1 Samuel 14 (Part 2) Bible Study (Saul's Rash Vow/Fights Israel's Enemies) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

You have your bibles? One person's gonna share her bible with the rest of the church, it seems. I'm sure you have your bibles. First Samuel chapter 14. We were in chapter 14 last week.

We are still in chapter 14 verse 24. As we continue, we are in no rush with our bible study. And once we hear the rustling of the leaves, calm down. We'll pray one more time. Let's pray.

Heavenly father, this is your word. It is indeed sweeter than honey. It is indeed more precious than gold, even the finest of gold. Lord, we ask that we would genuinely hear the living voice that is found in this book, but applies to us today that can speak prophetically into our circumstances, into our personal journeys. Lord, we ask, as we've experienced so many times before in this Friday night that your presence would manifest and that we would sense the nearness of our master.

We pray, Lord, that you would arrest all of our thoughts and you would bring every other thought captive to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And that Lord, you would go beyond that. You would pull down strongholds, false belief systems about ourselves, about others, about you, about everything else in between. Liberate us in a tangible way. Do what no amount of counseling can do.

Do what great minds cannot do. Do what all these philosophies and ideologies cannot perform. Change us from the inside out. From the inside out, Lord. Do miracles in our lives, we pray.

In Jesus' name. Amen. We're continuing from last week. Last week, you remember, right? Jonathan, the son of Saul, initiated an attack against the Philistines and it creates a war.

There's a scrimmage now between Israel and the Philistines and at this point, Saul, the king of Israel, who is also the father of Jonathan, is assuming his position of leadership, and now is trying to take control and be the man that God's called them to be. He's trying to steer the ship into the right direction. The war isn't over, it just erupted. And as we read this, we're also keeping in mind the theme of last week, which was the contrast between Saul, a man who was dominated by fear, pride, foolishness, with his son who was radiating wisdom, humility, and a trust in God. And we're gonna see if if Saul now in this place of taking control is going to learn from his mistakes or is he only going to continue?

And let me give you a heads up, you're gonna be disappointed. Disappointed, yes, but we also learn from the mistakes of others and we also see glimpses of the grace of God in the remaining verses that we're about to study. And so what you know from last week is that Jonathan attacks the garrison of the Philistines, a war breaks out and the Philistines are losing. Saul hears the commotion, he leads the rest of the troops into the battle and then we come to verse 24. And the men of Israel had been hard pressed that day.

So Saul had laid an oath on the people saying, cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies. So none of the people had tasted food. Now when all the people came to the forest, behold there was honey on the ground. And when the people entered the forest, behold the honey was dropping, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath, so he put out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth and his eyes became bright.

And so we see that this battle is continuing and the men are exhausted. The natural exhaustion that comes from fighting, from foot pursuits, the the exhaustion that comes from an adrenaline that's pumping because you wanna you wanna protect your life as well. Just this is just warfare. This is physical warfare and it is wearing out these men to the bone. And perhaps Saul here is a little frustrated with how things are not advancing the way he wants.

So in his apparent zeal, he makes this vow. And this was the vow. Cursed be any man that puts a morsel of food in his mouth before the evening and before I am avenged on my enemies. Here's my question as we begin here. What do you think about that vow?

Let me put it this way, is this a righteous vow? Is this exemplary? Is this foolish? I'm seeing more heads saying it is foolish. Well, it's foolish.

It's foolish for two main reasons and the first one is this, and it's the lesson that you can learn from this. Spiritual approaches, spiritual applications must be done in the frame of mind of great wisdom. Just because it's spiritual, doesn't mean it's always good. Is fasting good? Yes.

It is needed at times. But we see here that something good, something holy, something beneficial can become a burden, can become even wrong. Because it's not about just interpreting what is right and what is wrong. Even in our spiritual disciplines, listen, even in our spiritual pursuits, our spiritual goals, you and I need something that the Bible highly prizes and it's called wisdom. Knowledge is not the same as wisdom.

I've used this example many times. Knowledge says, a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom says, you don't put a tomato in a fruit salad. The idea here is that just knowing what is right and what is wrong will not take you far enough in this life. In fact, you will make many blunders just with knowledge.

Wisdom is the appropriate and the righteous application of what you know. It's the appropriate and righteous application of what you know. And I can tell you this, there are many people who have great amount of knowledge, but very very few have wisdom. Wisdom is something that we especially need if we want to be successful in our spiritual journey and here this man is not applying wisdom. Why is it not wise in his oath here?

