1 Samuel 13 Bible Study (Saul Fights the Philistines / Unlawful Sacrifice) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

First Samuel chapter 13 tonight. I wanna give a reminder that will help you with this bible study. Since you know which chapters will be studied in advance, I don't know if you are doing this, but I would say read the chapter in advance. Why? Because it will make this experience of the bible study much more engaging And I assure you, if you do that, you will retain much more at the end of the Bible study.

I know you do your own readings and everything else, but these chapters can literally be read in like two, three minutes. And so if you have two, three minutes, which I'm sure you do, and you read this, even before you come to Bible study, the same day, trust me, it will create some kind of an impression on your mind that will really retain the truths that you will learn when you come here. Are you there? Chapter 13? Let's pray one more time.

Father, we ask as we come before your holy word that you would make an impression on our hearts. We pray, Lord, desperately that there would be a fresh deposit of a revelation that would truly change the inner man. Lord, we pray that your son would be exalted, that we would behold his wisdom, we would behold his love, his power. Lord, that we would rejoice at your word, and we would be changed as that is the chief desire of this study. And so, Lord, we pray that you would help us by removing all distractions, that you would protect this service in this moment from anything that would infiltrate or invade or disrupt or distract.

Lord, shield us. Shield us as we receive this transaction. We pray, Lord, that the ministry of the word would be assisted by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that, Lord, every man and his opinions would not be mingled with the truth of your word and your intentions for tonight. Lord, be glorified. Anoint at this time.

Bless us, Lord. We are here for you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. It is official.

We have now arrived at the point in our bible study where we will take a new turn in the historical narrative recognizing the people of Israel and God's covenant with them in the old testament. The days of the judges have passed, and the days of the monarchy have just begun. Meaning, the shift will now turn from Samuel, who was the last judge of Israel, to Saul, who was the first official king of Israel. And whatever inspiration you and I received from this man, Saul, King Saul, will quickly be eclipsed by disappointment and displeasure. Because we're going to realize very quickly at the beginning of Saul's reign, a very swift dip to the man's character and his potential as a king representing God and his people.

And so, as we read this, I wanna encourage you with something. If we're open and humble enough before God's word, even when we see these things that would deflate us and and cause us to even put our hands over our mouth and say, how can this man have fallen so quickly? We will learn much. Saul's failures here will provide a sanctifying source for our characters and our ministries today if we are hungry for God to speak to us in such a manner. And as we read these verses, it's not a long chapter at all, but as we read these verses, you and I can summarize these wonderful truths with one theme.

We can say that there is a main lesson from this chapter concerning Saul and that lesson would be the signs of a great fall. The early signs of a great fall. And as we see it, may we ask the Lord to show us if those things are real in our lives and if they are, God always warns us in advance because he loves us. Love warns. Love corrects.

Love speaks truth even when it hurts, but it's always for our good. And so let's read from verse one. Saul lived for one year and then became king. And when he had reigned for two years over Israel, Saul chose 3,000 men of Israel. 2,000 were with Saul and Michmash, and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan and Gibeah of Benjamin.

The rest of the people he sent home, every man to his tent. Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land saying, let the Hebrews hear. And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines, and the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal. Now, notice in verse one, something that might be very awkward in terms of phrasing.

Saul lived for one year, so he was one years old. If you have the ESV that's what it says. If you have a different version, there's almost a different verse in every single version that is word for word. The reason for that is the different manuscripts that offer different insights, But the Hebrew would say that he lived for one year, and then became king to imply that, not he was a one year old, but he lived in the sense that his anointing. Since his anointing, it had been one year, but he had reigned for two years as the officially respected ruler of Israel, the recognized king.

So for one year, since he was anointed privately by Samuel, to this moment, two years had passed on as he became the recognized ruler of the people in an official way. As we move on though, this is what's more important. Saul says chose 3,000. This is Israel's official first army, organized army. This was something that was not seen before.

Whenever the judges ruled, there was never a standing army that was ready to fight against the enemies of Israel. It was always a spontaneous moment where God would call a leader and that leader would call the people and then these people, whoever would want to volunteer would come and they would join whatever battle was about to erupt, whatever war was about to ensue. But at this moment, Saul is fulfilling his duty as a human king by getting things organized as a monarchy. So he is bringing people together and he is recruiting men, valiant men to be actual soldiers in the first official army of Israel. Now, he's about to fight the Philistines because the Philistines have gathered up again, they're getting strong and they are oppressing the nation of Israel.

And the point I want to make is this, that again, Saul is obeying what God called him to do as a king. Go back to chapter nine. I want you to see these verses. At least one verse in verse 16. Tomorrow about this time, the Lord is here speaking to Samuel.

I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, who is Saul, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people because their cry has come to me. That's what Saul's reign is all about. That sole purpose is that he would deliver the nation of Israel from the evil oppression of the Philistines.

But what we are going to quickly see is that Saul's character is not going to be able to steer or support him in that calling for much longer. And because of that, what started out as a man who is trying to obey God, is quickly going to turn into a fiasco, a disaster. Because although he's starting right, and we've learned for many chapters that he he seemed to be a legitimate, humble candidate as a king, will now become something of dramatic wrong turns made by men. And that's what we see in these verses. Here's the first sign.

Here's the first sign for any minister. Here's the first sign for any servant of God, anybody that is framing their life to apparently serve the Lord. The first red flag is found in verse three and verse four. We are told here that Jonathan, and we don't know who Jonathan is until you go to verse 16. Who's Jonathan?

His son. Good. It's his son. Jonathan is the son of Saul. Jonathan, we are told, defeated the garrison of the Philistines.

A garrison was just a term to describe a bunch of troops in one location. It was almost like a military post. And Jonathan defeated that garrison, and he initiated attack and this attack stirred up the Philistines and a war was about to break out. But notice very carefully how verse four reads. All Israel heard it said that who?

Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines. But who did it? Jonathan. Who took credit? Saul.

Saul is literally tooting his own horn. He is. He blew the shofar. He blew the trumpet to announce to the entire nation, Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines when his son was the one who actually achieved that wonderful thing. And the first sign that we see here is a serious frailty found in his spiritual health.

And that is the longing for recognition and praise from others at any cost. This man, Saul, his craving was so intense to be acknowledged by men that he was willing to even dismiss his own son's achievements. This craving, this, fleshly desire is actually the entry point into many other vices. That's a desire, but that desire births many other things. And in the case of Saul up to this point, he actually had the audacity to lie to the entire country.

And he actually was willing Imagine, like this is your own son. If you're a father, I'm sure as a father, if you have a healthy relationship with your children, you take great joy in seeing them achieve things. You you restrain yourself from boasting about your children to others, I'm sure. But this man is so eaten up by this spiritual cancer that he does not even acknowledge his son at all. In fact, he sees his son as a threat to his own reputation.

He sees his own child as a potential enemy to his chief goal as a king and that is selfish ambition not God's glory. I want to make a point here. Jealousy is no respecter of persons. Jealousy, if it is untamed, more importantly if it is not destroyed by the power of the Holy Spirit, will actually cause a person who professes Christ to see his own spouse, her own spouse as an enemy. Your own children as enemies.

Your own ministry partners as threats. Your loved ones, your employers, your employees. Because they now present a potential threat to what you believe, whatever they're occupying or receiving actually belongs to you. That's what it's all about. And as we will see in Saul's life very quickly, Saul is about to, because of this jealousy, sever many relationships.

Destroy many relationships. In fact, these relationships could have been potential fruitful partnerships for the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of God. And he himself has robbed the experience of being enjoying these kind of relationships, and relishing and receiving from the gifts and the blessings of others that God has bestowed on those around him. But see, when jealousy really reigns in someone's heart, it will inevitably push people away from you. Or you and recognizing it and not being able to conquer it by the blood of Christ will push yourself away from people, because you know you're a ticking time bomb.

And you know that that jealousy will actually explode destroying you and destroying others because it has not been restrained by the grace of God. And that's how that's what happened with Saul. People actually ran away from him, Literally. And the reason is jealousy is a specific evil that is unique in its power and the reason why is it is unreasonable. It's unjust.

There is no even consideration of it being justified in your heart. And it is so profound that it will take what people are doing for God's glory and in your mind be something evil and annoying and ugly. Like Jonathan was his son and Jonathan was hired to be a commander over a thousand. He was a young man, he had to be at least 20 for him to be in the army, but what was Jonathan supposed to do? Sit on his hands at home?

He was hired for the job. David was hired for the job as Saul's armor bearer, and he was sent down on little missions, and every time he succeeded Saul just became more jealous. What was he supposed to do? Not fulfill God's call? What was he supposed to do?

Hang up his sword and hang up his shield and say, okay well, because you're insecure I can't serve the Lord? And that's why the scripture says in Proverbs twenty seven four, that wrath is cruel and anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy? Wrath is cruel. Anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy? Now, you perhaps know somebody that has anger problems.

They're explosive with their emotions in an unpredictable way and perhaps that's somebody who's close to you, so you've seen it happen whether it was just on a one to one basis or in public and you felt afraid or maybe embarrassed. But what the Holy Spirit is saying here is that jealousy is actually more destructive than wrath and anger. It's actually more terrifying to see the effects of jealousy in someone's heart than if they had rage and murderous words and explosive rants. Do you believe that? Do you believe that it is actually more scary for somebody to be quiet in their composure, but raging with envy in comparison to somebody who can't control how they feel when they're irritated even for a moment.

I'm sure we would not we would not measure it that way, but the Holy Spirit says, who can actually stand before somebody who is jealous? If unchecked, if undealt with by the power of the Holy Spirit, I promise you according to the authority of the bible, that jealousy will lead you to very dark places. It will make you say things, meditate on things, do things that you never thought you were capable of. Let me put it this way, it's better that you have anger problems than if you have jealousy. And I'm sure most of us in here never thought that that would be the case, but the bible is true.

And Saul proves it with his life. But we don't wanna stop there. Right? We don't wanna stop there. Because can the blood of Christ overcome this specific sin?

You better believe it. Even though man cannot stand before jealousy, Christ can conquer it. When you bring that jealousy before the Lord Jesus Christ, he can overcome that jealousy. That's the hope that we have in the gospel. But how are one of the ways that we can chase away these ugly feelings when they come uninvited, when we know that they're wrong but we can't help but feel them, when we see that person, when we see the minister, or when we see them post, or when we see them walk by.

How can we chase away those emotions? How can we chase away those thoughts? I believe one of the strongest ways of being able to do that is to be consumed with the reality, to be convinced that your life is about the glory of God. That might not help you in a practical sense, but it is extremely important to grasp and believe. You have to tune your heart to say, I am about God's exaltation.

I'm about the glory of Christ. And the more you allow the Holy Spirit to rewire you in that way, the less room there will be for jealousy to be comfortable in your heart. That is the joy that we can experience. And this is what it looks like. When that is true, when that dominates your inner man, when you see somebody being used for the glory of God, or when you see somebody being blessed by God, the automatic reaction to that is, my God is being glorified.

My God is being blessed. My God is being praised by others because of the blessing that this person is and the blessing that this person is experiencing. Glory be to God. That can actually be your reflex when you see somebody else being blessed by God or being a blessing for God. And you can actually rejoice.

You can actually rejoice at the success of others. You can actually blow the trumpet not for yourself, but for someone else. That can actually be an experience. Because if you live for the joy of the king, wherever you see him being glorified, your joy will be found there. You will be able to say, though I am not the immediate instrument of my God being recognized and being experienced, he's being experienced and he's being recognized.

And I can praise him for that. And I can praise the vessels that he has sovereignly ordained and used so that he would be pleased. I am pleased with him. I am pleased for him. The Holy Spirit can do such a work in you in that way.

