Now, in John chapter 1, the part that I wanted to focus on is beginning there in verse 35,
where the Bible reads,
And again the next day after John stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus
as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!
And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
Then Jesus turned and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye?
They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where dwellest
thou?
He saith unto them, Come and see.
They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth
hour.
And what I want to preach about is that phrase in verse 39, Come and see.
And this is a phrase that comes up a couple of times in this passage, it comes up a few
times throughout the Bible.
And let me just start out by explaining to you the scenario here, what's going on in
John chapter 1.
Of course, we just finished reading that powerful passage, of course, about how Jesus Christ
is God in the flesh.
And then about John the Baptist preaching about the Lord Jesus Christ and pointing people
unto Jesus.
And after John the Baptist has preached about Jesus, baptized Jesus, and so forth, he points
to Jesus and says, Behold the Lamb of God!
And two of John's disciples, they leave John and they go to follow Jesus.
And basically Jesus is just walking along and he notices these two guys following him.
They haven't really talked to him or approached him, he's just walking along and Jesus looks
back and these two guys are just following him.
So he says, you know, what seek ye?
What do you guys need?
This is kind of a funny thing that he says, but he says, what seek ye?
And they say, Master, look if you would at verse 38, they say unto him, Rabbi, which
is to say being interpreted, Master, where dwellest thou?
I guess they just didn't know what else to say, they just asked him, well, you know,
where are you staying?
Where do you live?
We're following you now, you know, we want to go wherever you are.
He saith unto them, Come and see.
They came and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth
hour.
So instead of answering their question, he's going to show them.
He's not just going to tell them where he dwells, he says, come and see, let me just
show you.
Okay, keep reading.
It says in verse 40, one of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew,
Simon Peter's brother.
He first findeth his own brother Simon and saith unto him, We found the Messiah, which
is being interpreted to Christ.
And he brought him to Jesus and when Jesus beheld him he said, Thou art Simon the son
of Jonah, thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone.
The day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee and findeth Philip and saith unto
him, Follow me.
And you'll find Jesus saying those two words over and over again in the four gospels, just
those two words, follow me, follow me.
It says, Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
Philip findeth Nathanael and saith unto him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law
and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
Now stop right there.
Was Jesus really the son of Joseph?
No, but that's what they think.
They're just looking from the outside.
The Bible is very careful to never call Joseph Jesus' father.
But often characters in the Bible will mistakenly refer to Joseph as his father and that doesn't
make it right, of course.
And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
So again, that phrase kind of popping up, come and see.
Another phrase that keeps popping up is the phrase follow me.
Let me just give you, just from the book of Matthew alone, don't turn there, but this
happens in all the gospels over and over again.
But just from the book of Matthew alone, Matthew 4 19 says, And he saith unto them, Follow
me and I will make you fishers of men.
Matthew 8 22, Jesus saith unto him, Follow me and let the dead bury their dead.
Matthew 9 9, And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man named Matthew sitting
at the receipt of custom, and he saith unto him, Follow me, and he arose and followed
him.
Matthew 16 24, Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Matthew 19 21, Jesus saith unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast,
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me.
So just in Matthew alone, over and over, follow me, we went to Mark, Luke, John, we find the
same thing, over and over again, Jesus telling people, follow me, follow me, come and see,
follow me.
And what I want to point out about that is the fact that Jesus Christ didn't just tell
people how to do it, he showed them how to do it.
He led by example.
Now look if you would at Matthew chapter 11, and as you're turning to Matthew 11, let me
say this, in Matthew 10, he's giving them instructions to go out and preach the gospel.
He sends them out to go out into all the towns and villages and to preach the gospel and
to do a lot of good works, and at the end of chapter 10 is finished sending them out,
and it says in verse 1 of chapter 11, And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end
of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.
So what we see in Matthew 11, 1, is that as soon as he's done giving instructions to
the disciples, we see him going out and doing the exact thing that he just told them to
do.
He's setting the example.
He says, okay, here's what we're going to do, you're going to go into a town, you're
going to preach, this is what you're going to preach, this is who you're going to preach
to, this is how you're going to do it, and he sends them out to go, and then he says,
okay, now I'm going to go do the exact same thing myself.