Wisdom includes many things. Here's what it includes. Not just knowing what is right and wrong, but knowing the timing of how to apply what you know. Timing is huge. Not just timing, tone.

Tone. What you say, how you say it, and when you say it. And not just tone, wisdom also includes the approaching of other people to know what they can say and what they can contribute to the decision that you are planning to make. And there's so many other things that can be said about that. So wisdom has all these ingredients that are included in what you want to pursue or not pursue, what door to open, what door not to open, how to approach, how not to approach.

And what wisdom does is it latches onto as many things as possible, all angles, to make the best appropriate righteous application of what you are planning to do. Many people don't think like that. Many people just think in black and white. You can't do that in life. Listen, that's not just important with spiritual things like this.

I mean, this is not the timing to do it. You don't call a fast in the middle of a war unless God is calling you to do so by faith. You're putting extra burden on men who are already burdened with the warfare. We'll get to that in a moment. But right here, I want you to understand that wisdom applies to the smallest decisions you can make in life.

Let me prove it to you. In Proverbs 25, here's one example. In Proverbs twenty five seventeen, I love the book of Romans, I love the book of Ephesians, I love doctrines of salvation and everything else, but I may shock you with this. Christianity is more than the book of Romans and the book of Ephesians. Okay?

Those who love theology, those who love to know the deep doctrines, that's wonderful. Christianity is extremely practical, very practical. And what the world needs right now is not just people who have good theology, because what is good theology if you are socially awkward because you lack wisdom? Proverbs twenty five seventeen is an example. I'm trying to show you how wisdom applies to smallest decisions and here's one of them.

Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor's house, lest he have his fill of you and hate you. Have you ever read that before? Has anybody ever read that verse before? I mean, God sees it so important to add this in the bible. And the idea is simply this, is that it's a call to be sensitive to the needs of others, to the plans of others.

To not just assume because you have a neighbor that you can just have all their rights stripped away and you become the center of attention and they have to cater to your needs whenever you want. See, this is just one prime example of of looking at beyond yourself, beyond basic principles and and considering other facets of life and reality. And by applying something like this, in this simple frame of mind, God's trying to encourage you and I to cherish our relationships and not ruin it by silly decisions, by selfish decisions. I mean, all you have to do is go three verses down from here, Proverbs twenty five twenty, you get another understand, look at this. Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day and like vinegar on soda.

Like there are so many instructions like this. Again, it's another principle. Be sensitive to the needs of others. If somebody is going through a tough week, a tough season, it's not sensitive to try to approach them in a way that doesn't cater to their needs, that doesn't build them up. And so I'm just trying to show you brief examples of how the Bible calls us to be a people who are possessed with this wisdom, who walk in a great great great sensitivity to life, to others, to timing, to tone, all these things.

But before we move on, go back to verse 17. I love this point here. Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor's house, lest he have his fill of you and hate you. You know what's so amazing about this? I was thinking about it.

This applies to relationships with one another. It never applies to our relationship with Jesus Christ. You know what I mean? What I mean by that is that you and I have the right to always come to Jesus. His house is always open, his courts are always available, the throne of grace is always calling our name, we are never a burden to the Lord.

We can pour out our hearts to him at all times of the day, we can call upon him in the middle of the night, and he will never have his fill of us and hate us. You know why? Because he's not like us. He gave us this because you and I are limited in our emotional capacity. We only have so much energy to give.

We have only so much things that we can offer others, but he is infinite in power. He's infinite in love. He's infinite in energy, so he's never exhausted. He's never rung out. In fact, he doesn't sleep or slumber.

And so we can come to the Lord, but he knowing us, being our creator, gives us these principles of wisdom and like Saul, if you're gonna climb higher in leadership, you need a greater amount of wisdom. And that's what Saul is lacking here. He puts a demand on people at the wrong time, under the wrong circumstances, and for the wrong reason, which comes to the second point. Read carefully. Why is Saul issuing this oath?

Read verse 24 again. What does he say? Look at the last part. Until what happens? Until he is avenged from who?

My enemies. My enemies. There seems to be no indication that such a serious course of action was guided by the Lord. It It wasn't inspired by the Lord. It wasn't given by a prophet or a priest.

This was something that was motivated for his own purpose, for his own desires, his own plans. And we've learned already about Saul that up to this point, he was driven by selfish ambition. And you and I are learning something here that is devastating. It's even true in the New Testament. That there are people who are willing to even hijack spiritual ministries and spiritual goals in order to satisfy personal carnal plans and desires and dreams.

