1 Samuel 11 Bible Study (Saul Defeats the Ammonites/The Kingdom Is Renewed) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Bibles at bible study, I hope. First Samuel chapter 11. We love the Old Testament in this church. Amen. We know that the word of God is the ultimate source concerning the revelation of God, instruction about faith and practice.

Everything that we need to know about our savior, our king, our creator is in this book. Everything that we do in this life is interpreted from this book. It's not experience. It's not, intuition. It's not anything apart from what this book has to say.

At the same time, we are not deists. We don't believe in a God that created the world and then backed away from the world and said, I'll see you later at judgment. He's a God that intervenes. He's a God that makes himself known. He's a God that manifests himself in real life in real time.

And so I bring all that up to say that you and I, though we come to the word, we submit to the word, this is our final authority, the word itself testifies that we can experience God. He can manifest himself. He can make himself known and real to the senses. And some of you can bear witness to that because you have had your prayers answered. Right?

Some people in here have even been saved through miracles, manifestations of God in a manner that touched your soul and spoke to your heart that was supernatural. And I must say that in my personal life, not to bring my own life into this whole equation, but I'm saying this for a reason. That if I can bear witness to the reality of God apart from the scriptures, though the scriptures is the final and total authority of the matter, God has made himself most known through spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare. Yes.

He makes himself known through prayer, and I'm not here to say what ways is the greatest way. I'm just saying spiritual warfare is one of the facets that testify to the reality of a spiritual realm. And the longer you walk with Jesus, and the more you walk for him to advance his purposes on the earth, the more you will realize something known as spiritual warfare. I can tell you this, that it is through Satan's attacks, although he tries to have his way through those assaults, they ultimately just show this gospel is real. This word is true.

This is a threat to the king of this world, the little g God that reigns and has been given authority for just a time. And the more, again, as I say this, the more you walk with the Lord and the more you are serving God and you are part of a ministry or some kind of service to the Lord where you are actually gaining ground and moving forward, the more you will know and you will experience resistance and attacks. And I'm not here to talk about what those look like in an exhaustive way. I bring that up because that is what's going to happen here in chapter 11 at this point in Israel's history. What did you and I read last week?

We read that king was ordained that Saul was ordained as the king, and that the nation now is graduating in the program that God had in mind for his people. But something immediately happens the moment that King Saul was determined as a king. And we read it in verse one of chapter 11. Then, Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.

But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, on this condition, I will make a treaty with you that I gouge out all your right eyes and thus bring disgrace on all Israel. What's happening here is that the moment Saul was publicly declared as the new ruler of Israel, the enemy shows up on the scene and now begins to make threats. Daniel Bennett, you cannot answer this question. Does anybody know what the name Nahash means? You wanna try?

I'm sure the Arab speakers wanna snake. Nachash in the Hebrew means serpent. And is that a coincidence that in this moment, one of the enemies of Israel in this time, whose name was Serpent, would come and slither his way into the camp and begin to make plots to resist the program of God. I think this is appropriate because what you and I are gonna learn in this bible study tonight is we're gonna get some insights on how the ancient serpent, the enemy of our souls, namely Satan, how he attacks the people of God today. Now, again, this isn't gonna cover all bases, but we're gonna see some insights through this.

Because the Old Testament provides pictures in different ways of carefully interpreted of how the enemies of Israel in certain context can provide some kind of illustration to how our enemy, our invisible enemy, wars against the church of Jesus Christ even in 2021. And so if we read carefully, you and I are going to see some things, and let's begin with this. We read the first two verses here, did we not? If you can visualize a map of ancient Israel and even present day Israel, where would the Ammonites be located? Does anybody know where the Ammonites would be located?

Present day what? Jordan. Just across the river. The Ammonites were just north of the Moabites, and they are occupying what we know as today as Jordan. Now here's the next question.

Which tribes of Israel were in the neighborhood of the Ammonites and not within the land of Canaan? Somebody named them? Half the tribe of Manasseh. Yes. Two other ones?

Gad and the other one? Correct. Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh were beyond the river. And Gilead, Jabesh Gilead was among those tribes. And so it would make sense that the Ammonites would find an easy target with this group of people, but I believe there's something more to that.

I believe that we're seeing the Ammonites rise and rear their ugly head again because of a history that they had with the Gileadites. Do you remember a story of a man who was from Gilead that brought about a great victory against the Ammonites? It wasn't too far ago that we heard about this story. Not Gideon. Jephthah.

Yes. Go to Judges chapter 11. I want you to see this in verse one. Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah.

And then when you go to verse 33, you realize that through the hands of Jephthah, there was a great blow served to the Ammonites who were subdued before the people of Israel. And so I believe after many years, the Ammonites are now seeking revenge against those who are from, specifically, Gilead. And that is important for us to understand because that provides one of the insights concerning spiritual warfare that Satan does not waste his resources, does not give out his energy because he's not like God. He's not omnipotent. He's not omniscient.

He doesn't have all power, all knowledge, and he's not omnipresent. He has limited resources, limited foes to work with, and he strategizes who to attack, and he often comes against those who prove to be a threat to him. And in this case, it's Gilead. They have ransacked them before. They've subdued them.

They have resisted their attempts to try to enslave them and kill the people of God. And all for a sudden, here's point number one. The serpent is persistent in his attacks. He does not give up. He does not lay low.

He does not take a break. And when he seems silent, scripture tells us clearly that all he's doing is what? Looking for another opportune time. I wanna sober you tonight. I'm not here to scare you.

I wanna sober you. If you are a Christian, you are part of a war. You can't change that. There's no neutrality in this. You've put on an army suit.