Listen, it can be so real that you can rejoice in the strangest of things. You can rejoice in the strangest of things. Let me prove it to you. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul was in jail at one point, many points. But in one point in the book of Philippians, this man was imprisoned for preaching the gospel and news came to him that there were people, preachers, preachers, preachers, preachers, preachers that were happy about his imprisonment.

They were actually rejoicing that Paul was in chains. Do Do you know why they were happy? Because they thought to themselves, wow, now that Paul is in jail, we can surpass him. We can have our ministries recognized. People will invite us to the conferences.

Now people will demand for our preaching and our teaching. Now we can look more successful than Paul because Paul now is in a place of isolation. He he he can't come out, he can't preach. And Paul learned this and he said, you know, there are some people who preach out of envy, some out of selfish ambition and he goes, he's realistic. Some preach from a good heart, out of love.

And then he says what you probably know in verse 18 of chapter one of Philippians. What then? He's like, what do you want me to do about it? Do you want me to say about it? You're probably wondering, Paul, how do you feel about the fact that there are actual other preachers from other churches happy that you're in jail?

Not praying for you, not waiting you for you to come out, not supporting, not trying to get to the government to say, we need this man out so that he can minister again. No, they're actually have to keep him there as long as possible. Paul, how do you feel about that? He goes, what then? You wanna know how I feel?

I'll tell you how I feel. Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. And I'll rejoice. I'll rejoice. Like, who are you?

Why are you rejoicing? Yeah, look, I know their motives. K? I know I know what they're doing it, but I know the substance of their message. And regardless of why they're doing it, my Lord is being glorified.

People are gonna get saved. Christ will deal with them at the judgment seat about their motives. That's not my job, to determine your motives. In fact, the bible commands us, do not judge other believers motives. Don't.

Don't don't think that you have the the the authority to say, that person does it for this reason, that person serves for that reason. Paul says, I can't even judge myself. Down deep inside, the Lord is gonna pull things out that I didn't even know about. About. He says, wait till he comes.

He'll bring everything to light. He'll bring everything to light. He goes, the thing that I'm rejoicing about is the fact that the gospel is being proclaimed. Now this is not him saying that he is advocating for a competitive spirit. He's not saying here that preaching should be a sport and that's okay.

Some people have these No. He's not advocating that at all. But he is seeing it through a lens. He's seeing it through a lens of spiritual maturity. He is in a place where he is not insecure.

Why? Because he's about the glory of Christ. K. So that person does that, that person does this, and you are gonna live a miserable life. I'm telling you, man.

You are gonna live a miserable life. Unless you are possessed by his name, for his name, for his glory, for his purpose, unless you're dead to yourself, and your little dreams, and your little plans, and the title that you want, and the views that you want on your YouTube channel, and how many likes you get, unless all that is crucified, you will not know this freedom from potential jealousy. But, Paul actually advocates a competitive spirit. Did I get your attention? Paul actually promotes that Christians should be in competition with one another.

Do you believe that? It's not in this epistle, it's in another one. Paul actually wants Christians to try to surpass one another in something else. Not in who's the most gifted, who's the most recognized, who's the most sought after. You want the answer to it, Romans 12 verse 10.

I love how the ESV puts it. It really gives the language of the point that we're making here. Romans twelve ten, Paul says, love one another with brotherly affection. Now look at this, outdo one another in showing honor. That's your competition.

So when you come to church, let's talk about the ministry context. Let's talk about serving the Lord, because I'm sure all of you here on a Friday night wanna serve the Lord. If you want to be in competition with your brother and sister, Paul says, do it in the way in which not you seeking honor for yourself, but each of you try to beat one another in showing honor to one another. What does that mean? It means showing genuine appreciation and genuine recognition of the blessing that people are in your life.

Not flattery. That's not what Paul is saying, because people can do this and they can even do this in the flesh. Not honoring and verbalizing how much you love and cherish somebody because you want them to return the favor to you. No. Where you see them through the lens of the the Holy Spirit to the point where what you say is sincere and genuine.

And could you imagine what church would look like if people actually obeyed? This is a command. This is not a suggestion. This is a command. How serious do we take these commands?

We limit the commands of Jesus like, don't don't watch porn, preach the gospel, and don't talk bad about others. How about this one? Outdo one another in showing honor. Outdo one another in showing honor. Is that even in the scope of my obedience to Jesus Christ?

I'm being honest, I'm saying this about myself. Do I even consider that in my pursuit of sanctification? Lord, am I seeking to actually be more excited about honoring others than me being excited about being honored by others? The Holy Spirit can do it. The Holy Spirit can really do it.

And the beauty about this is that Saul could not do it for his own son, but Saul's son could do it for someone who is not even in his own family. Would you like to see it? Go a few chapters after this in chapter eighteen first Samuel. And this is after David defeated Goliath. This is after David defeated Goliath.

And I want you to see the reaction of of Jonathan, Saul's son towards David. In first Samuel 18 verse three, then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved them as his own soul. Now look what he does, and Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David and his armor and even his sword and his bow and his belt. You know why that's significant? Because according to the rules of a king, the dynasty is going to be passed down to who?

Your son. Jonathan is being even trained in our chapter today to be the future king of Israel. But Jonathan is in the spirit. And when Jonathan sees the miracle of this shepherd boy taking down a giant that no soldier in his father's army could even face, he sought God's hand on this man's life. And he in that moment, though technically by the rules he was supposed to be king, symbolically tells David, I see God's call on your life and I celebrate it even at the expense of my reputation.

I so praise and I so honor you David in this moment that even if I have to be moved to the background, I know that God will be glorified through you being king and not me being king. That's something. That's something. Do you wanna know how it's possible though? It's found in verse three.

