Sermon Transcript:Thank you so much, Jesse. And so yeah, we are actually on the third today's we're gonna do our third sermon on First Samuel, we're in First Samuel chapter eight. And again, we're going to cover a lot of ground this morning. I think this stuff is fascinating reading. So for any of y'all in the room, that enjoy adventure that enjoy movies, than joy, fiction and joy, true things, all that kind of stuff. This is stranger and even more exciting, because it's true and better than any fiction you'll ever read. And so First Samuel chapter eight, all the way through 15 today, and we're really going to look at the life of Saul. And we're going to consider him there's some other things that are going to happen in the story today, but it's really going to be focused on him and his life. Well, we talked about how we have Samuel, Samuel again, was the last judge if you know where you are in the scriptures. First Samuel comes right after well, there's the book of Ruth in between, but right after the time, or the period of judges. And so Samuel is this last judge, he was called by God as a little boy, the beginning of this book, we saw that with Hannah, we really saw how he came to be last week, and we talked about the Ark of the Covenant last week, it was some exciting stuff. No less exciting this week as we get into the life of Saul. Well, one of the things you need to know right from the get go on chapter eight is Samuel. He has some children, and they have some of the same misgivings and misfortunes as Eli's children. And it's really sad. It's sad that sometimes the great people who are used by God that their children sometimes do not follow and I'm sure there's a myriad of reasons for that. But it says that Samuels children were not like their father. They were greedy for money, and it says they accepted bribes, and they perverted justice. So the leaders of the city come to Samuel and they're like, Hey, listen, your children aren't like you. And we're concerned because the Aryan Nations, they have kings at this time, we you give us a king to judge us, like the nations around us. We'll say, Daniel, he doesn't like this, because he's like, I tried to teach you to be near the Lord, to count the Lord as your King. So he goes, and he pleads before God. He's like these people, just like Moses pleaded before God, but sandals pleading for God's sake, these people they are rejecting. They are rejecting this whole idea of just having a judge and God talks to Samuel and says, Listen, they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting me, go in and give them a king. But I want you to tell them, what will happen if they get a king, tell them what will their life will be like, if they get a king, just like all the other nations. And again, we know where this story sort of ends up later on with David and all that, but we're not in that time period yet. That's gonna be next week, if you'd like the story of David and Goliath, and all that comes up with the rise of King David, that'll be next week. This week, we're talking about Saul, Benito told Samuel Warren, what's going to happen, because if you get a king, he's going to tax you and he's going to take your your best men and he's going to make them warriors, he's going to take your best ladies, and he's going to force them to cook and to clean and to do all these kinds of things. He's going to take the best he's gonna take a 10th of what you have, and all this is gonna occur, you're gonna take a 10th of your flock, don't you realize what's going to happen? So Samuel tells the people this, what are the people do? They're like, Oh, are bad. Oh, we don't really want to King we didn't know it was that kind of thing. We didn't know what you're signing up for that. That's not what they say at all. They say no, we understand. And we still want a king to judge us and to lead us into battle. And so first point I want us to see this morning is that the people of God don't want God to be their king. This is really where things start going awry. But one of the things I think is interesting is how God in his sovereignty, he tells them what's going to happen. And yet he gives him a king anyways, he says, Listen, I'll give you a king, but it's gonna go bad. And it's all in the handiwork and design of God. Because think about how the people are thinking, the people of God in the Old Testament, there are waiting for a king to establish a kingdom here on this earth. And it goes, ultimately, we know that Jesus comes in he established his kingdom on earth and in heaven, but that's not what they're looking for. They're looking for some sort of military leader. And so they're looking at the surrounding nations, and they're starting to fret and they're starting to worry. And I think it's interesting that even in the sovereign plan of God, He allows these things to occur, so that we would know and be thankful for King Jesus when He comes so that we would know and be thankful that we have a Sovereign King who's not like any sort of rulers we get here on Earth, because one of the things we're going to realize in the story