And that's what he's doing here. They're my enemies. And here he is in a position of leadership and he doesn't sound like how other men of God sound like who had the same position as him at one point. Listen to how David, at one point, described his victory or his pursuit of victory when he had his own men as he was a leader to a certain extent. In first Samuel 30 verse 26, just listen.

When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends. The elders of Judah saying, here is a present for you from the spoil of what? The enemies of the Lord. Saul, my enemies. Because this is about me.

This is about me getting victory, me getting praise, me being recognized and these enemies are not being dealt with the way I desire. You know how David said it? David said, these are God's enemies and I'm a vessel. I'm a vessel to glorify God. David always had the Lord in mind.

Earlier, Jonathan had God in mind. Saul, no language of the Lord. No inclusion of God. In fact, he initiates something like this because he is he is burning inside for something to be accomplished for his namesake. And listen, when you are a leader in God's house and you begin to be possessed by such a mindset, you will begin to make decisions that will burden the people of God that are under you.

This is where spiritual abuse becomes common in houses of worship. This is where manipulation comes. This is where things begin to be perverted and instead of being a leader that blesses God's people, you burden them. And and and ministry and serving and being in God's house and being connected to your kind of ministry is not a joy. It's not an experience with great blessing.

It's in fact heavy. It's drudgery. It's a burden. And that's exactly what's happening to these men because they are operating in human wisdom and they're not focusing on God's glory and they're not allowing God's word to guide them, and there's gonna be punishment because of that. And that's what's about to happen.

So what happens? They move on. These men are now marching towards the enemy. They're pursuing the enemy and they come through a particular force and as they walk through this force, there's something on the ground with a glare that catches their attention and they they come to realize it's honey. There's a little puddle of honey there.

And they look up and they see that there's a honeycomb and it's dripping honey on the ground. These men haven't eaten all day and you can imagine them just drooling at the mouth, just wanting a little touch of that honey on their lips. But then we learned that Jonathan wasn't present when Saul made that oath, and so he's trailing behind perhaps, and he walks and he sees this honey, And without hesitation, he takes his staff, he dips it, and now he made himself a little snack. He removes it with his hands and he begins to eat the honey. And as he's enjoying this honey, the scripture tells that his eyes become bright.

Meaning, there was a surge of strength. There was a life given to him. His droopiness now was replaced with some kind of energy. And we read this and we think, wow, what do we take out of it? And this is what we take out of it.

The Bible uses honey in many ways as an example, as a metaphor for many things. And one of the strongest pictures that honey is related to is what? Tell me. Honey is like what? Gracious words, yes.

And not just gracious words, but God's words. God's words. In fact, Jonathan's experience with physical honey and what it did to his physical frame is in fact the exact way the Bible describes how you and I experience the words of God when we engage with it. Would you like to see it? You're gonna be perhaps shocked to realize how close it is.

It's found in the book of Psalms chapter 19. When you look at these verses, you'll say, wow. It's exactly how Jonathan experienced it. Psalm 19 verse eight down to verse 10. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.

The commandment of the Lord is pure. Look at this. What does it do? Enlightening the eyes. Not just that, the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.

The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than what? Honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Oh, would you look at that? Here's Jonathan trailing behind those men and he sees honey dripping and he extends his staff and he eats it.

And what happens to his eyes? They become bright. Now, this teaches us something about the word of God. For there to be a parallel between honey and the word tells us at least two things. One, like Jonathan in his physical condition, you and I can know a supernatural strength on this weary journey that you and I are walking on as we are warring for our faith.

There is something that we can actually know of grace, of supernatural wind that picks us up, that blows into our sails, that actually, literally, not just metaphorically here, not just poetically, really give us some kind of sense of power as we engage, as we eat of it. I can tell you moments where we're coming to this word and not preparing a message. That's different. Preparing a message is preparing a meal for others. Reading for yourself is eating for yourself, at least in part.

Coming to this word and just indulging in what God wants to say, I can tell you that in moments you can feel the power coming into your soul. When you realize something about who Christ is, the promise of God, a circumstance, an insight, it actually gives a grace that lifts you up. I'm wondering tonight if you've known that before. I'm wondering tonight if you have come to a place where you have read the bible and you've read something, even if it was something that you haven't read in a while or if you've read so many times before, but because it's God's word speaking, it actually did something to you. It changed your day.