He couldn't do verse four until he did verse three. Verse three says, he loved them as his own soul. He loved them as his own soul. That's a new covenant truth. Think about it this way, when Jonathan did that to David, it's as though he was doing it to himself.

Jonathan had an understanding of the oneness between him and David. The the joint and shared desire to glorify God. That when David even excelled or David had the throne, he celebrated as though it was himself. And the Bible gives us a picture about what that looks like in the New Testament. It's called the body of Christ.

It's called the body of Christ. Members of the same body. I got my haircut this past few days. Do you think my arms were jealous that I took care of my hair? I ate a few meals today.

Do you think my feet were angry that my mouth was enjoying certain flavors of certain I'm not trying to be facetious, I'm trying to make a point. How silly of a concept. I try to go to the gym, do you think my right arm gets jealous of my left arm when I work out the left arm for a for a session? Do you think, hey, you're giving too much attention to the left arm, what are you doing? Think my hand speaks in that way?

Just as absurd as it when Christians are jealous of one another. You're part of the same body. You're connected. You can't live without one another. You can't glorify.

You can't advance God's kingdom if you're severed from the body. You can't do it without the left hand. And see, that will only matter if you're concerned about God's glory. If you want to be an isolated Christian, you want to use the platform of ministry to be a superstar, then it's as ridiculous as you severing your hand from your body and thinking it's going to survive. And so you have to understand something, it takes the Holy Spirit's power to help us recognize how close and how connected we are as Jonathan sees David.

I love you like I love my own soul. So when you're on that throne, it's as though I'm being crowned. When you're being blessed, I know that God's being blessed and because you're blessing God, that blesses me and I'm blessing you so that you can bless God. Do you see that? We don't have that.

We we have to fight the notion daily that I am an individual Christian, and I just come to church with other individual Christians, and I just live my little life maybe with a few other believers. No, you're connected to a system, organism. And that's exactly what we see here. He loved David as his own soul. It's a love issue.

It's a unity issue. It's a recognition of what this is really all about. And then from there, listen, from there, Jonathan experienced what Saul would never be able to experience and that's the joy of celebration. And that's a relationship with David. There was a oneness, a connection where they wept with each other and they prayed together and they weathered storms together.

Why? Because he was free from all that ugly stuff. Saul? Killing his relationship with David. And so there's there's a whole other experience to be known from the place of who am I in this context of church?

Who am I really in the context of Christianity, of my faith? I'm a member of the body. I'm one with everybody else. And this oneness, this body has been brought together by Christ, so that collectively we would glorify the head. And I will say this, that Jonathan is more royal in this moment than if he fought for that throne.

Jonathan is more attractive right here, right now, surrendering these things, recognizing God's call, humbling himself, than if he had bullied David and intimidated David and gossip about David and try to tarnish his reputation so that he can he can sit on that throne. And so we see here that Saul's first red flag was an insecurity because he did not have God's glory in view. Very quickly, he he tasted something of that leadership power and authority that unfortunately deceive him and thinking that's what life is about. It's about your dreams and your title and your reputation. But let's read on.

Verse five of chapter 13. And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash to the east of Beth Haven. When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble, for the people were hard pressed, the people hid themselves in caves, and in holes, and in rocks, and in tombs. Themselves in caves, and in holes, and in rocks, and in tombs, and cisterns.

Some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal and all the people followed him trembling. Now remember, verse four says, that when Jonathan stealthily attacked the garrison of the Philistines, they became a stench to the Philistines. Israel became a stench to the Philistines and based upon that initial attack, the Philistines mustered up an army and saying, we're going to fight back. And you've heard this many times, especially in judges, but it's worth repeating.

The Philistines were oppressing and occupying the Israelites. They were managing what they can do, their resources and all these other things. And the Philistines had no problem with Israel as long as they they mind their own business, they did their daily things, but the moment that Israel attacked was the moment that the Philistines fought back. And we can apply that spiritually. If you're a believer that just wants to cruise through life, if we're gonna be a church that's just gonna cruise through life and not infiltrate the camp of the enemy, and not obey God where he calls us out and to do things that will affect the plans and the agenda of the spiritual Philistines, then we will not experience warfare.

But if we do go out, you better believe that he will come with guns. He will come with a plan. He will come with intimidation. He will come with threats. He will come.

He will come. So don't be surprised when he comes. Don't be surprised if agitation comes. Don't be surprised if things seem to be going crazy. Don't be surprised if things infiltrate your thoughts and temptation gets more intense and persecution arise out of nowhere.

Don't be surprised. Don't be surprised. Don't be alarmed. And we see here that because these people were in zealous submission to God's will, namely Jonathan, because that was God's will. You're gonna be free from the Philistines.

Okay. Well, he said it, so let's do it. The Philistines says, you think you're gonna just get away with it that easily? You think you're gonna punch the devil in the face and give him a bloody nose? He's not gonna try to punch back, Well, he is.

They mustered the fight against the Israelites. Why? Because Israel had a portion of victory. Why? Because they were obeying God.

But unfortunately, the reaction is not what we should emulate. They became fearful. They begin to dive into holes like it's like almost like a cartoon scene where something happens and everybody just dives into some place to hide. Some in tombs, some in holes, some in cisterns, some even crossed the Jordan, they even left the border. They're like, we're going up the opposite direction.

And that is what the spiritual enemy of our souls wants to do with us, really. He wants to make you and I so fearful. He wants to make us so intimidated, so nervous, so anxious that you would abandon your post. You would abandon your post. I've given this example before and I'll give it again.

A well known pastor and his wife, when they first started ministry and ministry was growing, their wife their their daughter backslid severely into drugs and all these things and they had another daughter. And while that daughter was out in the world, they were the the the wife and the husband were sensing continually this lie that Satan was coming after their other daughter. And the temptation that they felt was, let's just quit the ministry. It's not worth it if our if our daughters are gonna be at risk. Do you see how the enemy works?