Now there are a lot of people who can tell you how to do a lot of things, but there are
very few people who can show you how to do the right things.
You see, it's easy to talk the talk, but it's not always easy to walk the walk.
A lot of people could tell you about soul winning, or tell you how to go soul winning,
but what I'd rather have is somebody show me how to go soul winning, and say, come and
see soul winning.
You know, come and see a church that's filled with the Spirit of God.
Come and see a church that is zealous of the Word of God, that's zealous of winning the
loss to Christ, that's zealous of good works.
We're not just going to tell you about it, we want to show you, we want to say come and
see.
Not just, well here's the theory, you know, here's how we think it would work, here's
what we think is a good idea.
And you know, I remember when I first started soul winning, when I first started going out
and knocking doors and giving people the Gospel, I remember most people in my circle of friends
and the people that I knew were very critical of it, okay, and here's why.
For about five years when I was a teenager, we were going to some really dead churches,
and we were going to some really liberal, like neo-evangelical type churches, and you
know, I was at a public school where I basically joined in with different Christian groups
on campus, you know, where you'd go in the morning and pray with this group, and at lunch
there was a Bible club.
So I had a lot of friends that were just really like liberal Christians, okay, because I was
just trying to hang around with whatever Christian friends I could find at that stage.
And so once I got into an independent fundamental Baptist church, and I started getting zealous
of soul winning and everything, you know, I was excited about it, and I'd be telling
people man, it's great, we're going out, we're going to get people saved, and this and that,
and a lot of people were down on it, okay, and they kind of tried to throw a wet blanket
on it.
You know, I was all excited about it, and so you know, you try to talk to other people
and you think they're going to get excited and want to come with you, but they just would
kind of throw a wet blanket on it, not that interested.
And I just remember how many people, they'd ask you, well what do you say?
I mean, you know, when you go to give people the gospel, when you go out evangelizing,
you know, what do you say, what do you tell them?
And I remember I'd start telling them, well you know, here's what I go through with people,
you know, and I'd start showing them, you know, okay, I go to Romans 3.23, you know,
I'm showing them that we've all sinned, I go to Romans 6.23, I go to Revelation, I show
them about hell and everything, and you know, how many people just, whoa, whoa, whoa, hell?
You know, you're going to turn people away, you can't talk about hell, you can't tell
people they're sin, you know, you've got to just love them into the kingdom, and you know,
you shouldn't mention hell, you shouldn't be going to the other.
And I remember just people who didn't do any soul winning being the experts on soul winning.
And I remember one time somebody being critical, I'm thinking of a particular person that was
real critical when they heard about, you know, the type of evangelizing we were doing,
and the type of soul when we were doing it, and I said to that person, I said, well you
know what, I have an idea.
I said, why don't I start doing it exactly like you do it?
Show me how to do it.
Let's, in fact, let's go right now.
Oh, oh, oh, you know, everybody wants to sit back and tell you how it's done, you know,
people who've never started a church, you know, want to tell you how to start a church,
people who have never had kids, want to tell you how to raise your kids, people who are
unmarried are the experts on marriage, right?
There's so many people who want to tell you how it's done, but you know what, we ought
to show people how it's done, and not just be one that talks the talk, but one that walks
the walk.
You know, come and see how to read the Bible, ought to be what we tell our children.
You know, come and see Bible reading, come and see prayer, come and see Bible memorization,
come and see soul winning.
You know what the best way to learn soul winning is?
It's not a class, it's not a seminar, it's not a book, it's not a tape, it's called going
out soul winning with someone who can show you soul winning.
That's how I learned to win souls.
I mean, I went out, and there were a lot of people who could have told me how to do it,
but that didn't help, but yet I went out with somebody and just tagged along with a guy,
brother Dan at my church, and I tagged along with him for about two and a half hours, and
you know, I just watched him do it, and I learned how to do it.
He showed me how to do it, okay?
