The Word came

1 Samuel chapter 15 and verse number 1, Samuel also said unto Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people over Israel. Now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus said the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt.

Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not. But slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. Verse number 4, And Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Tilaim, two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Judah.

Now verse number 7, And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah unto Lachamas to Shur, that is over against Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag.

And the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fatlings and of the lambs, and all that was good and would not utterly destroy them, but everything that was vile and refuse that they destroyed utterly. Verse 13, Samuel comes to Saul and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.

And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleeding of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites. For the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Verse 19, Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but this fly upon the spoil, this evil in the sight of the Lord? And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord.

Now verse number 21, But the people, you're noticing a pattern here, aren't you? But the people took of the spoil. Verse 22, And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.

Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. Now our turn, please, to Ezekiel. Now Ezekiel, we'll read from chapter 33.

Ezekiel's just before Daniel. Like I said in the gospel meeting the other night, sometimes I still have to sing that little hymn in my head to find all the books of the Bible. Ezekiel chapter 33 and verse number 30, Also thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.

And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear the words, or thy words, but they will not do them. For with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument.

For they hear thy words, but they do them not. Now, one last reading, please, in 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians in chapter 2. We'll read verse number 7, or beginning at verse number 7. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, beginning of verse number 7, But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children.

2 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. 3 For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail, for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. 4 Ye are witnesses in God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe, as ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father doth his own children.

5 That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. 6 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, or from us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. Now that's all we'll read.

What we have before us for the next half hour or so really are three different parties, if you want to call it that. One man is an individual, and the other two are groups of people. To each of these parties came the word of God.

It came to them. They were presented with the word of God or a message directly from the Lord. All right.

But we're going to look at the three different reactions to the message. And I think that what our brother Beatty was bringing up this morning is very important. As we approach a conference, really, we should be coming with an exercise.

Brethren, preaching should come with an exercise. In fact, if you were to turn with me to the book of Ecclesiastes, you would find words there that perhaps would suit the exercise of the preacher, that we are to look or seek out acceptable words, not just the proper words to convey our message, but the right message to tell the people. Very important that we, as preaching brethren or those who are going to share in the conference, have a message that we are exercised about.

That's our responsibility. It is. But we all have a responsibility as a people of God as to how we receive the message and what we do with the message.

And our brother mentioned to us today that it really is our desire that we would leave a different way than we had come, that we would leave having been better off for hearing the word of God. But I would say much of the result rests on how you receive it. It does.

So we're going to look at Saul. We're going to look at those people in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 33, and we're going to look at the Thessalonians. See, Saul was a man who had much authority.

I think it's good to understand the authority that Saul really did have in the land of Israel. It will give us an idea of the sin that he committed. You see, Saul was the king.

He was in church. Saul would have been influenced by the people. Saul would have spent time with the people.

But when it came right down to it, when being presented with the word of God, Saul was the man who had to make his own decision. What am I going to do with the message? Am I going to obey God or disobey God? See, that's really where it comes down to today, isn't it? As we sit here in the conference, we listen to the ministry, we hear the message. Really, you may be influenced by others and others may be able to talk you into or out of something, but when it comes down right to it, it's up to you what you do with this message, isn't it? We preach that in the gospel.

We have to also remind ourselves as Christians that we are responsible for obedience to the word. We are. So here is Saul, a direct message from God.

Go and utterly destroy. And it says in verse number four, and we are moving through this quickly, verse number four, it says, he gathered the people together and he numbered them and he went, right? And it says, Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. Then he took Agag the king alive.

Oh, he had slain all the rest of the people, right? And he had taken and he had slain all of the animals that were not desirable. We hear him say that a little later on because he says here that he saved them for sacrifices. But I want you to notice it says the people, the people, verse number nine, again, the people, Saul and the people spared Agag.

And in verse number 15, when presented with the fact of his sin, you know who Saul blames? The people. He does, doesn't he? He says they have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord by God and the rest they have slain. So you know what he is saying? We have done the Word of God almost completely, almost completely.

If you watch closely or look closely at the words, you'll find that Saul is really saying, I have obeyed. I have done what the Lord has said. The Lord told me to go and I went.

