When the boy had told him, Dr. Graham thanked him and said, "If you'll come to the Church meeting this evening, you can hear me telling everyone how to get to Heaven."
The boy said to Dr. Graham, I do not think I'll be there. If you do not know the way to the post office, how are going to tell me how to get to heaven?"
For a preacher to be effective, they have to know what they are talking about. When it comes to TRUSTING THE LORD, there are very few who seem to know what they are talking about. We hear a lot about trust these days.
When a foreigner comes to America, it would be easy for them to believe we are a nation that is trusting in God.
Illus: On our coins we have the phrase, “In God We Trust.” If they attend our church services, they can hear us sing that familiar song, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way.”
Even though we preach, teach, and sing about trust, and even though the song says there is no other way than to trust the Lord, we seem to be convinced there are other ways of dealing with our problems. Very few today are trusting the Lord.
In fact, it seems people will do anything except TRUST THE LORD with their problems!
Illus: They make us think of the tourist that came too close to the edge of the Grand Canyon, lost his footing and plunged over the side. He was fortunate enough to grab hold of a bush on the way down. Filled with terror, he called out toward heaven, "Is there anyone up there?" A calm, powerful voice came out of the sky, "Yes, there is." The tourist pleaded, "Can you help me? Can you help me?" The calm voice replied, "Yes, I most certainly can.” “Good, what should I do?” the tourist said. The voice said, “Let go of the bush and I will catch you!” There was a tense pause, then the tourist yelled, "Is there anyone else up there?"
It seems like the last thing we want to do is TRUST THE LORD! We will turn to anyone with our problems and trust them before we trust the Lord.
For example, God has promised to bless those who tithe and give offerings unto the Lord. Look at Malachi 3:10-11, we read, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.” God has promised to supply our needs if we obey Him and bring His tithes and our offerings to the house of the Lord.
But many feel they can not trust the Lord, they have to trust in themselves.
Illus: For example, a church member was having trouble with the concept of tithing. One day he revealed his doubts to his minister: "Pastor, I just don’t see how I can give 10 percent of my income to the church when I can’t even keep on top of our bills." The pastor replied, "John, if I promise to make up the difference in your bills if you should fall short, do you think you could try tithing for just one month?" After a moment’s pause, John responded, "Sure, if you promise to make up any shortage, I guess I could try tithing for one month." "Now, what do you think of that," mused the pastor. "You say you’d be willing to put your trust in a mere man like myself’ who possesses so little materially, but you couldn’t trust your Heavenly Father who owns the whole universe!" The next Sunday, John gave his tithe, and has been doing so faithfully ever since.
I want to remind you that our churches are filled with people who talk, sing, teach and preach about faith, but they never trust the Lord. NEVER! NEVER! NEVER! The only time they trust the Lord is when they are forced to trust the Lord!
Illus: When some people go to the doctor and the doctor tells them he can do no more, guess who suddenly believes in divine healing.
But we are not the only ones who do not trust the Lord, the Bible is filled with men and women who tried to work out their difficulties in life by trusting in OTHERS or in THEMSELVES!
For example, God specifically gave King Saul the command to utterly destroy the Amalekites. God practically gave the Amalekites to Saul on a silver platter. All he had to do was TRUST AND OBEY!
• WHO WERE THE AMALEKITES? The Amalekites were descendants of Esau (Genesis 36:12-16). The Amalekites were Israel’s blood brothers, yet sworn enemies.
• WHAT CAUSED THESE AMALEKITES TO HATE ISRAEL? It is as someone said, “Blood is thicker than water, but boundary is thicker than blood”.
• WHY DID GOD COMMAND SAUL TO UTTERLY DESTROY EVERY ONE OF THEM? Because as a nation they wanted to destroy Israel, and now as a nation they reaped the same judgment they had dished out.
We have individual sins, but we also have national sins, and they committed a national sin.
• When Israel left Egypt, they were very vulnerable and the Amalekites attacked them from behind (Ex. 17:10) - (1 Sam. 14:48).
• The Amalekites killed the weak and the slow travelers who were weary (Deut. 25:17-19).
• The Amalekites were wicked (1 Sam 15:18) and had no fear of God (Deut. 25:18).
Saul was given specific orders to “utterly destroy” these ungodly Amalekites.
