And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul’s hand. And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. (1Sa 18:10-11)
Jealousy and envy lie at the heart of many a murder or a murderous spirit. Once it is given in to then they are given over to a spirit far worse. Murder rises from the darkness of our hearts and meets a spirit willing and able to take us down roads we would normally never go down. It becomes cold and calculating quite apart from the heat of passion. Saul knows fine well he is going to murder David and he sets about lulling him into a fall sense of security by “prophesying,” out of his distress. He is speaking, not on behalf of God but rather he is speaking from a place of jealous rage. It is so well controlled and so religious in nature that David takes up his lyre and begins to worship God having no idea what lurks in the heart of his his king. Then Saul, with all of his might mind you, with everything that is in him, unleashes the javelin in an attempt to not just injure him, but to run him through and pin David to the wall.
This spirit has manifested itself down through the ages. Jealousy and insecurity has been its primary motivator. How the Pharisees must have bristled by the multitude that followed after Jesus and would make Him their king. Murder rises in their hearts while all the time portraying themselves as men of God. And in every century since Jesus arose, religious men, men, jealous of those who actually know Jesus, who actually have a relationship with God, who actually enter into worship with Him, plot their downfall. Hangings, stonings, dismemberment, torture and vicious treatment all in the name of God, all flowing from the distress in their hearts when they encounter a man or a woman who actually know God. Even today we see the same spirit at work. The once born man becomes the all out enemy of the twice born man and often times all done under the same roof and under the name of God.
David’s attitude towards his primary enemy is outstanding. Jesus’ love for His enemies is the reason we now live. He forgave the ones who cruelly and with malice aforethought designed His downfall. Stephen cries out the same message while he is in the midst of being stoned to death. It breaks the chains of hell. One of the audience that very day at the stoning of Stephen would go on and write two thirds of the New Testament. And all down through the following 2000 years, men and women of God would face the same enemies with the same spirit and they would follow the dictates of the most High God. They would speak the truth in love. They would never relent, never capitulate yet never render hatred for hatred. They would stand strong in the worship of God and that worship would be first measured by their lives. Let us stand strong brothers and sisters in a day and age where tolerance is worshiped as a virtue but never actually lived out. Our enemies design is to pin us to the wall and do it all in the name of something that sounds very religious, tolerance. We know better, therefore we are to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.
Fire from heaven rain down upon me now
Open the eyes of our hearts that might see and bow
Go forth before me Lord with your fire and you're rain
Burning all the dross and breaking every chain.
By your presence let all the mountains tremble
And rain down glory from above, from your eternal temple
Let the skies break forth that they may split asunder
When the lightening flashes and the earth shakes with thunder
The clouds are His chariots and He walks upon the wind
He broke the chains of hell and death and delivers those who sinned
His glory endures forever and He fractures the sky above
As the whole earth is filled with His eternal love.
He is our shelter from the storm, our precious strong high tower
He has filled us with His love and His everlasting power
Though worlds may fall to pieces and begin to crumble
We follow Him who walked before, and never did He stumble.
Take hold of His precious truth in a world that's full of lies
Raise your hands and lift them up, lift them up unto the skies
Look up and testify that our Redeemer lives
And that His mercy is still flowing and He surely still forgives
Mat 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
This is a very well known passage from the sermon on the mount. Upon reading it in my study from Matt 5 something occurred to me that made me think about it in a different light. I looked up the meaning of the phrase ” have lost its flavor.” in the Greek, it is “moraino.” It means to become insipid. So I looked up the definition of the word insipid. It is “without distinctive, interesting or stimulating qualities. Without sufficient taste to be pleasing as food or drink, bland.” For most of my Christian life I have heard men preach on this in regard to preservation. How salt preserves food. Yet the word is clearly flavor. I would imagine that almost every household in America has salt in it. We use it, not to preserve anything but to flavor it. If it did not flavor it then we would not buy it, what good would it be?
Have we, Christians, become “insipid.” Are we “without distinction,” in the world? Have we ceased to stimulate society but rather do we strive to simply blend in? For much of Christendoms it is almost entirely impossible to tell us apart from the world. If that is indeed the case then what are we good for? Are we not called to be distinct? A people clearly called out from the world? A people that would, by our lives and by our words, stimulate and convict and interest the people around us with our Godlike qualities? The definition of the phrase “have lost its flavor,” goes on ………From G3474; to become insipid; figuratively to make (passively act) as a simpleton: – become fool, make foolish, lose savour. And the word G347 is “moros.” Here is the definition of that word is …..”dull or stupid, absurd or foolish.” In a world of foolishness, foolishness meaning that they have rejected God, are we any good to anyone if we simply just blend in with the world? Are we then “good for nothing,” have we also become like fools?
