Obedience and Authentically Walking With God — Brian Long

Well, thank you. I agree with what Matthew, I like your testimony, by the way. And I'm like him, I'm no speaker, so this ought to go well. No, who knows what the Lord's doing in the hearts of men. And I tell everybody, I have four girls and a boy, and I tell everybody, you can judge by how naughty a man used to be by how many girls he ends up having.

And at this rate, I've probably got five more coming. I'm sure. I'm sure. But we've only been in Bartlesville a little over a year and a half. The Lord's kind of taken us all over. Briefly, I want to keep this very brief, because this is, you know, the word.

Men Who Pursue Truth and Support One Another

We're going to go into 1 Samuel 15 if you want to go there, and we'll go to that in a minute. We're going to do a broad look at the life of Samuel and try to get some applications from that. It is true we need men.

We do need men to come around each other. But what I found out with men is that they really do want the truth. And they want to get to the truth, even in their own lives. But most often, it's going to cause a lot of pain.

And the problem is, is we're in a culture that has become very thin-skinned and very easily bruised. And we really, when we start getting pushed a little, sometimes we pull back. And as Christian men, these are Christian men now, men who profess to be followers of Jesus, a lot of times we revert then into patterns of sin.

And what we're going to look at is, we're going to look at here briefly, we're going to look at some types through this story. We're going to pull down just a story here in just a moment. But I want to say this.

Preparing to Represent God Authentically

What if Caleb chose, says to one of you guys after this, I want you to speak to the next man up event. And he's saying, I want you to do it. You're going to do it. As a matter of fact, I'm not even going to be there.

You're going to do the whole thing. I'm guessing that most of you would begin to ponder, what am I going to say? What is the message going to be? I'm guessing that, right? Some of you might actually even go to the Lord in prayer about it.

Some of you might take that very seriously. But you're going to spend hours, between now and wherever the next event is, preparing for one thing. To speak in front of men for 30 to 60 minutes, whatever it is.

Let's bring this down a notch. It's a very dangerous thing to come up and speak to men, and trying to represent the word of God, and trying to present God. And I can probably, I could come up here, get all the theological terms correct, spit it out, and you can think, well, that man knows something of God.

He must walk with God. He must be a believer. But you don't know how I live. You don't know the recesses of my mind when I'm alone. You don't know how I treat my wife, and you don't know what I do with my children.

See, that's where it becomes very dangerous. That we take on the name of Christ, and see that He always knows. There's no escaping. And so I spend all, so if you were to be the one who was to speak at the Next Man Up conference, and you spend all these hours, let me ask you, for those of you who are married, how many hours are you spending right now in the word of God that you'd be ravished by the word of God so that you would learn to die to yourself and love your wives?

How many hours would you spend, if you have children, or grandchildren even, do you spend in preparing for those children or grandchildren the ministry which God has given you, and to which we will stand and account for as men?

Does it mean, so what does that look like? How many hours are you spending in personal time with God now to look more like Him? Because I assure you, if you don't want God now, you will not want Him in heaven.

Because that is the key end. So, that is a thought I want you to put forth. That today, as we go into this, we want God to speak to us. Me, you, us. We're all the same. And let me tell you, this is a message that's going to come from a very imperfect and broken individual, myself, who cannot live up to this very message.

And if you want to put a title on it, it's basically, Obedience and Authentically Walking with God. They go hand in hand. So, let's pray before we really get into this. Father, my God, I thank You, Jesus.

I thank You that You're real and You're more alive. Than even all the surroundings around us. That You are eternal, that You are God, and I worship You, Lord. I thank You for this great privilege, Lord.

I ask, O God, that You reveal Yourself. You come to us in power. And You reach down into the souls of where each one of us is sitting, Lord. That we would not be the same. Father, I need this message more than most.

We say, come Lord Jesus, come. So, I'm just going to lay this out briefly. There's three bullet points, basically, this whole thing. One, we're going to look at the story briefly of Saul. Here in 1 Samuel 15.

There's too much here to try to exposit verse by verse. And there's men in here I know that could do a much better job of that than me. Point number two is going to be, how are we going to apply this?

And I've got four general applications we're going to apply. And then three, where do we go from here? Where do we go with all this? And Caleb, please keep me to time. I will do my very best to keep this short.

Saul's Commission and the Judgment on Amalek

So, let's just tear off. I'm going to go into verse, 1 Samuel chapter 15, verse 1. It says, And Samuel said to Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people Israel. Now therefore, listen to the words of the Lord.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Stop there for a second. Saul has already actually screwed up big time. The kingdom is actually already going to be removed from him.

Yet Samuel here is saying, I have been sent to anoint you king over Israel. He's actually already been anointed. And he's actually already screwed up. And Samuel's already said, the kingdom's going to be removed from you now.

And you can go back and read that. 1 Samuel is so full of richness. But we're at this point now, he's saying, hey. And in verse 2, he says, I've noted what Amalek did to Israel. Now I'm going to look at three types.

Saul as the Flesh and Amalek as Sin

We're going to just type them out in this story alone. Okay, this is a very topical message for us today. And that is this. Type number 1, we have key player number 1, Saul. And I want you to type him into your life as he is a man of the flesh.

He's a man of the flesh. Now type number 2, I want you to look at the Amalekites. And I want you to apply this to yourselves, that this is a type of our sin. Now, if you can go back and study to find out what the Amalekites really did.

