This is Part 2 of “The King And His Army” series preached by Ern Baxter at the Lakes Bible Week in the UK in 1975.
Speaking of this powerful prophetic series and it’s significance
for the modern Church, Ern declared: “There are four representative men
in the Bible that I want to make reference to. Adam, Abraham, David
and our Lord Jesus. To Adam we relate racially. To Abraham we relate redemptively. To David we relate royally and our Lord Jesus is the fulfillment
of all three men. Adam was a type of Christ as Christ entered the
whole human race. Abraham through his seed speaks of the redemption of
those who are saved through Christ the seed. As for David, someone
said once how they find things in the Bible that have been there all
the time. For years I didn’t find David. I found Adam and I found
Abraham but David, well he was the shepherd boy who killed the giant.
That was about the extent of my placing him in the whole picture. Now
I am seeing that in this present moving of the Holy Spirit David is the prominent figure. Adam is not, neither is Abraham. We are in the period of the Davidic emphasis. Why?
David speaks of reigning. Abraham speaks of redemption. But redeemed
to do what? Here is the crunch in our theology. What have we been
redeemed to do? Someone said well we have been redeemed to go to
church. Or we have been redeemed to stop this or stop that. Has it
ever dawned on you that we have been redeemed for a higher calling to
fulfill the Davidic type? That Jesus was not only of the seed of
Abraham, but he was of the seed of David to reign, and we are also not
only of the seed of Abraham, but through Jesus Christ we are of the
seed of David. And as the seed of David we reign in life by one Christ Jesus!
This is an emphasis that has been lost to the church for years. All we
heard was that we get saved to go to heaven. One of the easy ways out
was that there was a bus coming that would get us out of the whole
nasty business and so we get up hopefully every morning and say, “Maybe
the bus will come today. “
There is a dimension and as we go along in these nights from
my point of view I hope to send you back to wherever you come from with
a new sense of meaning. I want you to go from this conference
adjusting your crown, pulling your purple toga a little tighter around
you, squaring your shoulders and standing ten feet tall to go home to
change your community and plant the flag of Jesus Christ on top of City
Hall!
The Decline and Death of the Head and Shoulders Man
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The King and His Army Series - Lakes Bible Week 1975
We’re breaking in at chapter 11 now of 1st Samuel. Remember God gave
Saul every chance. That’s like God. And listen - don’t misunderstand
God’s concessions. Just because God concedes something to us, let’s
not think that He has changed the Bible to accommodate us. God has a
very gracious way of saying, “Alright Bill - if that’s the way you want
it then go ahead”. Somebody said, “Well if Bill is going the wrong
direction, then God will leave him”. Listen, if that were true then
how many of us would have God with us at all tonight? How many in this
tent have taken a wrong turn since you’ve been a Christian? Question
number 2 - when you took the wrong direction did God leave you? No.
He stayed with you. Now that’s what we’re saying. The people said,
“Give us a king”. God said, “Alright - here’s a king and you’re never
ever going to be able to say that I didn’t give your king a chance”.
So He gave Saul a new heart and He gave him the Holy Spirit. Saul
prophesied and He gave him a confirmation of His kingship in chapter
11. He gave him a victory and He rested him with authority
Now let’s look at chapter 11:
"Now Nahash the Ammonite came up and besieged Jabesh-gilead and all
the men of Jabesh came to Nahash and said, ‘Make a covenant with us and
we will serve you’. But Nahash said, ‘I will make it with you on this
condition, that I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you thus
I will make a reproach on ...’”.
Whom? Talk to me - whom? Israel. How much of Israel? All. Ah but
it was only Jabesh Gilead that was being besieged. That was enough to
bring reproach on all Israel because all Israel didn’t have enough life
and energy to come to the defence of their fellow countrymen. Brothers
and sisters tonight we stand in the shameful position of being unable
to withstand the incursion of the powers of darkness in the raids of
the Philistines or come to the rescue of our brethren. The scandal of
our divisions! The shame of our corporate powerlessness should have
driven us to our knees and to God’s Word and to renewed commitment that
God will restore the glory of His People in the earth and vindicate the
honour and the Name of His Son. Now verse 3:
"And the elders of Jabesh said to him, ‘Let us alone for seven
days that we may send messengers throughout the territory of Israel
then if there is no-one to deliver us, then we will come to you’. Then
the messengers came to Gibeah and Saul and spoke these words in the
hearing of the people and all the people lifted up their voices and
wept. Now behold Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen and he
said, ‘What’s the matter with the people as they weep?’”
So they related to him the words of Jabesh (v6). "Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul mightily and when he heard these words and he became very angry’”.
There is a place for anger. The Bible says, “Be angry and sin not”.
He took a yoke of oxen and he cut them into pieces and sent them
throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers saying,
‘Whoever does not come after Saul and after Samuel” (Saul knew where to
plug in. He was yet recognising God)”. Alright. “Saul and after
Samuel so shall it be done to his oxen. Then the dread of the Lord
fell upon the people and they came out as one man”. Hallelujah! It
looks good.
“And he numbered them. Then he sent the messengers and said, ‘Tell
the men of Jabesh-gilead that we’re coming to help them”. What was the
result? (v11) “And it came to happen the next morning that Saul put
the people in three companies and they came into the midst of the camp
in the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of
the day and it came about that those of them who were left were
scattered so that no two of them were left together. Then the people
said to Samuel, ‘Who is he that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’.
Bring the men here that we may put them to death’. But Saul said, ‘Not
a man shall be put to death this day for today the Lord has
accomplished deliverance in Israel’”. Now in his first contest as king
he won the day by yielding to the Spirit of God. You say, “Ah that’s
great. He’s a Head and Shoulders man but he’s yielded to the Spirit of
God”. Now this is the area of danger that a Head and Shoulders Man
will yield to the Spirit of God but in times of crisis, his wilfullness
will come through and he is disqualified. Saul was a charismatic king
and he had a first great victory and so we have him now invested.