today is we're going to see a lot of how human nature doesn't change. We're going to see that a lot in the story, but I just want to say right from the outset, that God designed us in a godPardon to say that he would walk with us and he wouldn't be our Father and He will be our God and we can have perfect fellowship with Him. And that will arrive very early on, the hope of every Christian unbeliever is that we will be with him again, and the new heavens and new earth. But in between, there's a lot of heartache. And there's a lot of missteps. And there's a lot of things that go wrong. We're seeing that in our own lives, we see that in the lives of our own culture, our own nation. And we're gonna see it here in First Samuel today. But don't be confused. Because God, in order to accomplish his things in the universe, he always works with sinful and imperfect people, always guiding, always leading, even when we don't see it, even when we don't understand it. And what I love about the God of the universe is I remember an old mentor used to say this, he used to say that, that God loves to hit straight licks with cricket sticks. It's kind of like that old stick ball, that old baseball, right? And that's how God works in the universe. And he is forced to do that. And you're gonna see that today in our story, but rest assured that what's wrong with the people in this story, and what's wrong with us oftentimes, is, we don't want somebody else in charge of us. We don't want someone telling us what to do. We don't want a Sovereign King, and says, Okay, that's where the people were at that time, as well. Well, who do they pick out? Chapter Nine, Saul and Samuel they meet. Saul is what kind of guy it says he's the most handsome man in Israel, head and shoulders taller than anyone else. And so what you begin to see is in this story, it starts off on the wrong foot. Because they're more concerned about the outward appearance, instead of the character and the nature of the individuals who are going to lead them. Does that sound any familiarity with some of the ways that we have had trouble in our own lives, or in our own culture, we don't live in one of those cultures where we judge people by their looks, or we try to elect people who are the most handsome or the most fit or the or the biggest, or the tall. So we don't do anything like that. We're much more sophisticated here in 2024, than it was in 1000 BC. But now we understand that so Saul, he's just one of those normal guys, he's of the tribe of Benjamin, he himself understands that he's nothing special is the most insignificant family and the insignificant tribe, and he's out chasing donkeys. Now, what's interesting about this story, and I want you to go back and read it if you're sort of following along. And I'll just sort of summarize what's going on here in chapter nine, is that Saul is just out chasing donkeys eventually runs into Samuel, Samuel is like, Listen, you and your family, you're gonna do great things. In fact, you're gonna do great things. And so I want you to come, and I want you to eat with me tonight and be the guest of honor at a banquet feast that I'm fixing to go bless that and pray. So Saul becomes Samuels, guest of honor that night and gets the best meet. And the thing that I wanted to see point to this morning at the end of chapter nine is that they found a king who is tall and handsome, and was a good warrior. That's what they were looking for. Oftentimes, that's what we do, too. And we think about our elected officials think that's what, that's what I want. That's what we need. That's what's going to help us and, and be something that's going to save us. That's what they were looking towards. And again, God saying, listen, for the people that go after these kinds of things. It doesn't mean that they are rejecting you, Samuel, they have rejected me, but they found one in saw character, those are going to be some issues that you're going to see in his life. But for sure, they found one who was tall and handsome, and he's gonna be able to fight for them. So chapter 10, I want you to see that Samuel anointed Saul as king with oil that often occurs. And then you begin to see in chapter 10, that Saul has this life where it is obvious that God's hand is upon him, okay? So I want you to notice something, some spiritual principle that he thinks is good for us to understand that often times we ourselves find ourselves and as we look around at others, and we think, man, they're kind of a mixed bag, it looks like God's doing some cool things, some special things in their life looks like God's doing some cool things, some special things in my life. But I've also got all this this baggage, I've also got all this heartache. I've also got all these character issues that keep bubbling up and coming into play. Well, that's what's going on here in the life of Saul. So you see in chapter 10, that he begins to prophesy powerfully. And so he's he's obviously given words by God, but the people around him are like, Who's this guy? Like, oh, should we listen to him? He's from that town. That person can even