You have weapons. And now you are in a battle. I know you have a job. I know you have family. I know you have Instagram.

I know you have nice clothes. I know you go to a nice church. I know you go to nice restaurants. It doesn't matter. You're in a war if you're a Christian.

So pay good attention because this is not just to give you some cool insights. This is to equip you so that you can be effective and not a victim. In Luke four thirteen, if you wanna see the New Testament principle of this point, Jesus was tempted by Satan himself. And we are told in Luke four thirteen something quite interesting about how Satan works. And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until a what?

Opportune time. That's significant, because the word opportune simply means something more favorable, something that is well chosen, something that is more appropriate. This this devil thinks, he plans, He he steps back, and he he tries to think about what is the best time that I can make myself known again and threaten those who threaten me. Now, it says for another opportune time, which proves that before this, he thought that tempting Jesus was the opportune time. And it's important to understand that Luke and Matthew give account to Jesus' baptism and following his baptism, or rather Matthew follows the baptism account with the temptations.

So we understand the sequence of events here. Jesus was tempted after he was baptized. Now, what happened at his baptism in terms of the father speaking? What did the father say over his son? This is what?

My Yeah. My beloved son in whom I am well pleased. With whom I am well pleased. And so you can say that Jesus was at a high point. Jesus experienced something of God's favor and assurance and public praise.

And immediately after that, Satan comes to attack. And he comes to attack after that victorious moment and it's no wonder because as he tempts him initially, what does he ask him? What does Satan say? If you are the son of God, do this. If you are the son of God, do that.

The first thing that Satan wanted to do was muddy the experience and the assurance that Christ had received. To bring doubt in him. To challenge what God had said over him. To tempt him to do something that was outside of God's will with the pretense of what God had said about who he was. And you have to understand that it is in times of great victory that the enemy manifests himself.

To try to immediately, try to immediately cut off the source of strength, and the encouragement and the fuel for faith that God wanted to provide in that wonderful revelation that he provided about himself towards you. And it's not just that, Jesus also was hungry. Jesus was weary. Jesus was isolated from other people. And in that moment, the enemy knew, this is where I can get him.

This is the best time to get him, right here, right now. Because the enemy understands something about our bodies, unlike many Christians believe, that the body, the condition of this frame, this physical frame, can be used as an instrument against the condition of our soul. And it's no wonder that temptation and the signals and the tides that pull us into sin are often the strongest when we are hungry, when we haven't slept very well for a few days, when we're stressed, when we don't consider how we should take care of this vehicle that God has given us to advance his will, the enemy will use how we are in the condition of our physical frame to utilize it to overcome our spiritual effectiveness. And that's what he did with Jesus. But it's more than that.

What was Satan's ultimate goal in tempting Jesus? Yes, to make him sin against God, sure. But when you come to the last temptation in Luke's account, we understand what his ultimate goal was. What was the final crescendo to his his temptation? What was it?

Worship me. Worship me. But not just worship me. He took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all its authority and its glory. And he said, if you but worship me, just worship me, and all of these things will be yours.

But here's what we understand about the gospel. Jesus Christ was on his way of receiving all authority, but he had to go to the cross. What Satan was offering was a way apart from the cross of receiving what God the Father was going to give him through the cross. Satan's temptation was to have Jesus Christ avoid the cross at all costs. And then Jesus resisted him through the word, through the word, through the word.

And when Satan realized this, he backed off, but he didn't just back off totally until another opportune time. Here's my question. When was the next time he showed up? Some would say the garden? I'm sure you can pinpoint to different moments, but I wanna show you one of the clearest, I believe, sequences that show how Satan came after Jesus at the next opportune time.

Would you like to know? Okay. Go to Matthew 16 with me, and let's go to verse 21. So I want you to realize as you're flipping your pages, Satan realized I can't get this Jesus when he's hungry, when he's tired, when he's isolated. I can't get him after he just experienced something wonderful from his heavenly father.

He uses scripture. Satan's first attempt was to manifest full fledged right before Jesus. Like, there was no hiding. He's like, yeah. I'm the devil.

You know who I am. I know who you are, but let's make a deal here so that you don't have to go to that cross, and I can give you I can give you the world. And he did not gain victory, and so he waited for another opportune time. And here it is. From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples again that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and scribes and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

Jesus is standing before his boys, and he's saying, listen, guys. I want you to understand here. I know you're anticipating this messianic age and this this invasion of my kingdom to rescue Israel from all oppression, but you have to understand, I'm here to actually die. And not just die, but raise from the grave. He's trying to get it in them as he is approaching Jerusalem.

Now look what happens. Verse 22. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, oh, Lord. This shall never happen to you. What is he trying to do?

He's trying to derail him. He's trying to discourage him from the very purpose that he came into this world for. I'm going to this cross. And Peter grabs him by the shoulders, and he pulls him aside from the other disciples and says, no. Lord, this will not happen to you.

That sounds very noble. That sounds like a man who is loyal to his master. That's not how Jesus interpreted it. Verse 23, but he turned and said to Peter, get behind me, what? Peter?

Satan. Get behind me, Satan. That was the opportune time. Saying, what do you mean? Get behind me, Satan.

You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. The first time Satan shows up, he appears without any deception, without any subtlety. Here I am. I'm the devil. Yes.

It didn't work. So he pulls back. You know what he thinks to himself? I'm gonna speak through one of his own. I'm gonna influence the thoughts of one of his closest followers and perhaps perhaps Peter.