Verse 14; “Then Samuel said to the people, ‘Come let us go to Gilgal
and renew the kingdom there’. So all the people went to Gilgal and
there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they also
offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord and there Saul
and all the men of Israel rejoiced”. Now everything looks great and
good. But let us remember that Saul was a Head and Shoulders Man and
on this occasion he is dependent on his charismatic anointing and he
has won a victory. I wonder if I can say this without being too
obvious - it is possible for you and me to add the charismatic
dimension to our Head and Shoulders wilfullness and get results but not
permanently. You say, “I don’t get you”. Well let me pluck another
illustration out of history. Samson was a charismatic. Samson was
endued with a charismatic enablement to judge Israel. Samson said,
“I’ve got such power that it really doesn’t matter what I do”. So
Samson was a willful man. He toyed with his lover and he toyed with
the Philistines but he stayed too long. On one of the last occasions
to show that he had this charismatic gift and what he did was not
important - he lay with a harlot all night until midnight. Then he
rose up from his bed of sin and went up and pulled up the gates of Gaza
and went screaming in charismatic victory up to the top of the hill and
said, “Come you Philistines and get me. I can sleep with a harlot till
midnight but still talk in tongues.”
I don’t do that just to shock you, but I hope it shocks you. I hope it
shocks you enough to realize that the message of the epistle to the
Corinthians has a very solemn note in it. The people in the Corinthian
church were divided over ministers. They were getting drunk at the
Lord’s Table - there was fornication commonly talked about among them
and such fornication as was not so much as named among the Gentiles.
There was incest. A man was living with his stepmother. There was
litigation among them. There was all kinds of carnality. Paul said,
“You are carnal” yet he said in the same breath, “You come behind in no
gift”. He said, “I want to tell you something - don’t be ignorant of
the face that all of our fathers were baptized into Moses in the sea
and in the cloud and all did eat the same spiritual meat and drink the
same spiritual drink but with the majority of them God was not well
pleased and they died in the wilderness.” Because God has
charismatically visited you does not mean that you can opt out of your
character responsibilities. God is a God of morality and God is a God
of goodness, righteousness, holiness and talking in tongues and
prophesying and beating tambourines and getting goose bumps is not a
substitute for goodness, joy, peace, love and the holiness that comes
to those who are the People of God.
But you see you must understand that the gifts and callings of God are
grace gifts and Samson thought he could get off with his character
aberrations as long as he had the strength. But one day he let out the
secret and he lost the secret of his strength - his Nazarene hair.
When he came to this time the Philistines had bound him and he couldn’t
break the cords. He was still a young man and he died prematurely. In
the Corinthian church Paul speaking of the covenant meal - the meal of
renewal - he said, “If you do not discern the body for this many
sleep”. You and I may think that because we can exercise charismatic
gifts while our character is not right that God is winking at our
character aberrations - no! It’s the goodness of God leading us to
repentance and you don’t talk in tongues because you are holy. You
don’t prophecy because you are entirely sanctified. These are gifts
from God. “And if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but
have not love, I am as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.” There
must be character with the charismata. If you don’t have character
with the gifts, it’s not long until the gifts become empty and your
life starts to wither away and in the Corinthian church people were
starting to die prematurely. Everything seemed to look God for Saul,
the “Head and Shoulders Man.” He had the Spirit and had the best of
both worlds. He had his first victory and defeated Nahesh and
delivered all of Israel. They renewed the kingdom. Alright?
Now let’s move on to chapter 12. This is one of the most poignant
chapters in the whole Bible, outside of Deuteronomy, where Moses sings
his swan-song. (v1): “Then Samuel said to all Israel, ‘Behold I have
listened to your voice in all that you said to me and I have appointed
a king over you. And now here is the king walking before you, but I am
old and grey. Behold my sons are before you and I have walked before
you from my youth even to this day. Here I am. Bear witness against
the Lord and His anointed. Whose ox have I taken or whose donkey have
I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed or from
whose hand have I taken a bride to blind mine eyes with it? I will
restore it to you.’ They said, ‘You have not defrauded us or oppressed
us or taken anything from us or taken anything from any man’s hand.’ He
said to them, ‘The Lord is witness against you and His anointed is
witness this day that you have found nothing in my hand.’ They said,
‘He is witness.’”
Now Samuel has cleared himself character-wise. The most he could
say about his delinquent boys was that they are before you. In this
there is a gesture of committing them for what they were. He said,
“Here are my boys,” and that’s all he said. There was the protection
of the parental heart. He felt badly about his boys. He said there
they are for what they are. But as for me? Can you charge me? Have I
defrauded you? Have I taken anything? Is there a man in the entire
congregation who will stand up and point an accusing finger at me and
say, “Samuel, I remember an occasion when you did this or that.” It
reminds us of our Lord when He stood before the angry mob and said,
“Which of you accuses me of sin.” And not one could lift up their
voice. Nor could they with Samuel. Now this qualified Samuel to
speak. “Then Samuel the prophet said to the people, ‘It is the Lord
who appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up from
Egypt, so now you stand that I may plead with you before the Lord
concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord which He did for you and
your fathers when Jacob went into Egypt and your fathers cried out to
the Lord. Then the Lord sent Moses and Aaron who brought your fathers
out of Egypt and settled them in this place.” Now what’s he saying? He
is saying what I said to the ministers this afternoon. Ladies and
gentlemen hear me! For Christ’s sake hear me! For your own sake hear
me!
We need in this hour a restoration of a recognition of the
divine, unalterable, independent sovereignty of Jesus Christ to
establish the rules, the regulations and the dictate and purpose that
are His for the functioning of His community in the earth.
What does God want? Not what do I want? What does He want? He is
saying, “If only you people would remember your own history. It was
God who has done everything for you up until now.” But he said, “You’re
very much like your forefathers.”
Verse 9: “They forgot the Lord their God, so He sold them into the
hands of Cyna, Captain of the army of Hazor and into the hands of the
Philistines and into the hands of Moab and they fought against him.
They cried out unto the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned because we have
forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and Ashtoreths but now
deliver us from the hands of our enemies and we will serve Thee.’ Then
the Lord sent Jerubbabel, Bedal, Jeptha and Samuel and delivered you
from the hands of your enemies all around, so that you live in
security. When you saw Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon come
against you, you said, ‘No but a king shall reign over us,’ although
the Lord your God was your king.”
Now what’s Samuel saying? He is saying what I said to you last night.