The Lord told me to slay and I have slain. Surely the Lord will look upon my effort and the energy that I put into this thing and he'll say, OK, well done, Saul. That's not what he says, is it? No.

You know what the verdict is on Saul's activity? You have rejected the word of the Lord. Rejected it. You know what we learned from Saul in this circumstance is that partial obedience is not obedience.

Only obeying the parts of the word of God that you choose to obey is actually rejecting the word of God. And I know that we're looking at a large crowd here today. We appreciate you being here.

We really do. But chances are, is it right to use that word, chances are, probably there are people here today and you know in your heart of hearts, based on the teaching you have received, you know that in your life right now there is something God is asking of you and you're just not willing to do it. And you say, but, but I'm baptized.

Surely God will look at me and say, well done. Well, you should be baptized. That's what happens to Christians.

They get baptized. Of course, it doesn't just happen. You have to want to be.

But I've done this and I've done that and I've done this. And all the while you're patting yourself on the back as being an obedient Christian while leaving out the details. And God says, really, that's not obedience at all.

Disobeying. But look closely. I like to learn the lesson from verse number 15, spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God.

Saul was justifying his behavior. That's what we do, isn't it? He was justifying his behavior by saying, because of my actions, God is going to be glorified. So he's saying we have saved the best of the sheep and of the oxen.

We looked and we said among these animals is opportunity to glorify God. You know what God says? There's no glory for me in disobedience, no matter what you think. You know, it's very easy for us as humans.

To think, well, the way that we gather or the way that they gather in a certain place, they may not be obeying the word of God, but what a blessing they've seen the gospel. You know, our brother already said perhaps they do preach the gospel. And surely that's bringing honor and glory to God.

To meet with those people in that large building where they're putting so much effort into the gospel. Oh, I know that the sisters do not wear a head covering, really, in obedience to 1st Corinthians chapter 11, the truth of the display of headship in the gathering. Oh, I know they don't do that.

And I know that we have a one man minister, one man, pastoral charge, whatever you call it. I don't know what you call it. And I know we do all of these things, which aren't quite in keeping with the word of God, but surely we're bringing honor to God and preaching the gospel and seeing souls saved.

I go back to what my brother said about the sovereignty of God. God can bless despite or in spite of us. But the only thing that we do that brings glory to God first and foremost is obedience.

So, you know what that means? You're in the assembly where the Lord's people are. Where the word of God is not only revered, but it's obeyed. Where the word of God is able to be taught.

Where a man is able to get up and teach the doctrine of God, singular, from the book of 1st Timothy now, when it comes to men praying everywhere. Yeah, it's in the Bible. It's what the Bible says.

And when it comes to the women being silent, it's what the Bible says. When it comes to the truth of the long hair and the head covering and the short hair and no head covering. When it comes to the truth of the seat of the unlearned and not receiving as that of an open table.

Yeah, those truths that are found in the word of God require our obedience. And if we're not obeying those, we are not being obedient. We're rejecting the word of the Lord.

You say, here's a hard man from Canada. I just said my wisdom teeth out and I'm a little cranky. It's true though, isn't it, brother? It's either all or nothing.

I choose all. Then we move along. I want to spend most of my time in first Thessalonians.

We move along to these people by the river Kibar, the land of Babylon. So geographically, see God chose to place his name in Jerusalem. These people, because of the, I'm going to say the circumstances they found themselves in really because of the disobedience, they are removed from the place of God geographically.

And I would say that they are removed from the mind of God spiritually, perhaps even morally. These people were far away from the Lord. They were.

And I think it's what our brother said just before me here is very relevant. It was these people who were far away from the Lord who thought that somehow they had the right to critique the preacher. Yeah.

Oh, the preachers aren't perfect. All right. You can pick all kinds of problems with my personality, with my hair, with my suit, all of those things you can pick fault with.

But if I'm preaching to you, the word of God, you have no right to critique it. Okay. Critique my style.

That's okay. But if what I am telling you is consistent with the word of God, you have no way to critique it. You have to accept it.

