Amen. Well, if you turn in your Bibles to the book of 1 Samuel, we're going to look at 1 Samuel chapter 10 this morning. We'll start in verse 6, and Lord willing, we'll get through the rest of the chapter. 1 Samuel chapter 10, beginning in verse 6. Last time we saw in the calling of Saul, our own callings, from God's perspective, that God has reserved for each believer. This is the way God sees us, right? He's reserved for each one of us, a place at his table, a place of honor, and that we have his clear and certain word to live by. And then he gives us his grace, his presence, his anointing, as it was said, so that we can walk in those callings, we can glorify him, we can live for him, we can do it. And that no matter how many times we fail and fall short and we do, we have his promise that we will not fail as Christians, right? We will not fail as Christians, because God is with us and he will never leave and he will never forsake us. And so this morning I want to look at the importance of God's word in our callings, how we are to pursue God through his word and how important it is. Jonathan Edwards actually finished his ministry with a sermon where he talked about the many motives that he was constantly trying to give God's people to seek God. And that was how he sort of justified his ministry and said, I've given you many motives in order to seek God. Well, what are the motives, the motivations that we have to seek God in his word? Because I think sometimes we don't know what we're supposed to do next, we don't know or we're so confused as to what the best thing is to do. And then we look at our lives and we really don't spend any regular time in his word. And I just want you to think about that, just in terms of what you take in in your life. Think about it. We have so many voices and opinions, so many competing moral codes and value systems, different world views and philosophies that are constantly bombarding us with ethical judgments, right? Of what we should do, what we should say, what we should think or what we should not say and what we should not do. And God had mercy on you. If you're in a certain context and you say the wrong word today, you could become labeled as some hateful person, just because you didn't say something the right way. It's the culture that we live in. And we get these voices in our educational institutions, in the news media, in the social media, on our computers, our phones, the television, the radio, in the movies, the videos, now we have text and Twitter. We have family members, friends, neighbors, all echoing in a lot of ways, co-workers, strangers, the same voice of the world, the spirit of the age, the zeitgeist. This is what's right. This is what's wrong. This is what you have to do. And there's only one source, one voice that is able to influence us savingly. You know, I talked in Sunday school about general revelation and the voice of God and nature that we hear. But as far as we believe as Christians, the only voice that can impact us savingly, that can change us, that can compete against the world, the flesh and the devil in our lives, and make us more like Christ is right here this word. Are you in this word? How do we make use of the word of God? What are the motivations that we have that would drive us to God in this word? That's what I want to look at in today's text. Let's pray as we turn to God's word. Father, we thank you for your word. It is the primary means by which you save us and sanctify us. Lord, it's how we were converted. We're born again by the word of truth and we're sanctified by the word of truth. Father, help us to believe in this word, help us to be motivated to turn to your word, to see our aching need of it that we would go to it and make use of it. And Lord, as we do, we pray you would keep your word and that you would meet us in Scripture and sanctify us and save us before we pray it in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Here now the word of the Lord beginning in 1 Samuel 10, verse 6, this is God's holy word. Then the spirit of the Lord will come upon you and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man and let it be when these signs come to you that you do as the occasion demands for God is with you. You shall go down before me to Gilgal and surely I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices of peace offerings seven days you will wait till I come to you and show you what you should do. So it was when he had turned his back to go from Samuel that God gave him another heart and all those signs came to pass that day. When they came there to the hill there was a group of prophets to meet him. Then the spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied among them and it happened when all who knew him formally saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets that the people said to one another what is this that has come upon the son of Kish is Saul also among the prophets then a man from their answer and said but who is their father therefore it became a proverb is Saul also among the prophets and when he had finished prophesying he went to the high place then Saul's uncle said to him in his servant where did you go so he said to look for the donkeys when we saw that they were nowhere to be found we went to Samuel and Saul's uncle said to me I'm sorry sorry and Saul's uncle said tell me please what Samuel said to you so Saul said to his uncle he told us plainly that the donkeys had been found but about the matter of the kingdom he did not tell him what Samuel had said then Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Miss Pa and said to the children of Israel thus says the Lord God of Israel I brought up Israel out of Egypt and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all kingdoms and from those who oppressed you but you have today rejected your God who himself saved you from all your adversities and your