He is saying, ‘Instead of turning to the God who has a history of
delivering you, you turned to the arm of the flesh. Now God’s going to
tolerate you.’ Notice verse 13: “Now therefore here is the king whom
you have chosen, whom you have asked for and behold the Lord has set a
king over you.” Now isn’t that a paradoxical statement? He says, “Here
is the king that you have chosen; here is the king that you have asked
for, and the Lord set him over you.” You say well, “Who is getting the
blame here?” The people got what they wanted. We dealt with that last
night. They got what they wanted. God said, “You want it? You sure
you want it? You’re really sure? Dead sure? Alright you’ve got it.”
Verse 14: “If you will fear the Lord and serve Him and listen to His
voice and not rebel against the command of the Lord, then both you and
the king who reigns over you, will follow the Lord your God. But if
you will not listen to the voice of the Lord your God and rebel against
the command of the Lord, the Lord will be against you as He was against
your fathers.”
Now look at verses 16 and 17. “Even now take your stand and see this
great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not the
wheat harvest today? I will call the Lord that He may send thunder and
rain then you will know and see your wickedness is great which you have
done in the sight of the Lord by asking for yourselves a king. So
Samuel called to the Lord and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day
and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.”
God sent a sign following Samuel’s warning. “Then all the people said
to Samuel, ‘Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, so that we may
not die for what we have added to all our sins, this evil by asking for
ourselves a king.’ And Samuel said to the people, ‘Do not fear. You
have committed this evil but do not turn aside from following the Lord,
yet serve the Lord with all your heart.’” Isn’t that beautiful? How
God comes down sometimes to our level that He may ultimately lift us
up. Let’s not misunderstand Him when He does that. Alright. Verse
21: “And you must not turn aside for then you would go after futile
things which cannot profit or deliver because they are futile. For the
Lord will not abandon His people on account that they are,” all so
good-looking. And they have so much money. And they are such special
people. Yes? No. “The Lord will not abandon His people on account
of,” What? “His great Name. Because the Lord has been pleased to make
you a people for Himself.”
I’ve got news for you folks. He’s going to work you over and He’s
going to work you over. And you’re going to say, “Ouch!”. “For whom
the Lord loveth, He chasteneth and spanks every son that He receives.
If ye be without chastening then are ye bastards and not sons.” Better
you come willingly than via the woodshed! (*laughter*) Because the
Lord is not over and above administering some posterior, protoplasmic
stimulation. (*laughter*) Now please stay with me. This is not an easy
assignment tonight, because I have got to talk to you about the
“Decline and Death of the Head and Shoulders Man.” That’s not a happy
subject! But if you listen carefully I think that you will see what
happens to a Head and Shoulders situation and I think that if you’ve
got ears to hear then you will see and hear the contemporary parallel.
Alright? Starting in at chapter 13 this Head and Shoulders Man:
1. Violated Divine Order.
Let’s break in at verse 5: “Now the Philistines assembled to fight
with Israel. 30, 000 chariots and 6, 000 horsemen and people were like
the sand on the seashore in abundance and they came up and camped in
Michmash, east of Besthaven. When the men of Israel saw that they were
in straight for the people were hard pressed, then the people hid
themselves in caves, in thickets, in cliffs, in cellars and in pits.
Also some of the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and
Gilead but as for Saul, he was in Gilgal and all the people followed
him trembling.” Now that’s a mess isn’t it? Here’s the Head and
Shoulders Man, the fellow that’s taller than all the Israelites; he’s
got a lot in the head and a lot in the shoulders. He is the brains and
the brawn! But isn’t it amazing that now the Philistines are coming
upon them and the people are running; they’re afraid; they are
frightened and they are in hiding. This is the state of God’s people
because the Head and Shoulders Man is not able to deal with the
Philistines. The Head and Shoulders Man can’t cast out a demon. He
can’t lead a soul to Christ. He can’t inspire hope; he can’t lead
people in worship. All the Head and Shoulders Man can do is to give
you his best intellectual estimate of the situation as it is.
I’m not interested in an intellectual estimate of our situation
tonight! Worldwide we are in economic trouble. There is something
that has come into the world economy that even the best experts that we
have in that area say they cannot understand. A friend of mine, whose
an owner of a stock broking company in Kansas City, told me one day,
“Ern, we have two kinds of people who give us advice on stock. They
tell us how the market is going. Then we have a second type; these men
are scientists. They understand world trends from recorded economic
history. They built up laws and give us readings on world economy.
They came to us recently and said, “We can no longer serve you. There
is something in the world economy and we don’t know how to define it.
We can’t put our finger on it or explain it. When the President of the
USA called all the leading economists to come up with a solution to the
American economy. They came up with as many solutions as there were
men.” I turned to my friend who was telling this to me, and I said to
him, “Milt am I hearing you? Are you saying what I think you’re
saying.” He said, “That’s what I am saying.” I said, “You’re telling me
that there is a supernatural element that has come into the economy. “
He said, “That’s right.”
I was in Duke University, the headquarters of Paris psychology trying
to conduct a Bible seminar. I repeated this little story and a young
man came up to me afterwards and said, “I’m a business administration
major in Harvard University. What you’ve said tonight has been
confirmed by the Professors of Economics in Harvard.” A few days later
he wrote me a letter with an article out of an economics magazine which
said the very same thing, “Something has come into world economy that
men cannot handle with their senses,” and as I heard all of that the
word of the Lord came to me, “As men cried to me, ‘Alas! Alas! For
Babylon the great has fallen.’” Now I want to say something very
specifically. Don’t you get uptight about Babylon falling. And for
goodness sakes don’t try and put an extra bushel of potatoes in the
attic, because a Gentile might shoot you to get them. (*laughter*)
When Babylon falls, if I wake up tomorrow morning and the pence and
pounds are no good and what I’ve got in my pocket won’t buy a thing, I
will go out and gather manna off that grass. I believe God is bringing
us into a realm of supernaturalism where we are not going to have to be
dependent on the vacillating, ambivalence of an unregenerate society.
