In this compelling episode of Sound of Faith, Sharon Knotts examines how nations backslide by moving away from God’s voice. Diving deep into the biblical account of Israel’s demand for a king, she contrasts the sovereignty of God with the desires of the people. As the story unfolds, the consequences of choosing earthly leaders over divine guidance become strikingly clear, shedding light on today’s political and moral landscape.
Greetings friends and new listeners and welcome to the Sound of Faith. I’m Sharon Knotts thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Today’s message is a strong word of the Lord given to me during our nation’s political division and unrest. Many claim that since God is sovereign, His will is always done. But that lays at his feet all the ills and injustices of the world. It means when good kings reign, it’s his will. And when evil ones are in power, that’s his will too. But is it? Or does he give people the desire of their hearts? Gain a perspective in how a nation backslides, moving away from the voice of God. Hold your place in chapter 8. Just go back to chapter 3 and we’ll read a little bit here. Chapter 3, verse 1. And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open vision. i don’t want you to think that that means it’s so precious we love god’s word oh i love you no it means it was rare it was scarce there was no open vision and now god is going to take this little boy and he’s going to give him a hair raising prophecy that he’s supposed to go and tell eli the high priest Look at verse 11. This verse always gets to me. And the Lord said to Samuel, behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone that hears it shall tingle. That means that what I’m about to say in this word I’m about to deliver is going to be so hot. People’s ears are going to be on fire. Amen. Verse 12. In that day, I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house. And when I begin, I will also make an end. There won’t be no repentant and changing mind here. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows. He knows. Amen. Because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not. You see, Eli didn’t commit the sins. Nobody said that Eli was crooked or corrupt or sinful. But God said, when I warned you, you did nothing. You did not correct them. You did not remove them. You just let them get away with it. And I don’t think it’s any different than today. Churches allow people on the platform. Allow them to play music, the organ, the drums, the minister of music on the choir that are actively committing fornication, homosexuality. Amen. Oh, but they need their minister of music. I mean, we can’t do it without them. What would we do if we didn’t have an organist? We’re just going to have to look the other way and leave it with God. That’s the attitude of many churches today. Amen. God said, I will judge that house. And so young Samuel, this little kid had to deliver this hair-raising, ear-burning prophecy to Eli. And when Eli heard it, he knew that he knew it was a word of the Lord. Verse 19. And Samuel grew and the Lord was with him, and he did let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew it, that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. And so we see Samuel’s gift was so extraordinary that not one single prophecy he ever gave fell to the ground. What a powerful testimony. But when he was old, his sons were just as wicked as Eli’s. And so they were not able to step in the prophet’s shoes. And the people of Israel used this as an excuse to come to Samuel and say, Samuel, you’ve been a wonderful prophet, but you’re old now and your sons are wicked. So we want a king. Didn’t they think God could raise up another prophet? But you see, they wanted a king and this was going to move them further away from the voice of God. They wanted to replace the spiritual leadership of the priest and the prophet for an earthly king. You know, they wanted to be, we read, like other nations. And when you want to be like the world and you want to hear what the world is saying and do what the world is doing, you don’t want to hear the voice of God. Amen. You don’t want to hear his voice because he’ll correct you. He may reprove you and rebuke you. And if you don’t want to do right, you don’t want to hear it. So you don’t want a prophet of God to speak to you. You don’t want Moses. You don’t want Samuel. You don’t want to hear from a man or woman of God. You want a king. Amen. An earthly king. A king who has no mandate from God to speak to God. None. Kings didn’t have that. So what’s going to be the new protocol if they get a king? Now, when a prophet of God gets a word of the Lord, he has to go to the king and tell the king what God said. And depending on the condition of the king’s heart, he will decide whether or not to let the word be spoken to the people. If he doesn’t like it, he might say, you’re not speaking that. We see in the Bible where one king put a prophet in jail because he pronounced judgment on him. We know what Ahab said about the prophet. He said, I don’t want him to call me. He never says anything good about me. Amen. And it’s humorous, but at the same time, it’s not. And so now the king is the one with the authority. And so he can decide we’re not going to let this prophecy get out there. It’s a rebuke. People want to move away from the voice of conviction. And that’s how it is in churches today. People want to go where there’s no conviction for carnality. They want to go where the flesh is coddled. Amen. They don’t want to go where you really want to hear a word of the Lord like I’m giving you today. They don’t want to hear from a real servant or handmaid of the Lord. No, they don’t. Because they don’t want to hear it. And they’re going to go where it’s pleasing to their flesh. And they don’t have to hear about sin. They’re moving away from the voice of the Lord. They’re hearing the voice of men who preach a soft soap gospel. You know what the prophet Amos said? He said the