tribulations and you have said to him no set a king over us now therefore present yourselves before the Lord buy your tribes and buy your clans and when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near the tribe of Benjamin was chosen and when he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families the family of matri was chosen and Saul the son of Kish was chosen but when they sought for him he could not be found and therefore they inquired of the Lord further has the man come here yet and the Lord answered there he is hidden among the equipment so they ran and they brought him from there and when he stood among the people he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward and Samuel said to all the people do you not see him whom the Lord has chosen that there is no one like him among all the people so all the people shouted and said long live the king and Samuel explained to the people the behavior of royalty and he wrote it in a book and laid it up before the Lord and Samuel sent all the people away every man to his house and Saul also went home to Gidea and valiant men went with him whose hearts God had touched but some rebels said how can this man save us so they despised him and they brought him no presence but he held his peace the Lord bless and establish his word in our hearts today I pray amen I want you to notice first of all this morning the power of God's word to change us the power of God's word to change us I think there are things that we need to know and believe before going them be motivated to seek God in his word things that we know but things that we need to consider and be impressed upon and if we really get in our minds the power of God's word to change us that ought to motivate us to be in his word notice verse six then the spirit of the Lord will come upon you and you'll prophesy and you'll be turned into another man well what do we know about this phrase I mentioned last time there's a lot of controversy what does it mean to be turned into another man it we know for certain that he doesn't mean literally another human being you know Saul is going to have another body and another Saul it can't be that nobody believes that it's that Saul is still Saul notice that it says you will prophesy and be turned into another man and then it happens in verses nine and ten and the prophesying as we see it is the effect of God's spirit coming upon him which God said what happened my spirit will come upon you and you'll prophesy and you'll be turned into another man and he finishes prophesying that's interesting I think if you look in verse 13 it says and when he had finished or Hebrew could say and when he completed prophesying and so there was a certain amount of speaking and then he stopped and and we're not exactly sure what it means when it says he's prophesying a lot of commentators will seize on the kind of prophesying that was done in the cultic religions you know where people would roll around on the ground and it's sort of be possessed and lose their minds and get into this you sometimes drug and do state where they would say crazy things and modern commentary so well you know that's maybe what happened here to Saul well scripture doesn't give any indication of that notice if you go back earlier when it talks about these group of prophets and you will see them coming and God said how one of them will be carrying this instrument another one will have this instrument there's four or five musical instruments that they're having and they're playing these instruments and the instruments are out in front of the prophets who are prophesying and they're walking and they're speaking and so obviously they're not rolling around on the ground they're not out of their minds they're able to walk they're able to either sing because of the instruments or speak and they're giving this clear message and so that's not what was happening this wasn't some kind of weird thing like that but we don't know was Saul prophesying the future you know in the sense of a four telling or was he fourth telling what what the prophets mostly did which is to call God's people to obey God's word to proclaim fourth God's word that he had already revealed or were they proclaiming God's praises and singing God's praises you know with the instruments and so forth it could have been any one of those things but he was speaking certain things that he was able to say and then complete in verse 13 while he was still in his mind declaring God's goodness declaring God's word to God's people but what about this he was turned into another man does that mean regeneration you know in in Ephesians and Colossians Paul talks about the new man and where to put on the new man and put off the old man well the Bible never says of regeneration another man not it might be a minor point some scholars do believe that Saul was converted here I don't think that that's what the text is indicating though I mean it's possible but it's not pointing to that what it's pointing to is that Saul becomes different in a sense he becomes like someone who's different I think that we get a clue in verse 9 where it says let me go back to verse 9 so it was when he had turned his back to go from Samuel that God gave him another heart all right again some would say regeneration but normally that's a new heart you know a brand new heart a new nature a new man well in what sense to Saul have another heart notice he has another heart and then comes the prophesying all right the hearts in the scripture is the seat of the affections and the desires when it speaks of your heart what you really desire what you really long for what you what where your affections are and I think the best way to understand this is that Saul is given the ability to be king he's given the heart of a king we would say the gifts of a king the ability to rule the nation listen to what Matthew Henry says quote a new