I came and I saw we need to be people that live a life that can be emulated and followed
by others, and where we can be an example unto other people, and where we can demonstrate
how to live for God, demonstrate a life that is separated, that is sold out for God, demonstrate
a life of godliness, demonstrate a godly marriage, demonstrate child rearing, demonstrate
soul winning, demonstrate preaching, demonstrate all the things that God wants us to do, so
that we can say to people, follow me.
Not do as I say, not as I do, but actually just follow me.
Why could Jesus say follow me?
Because he's doing everything right, because he's walking in the right steps and he was
able to say follow me, and he knows that he's leading people in the right direction.
All throughout the Bible we see this concept, go to Titus chapter 2, Titus chapter number
2, and I love that verse in Acts 1 where it talks about what Jesus began both to do and
teach.
That ought to be our life.
You know, there are some people who do, but they don't teach, okay?
There are some churches where the pastor lives a very godly life, and he lives, he has a
great marriage, he raises children well, he's doing a lot of soul winning, and he lives
a very clean and separated and righteous and godly life, but then when he gets behind
the pulpit, he doesn't preach all the counsel of God.
He's doing, but he's not always teaching, he's holding back on some of the preaching.
You see, he's got it straight in his life, but he doesn't want to teach certain things
for fear of offending, even though he's doing them, okay?
But then there are other people who have the opposite problem, they teach but they don't
do, and what do we call that?
A hypocrite, right?
A hypocrite is one who says, but they do not.
They'll tell you all the right answers, they'll talk soul winning, they'll talk Bible reading,
they'll talk prayer, they'll talk separation, they'll talk everything, but when it comes
to the living the life, they're not doing it.
That's a hypocrite.
But either one is failing.
We need to be those who do and teach.
It's not just enough for you to be godly as a parent, you need to also teach your children
to do the same thing.
Don't just do, teach.
But of course don't just teach, do, okay?
Show them how it's done.
Be an example for them to follow.
Look at Titus chapter 2 verse number 7, the Bible says, in all things showing thyself
a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity.
So we have both halves of the equation in this verse.
The first half says you need to show yourself a pattern of good works.
You need to be an example that someone can follow.
But in the second half he says also you need to have doctrine.
Doctrine means teaching.
So he's saying live the life, be an example, be a pattern, but also you need to teach.
You need to have doctrine.
You need to tell other people how to do it.
And then you need to show them how to do it and be a pattern that they can follow.
Go if you would to 2 Thessalonians 3.
You're right there in Titus, it's just a couple pages away.
While you're turning there I'll read for you some other verses.
James 5.10 says, take my brethren the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for
an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience.
First Peter 2.21, for even here unto were ye called because Christ also had suffered
for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps.
Again, over and over again it's emphasized, being an example, following an example, being
a pattern, come and see, not just here's how to do it.
But let me show you how to do it.
Look at 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 9.
It says, not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an example unto you to follow
us.
Okay, go to Philippians chapter 3, a few pages to the left in your Bible, Philippians chapter
3.
He said to make ourselves an example unto you to follow us.
Paul was basically saying in that passage, if you get the context, he's saying there
are certain things that I have the power to do, but he said I did not do them because
it was very important to me to be an example unto you to follow us.
I wanted to show you how to do it.
You see, Paul said that it would have been perfectly legitimate for him to live of the
gospel, you know, to basically just forbear working and just only to work in the ministry
full time, that all of his work would be preaching and teaching the Word of God.
But he said that there were a lot of people in Thessalonica who were not working.
There were a lot of lazy people.
He said that there were a lot of people among them that were working not at all, but were
busybodies.
And he talked about people who just would not work and he said to them that famous phrase,
you know, that if any would not work, neither should he eat, which is the truth, obviously.
If people refuse to work, they shouldn't even eat.
You know, obviously we're supposed to work and eat our own bread, the Bible says.
And so Paul knew that that was something that they needed help with and that they struggled
with.
There were a lot of people that were failing when it came to their work ethic.
So Paul said I made a point not to take anything from anybody because I just wanted to demonstrate
paying my own way.
I wanted to demonstrate hard work.
And he said I worked night and day when I was with you.
He said I traveled.