God is forming a counter culture and a new society and as surely as God
rained forty train loads of manna on the desert sand every morning and
gave water out of the flinty rock and made the shoes grow on the kids
feet and their clothes grow on their back and brought before them a
Captain of the Lord of hosts of Israel with his sword bathed in
heaven’s authority, just so surely under a better covenant will God in
this crisis hour come to help and aid of His people and prepare us a
place in the wilderness. The world economy be hanged. I’m still going
to eat! (*laughter and applause*)
Now you remember I told you to put something on the back burner last
night? Two things: how many remember? Samuel had said to Saul, “Go
down to Gilgal and wait seven days. I will be down.” Verse 8: “Now Saul
waited seven days according to the appointed time set for Samuel, but
Samuel did not come to Gilgal and the people were scattering from him,
so Saul said.” Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin. Samuel was of the
tribe of Levi. The tribe of Benjamin had no right handling
sacrifices. Benjamin provided Saul the king, but Levi provided Samuel
the priest/prophet. Samuel said, “Wait for me at Gilgal; I will do the
sacrificing and you do the reigning.” I wrote a little booklet years
ago and I think it deserved a better fate than having gone through a
few issues. Maybe I will revive it. It was called, “The Measure of
Faith.” There are two kinds of faith. There’s a faith that you can
measure to yourself. There is the faith for living: “Faith cometh by
hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” You can just get all of that
you can handle. But there is a faith that is measured to everyone of
us which is the faith for our place in the body of Christ. When God
measured you that faith, He gave Bryn a measure, and He gave my brother
a measure, and me a measure. That measure you can’t alter. You can
excel in that measure and you can become apt and able in that measure
but you can’t alter it. That is a measure that is measured according
to the sovereign appointment of Christ. When He ascended on high, He
gave some apostles and He said, “That’s your measure.” He gave some
prophets and He said, “That’s your measure.” Some evangelists and He
said, “That’s your measure.” When a man does not stay in his territory
and tries to go into another man’s territory, then he gets into
trouble. Find out where your measure is and excel in that but stay out
of another fellow’s measure or you will get into trouble.
Now Saul is a Head and Shoulders Man. He is not a Word man as we’ll
find out. He is a man who thinks things out. He said, “Man
everything’s rough. Half of my people are hiding in the rocks and
caves and the pits. Some of them have run away completely. I’ve got
600 trembling soldiers. I’m in a mess and divine authority hasn’t
arrived yet. Samuel hasn’t come. I need Samuel! The last time I got
the gang together I said, ‘Come to Saul and Samuel’ and they all came.
But there’s no Samuel around and obviously I have lost my touch.”
Buster, you never had any touch! Head and Shoulders Men don’t have
influence in a crisis. You know a Head and Shoulders Man can’t help
you. I had a young fellow come to me in Lauderdale the other night
where I was taking Bob Mumford’s Bible class during the month of May.
I was speaking that night on shepherds and when I got through, a young
fellow came up to me and said, “I wonder if you would pray for me.” Now
in other days, I would have said a prayer over him and got rid of him.
I didn’t know who he was but God is increasing our concern, and let’s
be very honest, God is talking to me about being more and more genuine
and being frank and open and honest and straight forward. Not being
professional. If you have to deal with a thing then deal with it
honestly. Don’t opt out; don’t pretend.
So I said to the young man, “Son do you have a shepherd.” He said,
“Well I go to First-So-and-so church in Miami.” I said, “I asked you,
‘do you have a shepherd.’” “Well,” he said, “We have the minister.”
“What’s his name.” “Dr So-and-so.” “Do you know him,” I asked. He
said, “No.” “If you were in trouble, would you call him.” He said, “I
couldn’t reach him. The church is too big and he’s too busy.” So I
said to him, “I repeat my question, do you have a shepherd.” “Well I’ve
got Jesus.” “Great,” I said, “I’ll see you later.” I wasn’t really
going to walk away. But as I walked away, I looked back and I could
see shock and hurt on his face. I turned back to him and said, “You
see son, Jesus is not enough. What you’re really asking for is a Jesus
with skin on his face and a Jesus with hands. Why do you want me to
put my hands on you? Why do you want me to pray for you? Because in
the order of God, He has delegated authority to shepherds and apostles
and prophets. There is a whole order of men in the earth tonight who
have delegated authority to look after God’s people.” I said to him,
“You are hungry for one of God’s men to touch you.” Big tears came into
his eyes and I said, “Come here.” I put my arms around him and I drew
him to me and started to pray for him. He was a big old fellow and he
put his head down on my shoulder. I prayed and said, “Oh God, all I
pray for this boy tonight is that he will find what he’s looking for
temporarily in me; that he will find arms to go around him in his
need. A shoulder that he can put his head on when he’s discouraged. A
voice that can speak to him when he needs counsel. God I don’t know
where he’s going when he leaves my arms, but please work a miracle; let
him find a shepherd.” Ladies and gentlemen, God’s restoring spiritual
authority across America tonight. Hundreds and thousands of people are
finding shepherds; they are finding men that are appointed to love
them, care for them, teach them, look over them, appointed to love them
and counsel them. And this is upsetting Head and Shoulders
Government! The Head and Shoulders want to preach a sermon on Sunday
morning and collect the dues then send them home. But God is raising
up shepherds that will look after you Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, the middle of the night, the middle of the morning,
whenever, whatever. It’s a new day! Glory to God! (*applause*)
Now the Head and Shoulders Man says, “Well spiritual authority isn’t
coming, so I will do it myself.” Now he waited seven days according to
the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel didn’t come. Now look at
verse 9: “So Saul said;” that’s the start of the trouble. “Bring to me
the burnt offerings and the peace offerings. And he offered the burnt
offerings. It came about as soon as he had finished offering the burnt
offering that behold Samuel came.” Why didn’t Samuel come before?
Because God was showing that the Head and Shoulders Man didn’t have
heart obedience. Let me tell you something; if you’re going to be the
Head and Shoulders Man, you will reach a point where God doesn’t show
up when He should and you will do your own thing. That proves you are
a Head and Shoulders Man. But if you are a heart man, you will wait
until God comes. Because the Bible says we are to come boldly to the
throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need or as Bishop Westcott translates it, “In the nick of time.” How
many know anything about God arriving in the nick of time?