be a prophet. But later on, he is made king but even as he is made king, there's people who are grumbling under him. There's people who don't want to follow Him whether he's too young or they got mad because he wasn't picked these kinds of things. And he goes through this and eventually in chapter 11, he defeats the Ammonites.And again, this is a time where he goes out in battle and you think, okay, good. Now they'll start respecting him now they'll start following him now things will start smoothing out for song. No, that doesn't occur. And eventually Samuel is like, Listen, I've done all I can do, you're in Saul's hand. Now he gives what's called a farewell address. And eventually, we get to chapter 13. And this is where things really start shining the light on Saul. And we'll show how his reign begins to unravel. Chapter 13, beginning of verse one says this, so I was 30 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 42 years. So he's 72, he ran till he was 72. And the endings not good folks, if you want to turn ahead and see that, but Right, here we are in chapter 13. And this is when Saul is 30 years old, and he begins to be king. And he has this great battle. And so at the end of the battle, the people are getting restless, his men, his soldiers are getting restless. And so Saul says, I know what I'm going to do. I'm supposed to wait on Samuel, who is the person who speaks for God at this point in history to offer sacrifices, but but I'm going to, I'm going to help God out. I'm going to rush ahead, I am going to be brash, and I'm going to take matters into my own hands. He hasn't come back at the time he said he's going to. And so he says, I know what I'll do. I'll offer the burnt offerings and the burnt sacrifices, even though I'm not supposed to do that. As soon as Saul starts to do that, after this great battle, guess what? Samuel comes right around the corner. And he's like, saw, what are you doing? Why are you offering these burnt sacrifices? I told you, I would do it. I told you, I would come back. Of course, he had excuses. Oh, well, the main we're getting restless. And I didn't know when you were going to be back. And and so I felt compelled to do this so that I could have a sign so that they would see the smoke and know okay, we're all good. Every God's with us. And Samuel says you don't realize what you've done. Now, your kingdom is going to come to an end,man, it's just think about that. I know, we know how this story maybe ends, and that David's going to come up and rise up. But just think about that, that someone has to come to you and say that mess up what you just did. Your president, your CEO, you're the dad of the household, you're the king, but because of that act, that that you didn't think was overtly sinful. But it was and it was foolish, and it was brash, and you got ahead of God, and that's going to cost you everything. So he tells him that he says Your kingdom must end. This is in chapter 13, verse 14, for the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, the Lord has already anointed him to be leader, the people because you have not kept the Lord's command. This leads to the third point I want us to see that we're going to unpack for the rest of our time together. And that is that Saul begins to mess up. And it cost him dearly. We don't often like to think about this. But we need to camp here at this at this point, this morning, that that sometimes we don't like to think about the fact that one foolish decision, one foolish act can cost us so so dearly. That doesn't mean you're unredeemable that you can't get to God or go to heaven. That's not what we mean by that. But just that whole idea that whatever it is that you are a part of whatever it is you are pursuing, whatever it was that God had his hand on your life, that can be removed, in an instant.He's offering a sacrifice to the Lord, like a priest wasn't supposed to do that. Let's continue on the story and see if there's anything else that goes on. I want to start with a bright spot in chapter 14. We get introduced to he's really been introduced before but we get a story about one of Saul's sons named Jonathan. Jonathan is going to come back into play against the remember him he becomes best friends with David later on in the stories that you're going to hear next week in the week after. But it says that one day, Jonathan said, I know what I'm gonna do, we're sitting here, we're fighting the Philistines. This is the time in history where they're fighting the Philistines, because the Philistines want to want to wipe the people of God off the face of the earth. God's people always have challenges. They always have oppressors. It could have been the Egyptians in the day. And in this time, it is the Philistines. And so Jonathan says to his armor bearer, let's go over to where the Philistines have their outposts. And let's do a skirmish. Let's do a fight. And the armor bearer is like, listen, Jonathan, if you want to go, I'll go. I don't know what God's doing. But if you want to go, I'll go. And so Jonathan has some faith in the Lord and he says, perhaps