In life, you have people that you know they're doing wrong and you can't reach them. You can be looking right at them face to face. You can be having a conversation with them, you just can't reach them. They don't want to be reached. And you're a little afraid for them because you're saying at the end of it, you know, this really isn't between you and me, it's between you and God.
You have war with God. And you can sit and you can ignore me and you can hem and haw me and you can stomp, but you can't stop God. And if he judges you, nobody can help you. Mom and dad can't get you out of hell. You either believe it or you don't.
This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Samuel. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio, specifically, how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now, here's Pastor Rick with his continuing study in the book of 1 Samuel 12, on this edition of Cross-Reference Radio.
The psalmist in Psalm 71. For you are my hope, O Lord Yahweh. You are my trust from my youth. Who can say this?
Some of you can say this. Psalm 71 again, verse 17: Oh God, you have taught me from my youth. To this day, I declare your wondrous works. That psalmist never let up. Then there was Obadiah, not the Obadiah, the prophet.
And the minor prophets But this Obadiah was hiding the saints from Jezebel's henchmen. at risk of his own life. And of course, there's this battle between Ahab and Elijah the prophet, and Elijah disappears, but he shows up when they're looking for him. And he has this engagement with Elijah, which is very telling because you just have you have two strong believers here risking their lives for God, and yet there's a little friction between the two of them and how to go about this. And so Elijah says to Obadiah, tell Ahab Elijah is here.
And Obadiah said, uh-uh, mm-hmm. Because you're going to leave. I'm going to run and tell him, and you're going to go who knows where. and out in the woods somewhere, and then he's gonna turn on me. And this is what Obadiah says to the great prophet.
He says, But I, your servant, have feared Yahweh from my youth. That's why he could stand up to the man of thunder. This guy called fire down and killed people. More than once. Do it again.
Okay. How can you not read these stories and say, I'll just take that little bit, please? I'll put that on my plate. And I will devour that. What else have you?
In spite of all the things that come against us, the perplexities, the God, when you say, God, what are you thinking? Why? I can do better than this if I had a little bit of your power. That's the flesh, of course. The spiritual man looks at you and Your spiritual man looks at your flesh and says, You're crazy.
In the flesh is Jeremiah. Chapter one. Then I said, ah. Lord Yahweh, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth. But Yahweh said to me, Do not say, I am a youth.
You shall go to all whom I send you, and whoever I command you, you shall speak. Oh man.
So Jeremiah said, I don't want any parts of this. I'm too young. He played the youth card. And God said, mm-mm. You going?
And you're going to do what I tell you to do. Because he knew what he had in his hands. You know how you ever ride with somebody and you're pushing on the brake because the brake on the passenger side does not work? But the driver note hopefully They know what they have. They know they can perceive how much stopping time.
I try not to be a passenger because you can't fix this. But the point is, God knows what he has. He knows how to gauge this. We don't. We submit to this.
Ezekiel Again, Ezekiel was not a weirdo, but he was eccentric. And he was a musician. Yeah. I'm not saying the dots connect. I'm not saying they don't.
Ezekiel 4:14.
So I said, Ah, Lord Yahweh. Catch how many times connected to their youth they're saying, Adonai Yahweh. Master and God Almighty. altogether.
So I said, Ah, Lord Yahweh. Indeed, I have never defiled myself from my youth till now. I've never eaten. What died of itself or was torn by the beast. Nor has abominable flesh ever come into my mouth.
He said, From the time I was a kid, I've been following the dietary laws as commanded by Moses to the Jewish people. He was quite Proud in the good sense, not proud in the sense that I'm looking down at others, proud and says, This is an achievement, Lord. And I'm happy to say it is an achievement. And God would have agreed that part is an achievement.
Now, here's what I want you to do. Paul the Apostle. We can't forget him. Speaking to Agrippa, my manner of life from my youth. which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, All the Jews know.
You see, they all know how I grew up. They know my record. They know that I have a good testimony in the law before God and before men. And finally, Timothy. We don't hear Timothy speak.
But we hear Paul speak about Timothy. And Paul says, from your childhood, You have known the holy scriptures. Which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. The scriptures can do this to you, Timothy. You've known the scriptures from a child and you've not departed.
You've not said, okay, I'm too big for this now. Oh, it's boring. Heard the story of Daniel in the den. Oh, know all about the nice boys in the fire. Boring.