I came after one, I'm gonna come after the other one. Trying to intimidate and put fear in your heart, trying to bully you and put enough pressure on you where you say, you know what, this ministry thing is not worth it. It's too tiring, people are ungrateful and just forget it. I just walk out. They're fleeing the promised land.

Is that God's will? No, it's not. But that's what he wants us to do. He uses fear tactics. Sometimes he does it by trying to put so much overwhelming weight until you hopefully break.

It happened here, but listen, no matter what demonic forces or carnal Christians may do, hear me tonight, you press on. You press on. You keep moving forward with grace and humility and love and compassion, but also with boldness and trust in your God. And I love the ending here of verse seven. Look at the last words, and all the people followed him trembling.

I actually appreciate that. You know why? Because even though they were trembling, they still followed. Even though they were trembling, they still went into the battlefield. They still went to the enemy lines.

They still said, okay, we're gonna move forward. Because obedience should never be sacrificed on the alter of feelings. Obedience should never be sacrificed on the altar of emotions. Even if you tremble, even if your knees are knocking against one another, you move forward. Even if the heat gets hot, you move forward.

And unfortunately, what these men did for Saul, Saul couldn't do for God because he's going to give in to his emotions. Look at verse eight. He waited seven days, Saul, the time appointed by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal and the people were scattering from him. Now why is that happening? Does anybody know why this is why is he waiting seven days for Samuel?

Anybody remember a particular verse? Why is he waiting? Is this just like a random thing? We're just gonna wait for Samuel? Well, the answer is in chapter 10.

When he was anointed by Samuel, he gave specific instructions to this new king in verse eight. Then go down before me to Gilgal and behold, I'm coming down to to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait until I come to you and show what you shall do. So he's receiving instructions from the Lord through Samuel. There's a war coming at one point, you're gonna be at Gilgal, I need you to wait for me a week.

One week wait for me. You're saying, why a week? Couldn't Samuel have come earlier? Yeah, God can do a lot of things early. That doesn't take much faith if every prayer you pray, the answer comes immediately.

He goes, I'm gonna make you wait a week. Why? Because I want you to trust in me. You wait a week and I will come, I will perform the spiritual sacrifice before God. I will do this so that we can get God to give us what we need to move forward in victory.

Okay? Deal. Deal. Alright. So he's obeying.

At least he's trying. He comes to Gilgal, he parks himself, his men come with him shaking, one day goes by. Don't worry, Samuel said he's coming, seven days. Two days go by. They look over to the horizon and they just see more chariots and more Philistines.

They can even hear them. They can hear chants, and they're beginning to be so fearful. Four days go by. Five days go by. And what's happening now?

People are jetting. People are leaving. They're scattering. So here's here's Saul trying to obey, trying to be an exemplary leader and the people are leaving. 10 left this day, 40 leave this day, a 160 leave, and the army is thinning out more and more as the days go by and closer to that seventh day mark.

And this is what Saul is experienced. Now put yourself in his shoes, he sees a growing army before him that is way more than what he has. He sees people, whatever he has left, leaving him. So you have the pressure of the enemy and you have the weakness of your own partners. So what do you have left?

This is what you have. You have a word from God. You have a word from God. And if you have a word from God, you have all that you need. If you have God with one, your majority.

In this case, all he had to do was cling to the faithfulness of God. No matter what was before him and no matter how many around him were unbelieving and leaving and walking out, he was obeying. And you have to trust that as you pursue obedience that no matter what fruit you may see or not see, you will see the end of it with results because of your obedience. Isn't it amazing that as he's obeying God, results are going the other way? You would think like as you're getting closer to the seventh day, people are getting excited and they're getting strong and they're, yes, you're obeying the word of the prophet.

No. Obedience is not very attractive to a lot of people. It's not very conventional. It's not very helpful for others sometimes. But this man is choosing to obey.

And confidence in the Lord is not whether people agree with me as I obey God, or the church is growing as I'm obeying God, or more people like me as I obey God. No. It's that you're obeying God. Full stop. Whether you see the fruit immediately or not, whether people applaud you or not, whether people are for you or not, doesn't matter.

But unfortunately, Saul doesn't seem to walk in that truth. He caves. He caves from the pressure and he does something quite horrific. Verse nine, so Saul said, bring the burnt offering here to me. Remember, this is on the seventh day.

Samuel can show up any minute. Saul is so nervous that people are leaving, that he says bring the burnt offering here to me and the peace offerings and he offered the burnt offering. You know, a faithful Jew who reads this in this covenant context would have been appalled at what they just read. Why is that an appalling thing? You're not a priest.

You're not a priest, you're a king. And what this man is doing is he's stepping outside of his lane and he is profaning what God had ordained for one tribe of one line from one man named Aaron and he is assuming the role of a priest. And because of doing this, it's actually going to cost him his dynasty. Samuel's going to show up and say, because of your disobedience, your kids will have no kind of influence or role in the future kingdom of Israel. Now, you and I might read that and we're going to read that and we think, Lord, that's kind of severe.

I mean, we understand the pressure of this man. Samuel didn't really show up. Like, you would think the seventh day you're gonna come in the morning. He didn't show up right away and this man is just he's doing that out of a right heart. But again, God is not a respecter of persons.

Can you give me another example of a king who assumes the role of priest and he paid a high price for it? I'm sure you know it. Think. There's another story of a king. No, somebody else, but good guess.

Uzziah. The names of the kings confuse me sometimes too. But if you go to second Chronicles 26, I want you to see it very quickly. Uzziah was a mighty man of God. He became a king at a teenage portion of his life, but he grew proud.

He grew strong in his own strength. He became famous, people loved him, praised him, nations talked about him, and he became strong and he does something that really is uncalled for. It doesn't make sense to why he would do it, but here's the thing, pride is intoxicating. When you are filled with pride, what begins to happen is you make decisions that are kind of rash, kind of what happens is you begin to do things where you think there are no consequences. They don't apply to you because you are this person, you're this king, and you're this inventor, and you're this mighty military leader.