the Lord would give us victory. And he says, Well, no, by the way that they respond if these guys when we go to attack them, if they say come on up, and we'll know that the Lord has given them into our hands. And so all the sudden Jonathan, his armor bears are two men, against a lot of men in a field about a half acre, it tells us exactly kind of the size of the field, begin to go up to attack these Philistines.It says that when they had to go up that the Philistines had the higher ground, so they have to actually crawl on their hands and knees up a rocky cliff, as they're doing that the Philistines taught them. They're like, look, these Israelites are coming out of holes, you know, to come up here, they're just crawling out of their literal holes. And so they say, come on up here. And he said, and so then Jonathan says, his armor bearer, the Lord will help us defeat them. And so they go up, they climb on their hands and feet. And it says that the Philistines fell before Jonathan, this is in chapter 14 Here, fell before Jonathan verses 13 and 14. And the armor bearer killed those who came after them, they killed some 20 men and all and their bodies are scattered over a half an acre.Now, I want you to know that this scene, again, this is why I tell you, the Bible is so cool, and we need to read it and digest it and think about what God wants to show us to this. I mean, this is better than like John Wick. I mean, I know we know these John Wick movies where he has these like high body counts, okay? But you think about this, this is better than that, because they don't even have the high ground. They don't even have the cool guns. They just have the Lord on their side. And one of the things that you want to see in this section of Scripture, and you'll see it in Judges, you'll see it in other parts of first and second Kings in Second Samuel is you have a lot of these stories, you have a lot of misfits, you have a lot of people who are sort of a mixed bag, yet God is using them, yet God is working through them in spite, in spite of their circumstances. And that's exactly what's going on here. Now, what's interesting is because of this little incident, where Johnson and his armor bear come up to people, and they defeat about 20 of them. It says that panic broke out in the Philistine army, both in the camp and in the field, including in the outposts, and raiding parties. And then an earthquake shook. Because God's in charge of the sea and the mountains and everything in him. And everyone was terrified. And so all of a sudden, what ends up occurring is that there's a great upheaval and that the Philistines are so confused, and so scared, and so shocked and so terrified that they begin to kill themselves. And so Saul and his men go like what's going on here, who's left who left the camp to call since the servants they're like, it was Jonathan and his armor bearer and like, what's going on? It's like, we can just stand up on the hill and watch these people kill each other, and they will be defeated. Why? Because the Lord is with him and the Lord is doing it. So you would think Saul would use this opportunity to sort of steady the ship to sort of write some of the wrongs that he has done before, but he doesn't.He comes up with what's called a foolish oath or a foolish vow. He says, I know what we'll do. It's war season. So let's, let's let's starve ourselves. Let's fast. And so he tells all the men I know, we're on a fighting day. But let's fast let's not have any food in our bellies. And let's let's go about and see how that goes for us. Well, Jonathan, he and his arm bear, they just fought pretty hard. So they see some honey, and they start eating it and they're nourished and refreshed and other grounds like, why are you guys so droopy? And then I also made us promise that we wouldn't eat today. And he's like, Well, that was that wasn't very bright, but doesn't do good on the day of battle. But saw all of a sudden, he's like, Wait, he hears that someone has eaten. He's like, whoever's eaten. Let them be killed, even if it's my own son. And so they cast lots, which means, you know, dice and they throw it I'll send it lands on Jonathan. Jonathan is the one who's eaten in the camp. He's like, okay, let's kill him. And then the other people have to come and be like, so what are you doing? You can't kill your own son. He's the one that calls all this great event to happen so that we can even defeat the Philistines. So he said, Okay, I guess I won't kill my son today. And he's just so crazy guys hasn't really read this, we see that God's having to work with these sinful people making some foolish decisions, and he's guiding the people of God and he's working even in the midst of some of this stuff. But it is so obvious that Saul's days are numbered, and that his decisions are costing him dearly, says at the end of chapter 14, that not only are his decisions, but so goes the leader, so goes a nation or people group or who is under their care. That's why there's a high cost for leadership. That's why it matters the character of the men and women that you and I