When Spiritual Leaders Lead — E.A. Johnston

The Need for Successors to Spiritual Leaders

I believe it's a great judgment from God when he removes spiritual leaders from the land without replacing them. I was standing with Adrian Rogers at the funeral of Stephen Olford, and Dr. Rogers stood facing me with his arms crossed and a serious look on his face, and he asked me a question.

He asked, Do you know what concerns me? And I replied, No, Dr. Rogers, what concerns you? And he said, What concerns me is I see God calling up men like Sidlow Baxter and Stephen Olford, and I look around and I don't see any comeuppers.

I looked at him and said that bothered me as well, and in one year's time I was standing over his casket. There's a difference, friends, between true spiritual leaders and just popular preachers. We live in a day of a dearth of spiritual leaders in the land, and it's like being lost out in the Sahara Desert with the sun bearing down on you, and you don't know which way to turn to get to an oasis.

All you know is that you are thirsty and there is no water. The title of my message today, friends, is When Spiritual Leaders Lead, and my text can be found in the book of 1 Samuel. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends.

Samuel's Leadership in a Time of Spiritual Decay

We will be camped out in chapter 7. This chapter from 1 Samuel is an oasis in a desert because it demonstrates the flowing resources available from God to the people of God when they have a true spiritual leader who leads them back to Him.

The backdrop of this remarkable passage is the Ark of the Lord has fallen into the hands of Israel's enemies, and it ended up at the house of Adendabab for a prolonged period of 20 years, but was never brought to its rightful place to the Holy of Holies.

And this evidenced a spiritual decay in the people of God who had been slowly drifting away from God in proper worship of Him. In chapter 7 we find the people of God are downcast in their spirits as they have been worshiping God half-heartedly.

The Philistines were poised to overtake the Jews at Mizpah, and they were overcome with fear. Against this black backdrop we see the prophet Samuel emerge and shine like a diamond against black velvet as he leads the people of God back to God.

I want to show you today, friends, what can happen to a church when leaders lead. We'll pick up the story in verse 3. And Samuel spake unto the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtoreth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hands of the Philistines.

Then the children of Israel did put away Balaam and Ashtoreth and served the Lord only. Let me pause here, friends. The people of God desperately needed proper spiritual leadership to intervene on their behalf as they were serving God ritualistically, but half-heartedly, very much like our situation today in our churches where we have a form of religion, but without any power or authority from on high.

Repentance from Half-Hearted Worship

We go about our business during the week, and our hearts are divided between the world and God, and we merely show up on Sunday to play church as usual and maintain the status quo. But the problem is few are getting saved today because we lack proper spiritual leaders who will call the church back to God, lead us back to the God of the Bible in repentance and humility.

So we see in our passage that the people of God respond properly to Samuel's leadership, and they get rid of their idols and begin to serve God with an undivided heart. Now they are in a place where God can move in their behalf in a remarkable way to bring deliverance to them.

We see this by their repentance and their religious reform of themselves as they seek God in a fresh way. Look at verses 5 through 6,. And Samuel said, Let me pause here, friends, to say this example of spiritual leadership will always pay big dividends.

I'm reminded of the time years ago when a pastor invited me to take the Sunday morning service at his church, but he missed my sermon because he was on his face in his study crying out loud to God in prayer and intercession the whole time I was in his pulpit.

Like Samuel, he was interceding for his people before God. And by the time I had finished my sermon, his church had tasted a touch revival, for God showed up in our midst. I remember a young man came running down the aisle yelling, I just got saved.

And the music minister told me afterward that he saw Jesus sitting on his throne. Why? Because that church had a godly pastor who was a true spiritual leader and not just a religious face man. Now look at verse 6 to see how the congregation of Israel responds to godly spiritual leadership headed by Samuel.

Fasting, Confession, and Seriousness Before God

And they gathered together to Mishpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mishpah.

When the people of God get serious with God, then God gets serious with us. If we had the time, I would relate to you all the times in my own life where I got serious with God and saw heaven open. Your church can live beneath an open heaven if you'll only get serious with him.

Get rid of your idols and serve God with your whole heart and God will work wonders through you for your good and his glory. If we would only turn our sanctuaries into Bethels and get on our faces before God and seek his face and nights of desperation and prayer and fasting and repentance and confess our sins to him, then God can come and heal our land.

Samuel's Intercessory Prayer for Israel

In verses 8 and 9, we find Samuel on his face crying out to God in intercessory prayer and we see the results. And Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel and the Lord heard him. Look at verse 10, friends, to witness what God can do when his people realigned themselves back to him under the right leadership.

And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. Look at the next three words, friends. I will stop there. When spiritual leaders lead, God can go to work in wonderful ways.

Black Agent Rogers lamented, Where are the comeuppers? Let us pray.