You know, that's a word for just really intense labor.
He's saying I had labor, I had traveled, I struggled, I got up early, I stayed up late,
I worked day and night.
Why?
Not because I didn't have the power to take it a little easier.
But he said I wanted to make myself an example for you to follow us.
I wanted to teach you how to work hard.
I didn't want to just get up and preach, hey, you need to go to work, you need to provide
for your value, you need to pay your bills.
He said I wanted to show you how to do it.
I wanted to be an example, a pattern, and show you by example.
You know what?
You are an example unto someone, or at least you should be, no matter who you are.
Now if you're a parent, it should be obvious to you that you're an example unto your children.
And whether you like it or not, your children will grow up and be like you.
Everything brings forth after its own kind.
And your children will grow up and they will emulate you.
So you need to ask yourself, am I the person that I want my children to grow up and be?
Do I want them to grow up and be like me?
If they grow up and be like me, are they living for God?
Am I the right example?
Because you can say things until you're blue in the face.
You can say, now kids, don't make the mistakes I've made.
You know, kids, you know, I know I smoke and it's too late for me kids, but just don't
ever start smoking kids.
But statistically the chance of them smoking are real high.
I don't care what you say, because they're going to do what you do.
I mean, I see my children constantly emulating me.
I see my children constantly emulating my wife.
That's where they learn more from what you do than what you say.
Let me give you a perfect example.
My son Solomon started taking piano lessons a long time ago, many years ago.
And I'd always tell him, Solomon, practice the piano, practice the piano, practice the
piano.
And he wouldn't really practice it much in the beginning.
I'd try to tell the other kids, hey, learn how to play piano, practice piano.
They just didn't really practice that much.
Sometimes it can be hard to get children to practice the piano, and they just don't do
it.
But then I came to a point where I decided several years ago, I decided, you know what,
I want to get good at playing the piano again, because I'd been pretty good at playing the
piano in the past, but I had just forgotten a lot of my piano playing skills.
And I decided, you know what, I really want to get better at playing the piano.
And I had an injured finger, and I noticed that, and it's still messed up to this day,
but I noticed that when I played the piano, it seemed like my finger did better.
So maybe it was like a physical therapy for my finger if I played the piano.
And I knew that sometimes there's a need in church to play the piano, and obviously we
have a wonderful piano player, but sometimes I like for him to lead the singing, and then
I could play the piano, and so forth, give my voice a break.
And it's hard to find people that have the ability to lead the singing or play the piano.
Even in a church with 100 people in it, there's less than I can count on one hand people that
can play the piano, and less than I can count on one hand people that can lead the singing.
So I started practicing the piano for a few hours a day, and you know what I instantly
noticed?
All of a sudden he's practicing every day.
So I could tell him, play the piano, play the piano, not happening.
But then I started playing the piano, and then it's like, Dad, when are you going to
be done?
I need to play the piano, I need to practice.
It's that old thing, the kid picks up the toy, and now all of a sudden it's the most
popular toy.
You know, a minute ago nobody noticed it.
Okay, why?
Because people learn more from your example than just what your words are.
And so by me practicing the piano, all of a sudden my son is just, now he wants to play,
he wants to practice.
He sees me doing it, now he wants to do it.
And then he started practicing every day, and I would practice for long hours, he would
practice for long hours.
And now he's very good at it, you know, he plays the organ and everything.
Why?
Because I saw an example and that was more powerful than just my words.
Now look, playing the piano is not the most important thing in this life.
Let me tell you something, what are the other important things that you're teaching or not
teaching your children, based on your example?
What kind of a pattern are you teaching?
You know, if you're one that plops down in front of the TV for hours, what are you teaching?
If you're one who goes out and works hard and works and pays the bills, you know what,
you're teaching your children.
You're teaching them a good lesson there.
You know, if you're one who takes care of your responsibilities, and you're one that
spends time with family, and you're one that works hard, if you're a wife who works hard
and cooks nutritious meals and well thought out meals, you know what, you're teaching
your daughters that.
And if you're one who just throws a hungry man into the microwave, well, you know, you're
teaching them that too.