(*laughter*)
Man, through the years I have learned that. I’d say, “Lord it’s Monday
morning You know. Could you give me a hint about next Sunday? Just a
hint?” (*laughter*) Nothing. Tuesday would come, and I would still
feel pretty good. I’d say, “Well it’s Tuesday Lord, have you got any
thoughts about next Sunday?” (*laughter*) Wednesday would come and I’d
say, “Er Lord? Have you got any thoughts about next Sunday?” Thursday
would come, and I was busy all day getting ready for Thursday night so
didn’t have much time to think about Sunday, hoping that while I was
preparing for the Bible Study something would come. So Friday morning
I would wake up and say, “Lord, it’s Friday. (*laughter*) Today Lord?”
Nothing. Saturday. Saturday noon. Nothing. And now I’ve got the
butterflies. I’ve got some other physical problems too. (*laughter*)
I think I’m talking to a congregation of ministers here! Saturday
night, it’s awful. Nothing. It’s two in the morning and I’m drinking
my 4th drink of warm milk. (*laughter*) It’s Sunday morning, and no
angel has appeared. No voices. I’ve been reading the Bible and going
over all my old sermon notes. I’ve been calling on the saints, burning
candles, doing anything! (*laughter*) Now I am sitting on the
platform, and I’m desperate. “Lord I’m on the platform. Elder
So-and-so is leading the hymns. Lord? Lord!” The choir gets into the
anthem and I hope it’s an hour. (*laughter*). Now, I know the anthem
is about to end and still nothing. The elder is announcing me. “Lord,
it’s between here and the pulpit. Lord? LORD!” (*laughter*)
Well that may be a bit of an exaggeration but not too much! The Lord
is wanting to teach His committed people that He will be there when
He’s needed. But Head and Shoulders Men won’t wait. Even some of
God’s heart men are sometimes a bit Head and Shoulder-ish. See God
told Abraham, “Abraham, I am going to give you and Sarah a son, the
seed.” Nothing happened. Abraham kept asking and Sarah kept saying,
“No.” At last Sarah thought, “Well, I am going to have to come up with
some help for the Lord. It’s going to be hard on me to do this. She
called her husband aside and said, ‘Now Abraham I think we ought to
help God out. It’s going to grieve me greatly, but I suggest you go
into my maid Hagar and she will conceive and I will have a child by
proxy and God will confirm the blessing to him.’” Abraham said, “OK if
that’s what you want.” So he went into Hagar, and she conceived and
bore Ishmael. You know it is an interesting thing and I don’t want to
get into this too much, but Hagar, the Bible says, was an Egyptian
handmaiden. Isn’t it interesting that it identified her as an Egyptian
for Egypt is a type of the world. Up until now the world was serving
Sarah the mother of the holy seed or the church if you will. But the
minute that Abraham and Sarah made use of the world to try and
accomplish the will of God and Hagar knew that she was pregnant with
Abraham’s child, everything changed. Sarah called her and said,
“Hagar? Hagar!” “What do you want?” “What do I want? I want you to
get in here! You’ve never spoken like that to me before.” “Madam, I
want you to know that I am bearing your husband’s child.”
What am I saying? The minute that you and I get under obligation to
the world, it stops being a servant to us and starts to tell us what to
do. I don’t owe the world anything. They didn’t give me my salvation
or my Baptism with the Holy Spirit or my call of the ministry. They
didn’t give me the blessed Presence of the Spirit. They didn’t give me
the Word of God. They don’t give me supernatural protection. I don’t
need them to help me out at all. God’s going to do what He is going to
do and I am going to go with God. Now Ishmael came along and when
Ishmael was a young lad, along came Isaac. You see the problem is
that, if you have an Ishmael, sooner of later Isaac is going to come
and you will have both. A lot of us have both Ishmaels and Isaacs!
Abraham said, “Lord can’t we arrange to have them both?” “No,” He said,
“Ishmael has got to go.” Abraham had to send Ishmael out. Do you know
that God didn’t recognize Ishmael as far as the seed was concerned,
because He asked Abraham to take Isaac up Mount Moriah and offer him
and He said, “Take Isaac thine only son.” As far as God was concerned,
the son He recognized in a divine continuum was Isaac. God doesn’t
need our help! And the Head and Shoulders Man had violated divine
order and he broke in and made a sacrifice.
So Samuel came on the scene verse 11 and said, “What have you done?”
Saul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and
that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the
Philistines were assembling at Mishmash, therefore I said, ‘Now the
Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked
the favor of the Lord, so I forced myself.’” How many know anything
about forced revivals? “God you’ve got to move. You’ve got to move
Lord! You’ve got to move.” So we use our gimmicks, soft lighting and
quiet organ music. All the theatrics. Everything the world uses.
We’d do anything to get God to move! God lengthens a leg a quarter of
an inch and by the time we are through, its 3 feet. (*laughter*) We
exaggerate. We use psychological methods. We will do absolutely
anything to get God to move, forced revivals. God doesn’t need our
help to force revival. He has told us what to do for Him to move and
that is to obey the principles of His Word and when we obey, then He
will move. He doesn’t need our assistance with a load of gimmickry and
a whole load of suggestions from us as how to build the Kingdom of
God. He has told us how to build the Kingdom of God. If we go by His
recipe, we will get it built! If we keep on doing it our way, we will
raise a race of Ishmaels and when Isaac comes, we are going to have to
make a terrible adjustment.
Now the first thing the Head and Shoulders Man did was to violate divine order. So Samuel went after him. Look at verse 13:
“And Samuel said to Saul, ‘You have acted foolishly. You have not
kept the commandments of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for
now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
But now your kingdom shall not endure; the Lord has sought out for
Himself a man after His own (here’s the first hint) heart.’”
Now we’ve got the first indication of where God’s sensitivity lies.
Not with the Head and Shoulders Man but with a man after His own
heart. “And the Lord appointed him as ruler over His people because
you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” Are you listening? God
will use those who will obey His Word. When you go outside of the Word
of God to try and get the Kingdom of God built, God will disown you, or
me, or anyone else. Now if you’ve got ears to hear, you hear! What is
God doing across the earth? We are in tents, homes, cottages and
barns. In New Zealand they are in public buildings and in Australia
they are in warehouses. In America they are in any kind of thing that
will keep the snow and rain off the church! God is not interested in
us putting on a Head and Shoulders display. God is interested in us
obeying Him. If He says go and stand in the corner of the tent on your
head and whistle, then you go and stand on your head and whistle; if
that’s what He says! “Abraham,” “Yes Lord?” “I want you to leave Ur of
the Chaldeans.” “OK, Lord. Where am I going?” “You just leave and I
will show you.” “Well, I would like to know where I am going.” “None of
your business right now; just get up and leave.” (*laughter*) The Bible
simply says, that Abraham got up and left and went on to become the
father of the faithful.