In the context of this scripture salt has a purpose as does light. We are salt and light. Light brings illumination to darkness, but if we cover up the light that is in us, then what purposes do we have? Light is likened to a city set upon a hill. A lamp that is put on a lamp-stand that lights the whole room. If it is covered up then what purpose do we serve? We have been called to let our lights so shine before men that they may see the works of God in us. We have been called to be salt in every situation we find ourselves in, family, neighbors, workplace. We should stimulate people by our words and by our deeds. We should be clearly distinct in a world that is more and more walking in lockstep, allowing for no distinction. And our distinction should be in no way contrived. I’m not talking about wearing a cross, I’m talking about changing the very atmosphere around us by the power of the light that dwells in us. Do you change the atmosphere that surrounds you or are you simply swallowed up by it?
In the last days the prophets of old still speak to us. None more so than the prophet Isaiah. The prophetic word of God echos down through the ages. It spoke to its first audience and it has continued to speak down through the corridors of time. God has always had a remnant in the land and in these last days they still remain. They have ears to hear what the Spirit says. God is still instructing His sons and daughters through the prophetic word from thousands of years ago. In Ecclesiastes we are told that “to everything there is a season.” We are further told that “He has put eternity in their hearts.”
The Lord our God is doing a work in this, the last season and He is calling out to His remnant saints, the ones who have eternity in their hearts, to come forth from the world and stand. Isaiah stepped forth and cried out with a loud voice “send me.” He took the prophetic words from God to a sinful Judah who were surrounded by sinful nations. Today there exists a sinful Christianity which is surrounded by a fallen world. Shall you stand? Can you hear? Can you see the fallen world and the state of the church? In Christ alone there is truth and we stand upon His word which never changes.
This book journey’s through many of the chapters of Isaiah that stood out to me. The Lord spoke to my spirit and I put pen to paper. As the world grows ever darker and shakes it angry fist, the prophetic word of God becomes all the more vital. What is God saying to His remnant saints? What is He saying to those who refuse to bow the knee to the gods of this world?
1Sa 14:6 And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.
Here was a real declaration of faith! It is so simple yet so utterly profound. Jonathan quite simply believed. He completely understood who God was and how great He was and how nothing is too difficult for God. He could destroy the Philistines by a single man, by an army or all by Himself. That day Jonathan’s enemy held the high ground and Jonathan “climbed up on his hands and knees,” and his enemies fell before him. Two men killed twenty men in an are less than half an acre and it put the fear of God into the enemies camp. When God moves, the world notices and His enemies notice and the principalities and powers shake and tremble. He is the same God today as He was then. When God moves in your circumstances, against all odds and against nature itself, the world notices.
Now, compare Jonathan to his father Saul, the classic religious man. A man who does not have the Spirit of God but rather a troubling spirit. He does not have the same faith as his son therefore he has to make his own plans, he has to try and do it in his own strength and without the council of God. His directions cause chaos in the ranks. He refuses to allow them to eat honey that is literally dripping from the trees to such and extent that it is piling up on the ground all around them. The religious man refuses to allow the Holy Spirit in his midst. He would watch the people starve and be terribly weakened rather that go back on his traditions and his own ordinances. Think about the extent of Saul’s reasoning, he was ready to kill his own son, the very son who God had worked through that day to give them the victory that they wanted.
God alone works His works. The battle belongs to God. He will not share His glory with anyone and He certainly does not need the council or the wisdom of men. The wisest man in the world is as a fool unto God. When God gives you resources you must take them. True spiritual strength comes from being endued with power from on high. We are edified by the gifts and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. In no other way are we edified. We must have His wisdom. We must have His strength. We must have His glory. We must see His majesty. We must yield to Him in everything. Traditions must fall by the wayside if they get in His road. The vain works of men must cease and we must be about His works. Imagine a starving people being ordered to ignore the food that God has so clearly provided. Its almost as mad as the Philistines turning on their own and destroying themselves.
1Sa 10:19 And you have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations; and you have said unto him, no, but set a king over us.
It seems very obvious what God is saying to His people, by choosing a man to lead them they were actually rejecting Him. What pain this must have caused the Father’s heart. He had made a people out of nothing and had delivered them time and again from trial and tribulation, hunger and captivity. He had opened up the sea before them and destroyed the most powerful army in the world for them. He had fed them in the wilderness and led them out. He had given into their hands the promised land. Yet all of these things were forgotten by a people who refused to look to themselves to see where the problem was. And before we are too judgemental, isn’t that exactly what we often do? We find ourselves in some kind of dire straits and we cry out and look for deliverance. We typically look to the world first.
We run to man. Who do you run too? Do you run to God? Is the Lord your Alpha and Omega? Is He your first choice? Or, is He often your last? We want a king. We want a pastor, a healer, a seer. We do not realize that when we depend on anything other than God we are in a very true sense rejecting God and choosing our own way. We look and see how the world handles it problems and we try and imitate them, how tragic. Whatever we give ourselves over to, it will certainly reign over us. God told the people that if they go down this road then a king will “take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots.” How many countless young men have died down through the ages fighting for a king? Not King Jesus mind you, but for a worldly king for worldly purposes. God told them that a king “will take the best of your fields, your vineyards and your olive groves.” Think of the poor share croppers barely scratching out a living while the “landowners,” become very wealthy.