It changed the trajectory of your week. If we don't have that from this, then we're just playing games. There's no difference between this bible study and me teaching about George Washington. There's power behind this. There's a living voice behind these words.

And he's saying here, just like Jonathan, there's an enlightening of the eyes. There's an awareness. There's an awareness of your environment, of your your predicament. You are now having a discernment here and there's a strength that is provided in that moment. But furthermore, he goes on to describe how even like honey when you taste it, there's something with the senses that are that are being engaged with.

In other words, the same way that your senses explode because there are there are flavors swirling as you eat something that you're craving or longing for that your body needs, so it is with the word of God. So it is. There is something that happens when you interact with the scriptures that brings about an experiential reality. Let me put it this way, when you've eaten something that you really desire, that you really love, maybe it's a dessert, I don't know what it is. I'm sure things are popping in your mind right now.

And you eat of it, sometimes that thing is so precious in that moment, so delightful, what happens? You actually express your delight in it. I don't know, maybe you do it alone. But I've known with people that I've sat with when they're eating something, they're actually verbalizing how wonderful it is. Man, this is good.

This tastes awesome. I was craving this all week. And not only that, when you actually experience something, even even if you've done it before or especially you've done it for the first time, you not only express it for yourself or for an audience of one, you now find some evangelistic zeal to go and tell other people about it. Hi, you gotta try this place. You gotta go to this place.

It's wonderful. It's amazing. The ambiance, blah, blah, blah, all those things. Right? People get crazy when they taste something wonderful.

Now here's the thing. David is not speaking poetically here. You can get lost in the poetry of it and say, oh, isn't that wonderful how he put those things together? And you fail to realize the implications of it. Here's what I'm trying to say to you tonight.

When you engage with the word of God, your relationship, your history with the word of God, can you say amen to what David said? That's my question. That's my question. Because David says if he was to speak plain language, if he was to escape his time, enter into this place, and speak from this pulpit and speak plain language, he would say, hey, you know what it's like when you when you eat something and like, it just you're you're just so caught up with the moment and it just satisfies you and it puts you in a good mood. I gotta tell you, when I come to the word of God, that's how I feel.

That's how I feel when I open up my Bible. And what's shattering about David's thoughts is that he had the first five books of the bible only. So he didn't have John and Philippians. He had Deuteronomy and Leviticus. And he was like, oh, it's sweeter than honey.

It's unbelievable. If you can't agree with David here, listen, when you view the Bible, and you read the Bible, and you study the Bible, and you hear the Bible, here's my question as a brother who loves you, are you content to stay in such a condition? There are some people who preach out of the word of God that sounds like they're reading a newspaper. There are some people who don't even have any frame in their conversation about the word of God and I'm wondering, what then is the born again experience? Tell me, what is the born again experience if not included in that experience that you have a revolution concerning the scriptures?

Because I can tell you this, the only engagement I had with the word of God before I was saved was flipping through the pages while the sermon was being preached. And if there was any reading, I would read the book of Revelation because it scared me to death. That's it. There was no daily hunger. There wasn't for whatever reasons, if my my circumstances were so intense that I couldn't have quality time with the world where I feel an ache, like I haven't eaten two days, there was none of that.

If you were to explain that to me, I'd be like, what are you crazy? What are you talking about? There wasn't depending on just one message, two messages a week and that was my supplement for the week for my How can you? How can you read Psalm 19 and not agree with it? And if you can't agree with it, God doesn't condemn you but he invites you into that experience.

If that is something that you can't agree with, I'm not saying every day is this thrill and this ecstasy. I'm just saying if you can't testify that the general experience of the word of God is as such, then you might not have to be born again. And if not born again, if you have been born again, you need a Holy Spirit reviving work in your soul. To bring you to the place where this word is more amazing to you than your favorite Netflix show. Your favorite concert or your bands, your favorite YouTube whatever.

You say, this word is amazing to me. This word gives me life. This word transforms me. It comforts me. It confirms things to me.

It draws me to the presence of God. It makes me want to walk with Jesus throughout my day. We need to shake out of American Christianity and realize that there is another realm that God is calling us to and that he freely invites us to if we humble ourselves and say, I wanna get there. David wrote about it. Jonathan experienced it in the physical sense, just a little bit of honey.

Did something to his to his body, to his mind, to his ability to to pay attention and and be alert. So what happens? Verse 28. Then one of the people said, your father strictly charged the people with an oath saying, cursed be the man who eats food this day. And the people were faint.

