9 onwards we read of two men. 25:52 One is Saul who was a failure finally. And David who was a great success. And it's very interesting to see the contrast between these two first two kings of Israel. Both of them reigned for 40 years. 26:12 But what a difference in their reign. Both of them made mistakes. They were not perfect. But God's reaction to both of them is completely different. Notice how Saul began. He was a very sincere person. 26:33 When his father sent him to look for the lost donkeys we read in chapter 9, he went out and started looking for them. And when he couldn't find it he told his servant his servant said, "Listen, why there's a man of God here. 26:52 Let's go and ask him." And he will tell us. Then Saul said, And it's very interesting verse in verse seven. Uh if we go to see this man of God, we don't have any present to give him. 27:16 What a reputation the preachers had even in those days. Just like today. You can't go and see a preacher unless you have a gift with you. But he didn't realize that Samuel was not like that. 27:35 Samuel was not like the regular preachers. He didn't want any presents. But all the false preachers and false prophets in their day were like that. And all the false prophets and false 27:53 pastors today are like that. You can't go and see them without giving a gift. And if they come to your house, you have to give them a gift. Jesus wasn't like that. Jesus went to many houses and blessed 28:12 many people. He didn't take money from all those places. Neither did Paul. Paul wasn't like that. We need servants of God like that in our day. The servant said, "But I've got a fourth of a shekel of silver with me. We'll 28:27 give that to him." So, they went. And one day before they came to Samuel, the Lord had told Samuel in verse 15 and 16, "Tomorrow somebody will will to see you. 28:47 He's the one I have appointed to be king over Israel. And God's first choice was not David. David was not even born at this time. It was Saul. And when Saul came 29:04 in Samuel's sight, God said to Samuel, "This is the man." And so Samuel said, "Come with me and eat with me." And here Saul saw a completely different 29:22 type of man of God. Instead of wanting a gift from Saul, he gave him a meal. He gave him a gift. Real men of God are like that. 29:39 They don't expect anything from you. They give you. He told him, "Don't worry about your donkeys. They're already found." And then he told him he was going to be anointed king. And Samuel anointed him, chapter 10, 29:58 verse 1. But that anointing with oil was not good enough. It was only a symbol. And Samuel told him, 30:16 "As you go away from me, you're going to certain circumstances will happen in your life. And at a particular time, verse 6, the spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily and will change you into another man." What a verse concerning what the 30:35 anointing of the spirit does. Change you to another man. That's what the spirit of God does even today. changes another person from what we are naturally. And from that time onwards, verse seven, 30:54 God will be with you. It says about Jesus that with the Holy Spirit anointed him Acts 10:38, God was with him. That's the mark of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And exactly like Samuel said, 31:16 it says in verse nine, those signs happened and God changed his heart. And the spirit of God came upon Saul. And he was such a humble man that when they wanted to make him king, he went and hid himself. They had to search for him. 31:40 And when he came and stood there, verse 23 of chapter 10, taller than everybody else. Symbolically, that showed that his head was more important than everything else. What God said was his heart was a he was 32:03 a man after my own heart. David's heart is beating along with God's heart. Saul was distinguished by his head, David was distinguished by his heart. That's why Saul went astray. 32:25 And David, even though he made greater mistakes, continued till the end. This is the difference between Babylon and Jerusalem. false church and the true church. False church is distinguished by its head knowledge. Lots of degrees from Bible colleges. 32:48 Big titles. Jerusalem. God's own heart. They don't have all these earthly qualifications. But their heart beats with God's heart. They can speak God's word. There are these two streams in 33:07 Christendom today. Represented by Saul and David. Cain. Cain and Abel and Cain. David and Saul. Jesus and the Pharisees. 33:26 Abraham and Lot. You throughout scripture you see this. Paul and Demas. Preaching the same thing but one fellow running after money. Notice the good qualities that Saul had. 33:44 Saul had a humble opinion of himself. He was faithful. And many, many other good things you see about him in chapter 11. He was zealous for God's people. Forgave his enemies. He had courage. 