God told them that a king will take your young men and your young women and your donkeys and he will put them to work for his own purposes. He will take a tenth of your sheep and you will be his servants. And in that day when your are totally oppressed you will cry out to me, God says, and “the Lord will not hear you in that day.” We live in a world today that is totally given over to its own systems. A world that has totally rejected God in favor of themselves. They work but they cannot get ahead. They are taxed at every turn. Wars have consumed whole generations of young men. There have been more killed in wars in the last 120 years than in all the wars down through the corridors of history, combined. We are seeing the ultimate conclusions of men rejecting God and choosing for themselves their own ways. The tower of Babel has risen and stands so much taller than the ancients could ever have imagined………and great will be its fall. And yet, in the midst of all of that, God has a people not given to the world and Jesus is their King.
1Sa 8:1 And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel………………….And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.
Is it not an incredible thing that Samuel’s sons turned out to be corrupt? After everything Samuel saw in the family of Eli he now faces much the same issues. It seems that while his sons were under his influence and had no official capacity, they did well. Yet as soon as they get out from under the influence of Samuel and are given positions, their true nature comes forth. The second generation of anyone is never guaranteed. We are told that around 80% of young adults “lose,” their faith when they go to college. Yet, it seems clear that when these young people move away from their parents Godly influence their true nature comes forth. They are corrupted by a world they are drawn to, whatever their vice is. Bonhoeffer tells us in his book “The Cost of Discipleship,” that just one generation removed from the founders of the Lutheran church, cheap grace had taken hold.
Now, rather than dramatic conversions, there was mental assents to abstract truths. If their children could tick boxes one through seven and say yes to these truths, then they were counted as saved. The fire was gone, the glory had departed so to speak. The world had invaded and the “ark,” was captured. Ichabod was on the move. The second generation is often a pale imitation of the first. They are given positions as gatekeepers of the status quo by their parents and the main objective becomes keeping their positions. They create sacraments and traditions that are self-serving. These sacraments and traditions become the pillars that hold aloft the very structures of their denominations and organizations. Men who come along and challenge the status quo and speak the truth become enemies because the truth threatens to tear down the very pillars that hold it all together.
The only solution to all of this is the new birth. The genuine conversion of men and woman. Men and women who actually encounter God and are captivated by the truth that they find in the Scriptures. That truth burns in their veins like molten lava. It courses through every part of them and they are simply compelled to speak the truth no matter the cost. And the cost, for much of the last 2000 years, has been death through martyrdom. Has been rejection by their peers. They have been shunned and ridiculed and scorned by those who have but a mental assent to the truth. Why did Saul hate David so much even although David loved him very much? Jealousy. Jealous of the relationship David had with God. Some things never change. The heart of the merely religious man is fundamentally jealous of the heart of the man who is intimate with God. And just like the flesh wars against the spirit, then the once born man wars and rages against the twice born man. There can be no other way as there is enmity between the two.
We, man, are cursed with a religious spirit that dwells within our flesh. It’s a merit based spirit therefore it diametrically opposes grace. And yet the religious spirit knows that it stands in opposition to grace and knows that it is defeated and therefore it tries another avenue. It agrees quickly about grace and then tries to convince us that if that is actually true then it doesn’t matter how we live.
And so, like sand traps on a golf course, we face two major obstacles as we “approach the green.” (Green pastures) We can land in a bunker that is works based, that tries to convince us that we must be perfect in order to be accepted by God. Or we can land in bunker number two that tries to convince us that since we are not perfect and don’t have to be then why bother? Both are indeed bunkers.
In order to land on the green we must understand that we cannot work our way to heaven but we must be about the works of our Father. We also have to understand that although we are imperfect beings in-dwelled by a perfect God we are still called to resist the devil (and he will flee from you) and draw near to God having cleansed our hand and purified our hearts ( confession and a broken and contrite heart) In this way we “land on the green.” He makes us lie down in green pastures, there is peace and joy and stillness beside the still waters.
Those who navigate the narrow path with their cross upon their backs realize at some point that they are being followed. As they look behind them they see two objects and it sets there hearts on fire. They are being followed by goodness and mercy. And before them is the shepherd of their soul. They are hedged in as they make their way home.
1 Sam 4:3 Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh to us, that, when it comes among us, it may save us from the hand of our enemies.
Just for some context, this scripture occurs about halfway through a 40 year oppression by the Philistines. It had not been that long ago that Samson had been killed. How far they had fallen since his demise. And yet, in the midst of a corrupt priesthood, and perhaps because of it, they go to battle with the Philistines and they are roundly defeated. They do not learn from their defeat as they should but rather they are somewhat angry at God that He had not given them the victory they seemed to believe they deserved. So, they doubled down. Without leadership the people are now doing what seems right to them and the priests do nothing to stop them. How loudly they shouted when the Ark came into their camp. This is men trying to force the hand of God, its not going to end well. In their first defeat they lost 4000 men, in the next defeat they lost 30,000 men and the rest fled for their lives and the Ark was taken.What absolute chaos unfolds when we treat God lightly and try and use Him as some kind of talisman.