But they were a cowardice people who that when Israel was leaving Egypt, they attacked Israel from the rear. They wouldn't even attack them head on. And they attacked the weak, the elderly, and the children.

And God noted, I will make you pay for that. Now we're years down the road. Saul is being told, I want you to do something. And we see it in verse 3. It says, now go and strike Amalek. Remember, a type of our own sin here.

I want you to kind of think about that as we can move. And devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. Now you've got to stop and think, wait a minute.

God's Holiness and the Necessity of Destroying Sin

How can this be our God? How can this be the God that is going to be the God who sends His Son to die for us? For all man? See, God knows something about sin. He knows the depths of the heart. He knows that when men have gone too far, when sin has gone too far, you cannot friend it in any form, fashion, or way.

It must be annihilated. Now if you go back in 1 Samuel a little farther, you'll learn about Eli. He was the high priest. Even though he said a couple of good things, you've got to know that Eli was a large slob who became lazy and very gluttonous.

And knew he had two sons who were in grievous sin. He knew it. He even said it. And he, as a man, would do nothing about it. You can learn a lot by going back and studying that earlier in 1 Samuel. But now we're getting to Saul.

Saul's Fleshly Ambition and Israel's Demand for a King

We're in here. This is the first king. People want a king. It was not God's design. God was to be their king. They were to be self-governing. Samuel is agitated and very angry about this. Grieved over this.

The Lord said, I'm going to give him a king. He picks out Saul. Now Saul is already rolling with the flesh. You have to understand that. Because earlier on it says that Saul was taller than all of them in his tribe.

A head taller. And he was a handsome man. I guarantee you, from a young man, many people were coming up to him and looking to him. Because in the flesh, he looked really good. He's rolling with some issues.

Saul's Partial Obedience and the Failure to Destroy Amalek

Now you can go back and look at that. Here's the thing. Verse 4, and I'm not going to read every single verse. You can read through this. I'm going to paraphrase some of this. What does Saul do right away?

Summons the men. Summons them up. Got to do that. Got to call them to action. But he goes and numbers the people. Did God say to number the people? I'll bet. Scriptures don't say this. But I'm wondering.

I wonder. Was Saul acting in the flesh? He was looking towards the numbers. Oh yeah, we can wipe them out. Look how these men I have. His trust. Was it in God? Was he just obedient? Or was he not? And that's something you can think about.

And so it goes down. I'm going to go to. I'm going to jump down to verse 5. It says. In verse 5 it says. And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the Canaanites.

Or Kenites. Go depart. Go down from among the Amalekites. Least I destroy you with them. For you show kindness to the people of Israel. And they came up out of Egypt. Stop. Okay. At some point the Kenites were good to Israel.

The Kenites and Compromise With Sin

But see now though. However many years later. The Kenites have. Become one. With the Amalekites. Now. God did not say go kill them too. But he did say. Go and annihilate and devote to destruction. Everything that was of the Amalekites.

You have to say this. They were tight friends. They lived amongst each other. They weren't at war with each other. And I wonder. Just how. Accepting the Kenites were of the Amalekites. A type of sin. We will look at them later.

Lord willing. The Kenites. So he lets him go. It also makes me wonder how many. Amalekites escaped with them. I mean if. Half the city or whatever. Just got up and left Bartlesville. Those of us that were still here would be going.

Where are they all going? Like. What's the rush to Tulsa? Why is 75 so busy with all these people? And should I stick around? Makes me wonder. Let's go down. Let's just see what happens here. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.

Saul Spares Agag and the Best of the Spoils

In verse 7 now. And Saul. Defeated the Amalekites from. Havilah as far as Shur. Which is east of Egypt. Sounds great so far. And he. Saul took Agag. The king of the Amalekites. Alive. And devoted to destruction.

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 the fatted calves. And the lambs. And all that was good. And would not utterly destroy them.

All that was despised and worthless. They devoted to destruction. Uh oh. We have a serious issue. He did not do what God said. But what you're going to find is. He's going to take credit for keeping Agag.

Here it says. That he and the people. So the people of Israel. Spared. All that was good. Later on you'll find out. He does not take credit. He blames the people only. For keeping all these things. But he takes credit for keeping Agag.

Like since he's the king. I'm going to get credit for taking this big man. I don't know what he's thinking. We don't know what he's thinking. We know this. He didn't do what he was told to do of God. We're going to look more at that.

God's Regret and Saul's Turning Back

And so. Let's go down to verse 10. Because. And we're not going to tear too far into this. Because this could lead into a very large theological like conference. But. The word of the Lord came to Samuel.

And here's what it says. It says. I regret. This is the Lord speaking. That I have made Saul king. And he has turned back from following me. And has not performed my commandments. Number one. We know he hasn't done what he was told.

Number two. Saul must have followed God at some point. Because he says he has turned back from following him. So at some point. He must have followed him. And we know the spirit of God came upon Saul.

Because that's. Samuel earlier said it would happen. And even prophesied to say. What would happen to know that the spirit came upon him. But let's go back. It says I regret. Four times the word regret is used through first Samuel.

Twice by God. In the beginning. And kind of here. And at the end of Samuel. Where it says God said I regret. But Samuel says. In here. That God is not like a man. That he should have regret. Seems like a very large problem.

Divine Regret and God's Immutability

Now I'll let you. You should dive into this and study this. And look up the Hebrew. Because this is where you really should do a little Hebrew word search. God's regret is not like our regret. He does not sin or have failure.

To which he needs repentance of. The old men. Would have said it like this. And if you go to study this particular word.