He didn't possess Peter, but he whispered thoughts in his mind. Perhaps Peter will be able to suggest it to Jesus, and Jesus will consider Peter so that Jesus wouldn't have to go to the cross. You're saying you're reading too much into it. Then you're telling me that Jesus is reading too much into it. Because Jesus had a discernment enough to see that it wasn't Peter speaking.

Those thoughts that were inspired in that moment were inspired by Satan himself. Listen very carefully. You better know how to have an intimate relationship with God for yourself. You better know how to spend time with God and his word, so that even in moments of weakness, like Peter, who apparently hadn't had his thoughts sanctified enough to understand why Christ was here, to suggest something else that was less than what the father had brought, and it was from his own ministry team. And Jesus rebukes him.

Jesus rebukes him. I wanna tell you how your thoughts can be influenced by the devil more than anything else. It's right here what Jesus says, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God. The worldlier you are as a Christian, the more you will have Satan's suggestions and temptations mingled into your own thinking. Scripture tells us in Colossians to set our minds where?

On things above. When they're on worldly things, when your priorities are not for the kingdom, they're not saturated by the word, they become a greater canvas for the enemy suggestions to actually be believable by you and I. And we begin to tell Jesus what to do. It didn't work, so he waited for another opportune time, saying it doesn't say that there. But we know something of the nature of our enemy.

He does not give up. Would you like to know the next opportune time? One person? Come see me after the service and I'll show you. I'm just joking.

Matthew 27. This failed, but he doesn't give up. Matthew twenty seven forty one. This is while Jesus is hanging on the cross. This is while Jesus is being crucified.

This is while Jesus is ready to take on the sins of the entire world. And look what it says here in verse 41 of chapter 27. So also the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him, saying what? He saved others. He cannot save himself.

He's the king of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe him. You ready for this? This is about to come full circle. He trusts in God.

Let God deliver him now if he desires him, for he said, I am the son of God. Isn't that what the enemy used in the wilderness while Jesus was being tempted by him? If you are the son of God, turn this stone into bread. If you are the Son of God, throw yourself off the temple, and let the angels carry you lest you strike your foot against the stone. And here Jesus is on the cross.

Hey. You said you're the Son of God. Prove it. Get off the cross. And look, we're the chief priests.

We're the ones who have been mocking you all this time, persecuting you. But if you get off that cross, we'll believe you. We'll believe you. That's temptation. That's seduction.

That's satanic. That's satanic. Look how resilient. Look how ruthless the enemy is. That even while Jesus is pierced on that tree, he's hoping that he will give in to the temptation of getting off so that he can prove himself to be what the father said of him, what he said of himself.

I am the son of God. You and I have to understand that this Christian walk, brothers and sisters, is a fight. It's battle. It's war. And what the enemy wants to do to you and I is make sure that you live a crossless Christianity.

Because when when Peter tried to change Jesus' mind, he used that as a teaching moment to teach what you and I have learned and memorized. If anyone would come after me. It was right after that. He goes, you know what? Peter, you obviously don't understand.

Obviously, my cross is different from yours. My cross will save you from your sins, but you have a cross. And you begin to go into a teaching about how we all must carry our own cross daily and follow him. And Satan's goal for your life and mine is to make sure that we live a crossless Christianity. We don't die to ourselves.

We live for ourselves, even though we profess to live for him, which connects us beautifully back to first Samuel 11 to the next point. The first point is that the serpent persistently attacks. He does. The Ammonites came and they showed up again. They weren't gonna give up just because Jephthah overtook them years ago.

No, he showed up again. But the serpent, point number two, aims to make this ineffective for battle. He aims to make us ineffective for battle. What was the suggestion here? So the people of Jabesh Gilead understood that they were outnumbered.

They didn't have the strength. They didn't have the military might to to to even consider fighting against the Ammonites. And so they tried to make a treaty. They said, look. If you wanna lord over us and and at best here, maybe just tax us, we're willing to have a treaty.

We're willing to just call this quits. We don't have to go to war. Deal? And Nahash, the serpent, reverses, and he gives a condition for this treaty. And he says, well, if you want a treaty with me, then here's the deal.

I personally get to gouge out each of your right eyes, and then we can have this treaty. And then we can have this peace deal. Here's my question for you. Why, out of all the things, would Nahash want the right eyes of all the people of Israel, or rather for Jabesh Gilead? What would that mean?

What's that? Yes. You're right. So if I have one eye, does that make me as effective for battle? Does that affect my vision?

Does does that affect my perception? Does that make me more vulnerable and intimidated and bring about a sense of weakness knowing that I have something less than what my enemy has? Absolutely. This is an attempt to amputate the people of God and make them less confident and less of a threat to the Ammonites than if they had both of their eyes. It was a strategy.

And listen, the strategy is no different today with the enemy of our souls. What does he long to do for believers or against believers? Very simply this, debilitate you. Make sure that he makes you weaker than who you are right now. Listen, Satan can't rob your soul, but he can weaken it.

He can weaken it. He can draw the strength out of it. And he does this in many ways. He'll riddle your soul with unforgiveness so that you just walk around like a bitter Christian for years, robbing you of all joy, stripping you of all confidence in Christ, knowing no freedom because you are just a victim of somebody else's offense. And all you're doing is weighed down, not trusting any Christian because some Christian said something to you that made you so angry inside that it's living in you like a cancer.

He'll make you doubt the people of God's love for you, and all for a sudden there you are. You can't go to church, and you feel like just because of this or because of that, all I want to do is listen to a sermon and get out of here as soon as possible, disconnecting you from the body of Christ. He'll bring sin into your life, where you have private iniquity, and here you are. You know what you're like in private, so you have no right, right? You have no right to be a public testimony to anybody.