Now we may be temped to think how foolish these people were. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever “pleaded the blood,” over something? Have you ever commanded anything in the name of Jesus? Have you heard His voice in the matters that you speak to? When we put God before our troubles as some kind of talisman, usually in the midst of frightening circumstances, did we take a moment and step back and think? What is God saying to us in our troubles? Even in the earthquake and the loud storm there is a still small voice that speaks. Have you searched it out? The circumstances must never determine a quick response. In the end its not about our circumstances, its always about the glory of God. We do not use Him to alleviate our troubles, we use our troubles to draw closer to Him. Trusting in God, whether we live or whether we die, puts trust/faith in its proper context. In this context, glorifying God is the chief end of man. When our circumstances are our chief end, then faith is perverted into a “force,” which can either save us or condemn us depending on how much of the “force,” we have or have not. In simple terms, God is displaced.
The Israelites had bypassed God and used what was supposedly most precious to them to go and engage in an unsanctioned war. They were attempting to determine their own fate by using God in ways that made sense to them. How foolish to believe that God is ever confined by an Ark or a temple or a certain prayer or the so called faith of men. God is never confined by anything, period. If He were He would not be God. It is we, His servants, who are confined and contained by His will and the moment we step outside of His will then we have strayed off the narrow path. No good thing comes to pass when we wander away from His will. In all things we cry out to God. If for one moment the Isrealites had cried out to God and sought Him our before the battle or after the defeat they would not have lost 30,000 men or indeed the Ark itself. The Ark represented the presence of God. What can we do without His presence brothers and sisters? Where would we be without the Lord? He goes before us, certainly. Yet we cannot put Him before us. We cannot do it by a talisman, icons or chanting certain words. He is with us in relationship and only in right relationship. He is God and we are His bond-servants. He alone determines our battles and He alone is to be glorified at all times and sought after and waited upon. Everything else ends in disaster.
1Sa 3:7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him.
Samuel, although a child of promise, did not know the Lord “yet.” In the previous chapter we read that the sons of Eli did not know God. “Now the sons of Eli were corrupt, they did not know the Lord.” Yet God was now calling to Samuel. Three times He calls to him in the night. What fear must have struck Eli when he realized that while God was not talking to him, the priest, he was engaging the child, Samuel. It must have been clear to him that his time had passed and that certainly his sons were passed over and under judgement. In fact we are told that the Lord desired to kill his sons and sure enough they would be killed. In order to know God we must encounter God. Samuel would have known the word and would have been taught the word even as a child, yet it was not until God encountered him that he “knew,” him. This concept of “knowing God is so important. God says to many in that day, who claim to know Him and who have done many works in His name “depart from me ye workers of iniquity for…..I never knew you.”
And what was the word that came to Samuel? A frightening word indeed in regard to the corrupt priesthood and those who refused to do anything about it.God says “For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile and he did not restrain them.” God says that the word is frightening, so frightening indeed that it would make the ears “tingle,’ which is akin to the teeth chattering with fear. Now how did Eli know? In the previous chapter we see that ” a man of God,” came to Eli. A nameless man of God. not another prophet or a king, a nameless man of God. No doubt Eli might have had little difficulty dismissing this nameless man of God. Eli’s greatest crime? “Why do you kick at My sacrifice which I have commanded in My dwelling place and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourself fat with the best of the offerings of Israel my people.” Eli honored his sons more than he honored God. Eli made himself fat with the offerings that were for God. His sons had made themselves fat.
Can I put it to you that there are a lot of fat men in the land of Christendom. They have fattened their hearts on the offerings they take in the name of God. They honor their own more than they honor God. They go to great lengths to elevate themselves and their own and yet in order to do this they must dishonor God. If you love anything more than God then you are not worthy to be His disciples. If you cause His name to be dishonored in the public square, if the name of God is mocked because you rob and you steal from the people ( you are actually stealing from God) then God will cause something to come upon you that you could never see coming. The very first thing that shall happen is they He will not talk to you. You will not hear the Word of God. He will speak to others, others you may actually despise, and it will make you angry and jealous and fearful, but He will not speak to you. What you have so meticulously built up over the years and decades, in one night God will tear down. Eli was warned by an unnamed man of God and he chose to ignore it. We ignore God at our great peril.
1Sa 3:1 And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.
Can I put it to you that we live in days where the Word of the Lord is rare and there is no widespread revelation. And the reasons are very similar to the times of 1 Samuel. There was a corrupted priesthood. The world had invaded the priesthood and the world has invaded the modern day church. It was similar in the times of Gideon. We are told the Israelite’s did evil in the sight of the Lord and they were then oppressed by the Midianites. Gideon is confronted by the angel of the Lord and Gideon complains “where are all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.” Now, the Word of the Lord was rare means that God was not speaking though prophets. No prophecies, no words of wisdom, no discernment no miracles.