And that's what they're going to grow up and I feel sorry for the guy that they're married
to.
That they're not going to cook for them, you know, it's just going to be all just something
that's just heated up.
Some kind of a GMO laden, you know, toxic cocktail of chemicals, right, that you know.
What I'm saying is that our actions speak louder than our words.
Now both are important.
I don't want to downplay the teaching part.
It's important to sit down and talk with your children.
It's important to preach the Word of God to your children.
It's important to read the Bible to them and sit down with them and expound it to them
and as a father to lead your house and to lead your wife and children.
But let me tell you something, your actions are speaking louder than your words.
And every mother should take the time to teach her sons and teach her daughters the Word
of God and just how to live their life.
But they also need to be a pattern of good works.
They also need to be able to answer questions by saying, come and see.
That's the best answer to a lot of questions, come and see.
Let me just show you.
Why don't I just show you an example that you can follow.
Philippians 3.17 says, Brethren, be followers together of me.
In another place he said, follow me as I follow Christ.
Here he said, Brethren, be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have
us, for, and in sample.
For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are
the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly
and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly thinks.
So in verses 18 and 19 he's warning about a lot of bad examples that are out there.
Bad role models.
People that are leading children and leading young people and leading adults astray, down
the wrong path.
And he's saying, look, I don't want you to follow these bad role models and bad examples.
He's saying, I want you to follow me because I'm going to be an example to you.
You're going to follow me as I follow Christ.
Now that's a pretty bold statement, to say, be followers of me.
And for Paul to say that he had to be pretty confident that he's living a life that can
back that up.
He's going to say, be followers of me, because you know what, if people take him up on that
and then they start to fail, well, we're just following you Paul.
Well you know, I meant do what I say.
No, no, no, they're going to do what you do.
And so Paul says, be followers of me and mark them which walk so as you have us for an example.
Now of course, Jesus Christ needs to be the one that we're ultimately following.
More than anyone else, he's the example.
He left us an example that we should follow in his steps.
We have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to show us a picture of what his life looked like.
We have all the other scriptures that illuminate Jesus Christ and his life and his ministry
and his walk that we could live after as a pattern.
But you know what, it's also good to have flesh and blood human role models that we
can follow.
Now we need to be careful that we don't put too much emphasis on following man and that
we are always looking unto Jesus and ultimately following him.
But it is still necessary to have human role models as well.
We don't want to go too far in the other direction and say, well I'm just going to follow Christ,
therefore I'm not going to listen to any man or follow any man's example.
No Paul said follow me.
You know Paul said follow me as I follow Christ, okay.
Paul said mark them which walk so as you have us for an example.
He's saying look, find people that are examples that you can follow, but be prepared for if
those people let you down to find a new role model.
You know, find a new, because you've got to ultimately follow Christ.
And when Christ and that person part ways, you stay with Christ.
You know, you follow Christ all the time and you put him first.
But there's nothing wrong with children looking to their parents and following them as a leader.
You know, there's nothing wrong with a pastor being a leader.
There's nothing wrong with other men in the church or other ladies in the church that
can be role models and people that you look to maybe in areas where they excel, maybe
in soul winning, you know, in music, in preaching, whatever.
Different people in the church, they can be role models.
And let me say this, you may not have children.
You may not be married.
You may not think that anybody's following you, but often there are people in the church
that look up to you without you even knowing it.
And you don't even realize that people are following you and that when you go astray,
you can take other people with you that are looking at you.
You know, some of you guys might think, oh, you know, I don't have any kids, I'm not married.
But you know what, kids might look to you and think you're a pretty cool guy.
You know, kids look up to people that are older than them and they think that everything
they do is cool and that, you know, they just pick certain people and they look to
them and follow them.
And so you want to be sure you're an example to everyone that's around you.
And not only that, but hopefully you're one who preaches the gospel to every creature.
And hopefully you're one who has won some people to the Lord that are your spiritual
sons and daughters because you won them to Christ.
You know, you need to be an example to them.
You need to say to them, come and see.
You need to invite them to church and say, come and see.
Come out soul winning with me.