And Jonathan said, my father has troubled the land. See how my eyes have become bright because I tasted a little of this honey. How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies that they found, for now the defeat among the Philistines has not been great. So the men are walking and somebody's hearing perhaps somebody expressing how good the honey was. Here's David, or rather Jonathan walking with his sword there in his sheath and maybe one of the men that are walking, they hear somebody say, man, this is good.

Wow. Anybody see the honey? I'm the only one eating here. Somebody turns around and says, hey, hey, man. And he's probably all faint and gaunt and he's like, you realize that your dad said that we're not supposed to be eating anything until the evening or that we avenge what are you doing, man?

And there's Jonathan with honey and stain on his lips saying, what? Why would why would my father do such a thing? He actually troubled the land. Now, Jonathan is absolutely right in his assessment. His commentary of his father's command is absolutely precise.

But here's my question, is him saying this the best way to do it? I don't think so. I don't think this man here is gonna benefit anything from Jonathan's condemnation of the authority of his father. He is absolutely right, but I believe Jonathan could have done much more persuasion if he went up to his father directly and he says, it wasn't right the way you did it. Father, I gotta I respect you, but I gotta speak up here.

Look at the guy, and he could have done it in a different way. But again, we learned from last week that there seems to be this distance between father and son, and sometimes that can lead to problems. But nonetheless, what he said about his dad was true. He brought trouble to the land, namely to the people of Israel. And this is what I wanna say from this verse here, that it is very possible for many people to have the same effect on the land in Christianity as Saul did for Israel.

In other words, that they, when they step into a ministry, when they step into a church, in their family life, in their friendships, in the circles of relationships that they occupy, they bring trouble more than anything else. They bring chaos, they bring confusion, they bring friction, they bring despair, they bring sin. And Saul here is is reflecting that. He is bringing trouble. Don't be that Christian, please.

Please, don't do that. Actually, there is an encouragement to be a troubler. You can be a troubler. You wanna be a troublemaker? Okay.

Let me encourage you to be a troublemaker. What did Ahab tell Elijah when there was a drought in Israel, and he finally encountered the man who had the authority to shut up the heavens through his prayer? What did Ahab said? Oh, there you are, you what? Troubler of Israel.

If you want proof, it's in first Kings eighteen seventeen. When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, is it you, you troubler of Israel? Be that kind of troubler. Please, please be that kind of troubler. I'm telling you, if there are some people who put as much effort into preaching the gospel and gossiping, they would have been soul winners.

I'm telling you, why don't you be a troubler for the kingdom of darkness instead of the kingdom of light? Why don't you focus all your words and your strengths and your plans to scheme and to divide and bring discord? Why don't you take all that and target it towards the real enemy and be a troubler for Satan instead of for the people of God? Elijah was a troubler of Israel. Saul was a troubler of Israel.

But he wasn't a troubler of Israel in the same way Elijah was. Israel was under a pagan ruler and everybody was in an apostate state and he was a trouble in the sense that he was a revivalist. He shook things up for the kingdom of God. Saul was doing the opposite. He wasn't blessing, he was being a burden and adding a burden.

And so we see here that Jonathan makes that comment and we come to verse 31. They struck down the Philistines that day from Michmash to Ailon, and the people were very faint. So they pursued the enemy and and they see a conquering that day. But look what happens here. You ready?

The people pounced on the spoil and took sheep and oxen and calves and slaughtered them on the ground and the people ate them with the blood. Then they told Saul, behold the people are sinning against the Lord by eating with the blood. And he said, you have dealt treacherously. Roll a great stone to me here. So what happens here?

So they pursue the enemy, they press against the Philistines and they see another victory for that day. And because the men were so exhausted, so hungry because of that oath, they see the livestock, they see the sheep and the ox, They see the bulls and they can't help it. They're so finished that they pounce on the animals, they slaughter the animals, and they begin to eat it, perhaps even raw. Now why is that an issue in the old covenant? Somebody explain why.

Yeah. In the old covenant, it was prohibited to eat blood with the animal. The blood was a symbol of life. It was sacred and God wanted to teach that even through the dietary law. So the fact that they ate the blood shows that they didn't butcher it and drain the blood the way they were supposed to.

They were so overcome. They were so burdened. They were so lacking strength that they went ahead and did what? They broke God's command. How did they break God's command?