follow, because there's a high cost and says at the end of chapter 14, the Israelites constantly fought the Philistines throughout Saul's lifetime. So whenever saw observed a young man who was brave and strong, he drafted him into his own army. see exactly what's going on here. It's just a never ending, ceasing fighting that's never gonna have victory because the Lord's even with him anymore. And he's doing exactly what Samuel warned the peoples as a you want this guy saw. This is what's going to occur.Chapter 15 And the final chapter I want you to look at here which is really the death blow the nail in the coffin for Saul and his law.I, in his ministry, he goes up and fights the Amalekites. And Samuel is still in the picture. And he tells all listen, you can go fight these guys. But these these people, there's a certain treachery about them. And so what you need to do is you need to just kind of wipe everything off the face of the earth with this culture with this people group with who they are. And so Saul says, Okay, I'll do that. So he goes in, and he defeats the meal kites. But what he does is he decides, I'm going to keep the choice animals, and I'm going to keep the king alive, so I can sort of taunt him and bring him back as spoils of war along with the sheep, and along with the cattle that are good. Now they're worthless, I'll go ahead and slaughter them. That's no big deal. And so they do that. And they come back into town, and Samuel meets them, and he's like, What are you doing? I can actually hear the buying of the sheet. I can hear the hoofs of the cattle. Why is that you're supposed to destroy everything. And Saul has excuse after excuse. He says, Well, listen, I was gonna I was gonna sacrifice him. Well, I really did. You know, I really did sort of get rid of everything. In fact, he's sort of saying, I did exactly what God told me to do. And, and he says, No, you didn't. God was very clear. I was very clear in communicating God's desires to you. And Samuel says, he was just very sorry for this whole thing is downcast. And he says, What is this is verse 22, of chapter 15. What is more pleasing to the Lord, your burn offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to His voice? Listen, exclamation point, obedience is better than sacrifice. And submission is better than the offering of fat of rams. rebellion is as simple as witchcraft. And stubbornness is as bad as worshipping idols. So because you've rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king. And saw he understands exactly what's going on here as he begins to plead out, I know I messed up, but please, please, somehow, you know, let it all be okay. I'll go ahead. And you know, what do you want to do with this king that I drove back King a gag, he says, Bring them to me. And Samuel, of course, takes care of him. But, but it's awful in the way that this chapter ends. Okay, the way that this chapter ends in first gen 15. It says, this last verse of chapter 15. And the Lord was sorry he had ever made Saul, king of Israel. Can you imagine the Lord putting that in the Scriptures about you or me or anyone else? Sorry that he had made King Saul over Israel in that game. We know that God's sovereign, but it shows his interaction with creation, you know that God cares about you and me, you know that we can grieve the heart of God, that we can quench the spirit of our Lord and Savior, we can quince the very spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, by our actions that's showing the we have our humanity and that God has a heart for us. In the last verse year said, He's sorry he ever made Saul, king of Israel, I just want to say a couple of observations for us this morning, saw was full of excuses. He acts the way we act sometimes when we've been caught. Or we like to say, I'm just a little bit off, right? Sometimes we also I'm not as bad as them, or I know I kind of messed up, but please, let's just smooth this out, somehow get rid of that bad credit score, I had a really good time on that vacation, or z. So I'm gonna get rid of all these ailments. To my body. I had a really good time and my 20s or 30s, or whatever. were full of excuses. Saul's full of excuses. Think about this in terms of some of the verses we've already talked about. Verse 20, he sort of says, Look what I've done. But I did obey the Lord Saul insisted I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought that King Ahab Sure, sure, sure. I did that. But I destroyed everything else. He was not even being truthful there. Because he brought back animals to the choice animals and it because he says, oh, like no, I had a plan with those animals. I was gonna sacrifice them right here to the Lord, right? We have these little ways that we give ourselves outs.He passes the buck to those who are under him, the soldiers. If y'all ever worked for someone or been a part of a team, where you had a bad leader or a toxic leader, that when things went wrong in the organization in the company, they just pass the buck down. That's exactly what he's doing here. He started to blame the soldiers. Verse 15. It's