time will come when there will be a famine in the land. For the hearing of the words of the Lord. For the hearing of the words of the Lord. God does have some servants that are telling it like it is. He has them out there. Amen. They may not be the most popular ones on television, but he’s got them. They’re real and they won’t sell out for filthy lucre. They’re going to tell it like it is. If it’s two people, 200, 2000 or 20,000, they’re going to tell it like it is. Amen. But not everybody is going to go where they are and hear it and receive it. I feel kind of bad for Samuel. What this remarkable man of God who had served him faithfully his whole life. And now the people are telling him, no, we want a king. He probably felt like that he had failed, but basically God said to him, Samuel, they have not rejected you. They’ve rejected me after all that I’ve done with all the wonders and miracles that I performed. They’ve forsaken me. Amen. And I want to say that to any true ministers that may hear this at some time in the future. And maybe you get discouraged sometimes. And maybe you feel like the people don’t want to hear you. And you get backlash. Welcome to the club. Amen. But I want you to understand they’re not rejecting your ministry per se. That’s not what’s going on. They don’t want to hear it. Because they don’t want to do right, and they’re moving farther away from the voice of God. God said about Israel what they did in Psalm 106.15, and he gave them their request, but sent Linus to their soul. He gave them the king they wanted, but it started them on a downward spiral. Amen. And God even told Samuel, he said, Samuel, warn them that when they have a king, there are going to be things they are not happy about. That king is going to take their sons and their daughters. He’s going to put their boys in the armies. He’s going to take their daughters for his servants. He’s going to exact a tenth of all their property, all their animals. And he’s going to take all of these things and give it to his officers and give it to his servants. Amen. And let’s look at Samuel chapter eight real quick at verse 18. And you shall cry out in that day because of your king, which you have chosen. And the Lord will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel and they said, no, but we will have a king over us. That we also may be like all the nations and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. My God, the day you look for a man to fight your battles, you are in big trouble. Amen. How many times? were the odds of the battle so ridiculous. I mean, this is time to time during the judges. Think about Gideon with 300 going up over 100,000 people. So God chose a king that he knew they would be thrilled with. His name was Saul from the tribe of Benjamin. Outwardly, he was impressive. Amen. Oh, he was very impressive. He was head and shoulders above all the people. He was tall and built. And he had charisma. But he had a heart that would turn deceitful. You know, charisma can’t override corruption. And the day would come that he would turn away from the voice of the Lord. We see it today in the pulpits. The popular preachers are the ones with all the charisma. Amen. God loves you. He loves everybody. And if you try to put them on the spot and ask about what about sin? What about sin? The answer will be, we just love everybody. We love everybody to Jesus, and we leave the rest alone. They don’t preach New Testament correction. And because of that, the Holy Spirit can’t convict. All right, I’ll get off of preachers for a minute. What about politicians? So charismatic. Peace, peace, and unity. while they’re standing on the bloody ground of millions of murdered babies crying out. And I say to you that if God heard the cry of one murdered man, Abel, God said, your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. If God heard one murdered man’s blood, how much louder Are the cries of 60 million babies created in the image of God. Don’t forget that. Created in God’s image. Crying out to God. Amen. Babies who now, now can be aborted up to the moment of birth. You know, we thought it was terrible in 1973 when they could be aborted. Then in the 1990s, we’re like, now they have late term abortion. Before you couldn’t do it after six months, but now you can do it. But now it’s even to the point of birth. And if the baby happens to survive the abortion, they let it die in pain or kill it. Yeah. I know it’s heavy. And you know what? Christians vote and put these politicians in. In some cases, they do it because their ministers stand in the pulpit and tell them to. Amen. I have to believe that at some point their conscience had to trouble them. I know it’s true because I’ve had people try to argue it with me. They try to make the abortion thing not that terrible compared to this or that or the other. Amen. God said it’s an abomination. I have to believe that their conscience had to bother them at some point knowing that it’s an abomination. But like these Israelites, they say, we don’t care. Just give us our king. Just give us our king. I believe God will judge for this. I do. He said in Leviticus, the 20th chapter, verses two and three, that those who committed child sacrifice profaned his holy name, his holy name. And he would set his face against that. He said, and the people shall stone them to death. Now that’s part one. Here’s part two. In verse four, he said, and if the people of the land do in any way hide their eyes from those who give their seed in sacrifice and not kill him, I will set my face against that man and against his family and cut him off. What does that mean? That means that God will judge those who stood by and didn’t protest and let it happen. I am not, please don’t misunderstand, I am not proposing that people should be killing people. I’m not saying that. I’m just showing you how God sees it. Amen. God says if you stand by and don’t open your mouth, there’s a scripture in Proverbs 31.8 that says, open your mouth for those who