So here he was a man, Ezekiel, who's going to preach to these people who are far from God. And it says, they're still talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses and speak one to another, every man to his brother. Come, I pray you and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.

And they come. What's the wording of verse number 31? If you kept your thumb there, it's easy to find. Verse number 31.

And they come on to thee as a people cometh. So you have a gathering, a gathering together of the people to hear the word from the preacher. And then it says, and they sit before thee as my people and they hear the words or thy words.

Very simple. They've gathered, they've sat and now they're hearing. It's falling on their ears.

We're going to get that or to that now in first Thessalonians very shortly. But the message is now falling upon the ears of the people. They've gathered together really in pretense because of this one fact.

They will not do it. What's their attitude today? I'm this heard when I preach to sinners, I can be this heard when I preach to saints, maybe just to share with you. If our attitude is like this, we have to be careful because we can attend all the meetings.

We can listen to all the ministry, but if our attitude is, we will not do it, it's not going to better us in any way. That's what they said. For with their mouth, they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness and low.

That word onto them as a very lovely song. It's talking about entertainment there, really. It is possible, brethren.

Let's, we'll stick with the scriptures. Now, if you go to first Timothy chapter one, you will find there that there are men who have turned away. What they've turned away from is sound doctrine and they've swerved.

So they've not only turned away from sound doctrine, but they've swerved toward, you know what it says? Vain babblings, vain, empty words, right? If you look out there in the evangelical world, and I'm not scared to say it, but the evangelical world is full of creatures who are filling their pockets by spreading empty words, empty words. You know what empty words do? They attract people. They cater to the flesh.

That's what empty words do. Empty words will not offend people because there's no truth to them. Empty words will cater to the seeker sensitive people.

You know what I'm saying? That's an entire movement in the evangelical world that ensures that we cater to the likes and dislikes of the people who are attending in our congregations so that we won't offend them, so that we'll keep them coming. It's full of it. And the Bible says that it doesn't only stay out there, but these things can come in to the assembly.

They can. To the point where we could spend an hour in what we call ministry and have it lacking the main ingredient that makes good ministry, and that is doctrine. That can happen.

We always have to ensure that the character of our teaching is in keeping with good doctrine. Yeah. So we move now to 1 Thessalonians.

This is the happy one. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. I love the Thessalonian epistle, the first one, because it's encouraging. It really is.

You look at the terms that he uses of endearment to the saints in 1 Thessalonians, as early as chapter 1 in verse number 4, where he says, brethren, be loved. And then chapter 2, where he read, as a nurse or a nursing mother, cherisheth her own children, or he became dear unto us, or as a father, his own children. And he goes throughout it.

This man obviously has a care for these people. Undoubtedly. There are many today who would say that the apostle Paul was Christians, that he didn't value the Christians.

He only held the truth in a very cold way. Not so. His primary concern were two things.

Concerns then. Two things. You know what he was concerned about? You find it right here in the passage.

He was concerned about the truth, the upholding and the preservation of the unadulterated truth of the gospel and the words of doctrine. That's what he was concerned about. But he was also concerned about the people.

Yeah. The people had become dear to him. The more time he spent with them and the more time he spent in prayer, praying for them and thanking God for them, the dearer and dearer these people became.

But he realized something that I think we all have to realize. That if we find the people of God dear and want only what's best for them, then we have to regard and garr the truth. Because these people will be worse off if we neglect the truth.

These dear people that are becoming more and more dear to us on a daily basis are going, they're going ahead in the wrong direction if we leave their doctrine. And when we have our young people's meetings, we bring the young people together, we try our best to keep their attention, we leave out doctrine, we're going to lose them. Brethren, we will.

It's going to happen. The Apostle Paul says, I care about these people enough to tell them the truth and to teach them the right way. That really should be our desire, isn't it? So here he is.

And he says, impart it unto you, not the gospel. The idea of impart it is a gift, but it's not that he's giving it away. He's actually sharing it so that they both can have it.

The truth of the gospel. I am impressed by the attitude of the Thessalonian believers, as expressed perhaps in verse number nine, how ye turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. They turn to God from idols.