We live in such days. We have abandoned God’s ways for the ways of the world and the world has come flooding in. We have, for the most part, rejected the gifts of the Spirit and do not desire His manifestation in our midst. We outright reject 1 Cor as any kind of model for our gatherings and therefore remove the platform set up by the Lord by which He would speak to His people. He gets to decide how He speaks to His people, we don’t get to decide that. And therefore Ichabod is pronounced over us. In order to put this right in Gideon’s time, he was required to tear down the idols of his fathers. In the time of Eli the existing priesthood had to be torn down. What about our times? What should the Lord do? Should He wink at our disobedience. Only God knows how He will deal with us but for us it should begin with acknowledging there is a severe problem. Acknowledging that miracles are rare as are true prophecies. Then we should look to why and begin to turn it around. Will we tear downn the idols of our fathers? That remains to be seen.
The gifts of the Spirit in the church today are not only desirable but absolutely imperative. It is extremely necessary that we should have the gifts of the Spirit in the church and let me show you why…….Un-gifted men can do religious work, but it is only the human mind doing a human work. Mortality is written all over the church of Christ today because men are trying to do in the power of their own genius , what only the Holy Spirit can do. Genius cannot do immortal work, genius can only do mortal work…often talent alone runs the church today not the gifts of the Holy Spirit as intended (A,W.Tozer)
When we have a corrupted priesthood, it leads to the birth of Ichabod. If indeed God has departed then what do men do? They keep on going in their own strength. They cannot acknowledge their own corruptions, they cannot give up the power and the prestige they so desire but at the same time they cannot have God in their midst. So, the anointed is replaced by the appointed. In the absence of God we appoint men and women of talent. We try to recreate the giftings and the moving of the Holy Spirit. It never occurs to men to simply fall back on the Word of God. We are several generations into appointed men in leadership, men who are appointed by other men and not anointed of God. Men and women of talent. They have the gift or oratory, in fact it was a required qualification. They can sing like angels, in fact it was required of them before they were appointed. They can take the Word of God and teach it, for they were taught how to do this very thing in their Bible schools and seminaries.
All day long the Sauls of this world rise in our churches and the Davids are left in the fields. They are tall and handsome, they are beautiful and talented just like the world and that is what they wanted. They are appointed men and they have not the anointing of God. And without the anointing it can only ever be a house of talent and not a house of victory. The giants of this world are left to roar at us and mock us and come against us for we lack the David spirit. The appointed try to figure out how to survive with the least amount of damage as the Philistines roar. The anointed run to the battle and care not whether they live or die for they are full of the Spirit of God. The appointed worry about offending the people because they were appointed by the people and in order to keep their position they must please the people. The anointed speak as they are moved to speak by the Holy Spirit. They are not hirelings and they do not run from the wolves and the bears.
The appointed employ all the ways of the world in order to “build,” their own kingdoms. What else could they do? They use talented people, they use pop psychology and business methods. They employ sales techniques. And the latest addition to the appointed is technology. Dimmed lights, blackened walls, smoke machines, theatre seating and concert style worship. The anointed may not have any oratory skills at all. They may not be able to fit into skinny jeans. They may not be the most confident people. They may not desire to have any position at all. Yet it is God who does the anointing. He chooses whom He will use and He builds His church not on methods of the world but by the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit and upon the Word of God. The appointed must rip out whole chapters of the Bible in order to survive and the anointed simply stand upon the Word, even if it means a congregation of twelve.
Men always appoint men who will serve their purposes. God anoints those who will serve His purposes. In order not to share His glory with anyone He raises up paupers to walk with princes. He takes the teenage shepherd boy to replace the peoples choice. He takes the weak and the lowly, the contrite and the broken and He raises them up to high and lofty places to dwell and to fellowship with Him. The anointed walk, not in their human talents and genius, rather they walk in the anointing. In the power of the Holy Spirit. In the giftings of God that do not come through natural birth but rather come from the second birth. And by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. How can we tell an anointed church from an appointed church? You will see the gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation in Gods anointed. Could it be that simple? Is the word of God difficult to understand? Does it all come down to that in the end, obedience to the Word? It always does, whether in our personal lives or our corporate gatherings. There is life in the anointing. There is activity in the appointed. While there can be activity in the anointed, there can never be life in the merely appointed when the appointment is of men.
1Sa 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.
Another way of saying this was that the sons of Eli were corrupt, wicked and worthless. They represented God but by their actions they misrepresented God. According to the Scriptures (Lev 7:34) they were entitled to the “wave breast and the heave shoulder.” Yet, they sent their servants along to the sacrifice with flesh hooks that would be plunged in and whatever it hooked would be taken. This was entirely un-biblical, yet they had made a ritual out of it and enforced this ritual with violence if need be. In other words “they had their hooks into the people.” Can I suggest that people have not changed very much. How many so called ministers or priests have their hooks into people, taking what does not belong to them. Enriching themselves by the fat of the land, the very fat that belonged to God. It has to be noted that the Scriptures tell us that these priests, the sons of Eli “did not know the Lord.”