fire was kindled in his breast and he thinks of nothing but fighting the Philistines redressing the grievances of Israel making laws administering justice and providing for the public safety these are the things that now fill his head and he finds himself raised to such a pitch of boldness and bravery as he never thought he could be conscious of I like that because that's what we see in the text right that's why I notice in verse seven it says and it be when these signs come to pass do as the occasion demands literally the Hebrew do what your hand finds because now I've prepared you I've made I've given you the ability so put your hand to the plow and do what what you see needs to be done as a king because you'll have the heart of a king and that's what happens right he gets the heart of a king and now he's suddenly filled with the ability and the desire to defend Israel as God said the reason why he was giving them a king back in chapter nine verse 16 was that he may save my people from the hand of the Philistines Israel said we want a king to fight our battles all right so God gave him a king to fight their battles and he gives Saul the heart to want to do that remember up until this time Saul is a farmer or a rancher you know he's over his dad's household and some form because he's sent out to find the donkey's I mean suddenly this man who's a rancher farmer you know household manager goes to war and next chapter chapter 11 he's going to defeat an entire army Saul's going to in instantly in a sense gather together Israel form them into an army go to war and defeat the Ammonites and so he has been changed here God has empowered him by his word to go out and to do these things to to carry out the call that God has given to him Saul is able to be the king that God's called him to be through his word through the word of the prophet and God brought this about super naturally immediately and that's the purpose of the signs right that God is doing this and really the sign of the prophesying and notice it is called a sign when it says in verse 6 the spirit of the Lord will come upon you and you will be you will prophesy be turned into another man and then in verse 7 when you see these signs you see the prophesying was a sign that God had changed him and it was a powerful sign a supernatural sign because Saul couldn't do that on his own but not only that it speaks to something about Saul as a person and who he was as a person I want you to notice that there were and the scholars disagree on this but there were groups of prophets at this time there were what they sometimes called school of prophets or group of prophets we were going to see later that Samuel was over the prophets and he's even directing them at one point when their prophesying maybe singing and we see this again in the time of Elisha and Elijah again a time of spiritual decline where there seems to be these schools of the prophets and some scholars think that well what happened were there were these people who were really concerned and we read about the you know some of the prophets with their wives and they're building a structure at one point and so they seem to have been men and women who go out and join themselves to the true prophet of God in a time of great spiritual decline because they want to declare God's word they want to see God's you know the nation come back to God and the thing was that's not who Saul was Saul was a good man there was no more goodly man then Saul you know as I said it's just a simple word good where it says handsome in our text in chapter 9 he was a kind of guy you'd want for any job you know especially for the king because you know he had that that height that they were all looking for in a king because they would go out and leave them in battle he needed to be big and a warrior you had to be able to see him and so forth but this is not the kind of person Saul was and that's the point of the proverb in verses 11 and 12 and you know it's sort of an idiomatic phrase especially the answer and who is their father there's a lot of debate on what that means but the whole thing basically is can you believe Saul's prophesied because that's not the Saul that we knew you know and notice in verse 11 it happened when all who saw him formally when everybody who knew Saul heard that Saul prophesied it was like is Saul also among the prophets Saul oh yeah he's a good guy but he's no prophet you know and that was the point that he was different the God's word had changed I mean it reminds me of story when I was a kid growing up in Salzburg my good buddies you know I was we grew up I was a member of the Lutheran church my family was part of the Lutheran church I was an acolyte you know we everybody you know in town seemed to like be part of this or that church my best friend Richie with just a half a block away he his family were Catholic he was an older boy you know we both sort of had the same job in the church lighting the candles and so forth and the Lutheran and Catholic services at least are very similar and so you know we were good friends my other buddy Vince was he was an older boy you know we were good friends oh I had another you know very good friend one of my best friends Dan who lived out in extension and his family had no church background all right none like Richie and and I we talk about God sometimes when we were playing or you know I remember every time Richie would swear he'd always say sorry God you know it's sort of impressed me that you know just bad as we were I mean he would feel that if he said something and and we believe Jesus was the son of God we had church in our backgrounds would talk about okay I have to go to church I have to serve this week or whatever but with my friend Dan there was none of that his family did not go to church he wasn't part of a church or anything and in fact just give you an illustration of that we would you know be driving