See what is upsetting Head and Shoulders government is that He is
blessing heart people. You say, “Well they are psychologically
unstable; they are emotionally unbalanced, and they are mostly
illiterate.” (*laughter*) I remember reading the British Weekly years
ago, and it said that the Pentecostal people were the fanatical fringe
of Protestantism. Well, I’ve got news for you; Pentecostal people are
now the controversial center of Christianity because God has sent His
Spirit not to be laughed at. God sent His Spirit not to be shoved onto
the peripheries of the Christian thing. He sent His Spirit to replace
the Lord Jesus Christ at the very heart of the redeemed community.
Jesus said, “It is expedient for you that I go because I am God
localized. For when I go away, I am going to go and the Father, and I
will send the Holy Spirit back, and He is going to be the Trinity
universalized. When the Holy Spirit comes, He is going to spread all
over the earth, and He is going to bring men and women into the
redeemed community, and He is going to establish the Kingdom of God
among the sons of men. He is going to display the glory of God.” God
will not allow the Holy Spirit to be shouted at, shoved, or pulled
anymore. Have you thought about the sufferings of the Holy Spirit? We
preachers dramatically point out the sufferings of Christ on the
Cross. For three and a half years He suffered and then that awful
agony on Calvary. All of which is true, but have you thought that for
two thousand years the Holy Spirit has been down here being blasphemed,
neglected, rejected, confounded with para-psychology and extra sensory
perception, called nasty names, denied, grieved and quenched for 2, 000
years! He’s suffered. It’s His hour now! It’s His hour to come into
supremacy and prominence, and the Spirit is at the heart of the thing
now. He is not out there knocking to come in; He’s in here! Directing
the traffic! (*applause*)
Let’s jump over to chapter 15 and see the second thing that the Head and Shoulders Man. Stay with me. He:
2. Made Provision for the Flesh.
Now before I get into this, quickly, I am going to give you the results
of about forty study hours of work on the word, “Flesh.” I am going to
give you a capsilated definition. Whenever the word, “Flesh” is used
in the New Testament in a moral sense you will find that this
definition will fit. If you want to write it down; you are welcome.
It’s mine, but there is no copyright on it.
The flesh morally considered is the tendency in our nature to
self-gratifying behavior. It’s not somebody else living in you; it is
you behaving in a self gratifying manner.
Now anywhere the New Testament says not to walk in the flesh or uses
the word, “flesh” in a moral sense, you can take that little simple
definition and it will fit. Ladies and gentlemen, if you are going to
have a part in what God is doing in this hour you are going to have to
dethrone once and for all any intention you have to have your own way,
as opposed to His way on any issue. Boyfriends; girlfriends;
automobiles; homes; businesses; anything. You have no right to make a
self-gratifying decision. You see we’ve preached Christ as Saviour for
so long that we don’t realize that you can receive Christ as Saviour
and not receive Him as Lord, and then it’s questionable whether you
have received Him at all. For every time the Bible speaks of Him as
Saviour, it speaks of Him 29 times as Lord. The ratio is 29:1. Yet we
go into evangelistic meetings and we urge people, “Won’t you please
accept Christ as your Saviour?” Fiddlesticks! That’s not what it’s
about at all. The whole tendency today is that Jesus will be your
buddy; come just as you are with all your sins, and He will forgive
you, and He will be your buddy, and He will give you a little card with
your name on, and you will put it in your pocket next to your heart.
Then when you get up there, you will flick it out and say, “There St
Peter, one night in a meeting I raised my hand and there’s my card.”
That’s not what it’s about at all. Paul says that salvation begins
when you confess Jesus Christ as Lord. Being saved means that you turn
your life totally over to Jesus Christ as despot.
There are two Greek words for “Lord.” One is “kurios” and the other is
“despotes” from which we get our English word, “Despot.” Now we think
of a despot in a bed sense, but think of it in a good sense for a
moment. Think of it as one who has total power to do whatever needs to
be done for you under any circumstance, and if you will give your life
to Him, He will do that thing for you under any given circumstance.
You can’t get a better deal than that! Blessed despot, take my life;
govern me! Rule me! I never could understand that old hymn, “God be
in my head and in my understanding,” now however, I love it. I was a
boy soloist in the choir of 60 boys, and I remember we were singing,
and I had to sing the solo part to that hymn. I thought, “What in the
world do I want God in my head for.” (*laughter*). You see I was raised
as a boy on the other side, the emotional side. “Let Jesus come into
your heart.” What that was I’m blessed if I know, but it had to do with
weeping and going to an altar and getting emotional and going away and
doing what you jolly well please. The Gospel of the Kingdom is the
rule of God’s government over our lives, and it means that you don’t
belong to yourself, and Jesus Christ has total right to your life, to
govern you completely. That’s not bad; that’s good because you haven’t
made a good job of it up until now. So let Him have it.
Now the Head and Shoulders Government does not deal with the flesh.
You know that. But what is happening today? I said to a group of my
brothers the other day, “Brothers, are you finding God bringing extra
pressures into your life?” They all looked at me as though I had been
reading their private experiences. Any man today who is trying to walk
in what God is doing, God is pushing him into corners and back you
come. “Lord, you never said anything about that before.” He says, “No
I didn’t have to before, but this is a special day, and while I’m
talking about this, I want to talk about this.” (*laughter*) I said,
“Lord take it easy!” (*laughter*). You see He cannot alter the world
with a bunch of people who are not absolutely submitted to His
Lordship. So the next test of the Head and Shoulders Man is what he
would do with the flesh. Chapter 15:
“Then Samuel said to Saul, ‘The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over
His people over Israel. Now therefore listen to the word of the Lord.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did to
Israel, how he set himself against them on the way from Egypt. Now go
and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has and do not spare
him but put to death both man and women and child and infant and ox and
sheep and camel and donkey; wipe them out!”
Alright, that’s the word of the Lord. Verse 7: Quickly now.