Just because one calls himself a priest, a minister, a pastor, this has no bearing on whether they actually know God or not. How do we identify those who pass themselves off as pastors but do not know the Lord? Let us look at the sins of Eli’s sons . We are told the sins were covetousness, sensuality, arrogance, authoritarian and gluttonous. They desired to have what was not theirs. They slept with women who had come to seek God. They made rituals out of their sins. They enforced their sin with violence if need be and they were very fat because of their lazy ravenous appetites. This might well describe religion down through the last 2000 years and many denominations. What are the opposing attributes of the men of God? Contentment, faithfulness to their spouses and to their God, humlity, meekness and moderate in all their ways. They give to God what is His and they serve God first. Their God is not their belly nor their lusts but rather their God is the one who enables them to put to death the lusts of the flesh.
There is no doubt we live in an age of a fallen priesthood with all the same excesses on display as we see in the family of Eli. Yet God did not permit that state to go on forever. The corrupted house of so called priests would fall and would fall at the hand of God. There are Hannah’s among us. There are faithful men like her husband and their household among us. God always has a Samuel. He always has a people who have not bowed the knee to the Baals or Belial or to the gods of this world. He is faithful to raise them up and also faithful to tear down men and women who bring dishonor and disgrace to His name. There are those who use God to enrich themselves and fatten themselves by the sacrifices of others and there are those who faithfully serve Him and Him alone and desire to see Him glorified. Those who rejoice in His salvation. Let us rejoice in His salvation today and rejoice in the fact that He has raised up a Royal priesthood, priests who know Him and are known by Him.
1 Sam :2:1 I smile at my enemies because I rejoice in Your salvation.
Hannah was both faithful to God before her womb was open and after it was open. She was faithful to give thanks and glory to God for answered prayer. Can you see the balance? In the previous chapter she was still coming before the Lord, petitioning Him year after year, pouring out her heart to him over a long period of time. And when her prayer was answered she rejoiced in the Lord and in His salvation. Maybe you have prayed for a long time over a situation? Are you still moved by the conviction of your prayer? Is your heart readily on display for all to see? Persistent faithfulness whether we rise or whether we fall, in sickness or in health, in riches or in poverty is very valuable to the Lord. If you can cry out to God and call Him holy, despite your circumstances, then the glory of the Lord will rest upon you. I would put it to you that this is the place of miracles. One is the cart, the other is the horse. The horse belongs in the front, our faithfulness to God and our praises of Him should go before us. And it will sound something like this ………
No one is holy like you Lord, for there is none besides You. Nor is there any Rock like our God. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. By the hand of God the poor can be raised up, the lowly can be lifted to high and lofty places. You take the beggar from the ash heap and you raise them up and set them among princes and they inherit the glory. The pillars that hold the foundations of the earth are yours Lord and you have set the world upon it. Is there anything too difficult for you? Shall I not praise you from the highest heavens? And listen, what is that noise that rises from the lowest valleys? Is it not the praises of your people as they travel along the narrow path? This is the highway of holiness that takes them home. Yes I can smile at my enemy because your salvation has set me free to love them. Your salvation has set me free to forgive them. Your salvation has set my feet upon a sure place where peace reigns. And light, though it be dark all around me, emanates from the depths of my heart for you sit upon its throne.
I am a woman who is deeply troubled… I have been praying out of. my great anguish and grief… I was pouring out my soul to the Lord (1 Samuel 1) The Story: Chapter 10 (1 Samuel 1-15)
1Sa 1:10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.
We can learn so much from Hannah’s situation. Although she was in “bitterness of soul,” she continued to sacrifice to God and to pray to Him. Her prayers were her praises and her tears was the evidence of a heart not closed down due to circumstances. And isn’t this always the danger? When we are hard pressed on every side and our situation seems impossible, what do we do? On the cross Jesus cries out to His Father. Some might say that Jesus cried out “in bitterness of soul.” My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Undoubtedly Hannah felt forsaken by God who had “closed up her womb.” How do we respond? In the depths of our despair how do we respond? Shall we rise up and call out to God and cry “Holy!” Shall we say like Jesus says “into thy hands I commend my spirit?” Hannah poured out her soul to God. She rose above the bitterness. She avoided hardness of heart by drawing close unto God despite her many years of continual disappointment, she was faithful in her offering of sacrifices and her prayers.
In the end brothers and sisters we are called to be holy. We are called to be faithful. We are called to be loving and kind and graceful, even to those who see our situation and take full advantage of it. To those who mock us and spitefully use us, who curse us and falsely accuse us, we are called to good to them, we are called to love our enemies. In doing this we fulfill two primary and fundamental aspects of the narrow walk. We are obedient to the Lord and we guard our hearts. Your heart is ground zero in this battle that we find ourselves in. If the devil take your heart then for him its checkmate. Your heart belongs to God and no matter what situation we find ourselves in, it is the conduit for His love to flow through you to a wicked world. Love your enemies brothers and sisters and pray to God. Accept fully the situation you find yourself in and then find God in the very midst of it. Whether for a day or for ten years, walk faithfully in this. In this “the fruit of your womb shall be blessed.” Life, eternal life, will spring forth from the wellsprings of your heart. Jesus is our inexhaustible source. Stay close to Him and you will give birth to life.