around in our cars I mean you know is the 80s and you blast your music and Dan had this incredible stereo in his car he had a Ford Thunderbird that he would drive and the the equalizer on this thing when he would hit the button and it would in these custom speakers he had in the back you could hear him coming a block away in the winter time with the windows down my mom would say Dan's coming because she could hear you know metal music blasting through the town well if we would drive by a church and a lot of times in Salzburg there would be things outside people have picnics there was the bizarre different things churches put on weddings where everybody would gather outside and if we were driving by Dan would turn up you know iron maiden number the beast or something as we were driving by the church the worst possible song and you know here I am as a kid who goes to church like turn that down we're going by church you know what's wrong with you and he would just want to turn it up louder you know just a stick it to those religious people and it's crazy because Dan's converted now in fact he was converted he became a Christian about the same time I did I was converted in 1989 Dan in the late 80s early 90s I don't exactly remember when but I remember talking to him on the phone and it's like he's reading the Bible and he's a Christian and so he came up to Salzburg to visit one time and you know he and I are driving around and we're blasting Petra Christian Rock he's like like we said still close to the 80s so you know we still thought that was cool and and it's funny because we start talking to people that we knew and everybody was so impressed with Dan and this is what they were saying did you hear that Dan got religion that's the way they explained it something happened to Dan he's not the old Dan Dan got religion and he's different now that's what God's Word does you know we're not okay we're not living in the age of the prophets and God's Spirit is not going to come upon you and you're going to prophesy instantly you're going to be given something I don't think you ought to be expecting that but the same Word of God can change you does change you will change you the apostle Paul was changed so incredibly that even the disciples were afraid of him you remember in Acts chapter 9 where they said is this not the man who destroyed the churches who persecuted them who came here to put Christians in prison he's preaching now how the Word of God the Word of God has power beloved the Word of God has power to change you are you in the Word of God are you in the Word of God every day are you in the Word of God every day on a regular basis it will change you but you have to be in it you know if you went and joined a gym because you want to change your body would it work if you went once a month or even once a week no you got to be in the gym you know three four five days a week and you've got to be consistent and you will be changed this is the way God's Word works he sends his Spirit through his Word but we've got to be in it it's not enough to be in it once or twice a week this is the power of God's Word to change us secondly I want you to notice the certainty of God's Word to come to pass again if we're going to be motivated to be in God's Word we've got to believe that it can change us but we've also got to believe as I call it the certainty of God's Word to come to pass okay we've got to believe it's true we are not going to be motivated to get into the God's Word if we're skeptical at all if we hear the voice of the world say one thing about creation or about you know bodily resurrection and we read in the scriptures we're like I'm not sure we're not going to believe it we're not going to get into it we're not going to it's not going to change us we've got to believe in the certainty of God's Word to come to pass you notice in our text Samuel told Saul and we saw this already I'm not going to go through it again but all those specific signs this will happen this will happen this will happen this will happen you know what they're carrying what they're going to say to him and they all happen so so why so that Saul knows for sure this isn't Samuel's idea this is God and the clinchers when God's spirit comes on him because Samuel couldn't fake that he said you could have set up all those people you know he couldn't set that up it was supernatural it was powerful Saul had to know for sure that God was calling him to be king why because God always works in his people through their faith in him that they would believe and that they would therefore use their gifts and so this is the thing that with Saul and that's why these things are all called signs in verse 7 remember how scripture everywhere talks about signs Jesus did these signs why so that we would know that he was the son of God so that there would be no doubt that he was the son of God and John the Baptist is struggling you know are you the one or should we look to another go and tell John what you see in here the dead are raised they the sick are healed the blind received their sight he didn't say oh yes I am you know he didn't just say it he said going to show John the proof go tell John what you're seeing go tell John what you see here don't tell him what I say don't tell him I say I heal people tell him what you saw tell him that you saw dead people come back to life see if John thinks I'm the Messiah then go and tell him that but this is the thing we've got to believe and that's why we have these prophets here who would give these words and they're true and they're shown to be true in fact when God first when Moses first describes the office of the prophet to the people in Deuteronomy chapter 18 because the big thing is well hey there's going to be false prophets that come how do we know how can I tell the false prophet from the prophet well I love this passage in Deuteronomy 18 because Moses