And all you're gonna do is warm up a pew and make sure that you never ever do anything for the kingdom of God, because you know where you stand before Him in holiness. Maybe He'll make you question God's leading in your life. Maybe you've prayed, and you haven't seen answers to those prayers. So all now you do is question God's goodness, and you're just a miserable person. And you're so exhausted by trying to figure out God's plan for your life, and things not seeming to fall into place, that you have no motivation to pray, no motivation to read your Bible, no zeal or passion for the kingdom of God, and there you are trying to figure out your life instead of serving God with your life.

If you feel weak in your spiritual zeal, in your faith, right now, as I'm speaking to you, can I provide a suggestion in this bible study tonight? Just pause. Pause. Examine your heart, examine your emotions, examine your thought processes, and line it up with the word of God, and see if it's justified by truth. And if it's not justified by truth, then may I say in context of this bible study, the enemy is trying to gouge your right eye, and paralyze you, and just make you less than who you can be in the fullness of God, when the Holy Spirit dominates your life.

I'm not talking about moments of weakness. I'm not talking about moments of temptation or instances where you feel that rush of fear. I'm talking about you being content and satisfied and convinced and persuaded, I'm supposed to be this way. This is just the way it's going to be. Lust is gonna dominate my life.

I can't shake it off. I can't forgive that person. I will I will just be this lukewarm Christian for the rest of my days. As long as I'm not evil and wicked and looting downtown, I'll come to church, but I won't connect with the body, I won't serve. You have to understand that if what you're feeling and what you're persuaded of begins to now affect your life, you've made a treaty with the enemy unknowingly, and he's allowing, you're allowing him to deal with you in a way where he paralyzes you for the kingdom of God.

That's exactly what he's doing here. But he goes beyond that. The serpent doesn't just want to make us ineffective for battle. The serpent desires to bring disgrace to all through some. What do you mean by that?

Look here in verse two again. But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, on this condition, I will make a treaty with you that I gouge out all your right eyes and thus bring disgrace on all Israel. On all Israel. So through this group, through this clan, by having their eyes removed, when the hash really wanted was to so humiliate them, so bring them down, so discourage them and destroy them that based on that, the others would be affected. The rest of the nation would feel the effects of the decision of this group making a treaty with the enemy.

Now listen very carefully. This is a very insightful point. In spiritual warfare, you heard it already. The enemy can come and attack us straight on, But oftentimes, he is so strategic that he's willing to use people from within to do more damage. And the way he uses people from within is that he makes a treaty with them.

People go to church, make deals with the devil? Not likely. Those are more like witches and warlocks that are like actually having those kind of conversations with the dark spiritual world, but unknowingly, He finds weak, fearful, carnal, self righteous, unspiritual professing Christians, and hopes that through them, he would be able to defame the confidence and joy of other believers. Here's here's a frightening thought about that. That happened with Peter.

This isn't some mystical idea that I'm presenting here. That actually happened with Peter for a moment. And it's often that professing Christians don't even realize that the enemy is doing that. Now, that might scare us. It's like, are you telling me that I can be doing things and the devil's actually inspiring it without me knowing?

No. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about you being a sincere spirit filled believer and that being a possibility. I'm talking about, like Peter, who didn't have his mind set on the things of heaven. He opened himself up to being influenced, and now he begins to strategize and plan in the flesh, and not according to the word of God.

And here, what's happening with the Ammonites is that through this foothold of Jabesh Gilead, they would be able to infect the rest of the community of faith. You think that's frightening? Think about it this way. There are some people that not only is the enemy being able to find partnership with them, they are unaware of it. But more than that, they actually think they're doing service for God.

They They actually think they're doing God service. Let me put it this way. Remember Saul? I mean, I hope we just talked about him. When he becomes king and he becomes mature in his rule, and he begins to now chase David and hunt him like an animal, was that righteous?

Like, if if you sat with Saul and you knew that he was doing this, would you say, Saul, you're doing God's work. Who here believes that God was the one that called Saul to chase David and try to kill him? I hope not. No. You would say you have issues.

And not only are you trying to kill David, you're trying to destroy God's work. Right? I hope we're in agreement with that. Guess who would disagree with you? Saul.

Go to first Samuel 23. This is when David is on the loose, and he's running away from his father-in-law and his boss, his king. And finally, he arrives to a place called Kiela. And we're told here in first Samuel 20 three:six, when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, had fled to David, to Kedla, he had come down with an ephod in his hand. So that's where David is.

This priest comes to his assistance. Now look what it says in verse seven. Now it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah, and Saul said look what Saul says. This is astounding. God has given him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.

Wow. This man is more demented than I thought. Think about this for a moment. He is on a pursuit to destroy God's anointed. And while he's doing it, he's convinced that God is helping him.

This is insanity. God has given me this victory. I wish I was there. Have you lost your mind? Have you lost your mind?

Now is this genuine confusion? No, it's deliberate deception. This is Saul convincing himself that God is using him. This is Saul convincing others that this is God that's helping him. And we have many ways of doing that as Christians.

It's amazing what Christians are capable of. Professing Christians are capable of this weird notion that as long as we connect God to our actions or to our words, it justifies it. That makes sense? So it's not gossip. It's actually prayer request.

Right? It's not, anger issues, it's righteous indignation. All the while, it's the flesh. It's the flesh. And there are people who are in churches that cause division for unrighteous reasons, and they think that it's a godly cause, when in fact, they're being used by the devil and don't even know it.

How do I know it? It doesn't matter what you feel, and doesn't matter how much you say it's God, and how much your motivation is for his glory. It that that doesn't mean anything. Come to the word of God. Jesus said something very astounding and very clear.