34:03 God's presence was with him. The Holy Spirit of God came upon him. And yet at the end of it all he became a backslider. His position went to his head. We read in chapter 13. The first mistake that 34:23 Saul made. It says here when Paul Samuel saw uh when Saul saw that the people were all that Samuel didn't come. 1 Samuel 13:8 and the people were scattering. He said, "Okay, I'll offer the peace offerings myself." Chapter 13: 34:50 And he offered the offering. And within 1 minute, Samuel came. Saul couldn't wait 5 minutes. What high thoughts he had. This is the man once upon a time who 35:07 didn't even want to be the king. Now he wanted to be king, priest, prophet, everything. Let me tell you something which I hope you'll remember all your life. God has shown me very clearly. 35:27 Listen. What is the easiest thing for God to do? It is to bless somebody. Spiritually, physically, materially, every way. Easiest thing for God to do. What is the most difficult thing for God 35:49 to do? It is to bless somebody and then keep him humble. It's easy for God to create a universe. He created in a second. But to bless a man and keep him humble, history, Israel's history, church 36:11 history teaches it is so difficult. It's rare to find a man who can be like that. Even the Apostle Paul says I was tempted to be puffed up. God had to give him a thorn in the flesh 36:30 to humble him. It went to his head. He thought he was the only one that God had chosen him. This is how it is in Babylon. They serve God and it goes to their head. They think they're very important people. I have met so many wonderful preachers. 36:52 So many people have done wonderful work for God. But I sense in their spirit a pride and a arrogance which is not the spirit of Christ. Ordinary people can't go near them. 37:11 Very difficult to meet them. It's not like Jesus. Anybody could meet Jesus. But these people, it's more difficult to meet them than even to meet Jesus. So whose servants are they? They have followed the example of the So then Samuel told Saul, 37:36 God has taken away your kingdom. Finished. 1 Samuel 13 and verse 13. And verse 14, the Lord is now seeking a man after his own heart. Because you went outside your boundary. 37:55 See, all of us have a boundary in our ministry. And we have to be very careful that we don't go outside that. You go outside that, you disobey God and you will suffer the consequences. But God gives Saul one more chance. 38:19 He said, "Okay. Sorry. Go and kill all the Amalekites. That's in chapter 15. Go and kill all the Amalekites. And Saul didn't do it. He spared the king. 38:37 He kept the best of the sheep. And again Samuel came. He said, "Why haven't you obeyed God?" He says, "Yes, I've obeyed." And he says, "How do I hear the bleating of the sheep?" He blames the people. Oh, the people wanted that. 38:55 And Saul said Samuel said to Saul "You think the Lord wants all your sacrifices? To obey verse 15, chapter 15:22, to obey is better than sacrifice. God wants obedience from you, not all 39:15 your sacrifices. Remember that. Don't say, "Lord, I have sacrificed this for you, I sacrificed that for you, I've gone here, I've done that, this and the other." Have you obeyed? Have you obeyed the command? That is the question. 39:33 God rejected Saul. And God said to Samuel, "Now go and select another man." Don't pray for Saul. And so he went goes and selects David. Now David was the youngest of 39:51 Jesse's children. And God chose him. God told Samuel, "Reject all the others. They look impressive before men." David was so despised by his father. And when Samuel called asked Jesse to 40:11 bring all his sons, he didn't even call David. Finally, when God rejected all the other seven, he said, "Isn't there any more here?" 1 Samuel 16:10. 40:34 And then Samuel Saul said, "Yeah, Jesse said there's one more." Go and call him. The one who was despised. Soon as he came, the Lord told Samuel, "This is the one." "I see his heart. Out there in the fields, he sings songs 40:53 to me. He writes songs. He praises me. He looks after the sheep. He's faithful. And the spirit of God came upon David. And it left Saul. It's a very sad thing when God calls a man and the spirit of God leaves him. It's a very sad thing when God calls a 41:13 man and the spirit of God leaves him. Saul didn't value that. What was Saul's sins? He offered the sacrifices of priest. And he didn't kill all the Amalekites. 