tells them you know they're maybe some false prophets and if you say in your heart Deuteronomy 18 21 if you say in your heart how shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken isn't that what we should would say how do we know God how can I trust in your word to be powerful in my life if I don't know if it's really from you or not and when they didn't all have a copy of it when the prophets were still coming and speaking new words you had to know which prophet is from God and which one isn't here's what God says if you say in your heart how shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken now listen to this when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord if the thing does not happen or come to pass that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken the prophet has spoken it presumptuously you shall not be afraid of him that's pretty easy test isn't what is the thing that the prophet said did it come to pass or not if it didn't he's no prophet of mine now you know put that in perspective because I've seen you can go online and search for self-proclaimed or even church proclaimed Christian prophets and you'll see a lot of times their success rate 85% of my prophecies come true you know I've been doing this for 20 years and 90% of my prophecies come true according to Deuteronomy 18 what do we know for sure about that person he's no prophet of God because of he was there would have to be 100% because beloved when God spoke to the prophets there was no mistaking that there was no oh she did God say that maybe maybe I think I'll say it and hope that it was God there's none of that the prophets spoke and they heard and they said this is what God says and it always came to pass and that was so that God's people would know for sure would not be left in the dark and beloved we see that in our text I want you to notice it's interesting when Saul is approached by his uncle you see this little vignette in the story here versus 15 and 16 Saul's uncle for 14 Saul's uncle comes to him and says hey what's going on you know where where are you all this time and Saul tells him why we couldn't find the donkey so we went to Samuel and Saul's uncle knows who Samuel was everybody knew Samuel was verse 15 tell me please what Samuel told you he's a prophet maybe he told you something that we need to know you know and what is Saul say he told us plainly that the donkey's had been found and then it says this the author of Samuel says but about the matter of the kingdom he did not tell him what Samuel said now you may read that and say is that a bad thing no that's not a bad thing Matthew Henry calls this the an instance of Saul's faith he's not worried about oh is this going to happen he knows it's going to happen but he also knows that he can't go around saying oh by the way Samuel said I'm the king Samuel said I'm the king nobody's going to believe that God is going to have to make Saul the king in God's time isn't that interesting because here at the beginning Saul gets it later on when when when the prophet says David's the king Saul doesn't accept it but right now Saul doesn't need to make himself the king Saul's going to say you know what God calls me to be king let God take care of it and that's the reason why Samuel then and after he rebukes the people which I'm not going to talk that much about here in verse 19 notice how he says present yourself by your tribes do you see that in in verse 20 the tribe of Benjamin was chosen now we don't know how that happened most commentators believe it was by the lot you know and we don't even know exactly what the lot was there's a lot of theories but you know we have the same kind of concept where you know if you're playing risk with somebody and you want to say well who goes first what do you do you roll the dice so that randomly the first person is chosen well dice you know rolling casting the lot somehow they had something that they threw that to humans was random but when the prophet oversaw that then they understood that that was God and so this is what the prophet is doing the prophet has the tribes coming it says the tribe of Benjamin was chosen and then the the clan of matri was chosen and then it just jumps ahead but no doubt then the family of Kish was chosen then the man of Saul and Saul's not there so there must have been representations of each son they're rolling you know maybe four dice one for each son in whichever one he has the highest number I don't know but whatever it was Saul was chosen so that all the people why so that all the people know it wasn't Samuel it wasn't Samuel and Saul and Kuhuts God did it because they just did this random thing over and over and over again in front of all the people and that's why it was done again so that everyone would know it was God that it was certain they had asked for a king here's the true prophet they know Samuel's a prophet and he calls for them to come and then he does this lot device or whatever so that everybody knows that Saul is chosen by God that God's word is going to come to pass that God's words going to come to pass you know we are never to try to force God's hand when we study scripture when we read scripture if you're tempted and we are we're tempted to do things another way we're in a situation where we're tempted to go beyond what we should do as our position or our authority you know one of the things that the scripture tells ministers is well all the officers that scriptural authority you know our denomination says it this way that our authority is as elders is ministerial and declarative what does that mean all I can do is tell you what God says that's my authority I don't have any other authority I can't create you know well I think the fourth Sunday of the month we're gonna call you know I don't know holy worship day or something and we're gonna have something and you all have to do it because I said so