You will know them by what? Their words? You'll you'll know them by what? Their arguments? You'll know them by what?

By their fruit. Plain and simple. Does the fruit line up with the character and the fruit of the Holy Spirit? Does it line up with the will of God? Does it line up with his purpose?

If it doesn't, you can be all you want like Saul, and the only person that's being deceived is you. And so the enemy often tries to bring disgrace through even one saint. He wants to affect the whole people by just a few people. And if you're not saturated in the word of God and if you do not fear God, you might even think that what you're doing is for God when in fact you're just a puppet for the devil himself. Is that random?

Am I reading too much in the text? Or did Jesus Christ himself say in the sixteenth chapter of the gospel of John, they will put you out of synagogues in verse two. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he's offering service to God. So there are some people that will kill Jesus's followers and think they're actually doing God a favor. You're saying, brother, I don't wanna be that.

Then you're one step closer to not being that. Fear God, and you have nothing else to fear, including what I just said. Then we come back to chapter 11. I know this isn't a light bible study, but it's war. Is war light?

I I hope you don't think so. This is a very real war, brothers and sisters. First three of chapter 11. The elders of Jabesh said to him, Give us seven days of respite that we may send messengers through all the territory of Israel. Then if there is no one to save us, we will give ourselves up to you.

So they said, okay, we heard what you have to say. Just give us seven days. We're gonna look for somebody to help us, and if nobody can help us, then you can have us and you can have our eyes. Isn't this a sad scene? Why would this be a why is this why is this even a suggestion?

Can you give me some reasons why they didn't recommend this in light of what we just read last week and the weeks prior? Why are they looking for a savior? What just happened in chapter 10? Yeah. Saul was just anointed as king.

So this is obviously proving that they're probably not used to this whole new system change where they have a king, an earthly ruler that's going to help them. So we'll give them that excuse. More importantly, where's the reflex to cry out to God? Right? Where's the reflex to say, God, we need you from we need you to save us from our enemies?

Especially, look with chapter 10 of first Samuel. Look at verse 19. What did Samuel say to them as a rebuke to when the people wanted a human king? This is what Samuel says. But today you have rejected your God who does what?

Who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses. All of them. All of them. Not some of them. Every single one.

And you have said to him, set a king over us. Now therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands. Didn't they remember that the Lord intervene himself against the Philistines in chapter seven? Do you remember that? Samuel prayed and there's thunder and it threw the Philistines into confusion and they they were destroyed by the hand of God.

They set up a stone called Ebenezer. We have help from God. They forgot all of that. They forgot all of that. Their minds were so conditioned by their flesh, by the temptations, by their own ideas, by their own convictions that they did not consider God as a savior in this moment.

And all you're seeing here look at verse four. When the messengers came to give you of Saul, they reported the matter in the ears of the people and all the people wept aloud. This is bleak. This is hopelessness. This is desperation and all it is, you ready, is an illustration when God is not in the picture of your life.

When you do not have this sense that the Lord really cares and the Lord can really solve my problems and he can really intervene, Hopelessness and sorrow are magnified. Pain is more sharp. Depression is more of a reality. Darkness is a greater companion. Shame is a greater feeling when you do not understand God actually can save me, God can lead me, God can deliver me.

Remember the false prophets on Mount Carmel facing off with the prophet Elijah? That's another distressing scene. Now it comes to the prophets of Baal. They are calling upon Baal to bring about fire on the altar and prove that he is the true God. And what do they do?

They dance around the thing. They cry, it says. They pray for hours, and they get so desperate, they begin to slash themselves. And now blood is gushing from their backs. And then all for a sudden, it says this on more than one occasion, it says, but no one answered.

No one paid attention. There was no voice. No one answered. No one paid attention. It's a picture of people who are crying out for a savior apart from Jesus Christ.

You will never get answers. You will never get deliverance. You will never get freedom. Never. Only He can save.

Only He can reach down and pull you out of that miry clay and set you upon that rock. Only Him. And here, they're failing to see that, and you're seeing the results of it. Tears that did not have to be shed. Fear that did not have to be experienced.

Panic that didn't have to happen. And so we move on, and and Saul hears it in verse five. Now, behold, Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen, and Saul said, what is wrong with the people that they are weeping? So they told them the news of the men of Jabesh. Now read this carefully.

Saul came from where? The field behind the oxen. What happened in chapter 10? King, anointed, selected, acknowledged. Does a king do farming work?

Because that's what he's doing. He's tilling up the soil. He's working with some ox. What are you doing, king Saul? Here's what I believe.

He's doing what he's supposed to do because he doesn't know what he's supposed to do yet. God didn't give him instructions of where to go and what to do. In fact, the whole nation is confused a little bit. They don't even know how to cry out to their king for help. So this transition, it's very raw, it's very fresh, and so they're just trying to now walk on this and and they they're they're wobbling a little bit.

Even king Saul himself says, I know I'm anointed by God. I know I've been called by God. The signs have been have been given, but I I don't get instruction. I don't know where I'm supposed to go. So what does he do?

He did what he was doing before he was anointed, and he's just serving his father's business. And he's just staying exactly where he's supposed to stay until he gets word from God and says this is where you need to go. I believe that's a beautiful example of God's call for our lives. You can have a sense in your heart, brother, that you're called for the ministry, but you don't know the next steps. So what are you supposed to do?

Well, do what you're doing now. Just serve at the capacity and the context in which you are at and wait for God's instruction. Saul is doing what David did. He was anointed, but he was still keeping the sheep. He didn't rush right into the throne.