So then what pride does is that you begin to think now, these consequences of these sins don't apply to me because God needs me. And God has been using me. So I can do certain things and it'll let me pass because God is not gonna God is not gonna put me on the shelf. Look at all the things I've done for God. And that's exactly what's happening with Uzziah.

Uzziah steps into the temple, he begins to perform incense, sacrifices to God. And read here in verse 18, the priest enter in, 81 of them, and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, it is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who were consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary for you have done wrong and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God. There are times where you have to speak to people like that. And somebody brought up the example of using this idea of king assuming the role of the priest in a beautiful analogy of what we're facing today.

The government has no role in the church. The government should not determine and dictate how the church worships and gathers. God has given us instructions. The government is a sole source of servanthood according to Romans 13, but they have their own lane. The church has its own lane and the servants and the government should not infiltrate how the church operates.

You're a king, stay in your lane. We have priests, they will stay in their own lane. Look what happens with Uzziah. Verse 19, then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censure in his hand to burn incense and when he became angry with the priest, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priest in the house of the Lord by the altar of incense.

I bring this up to show that God is not being extra harsh with Saul. He's not a respecter of persons. This king assumed the same thing as Saul did and he was immediately struck with a plague right away and he was a leper for the rest of his days. So we come back to our chapter and it is here that we see the next sign, the great sign of a great fall and it is this, a disregard for the word of God. Now look, it's not that Saul disobeyed God altogether.

He was trying to obey the Lord. Samuel said seven days? Alright, seven days. But when he saw that things weren't working out in the pursuit of obedience, when he realized that the results were not what he had what he had thought they would be, he began to twist and took matters into his own hands and this attitude would show up in the future, wouldn't it? What other example of do we see this in the future with Saul's life?

Where he's been given an instruction and he morphs it to his own benefit. Yeah. With who? Which which tribe of people? Go and kill the Amalekites.

Slaughter all of them. If you don't slaughter all of them, you're disobeying me. And then we're gonna see in maybe twenty years when we go to certain books in the Bible, how the Amalekites show up because of Saul's disobedience. But Saul was convinced he obeyed God. He said, yeah, I kept the king and some of the sheep, the best of the flock, but come on, I obeyed.

It's like, no, you partially obeyed. So this is an attitude. This isn't just a one time thing. This is an attitude in this man's heart. He had no regard for the seriousness of obedience to God's word in its totality.

In fact, he would twist it so that he can satisfy his own appetite under the mirage that he was actually obeying God. That is a dangerous sign for any servant especially for a leader, when you don't tremble at God's word. Any servant of Christ who does not submit to the totality of the authority of the scriptures is in danger of sabotaging their call for God, always. True success will only be discovered when a man or a woman is convinced of obeying God's word from cover to cover. Whether people stay with you or not.

Whether people like you or not, whether people fill the pews or not. Saul is experiencing a pastor's worst nightmare. As he's obeying God, people are leaving the church. People are scattering. People are not standing.

And he's like, what's going on? I'm just trying to obey the Lord and he couldn't handle it. And the recipe for disaster for any man or woman of God is the impatience seen in Saul and his pursuit of obedience and his inability to resist the pressure of people and what their opinions of him are. You bring those things together and you have disaster fresh out of the oven. So what happens?

Samuel shows up. Can you imagine the scene? I'm just trying to picture Saul there performing a sacrifice, maybe put on a little outfit to make himself look like a priest and there's like maybe like a dozen people around him and he performs his sacrifice seeking favor from God And then Samuel walks up the hill and he can smell the flesh of burnt animal. And then Saul turns around and approaches Samuel and he it says he greets him. Look here in verse verse 10.

As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. The text is like, behold, like, look what just happened. Behold, Samuel came and Saul went out to meet him and greet him, like nothing happened. Samuel, hi. How are you?

Hey. Yeah. Don't No. Don't look there. Look at me here.

Right? Look here. Don't look at the altar. Look here. How are you?

How you been? Seventh day, you're here. Right? Yeah. I trust I waited for you.

Look what he says in verse 11. Samuel said, what have you done? And Saul said, when I saw that the people were scattering from me and that you did not come within the days appointed and that the Philistine had mustered at Michmash. I said, now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal and I have not sought the favor of the Lord. So I forced myself oh, you forced yourself.

I forced myself and offered the burnt offering. Doesn't this mirror a scene that we all know? Let me say it again. Samuel shows up in the scene and says, what have you done? What is Saul doing?

What is he doing? How do we summarize his answer? He's making excuses. Not just making excuses, he's blaming others. Where have we seen that before?

Oh, yeah. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, God shows up in the garden and says, where are you? And when they come up, they blame each other. Because that reflex to our sin is a common thread, a cursed thread that has been known since the fall of man. That when we do wrong and we're confronted on our wrong, just like how we eat when we're hungry and we drink when we're thirsty, we try to point the finger to someone else so that we look less, condemned and more justified in our sin.

It's here again. Samuel says, what did you do? What have you done? Well, one, the people were leaving. Two, where were you?

Like he's he's blaming Samuel. Where were you Samuel? Three, look at the Philistines. I haven't sought favor from God, So I have to do it. I have to do it.

I force myself to do it. And it's amazing the things that we come up with when we are caught in our sin. Never forget this. It's a very simple truth, but simple truths are sometimes the most forgotten truths. Whenever we are genuinely in the wrong and we are being confronted humbly, when we are confronted by a brother, a sister, a woman of God, a man of God, anybody, never forget this.

God gives grace to the humble. God gives grace to the humble. Right? It's very difficult for God to extend grace for somebody who does not acknowledge that they're wrong, which is a great trademark of humility. There are too many examples to point to to show how God, when somebody in even gross sin repents, how he turns the consequences around to be less severe than they could have been.