Oh, David's going to kill the giant. No, it's like yeah. If I get to go on that fire, I won't be like them. If I'm faced with lions, I want God to shut their mouth too. If I face a giant, I want to run at him as David did and take him out.
Now that all sounds good. To we're faced with it. But then after it's all said and done, you look back and you say I did it. I remember when my dad taught me to ride a bicycle. And I thought he was still holding me, and I was just sailing down the road.
He was way back there. And it was what a feeling. Like I'm free. I'm doing what I thought I could never do. First three.
Here I am. Witness against me before Yahweh and before his anointed, whose ox have I taken, and whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I received any bribe which by which to blind my eyes, I will restore it to you.
So he gives them a chance. He says, okay, here's your chance. You want to criticize the pastor? Here's your time. But you you better hit me with something that is real, not some petty stuff.
Well, Samuel, you know, we never liked the your donkey. He thought his left ear was a little higher than his right ear, and it just irritated the whole village. No, he's talking big league stuff. He's upholding his integrity before them, and he says, If I'm wrong, here's your chance to prove it.
Solid testimony held over decades. This wasn't just, you know, I did a whole week of ministry. especially compared to those others, The man of God. Opened himself up for criticism to their face, and none came. That's the point.
The point is not that he opened himself up to criticism. The point is that none came forward. No one said, I. I remember you did this. Verse 4.
And they said to him, You have not cheated. us or oppressed us. Nor have you taken anything. from any man's hand. And so there's It's official.
It's in front of everyone now. Verse 5. Then he said to them, Yahweh is witness against you, and his anointed is witnessed this day. That you have not found anything in my hand? And they answered, He is witness.
So there is again the official when he says his anointed, that is Saul. Saul is standing there for all of this. That's meaningful. Because he'll never come close to anything like this. He's the goofy guy in the church that heard all the beautiful sermons and did nothing with it.
That is Saul. And It's so In life, you have people that you know they're doing wrong and you can't reach them. You can be looking right at them face to face. You can be having a conversation with them, you just can't reach them. They don't want to be reached.
And you're a little afraid for them because you're saying at the end of it, you know, this really isn't between you and me, it's between you and God. You have war with God. And you can sit and you can ignore me and you can him and haw me and you can stomp, but you can't stop God. And if he judges you, nobody can help you. Mom and dad can't get you out of hell.
You either believe it or you don't. Does that make the pastors sometimes want to say, I quit? I've preached this, Lord. I've hit this as hard as anybody can hit it just to watch them have it bounce off. and frolic on to sin, and then accuse me of being all sorts of a bad guy.
Maybe if I start Hiding her spooking them, scaring them to death. Look in their bedroom window at night with a hockey mask on and wig them out. It's me, Pastor Rig, hi. I'm gonna get you again later. They respect those carnal things, right?
All right. Verse 5. Then he said to them, Yahweh is witness against you. Oh, I read that, verse 6. Then Samuel said to the people, It is Yahweh who raised up Moses and Aaron.
And who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt.
Now, therefore, stand still that I may reason with you. Before Yahweh concerning all the righteous acts of Yahweh which he did. to you and your fathers. And when Jacob had come into Egypt, Verse 8. And your fathers cried out to Yahweh, Then Yahweh sent Moses and Aaron, Who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place?
So he's giving them a rapid survey of their history. This is a pattern that is following Moses and Joshua. Paul and Stephen will pick it up, and others. They would review their well-known history, and they would allow the Spirit of God to take that survey. and touched the hearts of the people listening.
And the people listening would either have their hearts touched or not. It was up to them. But he reminded them of God's repeated faithfulness in the midst of their repeated failures. In other words, he's saying God didn't give up. You he had good reason to d to disown you.
The Prophet is determined to drive his points deep, So, what Solomon meant in Ecclesiastes 12: the words of the wise are like goads. And the words of scholars are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd. It just hammers it in. You get the point of the nail. Deep in two.
The wood. or the rock head as it might be. There's a better way. You can learn the hard way, or you can learn the better way. And the better way is to perceive it, to see it.
and grab it. The lesser way is to, you know, don't touch that, it's hot, and you touch it anyway. quite a common practice amongst People.
Well, to our benefit. Samuel makes this review as do the others. But in the end, you know what they're going to say at the end when he's finished with this beautiful Yahweh. Filled. Farewell speech in a way it's a farewell, not really, because he's still going to be around, but he's not going to be their leader.
In the end, they're going to say, okay, you're right. You're right, Samuel.