My father died on the 21st of March and I went back to Scotland for the funeral. Below is a a part of his eulogy that I gave.
A portion of my fathers eulogy………. (picture I took that morning)
On the morning of my fathers funeral I got up early and walked along the shore. In a country where it could easily have been pouring down with rain, it was cloudless. The sun rose in the sky and the air was sharp and clear. I sensed the presence of the Lord and a word came to my spirit, so tender, and so beautiful and it spoke to me. This was to be the opening of my eulogy…………………
I am persuaded this morning of the blessed hope in Christ my Lord. Just as surely as the river keeps running and the hills and the mountains stand guard over the valley, my hope in Jesus is even more sure than that. I am persuaded that just as the sun rose gloriously this morning, my father has been gloriously raised again into eternal life by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. I am persuaded that………………….God is in this place. I am persuaded that God loves each person in this room and desires to know each of you personally.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us……….Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?………..For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Heb 12:5-6 My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him: For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.
It is interesting that these scriptures come in the context of the race of faith. Discipline and obedience are part and parcel of what it means to be sons and how God treats us. How we react to such scourging seems to be the difference between those who are sons and those who are illegitimate. Gods sons and daughters see all things in the light of Calvary. We know we have not suffered like the Lord in the garden, we have not sweated great drops of blood under extreme pressure. Neither have we had to suffer for the sins of a guilty world. We have not been rejected like Jesus nor have we suffered as He did physically. In all these things Jesus was obedient to His Father’s voice.
The peaceable fruit of righteousness is produced in those who have been disciplined and chastened. When a piece of land is purchased, first the trees and the shrubs must be cut down. Then the back-breaking work of removing the stumps takes place. Stones are removed one by one and the clods of the ground are broken down into soil. Then the ground is ready to be tilled. We are the purchased ground. If we do not yield to the process then we produce no fruit and God only deals with potential fruitfulness. As we know, vines that do not produce fruit are cut down and burned in the fire. It is a similar concept here in chapter 12. There are two kinds of sons, one is good, the other is illegitimate. One honors is father no matter what, the other rebels against His discipline and disqualifies himself.
The son of God pursues peace, the other pursues war. The son of God lives in holiness, the other lives defiled by sin. The son lives in the grace of God, in the full knowledge that his favor is unmerited, the other believes himself to have position and has an entitled attitude. The son lives without bitterness, the other allows bitterness to take root in his unkempt field. The son stands upon an unshakable foundation that is Christ Himself, the other stands upon a foundation of his own making so that when the shaking comes everything that he has falls. The son knows and understands that His God is a consuming fire and that everything of this world shall be burned up, therefore he lives for the next world. They await their place in the city to come, the city of the living God. He knows that he is registered in heaven to God and that his company shall be that of innumerable angels and the general assembly of the Church. This is his reward.
Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Having heard all the magnificent stories of the faithful saints down through the ages, the author then turns to us and says, “what about you?” Are you not part of this precious group of faith? And if you are then shall you not lay aside “every weight.” What is this weight? Every burden, every hindrance, everything external that would keep you from your reasonable service to God and your reasonable service to God is everything. Your life is not your own, it was bought with a price. It is no longer you that live but rather it is Christ that lives in you. You are a special person, a called out one, a royal priest. You have a duty that is higher than any other duty, that is to serve the King. This you must pursue no matter the cost.
Internally you have the sin that so easily captures you. It might be your temperament, crucify it. It might be your politics, leave that to the world. It might be the personal bias that you grew up with, kill it by the cross upon your back.You would train night and day if you were an Olympic athlete. While others slept, you would be up before the sun. When others were eating anyway they pleased, you would be following a strict diet. You would not be smoking or drinking and in some cases just prior to your race you would refrain from lying with your spouse.The sacrifices we are willing to make in order to get a gold medal, to get fame and fortune in this world are without limit. Isn’t your calling to God so much higher than any athlete?
Are you not running the race of eternal life for a crown that will not perish? A crown that you will cast down before the Lord’s feet because He deserves all the glory!How can we do all of this brothers and sisters? How can we be sold out to God in our lives? “Looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith.” His testimony was that for the joy of serving His Father and fulfilling His will, He willingly endured the cross, despising the shame and then sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Are we willing to endure? Are we willing to accept the discipline of the Lord? Jesus shall be our strength, the Holy Spirit shall be our guide. He shall be the lifter of our heads. He shall convict us and He shall give us the strength to follow Him, if it is our heart to follow Him. If it is our heart to run the race. If it is our heart to endure. If it is our heart to overcome. If these are our desires, He shall give them to us.