41:35 Very small sins, humanly speaking. What is David's sin? David's sin He committed adultery as a king. Somebody else's wife. Killed her husband. And married him. 41:51 What a terrible crime, humanly speaking. Why did he continue as king with God's anointing upon him? Because he repented. He didn't hide his sin. He didn't say like Saul to Samuel, "Please honor me. Don't let 42:09 me down before others." David said, "Saul 51 I have sinned everybody let everybody know it. And he prayed in Psalm 51. Oh God whatever you do please don't take your Holy Spirit from me. 42:28 He valued the anointing. Saul didn't. That's the difference. He repented. Now I want to say a word of warning here. Don't take David's example and say oh well then it's all right if I fall into adultery I can still come back. 42:49 He was living under the old covenant. He had many wives perhaps seven or eight wives. Can you have seven or eight wives today and be a man after God's own heart? Neither can you go and commit adultery with somebody else's wife and kill her 43:05 husband and be a man after God's own heart today. No you can't. It's not possible. He was living under the old covenant. The standards were very low then. Jesus said because of the hardness of 43:24 your heart God allowed many things in old covenant time. In the new covenant you can't have eight wives. You can't go and commit adultery with somebody else's wife and continue in a ministry after that. You got to quit the ministry 43:43 permanently. You can repent and come back to fellowship with God in the church. You can never again be a leader among God's people. What respect would you have for Paul if after all that ministry he fell in to adultery somewhere? 44:05 That's different between an ordinary young brother who has fallen into adultery. He can repent and come back to a mighty ministry. But one who's already been in a ministry an elder brother a leader if he falls into sin 44:23 that's like Moses disobeying God. much more serious Please remember that. take these old covenant examples and find comfort in your sin. David was concerned about God's name 44:40 being dishonored by Goliath. That's what concerned him. That's what concerned him. He tells Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 You come to me with sword and spear, but I come to you in the name of the God of 44:58 Israel whom you have taunted and defied. He had faith. He had a concern for God's name. He had faith. He had faith. And that's what God was delighted with. 45:15 If you have a concern for God's name faith that Satan can be overcome Satan is taunting God's people today just like Goliath. And who who is concerned about that? 45:33 Very few. Very few of them. We need men like David today. And you see in chapter 18 subsequent chapters wonderful attitude of Jonathan. Saul tried to make him the king. But Jonathan recognized the anointing 45:54 with David. completely free from jealousy And he accepts the fact that David will be the next king. And in the remaining chapters you see how Saul chased after David to try and kill him. More than once we read that David spared 46:20 Saul's life. He could have killed him. But he didn't kill him. Twice. David's soldiers told him, "Kill him. David's soldiers told him, "Kill him. David's attitude was, "I will never grab 46:41 the kingship for myself. If God wants to give it to me, he'll give it to me. Why was he a man after God's own heart? He never grabbed for a ministry. 46:58 He never grabbed for a position. He waited for God to give it to him. You want to be a man after God's own heart? Don't try to push other people down. Receive everything from God's hand. 47:19 Just like we don't go grabbing money, we shouldn't go grabbing a ministry, either. It's very important for us to understand these principles. And don't take revenge on the people who are trying to harm you. There was no law in the Old Testament to 47:38 love your enemies. But David did it. Even though there was no such command. Saul was an enemy who was trying to kill him. But he loved him. Conscience convicted him even when he 47:56 cut off a small bit of Saul's robe. We read that in chapter 24. And again in chapter 26 he spares his life. First time he spared his life we would have thought that Saul would 48:16 have stopped chasing after David. And the second time he spared his life Saul was such an evil man. But David 48:34 honored God by not touching him. Let God give you a ministry. Don't seek for one yourself. And finally we see in the last chapters God himself killed Saul at the right 48:52 time. And made David king as you see in the next chapter. So we see this wonderful example of a man who trusted God to give him the kingship at the right time. At the right time 49:14 he made him the king. In chapter 30 we see one final example. That there was a time when the Amalekites had come and raided people. Took away his wives and all his property 49:36 there. People were so angry with David they wanted to kill him. But we read here David encouraged himself in the Lord, verse 6 of chapter 30 He went out in faith and verse 18 he 49:56 recovered everything that was stolen. When people criticize you for something which is not your fault, encourage yourself in the Lord. And trust him 50:15 and you can recover everything. There was a simple principle in David's life. He would get everything from the Lord and not from man. God would give him. God would give him Goliath's life. God would give him what the Amalekites 50:33 had taken away. God would give him the kingship. Let's trust God like that. Amen. Amen.