I can't do that you know I can't say hey on this particular Sunday you know the elders are gonna fast and we invite you to fast with us but I can't say you must fast you see that because the Bible doesn't say that our authority is minister but there's a temptation and we see it all over the place right where men ministers elders will go beyond their authority and they'll require things of people and that is wrong and it's because it's not God's word this is what we want to wait we want to wait on the Lord go by what his words says even if you think well we need to get everybody to do this so we'll just tell them to do it that is not trusting in God and you're not putting your faith in God's word we need to wait for the Lord to do things his way this is what you know what God's word says will come to pass it will happen we are to wait with patience but this is our hope right you should be able to wait in real hopes because you know it's God if it's really God's word then you can wait with patience we've got to believe in the certainty of God's word to come to pass thirdly I want you to notice the inevitability of God's word to succeed the inevitability of God's word to succeed this is a powerful motivation I think for us to get God's word into our lives in a regular basis notice this isn't the same thing as the other one the other one is God's word will certainly come true this is God's word will certainly prevail God's word will overcome all opposition God's word will come to pass it will prevail it will be it will conquer all right I love the there's a passage in God's word will win right God's word will do what it's supposed to do Isaiah 55 versus 10 and 11 listen to this now for as the rain comes down in the snow from heaven and do not return there but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall my word be listen so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth it's gotta be God's word it shall not return to me void but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it think about that God is saying just as sure as the rain in the snow come down and don't go up we all know that's true rain in this you know you never see it's snowing up oh it's snowing up today I think I'll turn my umbrella upside down you know you never have to worry about that I mean it's that obvious just as much as the rain in the snow come down to go into the ground and the ground brings forth plants just to certainly God's word will do what God intends for it to do it will prevail it will win that's what this is telling us about and that's a call for humility from us that we would humble ourselves and not think that we know more or no better or can find another way because God's word will come to pass and I should say this both for good and for what we would call bad the judgments of God they will come to pass too and that would call us to fear the Lord here to be humble before God to recognize there's no escape from God there's no escape from duty there's no escape from our responsibility I think sometimes we understand the truth of God's word and we run from it because we don't want to face our responsibilities I think you see that in verse 22 Saul knows it's you know some people tried to argue well Saul wasn't sure Saul knew Saul knew that he was the king he wasn't afraid that's why he doesn't mention it to his uncle he doesn't need to say it and he's starting to think about it now he has the heart of a king and he realizes this is going to require my life and that's why he's hiding there's no other reason why Saul would be hiding except he knows which he doesn't have to see the dice he knows which way is coming up he knows it's Benjamin oh here we go he knows it's Mattry here we go oh it's my dad Kish okay I got to hide because I know it's me I've already been anointed remember verse one he was an ointed he knows it's going to happen and he's hiding in a certain sense again some of the commentators say even though this is fear in him sort of shirking his responsibility it's still kind of a good thing Moses does the same thing oh lord please don't send me how many times over and over again till the Bible says and the Lord's anger was kindled against Moses because he kept not wanting to do it but they they had an idea of what it meant God was calling them to something serious and Saul Saul runs from it and you know this is the thing simply because God's word is true simply because God's word will come to pass and we can trust in it and have the power to change us and and and do empower us that doesn't make it easy doesn't God does not promise you it's going to be easy he never says that in fact a lot of times it's it's going to be hard because you're going to have to face do am I going to do what God says or am I going to do what everybody else wants me to do and you may suffer for doing what God says that's just the fact you know I remember being working for Fox and would be in the control room and usually me and the TD were always in the control room the technical director and occasionally an AP assistant producer or or the director the audio guys locked in the cage in the back you know as we used to get around he's in the glass room but me and the TD are always in the control and there were televisions frustrated we had this saying called hurry up and wait you know hurry up hurry up and then you wait and you wait and you wait because just delays things happen and I remember Mike had this saying he'd always say you know he turned around to me and say Ray I'm tired of playing television let's play fireman today you want to play fireman and I understand many you just get tired of it you get tired of working and doing the things that you're called to do and because it's frustrating and this is you know we all feel this in our calls right you know I'm tired of playing minister I want to play fireman or whatever I'm sure you felt that way right I'm