Now, please, can we move on to our king? Humans. They are defective. Because of sin. And so he takes all their thoughts back to Egypt.
And he says, Your fathers were in bondage to the Egyptians, and that was some serious business. The Pharaohs, you know, let's kill all the newborn babies. About the boys. and the civil disobedience of the midwives and then of Moses' parents And many others in Scriptures said, Daniel, I don't care what the law is. This is my law, and I'm doing this.
This is a defensive move, it's not offensive. We don't attack. We defend the faith in that sense as we continue to practice it. Anyway, he's made his point. And we go to verse 9.
And when they forgot. Yahweh their God. He sold them into the hand of Cicera, commander of the army of Hazor. into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the k of the king of Moab. And they fought against him.
Okay, so there's a lot of death and bloodshed going on there. We read it as just several words on a page, but there were broken hearts, they were weeping. Family members, this was a horrific time in their history, and they brought it on themselves. And then you know what some of them were probably saying? Where's God?
Why does God let this happen? And God had already answered this extensively. And we see unbelievers do this when something goes wrong, where's God?
Well, what do you care? You've had ample time to show that you really are interested in him, and you've not taken it.
So you just suffer for nothing. Whereas the Christians that suffer persecution They're suffering for something. And it makes all the difference. As Jim Elliott said, just a bunch of nobodies trying to exalt somebody. Verse 10 Then they cried out to Yahweh and said, We have sinned because we have not forsaken Yahweh and served the Baals and the Ashereths, but now deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you.
Well, that was with the cycle that the people would be on. If you look at it that way, it's quite depressing. It's like nothing can be fixed. One generation gets it, the next one doesn't. One generation gets it, the next one doesn't.
When you look at it that way, it's like, that's a bummer. But when you look at it this way, there are individuals who are getting it, and they're in heaven. And there are others that are going to heaven, and there are others that are going to heaven that don't even know it yet.
Now it becomes meaningful. And then, when I'm told by the Holy Spirit, you have a part in this. If you Apply yourself, I'll use you. I'll send people to you. I'll make you part of the process.
And if I don't send people to you, I'll make it so that you help those to whom I'm sending the people to. Believe it or not. Verse 11, and Yahweh and Jerubbabel Bidan. Jephthah and Samuel, delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt in safety. B Dan here is It's either a pseudonym for Barak, because he's the next in line, Jerubbabel Bedan.
Or he's another judge that we just haven't heard of, and that's very much possible. We should not think that the book of Judges is an exhaustive list. Uh there It could be or not. We're not told that these are all the judges, there were no others. Anyway.
Barak It means lightning. And that, again, some believe may have been a nickname, Bedan being his real name, meaning son of judgment. That's how you account for that. Samuel is mentioned here, and the Septuagint they use Samson's name because Samson is the one, the next one in the list. I think the Hebrew is more accurate.
Not the Septuagint. But when they disagree, it's not on a major issue, it's not a doctrinal issue. It's just, was it Samson or Samuel? And if you say, I pick Samuel, I pick Samson, one's not going to hell, and the other is going to heaven because they picked the right one or the wrong one. God, I faces the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of not I believe God has left things purposely.
Perplexing. To force us through the straight and narrow. It wouldn't be straight and narrow otherwise. It'd be broad and wide. I just essayed into heaven.
There was no need for faith. The facts were right there in front of me. I didn't have to do any thinking. It was so easy. That's not how it is.
How it is is you've got a cut you've got to machete your way It's the pilgrim's progress. You know, the story, what a track they get just to get the burden off his back. Then, once he got that off the back, the things were the giant, the castle of despair. Where The giant would come in and beat them merciless every day. And Bunyan is talking about life, his emotions, his depression.
His sense of defeat as he's in jail and he's not out, he can't get out of me for preaching. He's in jail for preaching the gospel. in a nation that claims to be under God. And he puts it into storyline. Anyway, verse 12: And when you saw Nahash king of the Amorites.
came against you. You said to me, No, but a king shall reign over us. When Yahweh your God was your king, there it is. He said, Well, I don't get this, Samuel. I don't get it.
What do you mean you're asking for a king? You've got one. You want a lesser one? You're not ha comfortable with a judge who is slash a prophet. Who speaks to you from God, you want someone who you can.
boast about That you can dress in fine robes and parade about as an extension of your own pride. You can just project all of your carnality into Him. And you're willing to pay for this. We have Many used it. have their parents pay heavy money for them to go off to the universities and become full-blown atheists.