The lesson of Saul does not reveal that God can not be trusted, it reveals that Saul could not be trusted. All he had to do was TRUST AND OBEY and he would have had the victory.
Listen, God has NEVER, NEVER, NEVER BROKEN A PROMISE. NEVER!
WHY IS IT DIFFICULT FOR US TO TRUST? One reason is because some of the folks we have placed our TRUST in let us down completely. This is devastating!
Illus: For example, there were literally millions of folks that believed that Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart were men of God. But when the news broke about their private lives it was devastating.
When we have been deceived over and over again, it takes time to learn to TRUST again. Think about all the times we have been lied to.
Illus: Someone compiled these lies that we are frequently told --
• The check is in the mail
• You get this one, I'll pay next time
• It's not the money, it's the principle of the thing
• I never watch television except for PBS
• But we can still be good friends
• Don’t worry, I can go another 20 miles when the gauge is on "empty"
• I gave at the office
• Don't worry, he's never bitten anyone
• I'll call you later
• Read my lips: no new taxes
• I've never done anything like this before
• Now, I'm going to tell you the truth
All us have been told thousands of lies. We get where sometimes we do not know WHO TO TRUST! And it even gets to the place we do not know if we can TRUST THE LORD! But when we do not trust the Lord, we tie the hands of God.
Illus: The Bible tells us that when Jesus came to his own home town of Nazareth, He could not do any miracles because of their unbelief! That is, their unbelief tied the hands of the Lord. And the same thing is true today, God can not work among the children of God because people today are talking, singing, teaching, and preaching about TRUST, but they are not TRUSTING THE LORD!
The Life of King Saul teaches us so much about what DISTRUST does to us.
Let’s look at his life and see if we can learn from his mistakes. First, we need to consider-
I. HIS DOWNFALL
In 1 Samuel 15:7-12, we read, “And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 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 every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night. And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.”
Notice, Saul partially obeyed the Lord. Partial obedience is DISOBEDIENCE!
Saul at one time lived a life that pleased the Lord. In 1 Samuel 9:2, we read, “And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.”
The Word of God said Saul was:
• A choice young man
• A goodly man
• There was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he
• From His shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people
In his early days he was a real “catch” for any young girl. He was what the world today would call a “hunk!” But time has a way of affecting some folks in a negative way. Saul was no longer the same man.
Illus: Have you ever attended a class reunion and seen someone that you dated years ago? As you look at them now, you are so glad you did not marry that person. Mother nature can be cruel to some people! But then, some that you did not date back in high school now look great and you wish you had dated them.
As time went by, Saul did not IMPROVE WITH AGE, he went downhill all the way. He once was a CHOICE YOUNG MAN, but as the years went by, he became DISOBEDIENT!
Saul was given specific orders to “utterly destroy” the Amalekites. All he had to do was “Trust and Obey”, but he did neither one.
Samuel had heard about his disobedience. He must have thought that perhaps he might have been misinformed. Samuel had to see for himself, and when he arrived he found out everything he had heard was true.
Saul’s DOWNFALL was that he was given some specific commands and all he had to do was TRUST AND OBEY and he did neither!
We looked at HIS DOWNFALL, now let’s look at -
II. HIS DECEPTION
Deception is a terrible thing. There are three things we need to consider about deception.
• It is possible for us to deceive others. It is done all the time.
• It is possible to deceive ourselves. This also is done all the time.
• But it is IMPOSSIBLE for us to ever deceive God.
It is simply astounding that a person can begin to think that they can DECEIVED GOD ALMIGHTY!
This is deception of the worst kind. Imagine a person saying to himself, “I know what God wants me to do, but I am going to do what I want to do, and deceive him into thinking I obeyed Him.”
Saul tried to deceive Samuel into thinking he had obeyed God. But when Samuel heard the livestock in the background, he asked why everything hadn’t been UTTERLY DESTROYED!
When his deception fell through, notice what Saul did! Look at 1 Samuel 15:13-21, we read, “And Saul said, THEY have brought them from the Amalekites: for THE PEOPLE SPARED the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
But Samuel was not going to let him get away with blaming others for his downfall.
Look at 1 Samuel 15:17-19, we read, “And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?”
He still wanted to place the blame on someone else.