I read what this man does and I can't help but think what the outcome could have been had he had been broken before God. Had he had sinned, I can't believe I'm I I caved into pressure but it was not justified. I've sinned against the Lord and the Lord alone. No. Where were you?

Do you not see what's going on here? You know what he's saying? Like, you're late. He's like, no. It's the seventh day.

Where were you? And you know who's watching this? God. You know who's evaluating this? The king of all kings.

The one who can who can extend and bless your future or he can bring discipline and love. And this man is showing no humility. And unfortunately, guess what? You're gonna see it again. You're gonna see it in the same incidents with the Amalekites.

When he's confronted about it, he's trying to justify it again. So why do I say that? Because this is an attitude. This is something that's deep embedded in this man. This is not a one time thing.

This is something that characterizes who he is. And at this point, we can see another sign of a great coming fall, an unwillingness to admit wrong and confess our sins when it is justified. There is no longevity for anybody in ministry if there's no humility. There is no longevity. No matter how gifted you are, no matter how much people love you, who are impressed by your abilities, your knowledge of scripture, your voice, your leadership skills, the only fuel, the only protection for longevity in ministry is one thing, humility.

Humility. God can work much in and through somebody who is humble and in need of him continually. But when someone's like this, the guy just started. The guy just started as a king and we see already a red flag, an unwillingness to admit wrong when you have been confronted justifiably. Saul's gonna repeat this offense.

But we read on here in verse 13. And Samuel said to Saul, you have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue.

The Lord has sought a man after his own heart and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. What does Saul's name mean? Do you remember? Anybody remember? What does Saul's name mean?

Sought after. Sought after. And here the prophet says, God sought after a man. You're the result of what man wanted, but God is about to bring to the scene something that He wanted. He sought after.

Now this is important because this is God's recruitment plan. Do you wanna know what's on the resume of those who are used by God? Any person that desires to be used by the Lord in a mighty fashion, You have to be able to have this on your resume in the spiritual realm. What God looks for, the the number one thing like how top CEOs and managers look for specific things, the top thing that God looks for is what he finds in David. He was a man after his own heart.

He was a man after God's own heart. Now here's my question at this bible study tonight. What does that mean? Does that mean that you have good feelings about God? Does that mean that you cry when you sing about God?

Actually, there's a verse that tells us exactly what it means. Does anybody know where it tells us what it means to be after God's own heart? K. To love the Lord you God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Sure.

That's that's that is definitely an answer. And I will tell you that there is an answer in which David himself elaborates on what it means to be a man after God's own heart. Our sister was right, but here's David explaining and giving commentary on what this verse actually means found in Acts 13 verse 22. When he retells the story, he offer I love how the Holy Spirit answers certain things from different portions of the word of God. Isn't that the joy of bible study?

It's like you read it in one part and then there's explanation of it in another part. That excites me. Acts thirteen twenty two, look what he says. And when he had removed them, he raised up David to be their king of whom he testified and said, I found in David the son of Jesse after a man after my heart, now look, who will do all my will. That's your answer.

That's what it means to be a man or woman after God's own heart. You are willing to do everything that he says. You know what that looks like? Lord, I desire for you to have total sovereign control and for you to be completely glorified in every element, every slot, every portion of my life. You can have everything.

Not just my Sunday mornings, not just my hour in the morning before I start work. Every part of my life, I lay it at your feet and say, do whatever you want to do with it. That's what it means. It's not how much bible you know, knowing your bible is important. It's not about the goosebumps you get during a service.

It's about this. It's about a will. It's about a choice. It's about a deep conviction that you have. And he couldn't find it in Saul.

Saul had many things. The guy had good looks. The guy had height. The guy was praise. The guy made heads turn.

The guy had personality. The guy had leadership skills but the guy did not have this. The guy did not have a heart after own God's own heart. That was enough for God to say, you're fired. You're fired.

You know what's scary? He fires Saul and he still becomes king for many years. It's a scary thought to be occupying a pulpit but not having God's favor. It's a scary thought to have a title, but in God's eyes, you're fired many years ago. But David, he had that heart, a shepherd boy, a teenager.

God hires teenagers. And he doesn't hire them just for part time jobs. He hires them for big things. Oh, he prepares them, but he recruits them even from a young place in life to mold them and shape them. Give God your younger years.

Give him the time to do great things in you and to deepen your roots and truth and character development skills, so that you'll be ready at a specific portion that he has ordained. I'm looking for a man after my own heart. Now we come down to verse 19 because we read we read here that the men were so scattered that Saul was left at the end here of verse 15 with 600 men, but the circumstances are more dire than we thought. We come down here to verse 19 and we are given this insight. Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel.

For the Philistines said, lest the Hebrews make themselves swords and or spears. But every one of the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen his plowshare, his madduch, his axe, or his sickle. And the charge was 2 thirds of a shekel for the plowshares and for the madduchs, and a third of the shekel for sharpening the axes and for getting the goads. Now, I want you to see what's happening here. They are so oppressed, they are so overcome by the influence of the Philistines, that one of the strategies of the enemy was to close every blacksmith shop.

Blacksmith was a place where you came to form weapons, swords, to sharpen them. All those things were closed. No such thing existed. So the people of Israel were reduced to farming equipment. And they had to go to the Philistines to get them sharpened at a price for the purpose of livelihood and and whatever they needed to do just to survive.

So the enemy stripped so many opportunities, so many resources, he's closed so many doors, the enemy made a law that they were not able to have the freedom in which they were used to. Do you see where I'm going with this? And so the people were limited with these resources that were no threat to the enemy and the enemy knew that very well, at least in this sense, but the enemy is gonna be shocked with what God can do with farming equipment. And I read something like this and I think, well how does that relate to us in 2021? And I think the way we can relate to it is that we see the people of God being stripped because one of the the strategies of the enemy is to limit our resources, limit our opportunities, and create such an environment and atmosphere in the land that he would try to remove any potential threat to what he wants to do in that land.