It's a sick real world. And if you don't fight... You get abused. And that's how it is spiritually in any other way.
Well The Ammonite king was what they were interested in. Just having a prophet going around in robes just wasn't cutting it. And the high priest, you know, he was quite bedazzling in his garb, but still, he wasn't a king. And that's a danger that God's people face: wanting to be like those who hate Yahweh. That's the whole thing with Jehoshaphat.
He just couldn't shake it. You can meet a girl or a boy. I've seen it mostly in young women, that they're just attracted to bad boys. Slight Why?
Well, because he's bad.
So's his breath, you know. Anyway. Verse 12. It's not them, then there's sorrow, a lot of sorrow. Just look.
Life is hard every way you turn, but it's not impossible and it can be made to count. And you who suffer in Jesus' name, don't think for one moment that Jesus owes you, but you will find out. That he will not be indebted. that he will bless. If not in this life, and that's where faith kicks in, we have to accept that.
The world accepts it. They can send their boys to the beaches of Normandy to be slaughtered by machine guns without Christ. How much more should we be? Focused on what's happening after we get out of here. Verse 13: Now, therefore, here is your king.
whom you have chosen, whom you have desired, take note, Yahweh has set a king over you. I don't think his tone was like mine. Kind of disgusted. I think Samuel was really wanting to bless the people. Here's your king, you ask for him, you've got your God.
And me, I'd be rolling my eyes, twirling my hair.
Well, I've never had get a wig, but I would do it.
So they were free to choose a monarchy. They were not free to choose the monarch. Uh not at this point. God hides his reasons sometimes. And sometimes he doesn't.
And when he doesn't, it's called revelation. When he does, when he reveals what he's up to, his reasons. That's revelation. When he hides it, It's a mystery, and we move by faith. We say, Well, he's not telling me, but that's not enough for me to stop following.
Verse 14, if you fear Yahweh and serve him, and obey his voice, and do not rebel against The commandment of Yahweh, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the Lord your God. If you fear him and serve him, the dramatic forces here. In Samuel's presentation, In the presence of Saul, he is saying this, he's charging the people. With sin. If you fear Yahweh and serve him and obey his voice again, verse 14, and do not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then.
Both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following Yahweh your God. Again, Saul is right there. And what's going to happen next chapter? Saul's going to just throw all this out the window. Is it dramatic force when someone says Oh, she going to church?
And you counter with you going to hell? I mean, that's what does attitude. I mean, why do they get to get the shots? I think it's fine for us to counter those things. It's you know, I can't believe you're so lame.
Why would you want to do that? You know it smells like sulfur there. I'm kidding about that. Yeah. Well, okay.
I don't care for it, Lord, when your people have no humor. And it's really irritating.
So let's come back to this.
So he speaks again to their conscience. He's bringing it home to the deep part, he's hitting them. And they're going to do one of two things, the same thing people do in church. They're either going to listen or they're going to tune them out. They're going to turn it against them and they're going to turn it for God.
Again, many don't like their conscience spoken to. Um David, when Nathan said, You're the man. He spoke right to his conscience. David had a choice. He could have, at that moment, David could have become like Saul.
but he decided to become like David. And it's a beautiful story, the life of David. Israel would be unrecognizable if God did not give us a man like David. And there would have been no David had there been no Samuel. And you can just link it all the way back.
All the way back. to Abel. What would have happened if there was no Enoch to influence his generation a little bit? What if Noah wasn't the way he was? Certainly, Noah.
Would have. Heard these stories. Verse 15.
However, if you do not obey the voice of Yahweh, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, The hand of Yahweh will be against you. As it was against your father. Saul, can you hear me? Is there a Saul here tonight? Is there a Saul going to listen later?
Is there somebody that has been appointed by God to do something, and all the right things are being passed over because they want to do what they want to do in God's name, which is going to be Saul. As we start opening, peeling back the layers of salt, we're going to find somebody that speaks the language, talks about sacrifice, talks about Yahweh. but really has no intention. of being the king God called him to be. Uh Thanks for joining us for today's edition of Cross Reference Radio.
This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Rick is in the book of 1 Samuel. If you'd like to listen again to this or other messages or share it with someone you know, please visit crossreference radio.com. Here, you can also listen to interviews with Pastor Rick to learn more about his life and ministry. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never miss another edition.
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