Look at 1 Samuel 15:20-21, we read, “And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.”
He actually tried to deceive the man of God. There are those today who will justify their disobedience.
Illus: One day, while a woodcutter was cutting a branch of a tree above a river, his ax fell into the river. When he cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, "Why are you crying?" The woodcutter replied that his axe had fallen into water, and he needed the ax to make his living.
• The Lord went down into the water and reappeared with a golden axe. "Is this your ax?" the Lord asked. The woodcutter replied, "No."
• The Lord again went down and came up with a silver ax. "Is this your ax?" the Lord asked. Again, the woodcutter replied, "No."
• The Lord went down again and came up with an iron ax. "Is this your ax?" the Lord asked. The woodcutter replied, "Yes."
The Lord was pleased with the man’s honesty and gave him all three axes to keep, and the woodcutter went home happy. Some time later the woodcutter was walking with his wife along the riverbank, and his wife fell into the river. When he cried out, the Lord again appeared and asked him, "Why are you crying?” “Oh Lord, my wife has fallen into the water!"
• The Lord went down into the water and came up with Jennifer Lopez. "Is this your wife?" the Lord asked. "Yes," cried the woodcutter. The Lord was furious. "You lied! That is an untruth!"
The woodcutter replied, "Oh, forgive me, my Lord. It is a misunderstanding. You see, if I had said ’no’ to Jennifer Lopez, You would have come up with Julia Roberts. Then if I also said ’no’ to her, You would have come up with my wife. Then you would have given all three to me. Lord, I am a poor man, and I am not able to take care of all three wives, so THAT’S why I said “Yes” to Jennifer Lopez."
Listen, there are people who will live their life doing evil and they will try to look good by blaming others.
Saul tried to deceive Samuel. Look at verse 13, we read, “And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” (Now my wife is going to get after me for saying this when I get home, but “THAT IS A LIE!”)
This fellow was messed up! He was so messed up that he was determined to come out looking good ONE WAY or THE OTHER.
• He made others look bad so he could look good.
• He even claimed he had saved the good livestock “to sacrifice to the Lord.”
Listen, watch out for those who live their life disobeying God and blaming everyone but themselves for their disobedience.
All he had to do was TRUST AND OBEY, and he could have gone down in history as a great king.
We have looked at HIS DOWNFALL and HIS DECEPTION, now let’s look at -
III. HIS DEFENSE
Saul had given the impression that the disobedience was not his fault, but someone else’s.
Illus: A concerned husband went to a doctor to talk about his wife. He says to the doctor, “Doctor, I think my wife is deaf because she never hears me the first time and always asks me to repeat things.” “Well,” the doctor replied, “go home and tonight stand about 15 feet from her and say something to her. If she doesn’t reply move about five feet closer and say it again. Keep doing this so that we’ll get an idea about the severity of her deafness.” Sure enough, the husband goes home and does exactly as instructed. He starts off about 15 feet from his wife in the kitchen as she is chopping some vegetables and says, “Honey, what’s for dinner?” He hears no response. He moves about five feet closer and asks again. No reply. He moves five feet closer. Still no reply. He gets fed up and moves right behind her, about an inch away, and asks again, “Honey, what’s for dinner?”
She replies, “For the fourth time, vegetable stew!”
We can be the most rotten person in a congregation, but we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are THE BEST! We can claim that everyone else is the problem, when we are the problem. He tried his best to convince Samuel that it was “THESE PEOPLE”, but it really was him.
Illus: There’s a wise saying in bowling. Every bowler is actually 3 different bowlers:
• The one he believes himself to be
• The one he would like to be
• The one he actually is
God could have chosen anybody to be king, but He gave Saul a chance out of mercy and grace. He could have lived a life of TRUST AND OBEDIENCE and gone down in history as one of their greatest kings. But instead he goes down as a fool. Saul went from good to bad, and from bad to worse.
Samuel mourned and mourned for Saul, but the tears flowed one-way. Saul’s eyes were dry.
Conclusion:
It is time for some of us to quit talking about faith, singing about faith, teaching about faith, and to START TRUSTING THE LORD! TRUST AND OBEY…FOR THERE IS NO OTHE WAY!
We see -
I. HIS DOWNFALL
II. HIS DECEPTION
III. HIS DEFENSE