And that's the best thing that you can do for them is showing them an example of how
to live for Christ.
Go to 2 Kings, chapter number 10, 2 Kings, chapter number 10.
This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible.
I really like this verse, but this is the story about Jehu and Jehonadab.
And in 2 Kings, chapter 10, we see Jehu, when he's about to execute judgment on all the
enemies of the Lord, he's going to destroy the worshippers of Baal.
He's going to turn the whole nation back to God.
And the only problem with this story, because it's a really good Bible story, the only problem
is that once Jehu gets in power, once he's king of the nation, he turns away from the
Lord.
You know, that kind of power often corrupts people.
And that's why God didn't want them to have a monarchy in the first place.
I mean, God made it real clear to them, you don't need a king because the Lord shall be
your king.
The Lord's going to rule over you.
And he made it clear to them, look, just have judges that can interpret the law for you,
that can kind of explain to you what God's will is in different situations.
And you can go to these judges, and the judges will resolve disputes, and they will judge
between a man and his brother and a man and his neighbor, and they'll basically settle
controversies.
But he said, you don't need a king.
And by the way, they didn't need a legislative branch either.
Good night, just an endless flow of more laws.
I mean, that's what we have today, just more laws, new laws, I mean, the laws of our nation
could not even begin to even fit in this building.
I mean, if we just stacked them up.
I mean, even probably just the laws of Tempi would just be so much greater than the size
of the book in my hand.
These are God's laws.
Man's laws would just fill this whole building, spill out in the parking lot, and people think
God's too strict.
I mean, God's laws are nothing compared to man's laws.
I mean, man's laws, man wants to just regulate everything.
I mean, people, somebody asked me this morning, you know, why our sign, our lighted up sign,
Faithful Word Baptist Church, why our sign is still on the old building.
You know, why haven't we moved the sign?
Well, we're just lazy.
No, it's not that we're lazy.
The reason that we haven't moved the sign is because, believe it or not, it's illegal
to put that sign on this building, even though we're in the same parking lot.
But see, when we made that sign, it had to be made exactly according to all these specifications
of inches and feet, and it's got to be like this and that.
So then we make this exact sign that fits all the City of Tempi specifications, right,
and then we get it installed, and it's like we move a few hundred feet away in the same
parking lot, and we're like, oh yeah, you need a completely different sign.
We're like, oh, well, we can't have a sign that's lit up?
Oh, you can have a lit up sign, it's just going to be completely different.
Instead of being long and skinny, it's going to be square.
It's like, what in the world?
You know, so we have to basically just get a completely new sign made, and it'd be smaller,
and it's just expensive, so basically we just leave that one there, the landlord lets us
just leave it there and leave it on, and then it just has underneath, it just says we've
turned around and you'll see it, you know, it's just a hundred feet away or whatever.
But it, you know, it just goes to show you man has all these laws, all these rules, you
know, just stacks and stacks of books and laws, and they're just making more.
This year they'll make more, next year they'll make more, and this, there's no end to it.
God pretty much has laid out his law, he's just like, this is the law, done.
And it wasn't the three branches of government, it was just one branch, judicial.
No legislative, no executive.
God was God's original plan for the children of Israel.
And if you remember they eventually rejected that plan and they said, nay, give us a king
so that we'll be like all the nations.
We want to be like the other nations.
And remember Samuel was upset about it, and Samuel went to God and God said, look Samuel,
they haven't rejected you, they rejected me, that I would rule over them.
Is there any doubt that that was not God's plan, that they have a king?
I mean it's real clear, read 1 Samuel chapter 8, it's real clear, he says, look, they've
rejected me from ruling over them by desiring a king.
And then later Samuel rebukes them again and says that, you know, you sinned against God
and asked him for a king.
And then it rains on their harvest and they're all scared and trembling, you remember that?
And if you remember King Saul was not chosen by man, King Saul was chosen by God.
Do you remember that?
I mean he was miraculously chosen.
And Samuel anointed him and they cast lots and the lot fell upon Saul and there were
all these signs and wonders that confirmed that Saul was God's choice.
Do you think Saul was a bad guy?