And so, the people find themselves with less ability, less confidence that anything can actually be done for God's kingdom and his glory. So you have prayer taken out of schools. And you have Christian businesses attacked for not giving into deals or services that would contradict their convictions. What's next? What's next?

What will we have to work with ten years from now? What laws will be established? What threats will the church receive on what they can say and what not they cannot say? What kind of pressures will local churches have to endure when it comes to tolerance and acceptance of certain groups and ways of life? Like the Israelites, think about it this way, like the Israelites, we can almost relate to the the feeling of hopelessness that can we really do much in America?

Can we really like, the the freedoms that we had sixty years ago with our Christian message and convictions is not like what it is today. And we're getting little taste of it by things being pulled from us and feelings of people really don't like us, and the government isn't really for us. And there are agendas that they are promoting that will threaten our agenda, so what do we really do? And that's the point here. You're supposed to feel like there is no way that they can overcome thousands of chariots with a stick with a little hook on the end of it, or plowshares.

How is that even how is that even gonna happen? And here's the point, we have we have a story among many stories of how we can have sure hope that God can do something with these limited resources. There is a certain judge in the book of Judges. It's a very quick story. I mean, it's like you'll you're like, not not much action, you move on to the next one.

But that story would have helped these people a lot. I'll give you a little bit of time to think about it. Maybe you even know the name of the man. Does anybody know the name of the man? Is it Shamgar?

Yes. You got it. Did you hear it? It's in Judges three verse 31, Shamgar. Have you heard of that judge?

You've heard of Samson? You've heard of Jephthah? Gideon? Who's Shamgar? Well, you're about to find out in chapter three verse 31.

Here's his story in the book of Judges. After him was Shamgar, the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an ox goad, and he also saved Israel. I can tell you this, that all the stories of the book of Judges, they probably would have found the most inspiration with Shamgar at this time. Can you imagine the sight? Because we're told later on that the only ones who had swords were Saul and Jonathan.

And then, your 600 men, the rest, their feet are dangling out of the cistern, one is there in the tombstone, some pack their bags and they move beyond the Jordan. Your 600 men have farming tools. And you're standing there and you're thinking, what is this gonna do? Remember Shamgar? Shamgar.

Shamgar was one man with an ox goad, a little instrument, a little stick with a hook on it, little that would poke the animal to provoke them to move forward. Shamgar, one man with one ox goad, killed 600 Philistines. How many Israelites do we have here? 600? And they each have an instrument?

Let's do the math. If one man killed 600 Philistines, what can 600 Israelites do with Philistines? The point is this, it looks hopeless but it's not about the resources, it's about the God that you serve that can take five loaves and two fishes and do miracles with them. That's the point. And I take this truth and I use it as a lens for America in 2021, and I see that the atmosphere of freedom is getting more and more scarce.

It's getting harder to breathe. It's getting harder to see how our message is gonna be invited or even tolerated. Blacksmiths are closing. Shops are closing. Opportunities are getting thinner and thinner.

Threats are becoming more real and real. But we serve the god of Shamgar. We serve the god of Shamgar. And so it's not a fearful thing, it's an exciting thing. Because here's the thing, I end with this, the greater the resistance against God's advancing kingdom, the greater the manifestation of his power and wisdom will be to match it.

So let it be greater. God's just gonna show up in greater way. Let it be stronger. God will show up stronger. Let it be more complicated and confusing like it has been for the past year and a half, and watch God use what we have left to us to touch people for his glory.

And so, end of that note. Yes, there are signs of a great fall, but God's program, as we're gonna learn, is not dependent upon one man. The only person that's gonna miss out on this is Saul himself. But here's what we ask the Lord for tonight. Lord, set me free from any jealousy, any insecurity.

Lord, help me realize that the solution is your glory being my goal in life. Lord, help me honor your word, for your word says, whoever whoever does not teach the least of these things and tells others the same will be called least in the kingdom of God. Help us not disregard the least of these things and teach others to do the same. Help us regard every aspect of your revelation. Help us obey you from cover to cover.

Help us not manipulate your commands for our favor thinking that it's obedience. Even if people scatter, even if people don't want it. And Lord, help us to acknowledge that when we're wrong, we're wrong. That we are fallible. That we make mistakes.

That we can cave into temptation and pressure, but Lord, you're willing to pick us up again when we repent sincerely, Lord. Help us believe that when we say things that we're not supposed to say, when we do things that we're not supposed to do, when we know we're supposed to do something and we don't do it, Lord. Help us never justify our wrong, but to understand in that moment, God, you give grace to the humble. You will extend grace to me if I'm humble right now. Thank you, Lord, that you are not a God who's trigger happy and waits for us to fail so that you can get rid of us.

Thank you that all you need is to work with humility and we can know longevity till we see you face to face. And, Lord, we pray as we're about to worship you that you would give us a revelation of the oneness of this church. So much so that if there's gonna be any competitive spirit, it would be an outdoing each other and honoring one another. Help it help us know that sincerely. Let it be real.

Let it be spiritually led. Let it not be fake and hollow and pretend. Let it be genuine. Bring us there, Lord. Bring us there.

Lord, these truths are jarring. They shake us. They call for examination, but we thank you. We thank you for sobering us from time to time. And, Lord, in this moment, we just sit in your presence and we say, would you find in me a heart after your own heart, a heart that chases after your own heart, a heart that is convinced from every corner of it that I wanna do the will of God.

All my will is surrendered to his will. And Lord, you see that and you will use that for your glory. Thank you that you don't use looks, gifts, knowledge, personality. The only thing you look for is that. We bless you tonight.

You're the living God. We give you the aux codes that are at our disposal. We give you this sanctuary. We give you this parking lot. We give you our money.

We give you whatever we have, our website, our Facebook page. We give it all, Lord. We say, can you do something with this? This is what we have, Lord. Do with it as you please.

We bless you, and we worship you. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen and amen.