tired of having to be a faithful husband I'm tired of having to be a good parent I'm tired of having to do my homework I'm tired of having to listen to mum and dad well you know what you're still called to do it are you gonna trust God or not God's word promises blessing when we do what he says you know this is the thing we need to have this convinced conviction that God's word is going to come to pass because it's powerful you know and here's a warning for us as well because it warns us against presumption because I said earlier we need to be in God's word on a regular basis we see Saul participate in this powerful outpouring of God's spirit he prophesies he's changed he's given another heart he becomes another man God's word has this powerful outward effect and Saul and he's praised for this outward effect and you see some of the things in his you know some of the some of his reactions but we can't rest in these outward gifts we can't rest in these things because you know what the rest of Samuel we're going to see that Saul does not have a heart for God he does not pursue God in his word God supernaturally and powerfully came upon Samuel or on Saul and Saul has changed and he's and you know he displays some some very good virtues here at the beginning but we can't presume upon yesterday's grace for tomorrow's duty that's what that's what this means we can't presume upon today's grace for tomorrow's duty for tomorrow's circumstances you know that's the thing we've got to continually be in this word this is how God empowers us I mean nobody would say you know I breathed all day yesterday so I'm good for today I don't have to breathe you know I took care of breathe in yesterday or you know I was so full after lunch yesterday I won't need to eat for a week you're not built that way you can't do that you can and by the same token you can't just dive into God's word for eight hours today and you're good for the month you need to be in it every day it's God you know God's word will come to pass you will be hardened if you don't seek him on a regular basis and he will be changing you if you do but you've got to take him out his word here I mean that is the thing in fact we have to know I mean even from the aspect of knowing our responsibilities look at verse 25 it's unfortunate King James says or New King James says Samuel explained to the people the behavior of royalty it's actually the word mispot judgment justice the law of the king the commandments of the king some translations say the rights and duties of the king that's what it is this is the covenant contract this is the contract that sets forth what Saul is to do what the people are to do they all agree upon it and then Samuel lays it before the Lord that's what this document is and some scholars think that what Samuel actually wrote was Deuteronomy chapter 17 verses 15 to 20 because in that passage God gave them the the job description of the king he's already told them back in chapter eight this is what the king's gonna do he's gonna abuse his power but this is what the king is supposed to do you see the difference that's what 25 is this is what the king shall do before God and again if he's if he's copying Deuteronomy 17 verses 15 to 20 this is what it says it says I'm just gonna give you the descriptions the king shall not multiply horses for himself all right nor cause the people to return to Egypt he's not supposed to try to get this great big army so that he becomes this tyrant neither shall he multiply wives for himself lest his heart turn away isn't that interesting and we know that happens very quickly with Solomon and even David nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself the king's not supposed to he has the power but he's not supposed to take everybody's money in fact listen to this now he shall write himself a copy of this law in a book some people think it's the whole Deuteronomy he shall write himself a copy of this law in a book because Deuteronomy the second giving of the law Deuteronomus second law and it shall be with him listen he shall write it you know you see those Hebrew scrolls he shall write a copy of this whole law he shall write it his own copy and it shall be with him listen and he shall read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and this statute listen so that his heart may not be lifted up above his brethren that he may not turn aside from the commandment and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom do you hear that he has to write the law he has to read it and keep it with him every day of his life for his heart for his heart love it this is the king the king of Israel needed to do this how much more do you and I need to be in this word every day and not trust in yesterday's grace or in our outward gifts because that's what happens I mean Samuel points out and he was right to do it look there's no one like Saul you wanted a king like all the nations a king who's tall like all the nations have there's tall giant kings Saul's a tallest one among you nobody else is outwardly qualified to be king and yet Saul could not have rested in that and he shouldn't have rested in that and you and I can't rest in those outward things and what I think that means also is you can't rest in hearing me preach to you once a week that's not enough or listening to some sermon on the radio you've got to be in God's word daily you can't rest in these outward things that oh I heard the sermon this week I'm good or you know I read a devotion once a week or something we've got to be in God's word every day and it's got to be real it can't be okay I just read a chapter got my 10 minutes in what what did you read about I don't know you know you're thinking about work no you've got to get in your quiet place and sit down and read and think and read and think and pray I mean you got to do it for real right I mean God gives us the ability and he and we're