“So Saul defeated the Amalakites from Havalak as you go to Shea which
is east of Agag, and he captured Agag which is east of Egypt. He
captured Agag, the king of the Amalakites 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, the oxen, the takings, the lambs
and all that was good, and was not willing to utterly destroy them all,
but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.”
Now why didn’t Saul kill Agag? Because Agag was too like Saul. You
see a Head and Shoulders Man reserves the right to make Head and
Shoulder’s judgements. God said kill them all! Agag was undoubtedly a
great man. You had to be a great man to become a king, because in
those days you became a king by beating up everyone else. That was the
way with tribal warfare. You became king because no one else could
beat you up in the tribes, so you would have had to have been a big
fellow. Saul looked at him and said, “I’m sure God wouldn’t want me to
get rid of him.” He said, “Look at those sheep, I’m sure the Lord would
love to have those sheep for some of the religious services. Samuel
would like them. I’m sure the Lord didn’t mean all. We’ll save the
best.” The best of what? The best of the Amalakites. The Amalakites
are the flesh! You don’t save the best of the worst. You don’t save
the good of the bad. Are you there? (*laughter*) Don’t go to sleep on
me now!
Now without me being too specific, think what has Head and Shoulders
government in Christendom done about the flesh? It saved some very
fine things about the flesh. Do you know what is cursing the
professing community today? We are so loaded with the best of the
flesh that God can’t get a wiggle of the little finger out of the Head
and Shoulders Government, and when God starts to move, they say, “But
our culture Lord!” Culture be hanged; what’s culture going to do for
you? In that last day when the Lamb sits on the throne, His
countenance angry in judgment; the great men and the mighty men will
call for the mountains to fall on them. “ALL!”
Verse 10: “Then the Word of the Lord came to Samuel saying, ‘I regret
that I have made Saul king for he has turned back from following me and
has not carried out my commands.’ And Samuel was distressed and cried
out to the Lord all night and Samuel rose early in the morning to meet
Saul and it was told Samuel saying.”
If you go through the Bible you will find every man of God gets up
early in the morning, if God wants him to do something. Now it’s not
literal. Although, I do get up in the morning early; it’s no virtue.
What it means is that the first order of the day is not to serve
yourself, but you serve Him. If He says do something get up early and
get it done. Abraham got up early in the morning. Isaac got up early
in the morning. Samuel got up early in the morning and went down to
meet the king of Israel who was supposed to have cleaned out the
Amalakites. Saul was supposed to have done a mighty work with the
flesh, to have had a great sanctification and holiness convention and
got rid of the flesh. Samuel was going down to see the results of the
meeting. He gets down there early in the morning, and says, “Where’s
the king?” Someone said, “Oh he said he would be late.” “Late? What’s
he doing?” It says in the NASB, “Saul came to Carmel and behold set up
a monument to himself.” Then turned and proceeded on. What was Saul
doing? He had not obeyed the Lord by cleaning out the flesh and he
celebrated his disobedience by setting up a monument to himself.
(*laughter*) The world is covered with monuments that men have set up
to themselves.
The judgment seat of Christ is going to be interesting when you see men
walking up to the judgment seat, and you say, “Who’s that?” Someone
says, “That’s Jack Jones!” “Who’s Jack Jones? D L Moody I know and
Billy Graham I know but who’s Jack Jones?” Jack Jones was a man whose
name has never appeared in a magazine. Jack Jones was a man who served
God deeply and fervently and devotedly. He burnt his life out unseen
and unsung but up here he is a big shot. I don’t know if any of you
know of a man by the name of Baker. He wrote some books and I knew
him. He was as rough and ordinary as an old shoe. He was an apostle
in China and he left groups of people in China that were self-contained
and had elders. When the Communists came, the Christians said to him,
“Go, don’t stay. Go and tell others what you’ve told us. You warned
us what was coming and we will survive.” He said, “I will stay and die
with you.” “No,” they said, “Go!” He was already an old man. He went
over to the Chinese island of Formosa and at the age of 70 learned a
whole new language. When he came to Canada, I entertained him. He’d
come home because his wife was not well, and he thought he would bring
her home. She wasn’t getting any better, so they got together one day
and she said, “Now husband, we have both given our lives to God and I
know your heart is back in Formosa. It looks like the time has come
for me to go home. Why don’t we say goodbye and you go on, and I will
see you in the morning. “ He said, “Well alright.” That was the kind of
commitment they had. So they got everything ready, and he was going to
go back and leave her for the Lord to take her home. Instead of that
the Lord healed her, and they both went back to Formosa. (*laughter*)
The last letter I saw from them, he was in his nineties and now I hear
he’s gone to be with the Lord. You don’t know him; how many of those
people are around?
A monument? There’s no monument to him! You go all over the countryside and men want to leave monuments to themselves.
The only monument I want to leave is a monument that is recorded in
the book of God that says I gave myself without reserve to the work of
God and the people of God; what are monuments?
My loving brother and sister, when the world is on fire, “I want God’s
bosom to be my pillow. Hide Me over in the Rock of Ages, Rock of Ages
cleft for me.” Why care about a monument? A monument is only going to
be here until the Lord cleans the world up. I’ll take my monuments
later on; praise God! Verse 13: “Then Samuel came to Saul, and Saul
said to him.” Oh religion is great. Can’t you see Saul coming to him
and saying? Remember in the days of Jesus, they were always coming and
saying religious things? The flesh is always trying to be religious
especially in the presence of the servants of God. They get very
religious. You know, “God bless you.” Look at Saul. This Head and
Shoulders Man who has disobeyed the Lord; look at him and look what he
said.
Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord!” (*laughter*) That’s
supposed to solve everything? “I have carried out the commands of the
Lord!.” You fibber! (*laughter*)
This raises another point; when you start to vacillate and play around
with the flesh, you become a rationalist and a liar. You don’t face
things for what they really are. But Samuel said, “If you obeyed the
commands of the Lord, what are these fleshly sounds that I am hearing?
What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of
the oxen that I hear?” “Oh, said Saul, “I can tell you about that.
They brought them from the Amalakites for the people.” The people.