true that the Army's fared the best of the sheep, goats and cattle. Well, the army did it. I mean, I was there. I was leading them, but I it was it was them. They did it. Verse 21. The troops brought back the best of the sheep, goats and cattle. But I did it to sacrifice to the Lord Aragonverse 15, it seemed sensible and right to me. It seemed like I was doing what was good toI've destroyed everything else, though, like I seem sensible and right. Or I just did it for DOD, we've already sort of talked about that, that that's what he says. Because that's a good way to come at the after my afterwards and sort of sort of put that situation on an event that we know we did wrong. Because we do this from the youngest age, I watch my little six year old daughter do this all the time. When she gets caught red handed, she makes up a narrative to get her off the hook for whatever it is, we just caught her in. last verse here that he was afraid of the people. There's a lot in this First Samuel and that's why I would say go back and read these chapters. I'm summarizing them for you. I'm trying to bring out some highlights. But at the end of the day, I think that Saul was afraid of the people. He feared man or he feel he feared people more than he feared. God. He's got all kinds of goofy things and they're trying to anoint him king, he's like hanging out with the luggage. He's constantly worried about the donkeys I mean, I just an interesting couple of chapters there where it's like, man, he's been told he's going to be king and he's always asking where's my donkeys? Where's my donkeys? Because luck, says Uncle that he was crowned. He was crowned kings like, but he forgot to mention that he's like, Well, where's the donkeys?He's just focusing on the wrong things. He's afraid of the people. He says this in verse 24. This chapter saw admitted to Samuel Yes, I've seen I've disobeyed your instructions and Lord's command, for I was afraid of the people and did what they demand in this section. This section of Scripture, this sermon is going to end on a low note. We're gonna have a high time here in a minute, I hope you stay around for this wedding because I've never met people who've known each other or they know when Clinton was elected. That's how long they've known each other. Okay, so you do that math in your head.The first one bill when Ross Perot was running for president, that's when they met each other. Okay.But but we have to end on a sobering note today in this passage, because that's where it is. I mean, I just can't I mean, can you imagine the God of the universe writing in the scriptures? Just put your name there. In your stupidity, I'm sorry, that whoever made Saul king of Israel is very sobering. Because why? Because the people had some in some weird way. They thought Saul's gonna save us. Right? I mean, that's the only explanation that we would do. If like, we're electing somebody or we're, we're asking for someone and we are, we're sure we know, we're gonna have all these faults, it's going to cost us all these things, but give them to us anyways.Because this is somehow going to save us. That's what they thought about saw, that's gonna be a disappointment. So then they're gonna say, no, no, David's gonna say this, you're gonna hear these phrases. And these chants later on this year saw his slaughtered his 1000s of the Philistines. But David has slaughtered his 10s of 1000s. David is gonna save us.David, you know, his reign, his kingdom doesn't last very long, either. It's all meant to point us to a Savior who can save us. This whole idea of kingship, this crown, it's, it's symbolic and is very purposeful in how we're, we're situating this series to say, David is the one coming but even David, even the man after God's own heart, who truly does repent, when he goes astray, cannot fully bring about this kingdom that has no end, only Jesus can do that. So Life Church was sober up this morning. Let's think about the fact that sometimes one foolish act or a continual going down the road of disobedience can ultimately harm what God wants to do in our life. But let's also serve up to the fact that there's nobody in this world, there's nobody we can elect, there's no political system, there's no spouse, there's no money, there's not anything that's gonna satisfy what ultimately you and I need to be satisfied in this world and in the life to come. Only Jesus can do that. So let's worship together. I'm going to pray, we're going to sing, and we're going to close out our time together. But again, sobering, sobering, sobering, sobering this morning. Let's pray.Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank you forthe example in the life of Saul that even in the midst of a lot, a lot, a lot of foolish decisions that yousomehow worked it out to where we are sitting right here worshipping you, the real God, the real savior of the universe. I thank you that you care for us. That you're not done with us. But Father, help us to be mindful and to take the warnings that there are consequences to our sin. Lead us the Lord we pray. Amen.

Ver todos los episodios