No.
God picked a man who was righteous.
God picked a man who was humble.
God picked a man who was godly and we see that in his life up to that point.
He's humble, he loves God, he wants to ask the man of God for advice, there's nothing
negative about him, he's God's choice.
But what happens when he becomes king?
He wants to hang on to that power and as soon as he feels that his power is threatened,
when David starts getting, it all started through a song, that's how it all started.
Because they sing a song where they say, you know, Saul has slain his thousands and
David has slain his ten thousands, which of course was not true.
Saul had probably slain more up to that point than David.
But they started praising David a little too much, he started getting jealous and he wanted
to hang on to that power and he started breaking all kinds of God's laws and doing a lot of
things that were wrong, trying to hang on to that power and he literally went nuts.
I mean he was crazy.
He's throwing a javelin at his own son, he's saying all kinds of crazy things, he's stripping
his clothes off, I mean he's just, he's just going nuts.
I mean he's just, one minute he's crying and oh David I'm so sorry and then a minute later
he's like let's kill him, you know.
I mean he's just nuts, why?
Because human beings are sinful and they can't handle that power.
Even a good man, a godly man, a humble man like Saul couldn't handle it.
Then who was the next king?
David, the man after God's own heart.
And David, the man after God's own heart, gets in that position of power and what's
he start doing?
Taking multiple wives, taking concubines, you know he commits adultery, he commits murder,
I mean just the power goes to his head.
And you know what, there were a few good kings but most of the kings of Israel and Judah
were bad guys.
The few of them that were good, they still had some issues.
I mean they were just relatively good, okay.
They had some serious issues because people weren't designed to have that power.
So the reason I say that is because I don't think we should walk away saying Jehu was
a bad guy.
I think that at this point in his life Jehu was a really good guy.
I think he was a very righteous man, again handpicked by God.
A prophet came to him and anointed him and said, you're going to be king of Israel.
Which not every king was specifically handpicked by God.
Many of them just inherited that position.
Some of them even against God's will, you know Athaliah and others.
But we see that here in the story, this is Jehu before he goes downhill.
This is Jehu before he turns away from the Lord and at this point man, this guy is on
fire.
It's a good story.
I mean I love the story.
It's an awesome story.
You just have to forget about, while you're reading it you have to forget the end and
just enjoy the story, you know, before you get the let down where Jehu turns from God.
But this is when he's in the heyday and man, he's just on a mission.
I mean he's just going to destroy Baal and the worship of Baal and he's going to turn
the nation back to the Lord and he's going to take over and in verse 15 he comes upon
Jehonadab the son of Rekab, which Jehonadab the son of Rekab has a whole chapter in the
book of Jeremiah dedicated to him.
He's a godly man in his own right and he asks him, he says he lighted on Jehonadab the son
of Rekab coming to meet him and he saluted him and said to him, is thy heart right as
my heart is with thy heart?
Say that ten times fast.
Is thy heart right as my heart is with thy heart?
And basically he's saying, are you with me or not?
Are you on board or not?
Are you on my side or not?
And Jehonadab said, it is.
If it be, give me thine hand.
And he gave him his hand and took him up to him into the chariot, and I love this verse,
and he said, come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.
So they made him ride in his chariot.
What I love about that exchange is just the few words that are exchanged.
Are you with me or not?
It is.
Is your heart right?
Yes.
Get in the chariot.
He gets in, come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.
See he's not just going to tell him how to do it, he's going to show him how to do it.
He's going to show him what zeal looks like.
He's going to show him what being excited about the things of God looks like.
He's going to show him what it's like to serve God with all your heart and to be on
fire for God.
And you know what?
That's what we need more than anything.
We need some people to be examples.
A lot of people can talk and say a lot of things and talk is cheap.
We need more people that are willing to live the life.
That are willing to put it out on the line and be an example of someone who gives everything
for God.
That's what we need.
That's what Jesus was.
He constantly said, follow me, follow me.
And you know what people are constantly telling him?
I can't follow you.
It's too hard.
I got to go do this first.
And look, it's never going to be easy to follow Jesus, but you know what?