Over many many years Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel. You see, Absalom wanted what his father had. He wanted the exalted place among the people. He would rise up early and stand beside the gate and those who came looking for the king, he intercepted them and spoke to them. They were not his people, they were his fathers people but Absalom, falling foul to that most ancient of sins that caused Lucifer to fall down from the heavens, desired to have what was not his to have. And so he wooed the hearts of the people away from their King.
Is that not the very essence of religion? There is one mediator between man and God and His name is Jesus. How many men and religious institutions have sought to replace Jesus over all the centuries? One pretender after another, rising early in the morning, slowly and deceptively seeking to displace God and stealing the hearts of the people away from their rightful King. And all the worse is the fact that so many of these men and institutions knew something of the mercy of God, had been blessed in many ways by His goodness and His forgiveness. They had been touched by His love and by His word which only serves to make their deception and their desire to have what He alone has all the more treacherous.
And so finally David hears of this rebellion against him. Oh what a dagger must have penetrated his heart, to know that his very own had turned on him. One that he loved and had forgiven and had showed mercy too, and he repaid all of that with hatred and animosity and a heart bent on taking what was not his. It is hard to imagine the anguish of David, now no longer a young man, having suffered so much in his life and so much of it undeserved, now as an older man, having to flee from everything that had been his. The city of David, the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant would all be left behind and he and a remnant few would flee the jealous forces that were arraigned against him. They would flee into the wilderness.
Today there is a remnant few who have fled into the wilderness. They have left the city behind with all of its religious trappings. No walls, no tabernacle, no ark of the covenant. Stripped of all the religious trappings, they have something that David had. He had the presence of God with Him. Not that which represents the presence, but the actual presence of God. While religious men hung onto the trappings and rituals and icons, for that is all they have, David goes into the wilderness, the remnant go into the wilderness with God Himself. And as he ascended Gods holy hill he wept, he and the people with him wept. With tears the seed is sown brothers and sisters, tears of sorrow for what has become of something that should have been so beautiful and brought glory to God, but has been so thoroughly corrupted by men who desire to steal the glory of God and steal the hearts of the people.
Do not despair in the wilderness brothers and sisters. In God we have peace no matter what men think about us. In God we can rejoice despite the fact that the forces of Absalom are arrayed against the remnant few. Listen to some of the things that David says in this time and be comforted…… Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice…… because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee……….I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches……….From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I……………………. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
There is an inevitable end to the forces of Absalom, those who would attempt steal the glory of God and from His King. David speaks to this very thing and to those very forces in psalm 63……But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes. But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped. Glory to God saints! Is the end we shall come out of the wilderness by the power of God. The soul that weeps, the soul that thirsts after God in the wilderness shall find joy and inexhaustible waters of life even in the driest deserts and when He comes again into His rightful place then all of God saints will rise up and cry Holy.
Heb 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made by things which are visible.
The world was made, this visible world, by that which cannot be seen! Now this drives men mad. They demand an explanation. They must know. They have to be able to explain their situation. It strikes at the very roots of science and all things natural, explaining our surroundings and how we came to be and what will become of us. And the Lord laughs. The wisest man who ever walked the earth is as a fool to God. Even that which they had was given to them. Yet before we as Christians smugly scorn the men of science who by their desire to understand and explain their natural surroundings and throw off God in the process, how do we operate? Do we trust in the invisible God for our lives? In verse 27 of this chapter we see that Moses endured, not fearing the wrath of the King , by having faith in “Him who is invisible.”
Can we walk as the great men of the Bible walked? Noah built a boat when there never had been a boat nor any rain had fallen from the sky. What he was doing was ludicrous and he was mocked constantly by the world. Could you do that? Abraham, the father of faith, got up and left everything to go …….where? He did not know. Could you do that? Moses, when he became a man, refused to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin and all the world could offer him,. Rather he chose “the reproach of Christ,” as opposed to all the treasures of Egypt. Shall we do that brothers and sisters. In the end faith is about following the invisible God and not knowing what is around the next corner. Faith is about choosing God over the riches of this world. Faith is about praising God whether we live or whether we die, in sickness or in health, in riches or in poverty. The one constant thing in the seeming madness of this world is the invisible God in whom we trust.
The word of faith folk need to be healed. They need to see their healing. They need to be wealthy, they need to be able to see their wealth and count their wealth. They need favorable circumstances, they need to be assured by them. And when they see all these things or desire all these things for themselves they call it faith but of course it is the exact opposite of faith. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Trusting in God is the evidence of our invisible God. And it enrages the enemy of our soul. For two thousand years he has sought out saints and in the tearing away of all the things that can be seen, he hoped to tear away the thing that could not be seen. The cry of faith and the heavenly song from amidst the flames of the martyr being burned at the stake is the trumpet call of victory and the death knell in the ears of the enemy of our soul. The final victory will come when all the saints are gathered to a place where God, by His own hand has built. It lies at the end of the narrow path that cannot be seen. Where the invisible cross upon our backs are removed and we see the invisible God in all His manifest glory and we know as we are known.
A Call To The Remnant 