supposed to you know I can't make God's word change your heart I could preach a perfect sermon every week if I you know God give me the grace I certainly could and it won't change your heart it won't change my heart I can't get it into my heart you can't get it into your heart but you and I can get it into our heads and it's not going to get into the here unless it passes through here right it's got to come through your eyes if you're reading it your ears if you're hearing it for dawn your fingertips if you're touching those funny bumps on the page that he has but it's got to get into here before it's going to get into here and beloved God's given us the ability to do that and he's the responsibility and if you don't do those things you know then be then expect to be in the dark expect to be tossed to and fro expect to not know what's going on how many times is God up to tell us here it is my word just spend time with me each day and see what I'll do in your life and so fourth thing lastly I want you to notice the transforming power of God's word in the heart the transforming power of God's word in the heart all right so God brought this outward change on Saul he already had some good qualities he's diligent he's careful he's prudent in verse 16 he's humble in verse 22 and he's gracious in verse 27 boy don't miss this some of the rebels said you know the word again in Hebrew is it's a phrase the sons of Belial which we saw earlier Eli sons and some of the sons of Belial said remember Belial wickedness worthlessness in the New Testament Paul contrast you know a Christ with Belial Satan it's a name it's a name for saint there but I like the New King James rebels why because this is an act of treason Saul is just made king by God and they don't bring him the proper tribute some of them in effect are saying he's not my king I don't care what God says he's not my king and I won't bring him the tribute that's what it means they they despise him and they brought him no presence we read that it's like that's since that was required he's just been made the king it was your duty to bring a tribute to acknowledge him as your king that's why members Saul would not go to Samuel without a present because you have to acknowledge the prophet in some honorable way and these men didn't do it and it says but he held his peace this is an amazing act of grace on Saul's part he has the power to put these men to death and he should have in a sense they're committing treason and it says literally the Hebrew is and he was like or as because there's a preposition on the front which means like or as or according to it was like he was like one who is death is the little rendering or the phrase in other words Saul pretended like he didn't hear what they said he pretended like he didn't hear I mean they just rebelled against his kingdom and Saul pretended like he didn't hear and he was gracious and he doesn't acknowledge them you know the the the fact of the matter is God's word has the power to change our lives and we don't we don't have the power to do it we have the world and the flesh and the devil against us we have all of the voices of culture and the spirit of the age against us and we're going to fall and we're going to fail in our college and we're going to fall down and there's so many temptations to give up and yeah you can't get God's word in your heart I just said that to you but the fact of the matter is in God promises this God will change your heart and your mind by his word that's his promise to you and that's what I think we see my last verse I want to talk about is verse 26 Saul went to his home and Ghibbia and valiant men went with him listen to this whose hearts God had touched God by his word says this is the king most of the nation or oblivious to it indifferent to it they go home some of them actively rebel and say he's not my king but some of them they heard that word they believed that word and God touched their hearts and they were changed and they followed the king as he was God's king and they were supposed to fall him even David on or Saul his king all of his life you know this is the thing I read you that verse the God's word will not return void this is God's promise it will produce what it's supposed to if you know what the very next verse is it will prosper in the thing for which I sent it for you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace when isn't that the promise of God's word so many people oh my life is miserable I don't have joy I don't have peace and I talk to them all how often do you read God's word all once in a while you know I kind of do and is it really a part of your life even as much as your favorite television show or whatever that you're really giving your attention to it and you're really seeking it God's promises he will transform us but we've got to get in this word he's done everything Jesus died on the cross to purchase our salvation and he applies it to us and causes us to grow in it right here are you spending time in God's word I pray that you are let's pray father we thank you that we have your word and you touch our hearts through your word but so often we just don't believe it we don't believe it we'll do it we don't believe you will do it sometimes we believe the world instead of you and sometimes Lord God we just don't fear you enough to look in your word and so father we just confess these sins and we pray and you would give us a heart to know you a heart to believe in you a heart to believe what you say that your word will accomplish the purpose for which you sent it and you prayed Lord Jesus sanctify them in truth thy word is truth do we believe that father help us to believe it help us to believe that our sanctification that our joy that our peace will be found as we get to with you daily in your word as we put it in our mind to remember your promise and touch our hearts we pray in Jesus name amen