Being a leader is not easy either.
But it's something that somebody's got to have that zeal and that drive to be able to
say, come and see.
And so all that to say this, we need to be people that set an example of what's right.
Not just talk about it and not just ones who know the right answers.
It's easy to get comfortable and complacent after you've been in church for a long time
and it's easy to talk about and glory in past victories.
And to basically say, oh yeah.
And I've had people tell me about soul winning who had been soul winning 10 years ago.
Oh man, back when we went soul winning, here's how we used to do it.
We did this and that.
You know what?
We need leaders who can lead by example today.
Today okay?
And you know it's great to read books or listen to sermons of people from the past, but you
know what honestly?
We need some flesh and blood real human being leaders today to follow.
You know that are in our generation, that are dealing with the struggles that we're
dealing with, that are living the life that we're living today.
You know honestly, I like to listen to preaching sometimes throughout the week.
I like to listen to people that are alive right now that are preaching right now.
You know I like to, if I want to hear somebody preach, if I want to follow somebody, I either
want to follow the people in the Bible as an example.
But you know what?
It's also great when you have leaders that you can look to and you know what?
Your children are going to have a much easier time in life if you set them a good example.
You know there are a lot of great things that my parents modeled for me and showed me that
I could follow.
And you know what?
Some people's parents model a lot of great attributes and it just makes their life so
much easier.
Like you'll talk to some people who are really good at handling money and then other people
are bad at money.
And a lot of people just say, oh yeah my parents taught me how to handle money, it's just always
been easy for me.
And then other people, you know, they basically fail financially.
They can't budget, they can't control their finances and it's just like, that's how their
parents were.
And then they have to fight this uphill battle of trying to figure out how to have a good
marriage because their parents are divorced.
You know so they have to figure out, okay how do I have a good marriage?
Or their parents didn't spank them.
So then it's like, okay now I have to figure out how to spank my kids or how to follow
the Bible.
Maybe your parents were Christians and they brought you up in a godly home.
You know what?
That's a great advantage to you and unto whom much is given, of him shall much be required.
You know there are a lot of people here tonight that didn't grow up in a Christian home.
They're fighting an uphill battle of trying to reinvent the wheel and pave the way for
their children.
But let me say this, we need to be an example for our children and give them a greater starting
point so that when they grow up they'll be able to say, okay well here's how my parents
did it.
Let's do it.
And they'll be able to do it.
Look, people who start churches, you know it's great if they have somebody to follow
who started a church.
I remember when I was starting this church I was trying to find as many people as I could
who started churches and tried to find, okay what'd you do?
How'd you do it?
There was a real famous book out there on starting a church and everybody kept saying,
oh read this book man, this guy has written the book on starting a church.
Okay you know let's order it, let's find it.
But then I went to the website to order the book and I looked at it and the guy didn't
start a church.
He had taken over a church.
Okay he had taken over an existing church, which is fine, but I didn't even buy the book.
And I mean the guy might have had a lot of great things to say, but instead I read a
book by a guy who was unknown, but he had just started a church like less than two years
ago and he was an independent fundamental Baptist and he seemed like a solid guy.
And I thought well I'd rather read his book, he's doing it now.
He's got the experience now, he's succeeded.
He started the church from scratch, let's read what he has to say.
The big famous guy, he's running 4,000 or whatever, but he didn't even start the church.
I just wanted to follow an example.
I wanted to see a pattern.
I wanted to be shown how to do it.
And you know what, that's what we need to be for our children, for other believers.
We need to be an example for people to follow us and we need to be able to say to people
come and see, follow me, do as I do, be like I am, and Paul said be as I am.
Can you say that to your children with confidence?
Can you say that to people that you win to Christ?
Be an example.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father please just help us to be a pattern of good works.
As Paul told Timothy, let no man despise thy youth but be thou an example of the believers.
Help us to be an example of the believers.
Help us to live a life that matches up with what we preach and what we say.
Help us not to just talk the talk but help us to walk the walk and help us to be able
to guide our children to live for you when they grow up and to basically be like us and
help that to be somebody who's worth being.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.