No. He was just doing and then the opportunity came with Goliath. Be patient. I remember when I sensed I was called into ministry. I was in college, and I was so confident that the moment I got my diploma, a blueprint from heaven was gonna come down with that diploma and said, this is how it's gonna happen.

You're gonna get a call. This door is gonna open. This is gonna happen. And everything is just gonna like a red carpet. I was so confident.

Nothing. Nothing. In fact, the people that I knew and the ministers that I knew were moving away. They were starting ministries here. I was like so what did I do?

My brother can testify this. I moved back home. I served with my dad in his business. I served with him in his deli. In my heart knowing full well, Lord, I know I know that you've called me into ministry.

But what's happening in life? I'm actually going in reverse. I was living by myself. I I was studying for my degree. And all of a sudden, now I'm back home, back in my room before college, and serving my dad, which I don't mind.

Dad, if you're watching, I didn't mind. But then God, at the right time, opened the door. I didn't have to panic. I didn't have to call. I didn't have to submit resumes.

No. Just taking care of the oxen, serving at the capacity in which I've been called, being responsible and making money, wearing the apron every morning. And then God said, now it's time to move. Be patient. If God's really called you, he will give you the next steps.

He'll show you where to go next. In fact, look what else Saul does. He doesn't just serve his father. He does what? Verse five, he asks, Saul said, what is wrong with the people that they are weeping?

So he's aware of his environment, and he sees apparently that there is a need. There's a cry, and he's inquiring about it so that he can possibly serve it. Does that remind you of another story where somebody was aware of his environment and through that opportunity came? Think back Genesis, the latter portion of the book. I can't help but think of Joseph in prison.

Remember? Two of Pharaoh's officers were arrested. They both had dreams one night. Joseph was in charge of the prison. I mean, no matter where you put the guy, he became boss.

Put him in prison? Okay. I'll be the boss of the part of the process. I'll be the manager. He's in prison.

He's the boss, and he's walking. And you know what he's not doing? What I'm sure most of us, and throw me in the lump would do if we were thrown in prison for false accusation. Curl up in a fetal position every day and and wonder why God is allowing this to happen. Why, Lord?

You gave me dreams. This is not the way it's supposed to go. No. He gets up, and he serves. He gets up.

If I'm in a prison, then God give me favor in this prison. And all of a sudden, one day as he pulled up into work and there was the lunch break, he saw two of the officers of Pharaoh. It says that their faces were troubled, and he inquired, why are your faces troubled? And what happened? What happened in that act of compassion and grace and mercy and willingness to to share in the pain of another?

They gave him the dreams. He interpreted the dreams. And then two years later, that was the reason why he stood before Pharaoh. One simple act of kindness. One simple act of service.

And God used that as a means to bring him to the next level for his purpose on the earth. And Saul is doing that. And would you know it? It's through this that God is gonna give him the next step. Verse six.

And the spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words and his anger was greatly kindled. Notice the connection. The spirit of God rushed upon Saul, and what rushed in his bosom? Anger. Anger.

Great anger. Fierce anger. Justified anger? Of course. It's inspired by the spirit of God.

But this anger is motivated because of an enemy who's attacking the good of the people of God and the glory of God. That's righteous anger. And it's a righteous anger when it leads you to acts of service and not acts of the flesh. Saul is gonna serve his purpose with his gifts, with that righteous indignation. He's not gonna condemn, and he's not gonna use cuss words because he wants to prove a point, and he wants to show that he is angry for God.

That doesn't how that's not how it works. This man here has this righteous indignation because here's the reality, when you get close to God, you will feel what God feels. You will. And guess what? God has more emotions than just love.

He doesn't just feel love. No. He actually hates. Jesus Christ was anointed with the oil of gladness. Why?

Because he loved righteousness, just loved righteousness. What does it say in Hebrews one? And he did what else? Hated wickedness. He hated wickedness.

Many Christians say, Lord, help me love like you love. Have you ever asked Jesus to help you hate what he hates? You won't hear that in many prayer requests these days. Help me hate what you hate. For what?

Just to feel hatred? No. So that through that indignation, you would be moved to serve. And the love aspect covers so that you do not act out in a way in which it's just hatred in the flesh. It's a beautiful marriage between love and hatred, and it's a righteous hatred that moves you to loving action.

And that's exactly what he does. What does he do? He has this, and then in verse seven, he took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them through all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers saying, whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. Does that sound familiar? Where have we seen this before?

Judges, Not with oxen, though. Right? With what? A woman. A man, a Levi with his concubine chops her up in 12 pieces.

If you weren't there, you have to see it to understand the full context. And he sends the different pieces to each tribe to try to gather the people through shock, and it works. And here's this man doing something similar. He's not using a human. He's using ox, and he's chopping every piece that's sent out to every tribe.

And he's saying, if you don't come, this will happen to your ox. Here's my question. Is this justified? Is what Saul doing here right or wrong? Is this right or wrong?

I think it's more on the right side than the wrong side. You know why? We just read that the spirit of God rushed upon him. You know why? We just read that the Spirit of God rushed upon him.

And not only that, look at the fruit at the end of verse seven. Then the dread of not Saul. The dread of who? The dread of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out as one man. This was a spirit inspired work.

And it was a spirit inspired work that promoted something, again, that is foreign to modern Christianity, and it's called the fear of God. The dread of the Lord. And so what you see here is that the Holy Spirit is actually using a means of motivating the people of God into action by not punishment. We don't serve a God that whips us into service by threatening to punish us. That's not the case.

What's happening here is the obvious consequence that will come about to the people of God who know what they ought to do but choose not to do it. And so oftentimes, listen, God will jolt us. God will awaken us through means other than sweet melody and invitation, but with shock. Man, if I I don't get right, this is what's gonna happen to my marriage. If I don't get right, this is what's gonna happen to to my future.