have no voice. Who were appointed unto destruction. Who were appointed. How are they appointed unto destruction? There is an appointment on the calendar for that mother to have an abortion. We’re to stand against it. See folks, this is not about a person’s personal sins. This is not about a man or woman’s personal sin. This is about the national sin of abortion. That is an abomination to God that he says profanes his name and pollutes the land. It will bring judgment on the nation. And so will homosexuality and same-sex marriage. There are national sins that are an abomination to God. They were legally put in motion by the Supreme Court of the United States of America. Do you understand this? They’re national sins. When they legalize these two things, then they made it a national sin. It’s not about one person. Amen. As I said before, presidents come and presidents go. But this is the nation that God will judge. So God gives them Saul. To look at him, he’s everything that they could have ever dreamed of. Let’s look at chapter 12, 13. Now, therefore, behold the king whom you have chosen and whom you have desired. And behold, the Lord hath set a king over you. Now, if you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord. Then shall both you and also the king that reigns over you continue following the Lord your God. Now in my Bible, after the word desired in verse 13, there’s an exclamation point. Can I tell you how rare it is to see an exclamation point in the Bible? God can be saying, oh, and there’s no exclamation point. He can be saying something joyfully exalting. No exclamation point. He can be laying down the line. No, but here there is one. Oh, my God is making a point. He is making it very clear. This is the king that you desired. You see, he’s saying this is your will. not my will samuel speaking hey guys this is your will not my will and certainly not god’s will amen he’s saying if you will fear the lord and you’ll serve him and obey him okay you want your king you got him now make sure that you obey the lord and follow his commandments And then if you’ll do this, then both you and your king will continue to follow the Lord. You see, folks, this was plan B. This was not God’s plan A. He wanted the priesthood and the prophet ministry to continue. Amen? Let’s drop down to verse 15. But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you as it was against your fathers. Now they’re speaking about those who fell in the wilderness. Their fathers fell in the wilderness, right? Anybody over the age of 20 was not able to go in. So he says, you’ve got to realize just like you saw your fathers, your parents fall in the wilderness, you will too. Drop down verse 25. But if you shall still do wickedly, you shall be consumed, both you and your king. You know, I really think this went right over their heads. The part about you’ll be consumed, both you and your king. Because the word consumed means to be destroyed. So God said, this is not my perfect plan, but you are my people. And I’m going to be true to my covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So you got your king now. If your king will be godly and will continue to obey me and you will serve me, you will be that peculiar treasure that I called you to be. But if you rebel, you and your king will be destroyed. Do you know that in less than two years, King Saul… disobeyed the word of the Lord. He was only obedient to the word that Samuel brought to him from God for two short years. And then he got a big head, a God filled with pride. And he overtook his boundaries. He overstepped his boundaries as King. And he stepped into the office of prophet and priest and did not have any conviction about it. He was never called to be a prophet. And he certainly was not called to be a priest because he was not of the tribe of Levi. He was of the tribe of Benjamin. And not only that, but Samuel is alive and well. He’s God’s prophet. Now, Samuel had given him specific instructions. You know, it was their protocol that before they went out to battle, all the army would come together and the prophet would offer up a sacrifice to God and they would pray to God for victory and for his aid and for his help in battle. Amen. And so Samuel said. I have things to do. I cannot be there for seven days. So do nothing until I come. Wait until I come to offer up the sacrifice. But seven days went by and Samuel was late getting there. And Saul got antsy. And instead of obeying the commandment of the Lord, he took it upon himself to offer up the sacrifice. Boy, that was a scary thing to do. But he wasn’t scared. He lost his fear of God. He had lost his reverence for God and holy things. And so when Samuel came and saw what had happened, he said, what have you done? And Saul blamed it on the people. He said, well, you were late and the people were getting restless and they were scattering around. I knew I had to do something. And listen to his words. I forced myself. I forced myself to offer the sacrifice. I mean, he was the king. Wasn’t he the king? Amen. He was the commander in chief of the armed forces, right? He should have stood up and said, hey, we’re going to wait. We’re going to wait on the servant of God. We’re going to wait for him to come. Don’t be discouraged. God’s prophet is on the way. And when he gets here, he’ll tell us what we should do. Verse 13. And Samuel said to Saul, you have done foolishly. You have done foolishly. that you have not kept the commandment of the Lord, your God, which he commanded you. For now would the Lord have established your kingdom upon Israel forever. Don’t let this wash over you. Get what God was saying. Again, his intention was for them not to have a king, but he gave them one. Put a new plan in place. God says, all right, this is the new protocol, plan B. King’s obedient. I will establish his house forever. But Saul sinned. Look at verse 14. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought him a man after his own heart. And the Lord has commanded him to be captain over his people because you have not kept that which the Lord commanded you. God is now going to plan C. You see that? But don’t worry about God. He’s got plenty of plans. He can work all things together for good. So God essentially said, I have my man waiting in the shadows. And he’s a man after my own heart. Amen. In other words, he’s someone who will obey my word and do what I tell him to do. But see, once Saul crossed this threshold of rebelling against the word of the Lord, he continued to rebel after that. Later on, a little further down, Samuel gave him another instruction because God did not yank Saul off the throne the moment we just read this here. He didn’t yank him off because David wasn’t ready. to be king. So I didn’t want you to think that that was it. Okay, you’re over with. No, he still was king, but he never turned around and got right with God. Therefore, he only got worse. And so in another situation, they were going to go out against the Amalekites, a very wicked people. Who did child sacrifice. And so Samuel told Saul, when you go to battle, the Lord says you are not to spare anyone. Spare no one. And listen to this. Don’t even spare their animals. Don’t even spare their cattle. That’s what he told him. Amen. But when they had the battle. Saul spared their king Agag and the best of the animals. Amen. Let’s look at chapter 15, verse 11. The word of the Lord came to Samuel and he said, it repents me that I have set up Saul to be king. For he turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel and he cried all night unto the Lord. So then in the morning, Samuel came to meet Saul. Look at verse 13. And Samuel came to Saul and Saul said on him, blessed be you of the Lord. I have performed the commandments of the Lord. What a liar. How deceived. Amen. But then something happened. Samuel heard the bleeding of sheep. And he said, what is this bleeding of sheep in my ears? And Saul repeated the same thing. Oh, it was the people. They wanted to keep the best of the animals so they could sacrifice them to God. And then Samuel rebuked him and he still persisted to blame the people. And then the famous words that we all know, Samuel delivered. Chapter 15, verses 24 and 25. Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as obeying the voice of the Lord? But behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams. And now Saul says to Samuel, I have sinned. I’ve transgressed the commandment of the Lord. He says, uh, but I did it because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now listen to this. Now, therefore I pray you pardon my sin and turn again with me that I may worship the Lord. Do you know what’s going on here? Saul says, well, really, I listened to the people. I was afraid and I listened to them. But you know what? It doesn’t really matter. Walk with me. Come alongside of me. Let’s go out there in front of the people and worship the Lord and they’ll see we’re still good. So I’m still good with God. How deceitful. Amen. Let’s just pretend. Let’s go out there and put a show on. Let’s pretend like everything’s all right with me. If you come out there with me, they’ll think, well, everything’s okay. Amen. Verse 26. And Samuel answered, I will not return with you for you have rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel. And you want to know the tragic epitaph of Saul’s life. Look at verse 35. And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel. What does this mean? It means Saul never got another word of the Lord from God. He never saw Samuel again. And it means that now he had moved so far away from the voice of the Lord, he could no longer hear him at all. Moving further away from the voice of the Lord is how a nation backslides. When you don’t want to hear the word of the Lord, you’re on your way to backsliding. Amen. Amen. So we never saw him again. And from that point on, Saul went into a tailspin of paranoia and violent behavior. He was tormented night and day and day and night by demon spirits. Then he became so insanely jealous over David because he heard that he’s going to be the next king. He tried to kill him 21 times. even though David never, ever did him any wrong, didn’t even show him the slightest disrespect, always called him, my father, my king. Saul was so tormented by demon spirits, the only one that could give him a little respite was when David came and played on his heart. Amen. What a clarifying word of the Lord. How a nation backslides moving away from the voice of God. Is God’s will always done on the earth? If so, why did Jesus say to pray thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven? Many claim that since God is sovereign and in control, his will is always done. Thus, when good men rule, it’s his will, and when evil men rule, that’s his will too. But the Bible says otherwise. God never intended his chosen people, Israel, to have a king. They were to be a kingdom of priests, and God was their king. But as they moved away from the voice of God at Sinai, they eventually insisted on a king. Their king turned out to be a rebel. A backsliding Israel kept moving away from the voice of God until she went into captivity and her beloved city and temple were destroyed. America, too, is moving away from the voice of the Lord, choosing leaders that spurn the Bible and celebrate abortion and same-sex marriage, which God calls abominations. I urge you to get this message on CD and share with others. It is available for your love gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry. Request SK216. Mail to Sound of Faith, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Or order online at soundoffaith.org. But to order by mail, send your minimum love gift of $10 to P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Request SK216. You can also view our Sunday messages that we live stream on our YouTube page, Sound of Faith Ministries. That’s YouTube, Sound of Faith Ministries.com. Till next time, this is Sharon Knott saying, Maranatha.