Here we go again. “The people; I didn’t do it; the people did it. The
people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord
your God.” Your God. See he’s trying to play up to Samuel. “But the
rest we have utterly destroyed. “ “Then Samuel said to Saul, ‘Wait and
let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.’” (*laughter*)
Man, I wouldn’t like to have been Saul at that point! (*laughter*) Any
of you kids know what it is like when Mum says, “Wait till Dad comes
home tonight.” (*laughter*) “He said, ‘Saul.’ Saul said, ‘Speak.’”
(*laughter*)
Then Samuel said, “Is it not true that though you were ill in your
own eyes you were made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord
anointed you king over Israel? And the Lord sent you on a mission and
said, ‘Go and destroy the sinners, the Amalakites and fight against
them till they are exterminated;’ why then did you not obey the voice
of the Lord? But rushed upon the spoil greedily and did what was evil
in the sight of the Lord.” “Then Saul said to Samuel, ‘I did obey the
voice of the Lord and went on the mission which the Lord sent me, and I
brought back Agag the king of Amalek and have utterly destroyed the
Amalakites, but the people took some of the spoil, the sheep, the oxen,
the choicest of the things devoted to destruction to sacrifice to the
Lord your God at Gilgal.’ And Samuel said, ‘Has the Lord as much
delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as obeying the voice of the
Lord? Behold to obey is better than all your fleshly sacrifices.’”
Hello? Did you hear me? You can’t buy God. He didn’t say, “Son, give
me your violin.” He didn’t say, “Son, give me your voice.” He said,
“Son, give me your heart, and if I’ve got your heart I’ve got all the
rest of it.” “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed them
than the fat of rams; to rebel is as the sin of divination.
Disobedience leads to deception.
This is a heavy word, and I’m running way over time, but can I just
go a little longer Bryn? Let me tell you something, and you hear it
now because these are important days. When you rebel against God, or I
rebel against God, or any man who is in the professed redeemed
community rebels against God, on the authority of the Word of God, he
is a candidate for deception. Remember, it is obedience or deception,
because if you disobey you will walk into deception. “Because you have
rejected the Word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being
king.” “Then Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned; I have indeed
transgressed,’ and he pled with Samuel. Samuel said, ‘No I am not even
going to go back with you; you have rejected the Word of the Lord, and
the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.’” Do you see the
equation that keeps coming up people? The Word = God = the Word? You
and I are only valid members of the Kingdom of God, as we respond
obediently to the Word. You can’t detour that; you can’t go over it;
you can’t get under it; you can’t go through it; you have got to
embrace it. The Word is God and God is the Word and the Word is the
ultimate thing and the Word is the thing that has got to be obeyed.
Look at verse 28: “So Samuel said to the king, ‘The Lord has torn the
kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to your neighbor
who is better than you.’” Why was David better than Saul? David was
better than Saul in only one area, and that was that Saul was a Head
and Shoulders Man, and David was a heart man. He believed God and
obeyed His Word. Oh, listen to him in Psalm 119: “Thy Word.” Listen to
the Psalmist singing about the Word. How he depended on God, an
altogether different man. He was a heart man.
Alright, let me finish up by saying these final things. Fleshly
rationalization over what God requires always goes with disobedience.
“I can’t go with God because He’s going to do this or that.” Don’t try
and rationalize God’s Word; obey it. The terrible price of
disobedience is to lose what you are in God functionally. I’m not
unchristianizing you, but the terrible price of disobedience is to lose
your place in God functionally. The inevitable fate of the flesh, what
is it? After Samuel had dealt with Saul; look at verse 32: “Then
Samuel said, ‘Bring me Agag king of the Amalakites,’ and Agag came to
him cheerfully.” Or in other translations, he came mincingly. What did
he do? He came into the presence of Samuel cheerfully! He said,
“Surely the bitterness of death is over. The war is all finished and
you are surely not going to kill me; that wouldn’t be the thing to do.”
Samuel said, “You bet it’s all over.” What did he do? You see the
flesh. It says, “Now, come on brother; don’t be such a fanatic. Just
hold it. Don’t go destroying everything; after all we have had our
little revival now. Let’s just level off.” Level off nothing; this war
is to the death. Look what he did. Samuel said, “As your sword has
made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women,
and Samuel hewed Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.” Wack!
Pow! There lay the flesh, splattered all over the ground.
3. What is the end of Head and Shoulders Government?
Now, I don’t pretend to be a prophet or a son of a prophet, but you
listen to me, as sure as God is God and God’s Word is God’s Word the
Head and Shoulder’s government like the Head and Shoulder’s government
of every other generation in the realm of the professed Kingdom of God
will go into deception. It will seek out the witch of Endor, and it
will be eventually be killed by the very thing that it allowed to
live. When Saul was in the agony of his death blood, an Amalakite came
by and saw that he was still alive, and Saul called him over and said,
“My life is still in me; do me a favor and plunge the knife deeply into
me. I don’t want to be caught by the Philistines or they will torture
me.” So the Amalakite slew him, and then came running to David, and
told him what he had done. David rent his clothes and wept. We will
deal with that later. And he said, “Fall on that Amalakite and kill
him.” Now that Amalakite wouldn’t have killed Saul, if Saul had killed
him. If you don’t deal with the flesh, the flesh will deal with you.
It’s who kills whom first.
I want to finish with 1 Chronicles 10, and lets see who does the
killing. In the ultimate, verses13-14: “So Saul died for his trespass
which he committed against the Lord because of the Word of the Lord
which he did not keep.” “Because of the Word of the Lord which he did
not keep. And also, because he asked counsel of a medium making enquiry
of it and did not enquire of the Lord, therefore, He killed him and
turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.” I declare to you, and we
will develop this theme later, God is going to take care of the Head
and Shoulders Government and establish Jesus Christ as unassailable
Lord indeed. Head and Shoulders cannot survive. But be sure what camp
you are in. Where are you tonight? Are you playing between Head and
Shoulders and heart? Or have you sold out completely to the Word and
will of God? “Whatever it costs I’ll go with God.” We’ll find out in
the next 3 nights what it costs to go with God. It costs an awful lot
more to play the Head and Shoulders game than it does to go with God in
heart. You think it’s rough in this hour - God is hard on those of us
who are trying to walk in His ways and obey His Word. It’s nothing
compared to what God is going to do with Head and Shoulders before He
is finished. I’m happy to be where I am. How about you?