And it scares you in a moment, but it's a holy fear. It's a holy fear. In essence, that's what you and I experience from time to time with God. That sometimes he will whisper warning. Sometimes he'll give us a strong message from the pulpit.

Sometimes he'll give us a stern rebuke with consequences in that rebuke in love to move you into the place where you're supposed to be. And that's what's happening here. The people are jolted. Woah. Yes.

Okay. And they come together as one man. And what happens? Saul, by the spirit, brings about a victory. And we come down here to verse 12, and we read after this victory over the Ammonites.

Then the people said to Samuel, who is that said, shall Saul reign over us? Bring the men that we may put them to death. Now, you remember what happened? Look at the last verse of chapter 10. This is after Saul was anointed as king.

Saul also went home, verse 26, at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. But some worthless fellow said, how can this man save us? And they despised him and brought him no present, but he held his peace. So listen now. You and I, a great portion of this bible study dealt with insights into spiritual warfare.

The enemy, the serpent, is persistent with his attacks. Two, the enemy always tries to make this less effective for the kingdom by different means, amputating us and making us less strong and confident in Christ. Third, the enemy will always try to find somebody from within to bring disgrace to all. But by the spirit and by the leadership of Saul and by the unity of the people, they overcame. They overcame this opportune time that the Ammonites thought they had to overcome the people of God.

And so we can say it's over. Or is it? Did the enemy quit after Saul brought about victory? He's right here, right again. Look at verse 12.

Who is it that says, shall shall shall Saul reign over us? Bring the men that we may put them to death. If he couldn't come from outside, again, he's trying to come from the inside. If the Ammonites could not kill the people of Israel, then let's bring up past offenses and resurface them, and let's see a division within the camp again. Let the Israelites kill the Israelites.

And how was that plan stifled? How was a potential civil war or unnecessary execution avoided? You wanna know how? Do you wanna know how as the people of God, we can avoid civil war amongst Christians in our churches? Look at Saul's response.

Verse 13. But Saul said, not a man shall be put to death this day, for today, the Lord works salvation in Israel. You wanna know how? Humility. If anybody had the right to say, you're right.

Bring them here. Did you say that I couldn't save you? May God have righteous indignation on you. Slay their necks. Righteous anger.

Yeah. That was justified. Those guys were trying to cause a mess anyway. He lets it go. He lets it go.

Do you love Saul right here? I love this Saul. I wish Saul's story ended here. Unfortunately, it's not as you're gonna discover. But right here, nobody's gonna be put to death today.

It's not gonna happen. Why? Because Saul was focused on what God was doing and not what men were doing. The Lord brought about salvation in Israel today. The more you're caught up with serving God and loving God and worshiping God, the less you're gonna care what people say and do to you.

The Bible in the New Testament often calls us to be dead. Dead to sin, dead to self, crucified with Christ. Can I ask you something? Can you offend a dead person? It's very difficult.

Go to the graveyard and try and see what kind of answers you're gonna get. Imagine being so filled with the spirit. Imagine being so engulfed and consumed with serving God that people that go, I don't know about this person, and I don't know what they do, and I don't know imagine being, I'm so focused with what God is doing here. Say what you want. It's okay.

We'll put you there. We'll leave you alone. Be nice. We're gonna serve the Lord. Humility, maturity, vision, focus, caught up with God.

This is the great protection. And when you have a church filled with people like that and you might be wondering, brother, are you reading too much into this again? Like, I appreciate what you're saying, but does the enemy really do that? Like, right after they took care took care of the Ammonites, now from within there was a potential threat? Well, let me give you an example from the new testament.

Paul dealt with a man in first Corinthians five who was sexually immoral with his father's wife, we are told. And the issue was not just this man's sin, but there was a tolerant attitude from the congregation about this man's sin. So Paul does something interesting. He doesn't go through the first three steps of church discipline as described by Jesus. He goes to the final step and he says, kick him out.

Kick him out. He says, you gotta remove him because he's already so deep. You guys are already being affected by this. It's affected the whole church, so let's go to the last step and let the church deal with him. He's out.

Get him out. He was unrepentant. He was careless, and the church was spiritually asleep concerning the matter. That was the enemy trying to corrupt the purity and the holiness of the Corinthian church by using, not possessing this man, but again, a foothold through his life to create a greater catastrophe because your private sin doesn't just stay with you. The enemy will take your private sin and mine and try to make it public, as public as possible.

So Paul comes in by the spirit, trusting in the wisdom of Jesus, and he snipes it out and he says, remove him. Not for the sake of just causing chaos and trying to flex some muscle, no, he wants to restore him. It's not until you come to second Corinthians chapter two where you read of this man and Paul speaking about him. And this man now is responding well to this church discipline. He's feeling the pain of being in Satan's world and not under the privilege and the protection of God's dominion.

And so he cries in repentance and he comes back to the church and he wants to be restored. And Paul says something interesting. He goes, reaffirm your love for him. Reaffirm your love for him. Now, I want you this is our final verse tonight.

Go to second Corinthians two and look here in verse 11, and I want you to see what Paul says. Some of you know where we're going with this. After he says, reaffirm. If if if you've forgiven him, I've forgiven him, and then he concludes with this, so that we would not be outwitted by who? Satan.

I think some people today who even call themselves theologians would think Paul was a little mystical. Brother, you don't have to be saying it's Satan every time. I'm not saying it's Satan every time. But here, it's the enemy using the sin of somebody primarily to come in with his first plan to infect the church with his sin. And when that was overcome by the wisdom and the discernment of the spirit Look at this.