This was really the preacher's dream. He came in three Sabbath days. That could be only two weeks, but three Sabbath days in Thessalonica, however you want to say it.

And he preached. And the word of God had such an effect on the people that it caused them to turn from their old ways, from their old idols, from their old religion, from that old world and turn to God. Yeah.

Wonderful thing. You know what produced that? You know what produced it? The true gospel that he was preaching. That's what produced it.

The truth of the gospel. You see, you don't have to go far. In the book of Acts, you'll find that the apostle Paul says that the gospel that he was preaching was a gospel of repentance toward God, even faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

And when he stood there preaching before the people, that's what he did. He preached their sin. He preached a savior.

He preached repentance. He preached judgment, righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come when he preached the feelings. Never was there a message that the apostle Paul had in the gospel where he did not make people acutely aware of their personal responsibility to God for sin.

That's why he saw results. And if we leave out the preaching of repentance and we go around scratching our head and wondering why the converts aren't going on, that's why. Our gospel message has to be the gospel message of the Bible.

And now I know why he says it's hard to get an amen. But I think the most would agree here. The quality of our gospel begins to slip.

The converts become not converts at all. We start baptizing people who've never been converted. The assembly becomes weak.

We wonder why. It all hinges on the quality of our gospel. It does.

So here he was, and he was in there and he was preaching it. And these people repented. They turned, put their faith in Christ, and they continued on.

And they formed there an assembly, a church of God in Thessalonica, a place where God was pleased to look there and say, that's the place where the Lord Jesus is in the midst. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. You look at the idol's temple.

He's not there. You look at the synagogue of the Jews and he's not there. Where was he? He was where these people had gathered together who had repented from their sin, trusted Christ, been baptized and were continuing in the apostles doctrine.

That's where he was. And the apostle was delighted when he left Thessalonica and left a little group of Christians there just like this. And now he begins to say how thankful he was.

For this cause also we thank God without ceasing, because when you receive the word of God which he heard of us, he received it not as a word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. Two different words were received there. Some will know the first one carries with it this idea, that it came to them.

So it says, because when you received or because when the word of God was delivered to you, so it's like a package comes to your door, right? The doorbell rings, the delivery guy's there and he has it for you. The package has now been delivered right to your door. You've received it, right? Now he says, when you received it or when it came to you, you received it not as a word of men.

That is a different word for receive. This is the word for accept or take, right? This is their responsibility. Now was the preacher's responsibility to bring them the word and it's their responsibility to either accept it or reject it.

And they saw it and they said, this is not just the words of men. This is the word of God. And if it's a word of God, we want They took it, they received it, but as it is in truth, the word of God.

Now let's look at this last statement together, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. We know what that word affectionately is, don't we? That's the power right there. That's what it is.

The word is where we get energy. The energy of the testimony is the word. That's what he's saying.

Or it says the word of God. Some would look back and say, well, we should change that which to who and make it mean God. That's not what it means.

Grammatically. It means the word. So it's the word that effectually works in them that believe it is the word that has power and testimony.

I'm not saying that God is not the ultimate power behind it, but what this verse is teaching is that God is using the word in their lives. So as they hear the word and as they accept the word and as they are taught the word and begin to put the word into practice, it shows out in a power and testimony in their lives. That's a marvelous thing, but it's a very solemn thing when we think of it, because this weekend we are being presented once again with the word and there is the potential from this conference for everyone to leave here having more power in their testimony, having more power in their witness, having more power to live for God.

There is that potential, but it all hinges on what we do with the word, right? We could be like Saul. Dear Saul, he thought it was okay by doing part of the word. God says partial obedience is complete disobedience, right? Then we could be like those people, the children of Israel in that land of Babylon, where they had their mind made up before they even heard that they weren't going to do it.

We don't want to be like that, do we? Really, the heart of every Christian is that we wouldn't be like that, but it can happen. What we really want to be like is we want to be like those Thessalonian believers, for when the word came to them, they received it. They took it.

It's the idea of taking it and holding it near. That's what they were doing. They valued it.

They received it, not as it was the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, and they found that that was the power for their testimony. May we be like them.