Paul says, be careful now. Yes, yes. We won the first time to protect the testimony of the church. We honor Jesus and we perform this, but now look, he's coming back. He wants forgiveness.

He wants to be restored. Satan is gonna use this opportunity now. How? Well, his first strategy was to infect the church by promoting a tolerant attitude toward this man's sin. But once that was dealt with, Satan's next strategy was to promote an overly severe attitude that reserved the restoration toward this man's sin.

What Paul was aware of was, yes, the first time he was coming in and he was causing havoc, but listen, now that he's coming back and he's broken and he wants to be restored, don't let the enemy cause you to make him hopeless and feel unforgivable and unloved by Christ. Brothers and sisters tonight, I'm not here trying to scare you. I'm not here trying to say that if you don't watch every single step, Satan's gonna claw your mind and twist things around and you don't know I'm not saying that. But I am saying this, we need discernment. We need discernment as Christians.

And we need to be what discernment will do, what being sensitive to the Spirit will do, what what taking the word of God and interpreting it rightly will do, is you will be 10 steps ahead of the enemy. You will be in every season of life. Every season of life. You will know his plans, as Paul says, you will not be outwitted. You'll know what's coming.

And you'll be able to, in your mind, know, I I can see how the enemy can use this situation, so we must prepare to forgive. I can see how the enemy will use this situation, so we must be prepared to resolve it. We have to be ahead. And the way we're ahead is what we do opposite of what Peter did as we get our minds on the things of God. I wanna tell you this.

Listen, let me let me close with this thought. If you're a serious Christian, whether you're a serious Christian or not, you're in a war. We are. We are all in a war. Do you think that the enemy is gonna let a Friday night bible study like this go on without war?

Where most people in here, a lot of them are millennials. You think millennials on a Friday night are filling up churches to go and hear bible studies? You think the enemy is gonna let this go by without trying to do either attacks from the outside or attacks from within? As the church is growing and moving forward, do you think the enemy is gonna say, that's nice. Oh, wow.

People filled with the spirit, people wanna preach the gospel. Okay. Let's just move on here. Do you think he's just gonna walk by? I believe this Bible study is providentially provided for us to be ahead and not be caught by surprise.

To be so filled with the spirit. To be like Saul. To be so consumed with focusing on doing God's work that when things happen that are petty and insignificant and silly, we can just say, okay, challas. Let's move on here. Means enough in Arabic.

Let's pray. Let's pray. If anything let me put it this way. When I was studying this today, I was so encouraged. Like, wow, Lord.

You have this guy named Nahash in the Old Testament named Serpent. And look at these things that we can so easily parallel with the ancient serpent who hates the church of Jesus Christ, and we have insights here so that we can know how he works. Oh, what an amazing God we have. What a glorious king we serve. The captain of our salvation cares for us and he does not leave us in the dark.

And so wonderful and precious is he that he has given us a word, his word, his perfect word to prepare us. To prepare us so that we wouldn't fall victim, but that we would be victors in Christ. You know, people get scared. I'm sorry. So we're gonna pray, but let me say this.

People get scared when you talk about spiritual warfare and Satan. People people get spooked. Really, they do. You can it's amazing what people do in response to such teachings. You have Christ living in you.

You have the Holy Spirit living in you. You have the word of God at your disposal. When Satan was tempting Jesus, Satan didn't perform signs and wonders and change the weather and send fire from heaven. He just quoted the book of Deuteronomy three times. And that was enough for Satan to run away.

We have to believe that according to the word of God, we are a greater threat to him than he is to us. And sometimes he'll roar and sometimes he'll try to convince you that you're weak and this is how you're gonna be. You're gonna be ineffective and you're gonna be carnal and you're gonna be lukewarm forever and this is just the way you're But then you come to this word, and you're convinced of this over every lying voice, and he will flee from us. Father, we thank you tonight. We trust, Lord, that as we explored first Samuel chapter 11, you provided us insights into warfare.

And Lord, we realize that the enemy is persistent, but you've given us enough to stand strong until we see you face to face. Lord, we realize that he cannot rob our salvation. Thank you. That none can snatch us out of your Son's hand and the Father's hand, but He will try to weaken us, worry us, suck the life out of us, Keep us in a place that is less than fervent and passionate and devoted to you. And Lord, we know that sometimes he can partner with a professing Christian because they are carnal, and because they are in the flesh, and because their minds are not set on the things of God, and use them to bring disgrace and reproach to others.

But, Lord, we pray. We pray that that would never be the case, that in our families, in our churches, in our lives, we would be surrounded by people where we have the confidence that they are filled with the Spirit. Fill us with the Spirit of God afresh. Thank you that you renew our minds as we submit to the word of God. And Lord, we just pray that in this time, as we move forward in the things of God, seeking to glorify you, that the enemy would have no place in our ministries and our personal relationships with one another.

That we would be ahead and now outwitted by his schemes. And Lord, we do not fear. The only one that we fear is you. And that's a righteous awe. That's a sense of your glory and majesty and holiness that inspires obedience in us.

And Lord, in this place, we just pray, trusting that we will leave here with our heads lifted up, strengthened with the revelation that we are conquerors and more than conquerors in Christ, and that nothing will be able, even hell itself will not be able to prevail against the church. We thank you, Lord Jesus. And we worship you. We worship you from the place of victory, knowing that you fulfilled it all at the cross, and you've equipped us with everything we need to be equipped with to be effective for your kingdom. We give you praise and glory in this place tonight.

In Jesus name, we pray. Amen and amen and amen. Let's stand and worship the Lord together.