By obeying Saul's command. They broke God's command because they obeyed Saul's command. Welcome to a wonderful picture of the reality of legalism. Welcome to a great illustration of what legalism leads people to do. Legalism is when men make up their own rules and esteem them on the same level of authority as the bible and then apply them to all people and make them bound to it.

Legalism teaches that you are to observe certain things and usually it's in the form of prohibition. You can't do this, you can't do this, you can't do this, nowhere to be found in the Bible, but elevated to the place of the same standard that God sets on his other commands. And then what happens? This is what happens. When you are part of a legalistic family, a legalistic church, what often tends to happen is that people sin more.

They they will end up in more darkness, more hypocrisy than they have just trusted in God's wisdom and what he said in his word. Legalism often makes greater sinners than saints. Oftentimes, if not every single time. And the folly of this pseudo spirituality is that it demands people's energy and strength on the wrong things. See, instead of being a person who's seeking the Holy Spirit to change you from the inside out, legalism is satisfied with the externals.

It's satisfied with you presenting yourself in a certain way, looking in a certain way, doing certain things and not certain things in a certain way, and that's it. There's no reality of the internal spiritual life. Nothing about what the Bible says. It's an emphasis on externals and man made traditions. And guess what that does?

Here's the fruit of it. It makes greater sinners. Why does legalism lead people to be hypocritical? Why does it lead people even into darker sins? I'm telling you, there are strange stories of men who have made great, great, great lengths to put people in bondage in the name of pursuing holiness and keeping people from sin.

And in a few years, you come to find out that they have the most perverse secret hidden life than you can even imagine. And I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why that is. Sometimes people do it with a a good intention. They actually think that extra rules on top of gods will keep people from sin and will maintain holiness.

But whether you have good intentions or not, one of the main reasons why it fails is because it causes people to despair. It's an unrealistic standard that is set. And listen, the Holy Spirit has been given to us to obey God's commands. And when you add to God's commands, you are left with your human strength. And when you're left to your human strength, you know what happens.

You will fail and I will fail. And that's what happens to so many people who are under that kind of teaching. And Jesus even said it himself. Jesus was more severe against legalism than adultery. And this is what he said to the Pharisees or about the Pharisees.

In Matthew twenty three four, they tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. That is the essence of legalism, especially from a spiritual leadership standpoint. They put heavy burdens on the people, right, for whatever reason. And it's so overwhelming to the people. But look at this.

Those people who applied those standards don't even live by them themselves. That's the sick reality of legalism. That's often the case. So they'll preach, your shirt shouldn't be that long. Your pants shouldn't be that short.

You shouldn't do this. You shouldn't do that. You shouldn't do this. Now I'm not talking about modesty. There is a place for modesty.

I'm talking about above and beyond. I'm talking about extreme stand I'm talking about the number of buttons and the color of your shirts. That's what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about modesty here. And this and that and your hair should be worn like this and not want all that stuff, and then they themselves don't they don't live out those same standards.

And Jesus says they put these heavy burdens on others, sometimes even, if not often, in the pursuit of salvation, but oftentimes it's in the form of sanctification. And they themselves don't even lift it with a finger. They make up the rules. They don't live by the rules, and that is the spirit of legalism. It is the opposite of the spirit of Jesus Christ in the gospel.

Because Jesus says, my yoke is what? Easy. And my burden is what? Light. My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

You know, a yoke is an instrument that you place on one animal and another animal fits in another slot, and they push something together. And Jesus says, my yoke is easy. Take my yoke upon you. In other words, join with me. I will be with you in this, and I will be your partner in the will of God.

I will push with you. I will strengthen you. I will be by your side. And that's the difference. That's the difference.

The Holy Spirit comes in, and he energizes you to obey the will of God, and you do so with joy and with pleasure and with great grace. Legalism doesn't offer that. Because it's human wisdom, you're gonna rely on human strength. When you come to God's wisdom, you will know God's strength. And then you might be thinking as you're hearing this, well, look.

This might encourage people to be very free and liberated to invite worldliness, and I would say, no. Not if they have a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Not if they have a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Because there are things that God prohibits. There are things that God says yes and no.

Black and white. But there's also this realm called the gray area. And the bible is so clear that this gray area requires your personal relationship with the Holy Spirit to navigate through. Paul made it so clear, and I'm gonna give you a verse. He speaks about this principle in Romans, and what he says in Romans is quite telling.

He says in Romans 14 verse five, one person's esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Now look at this. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. See, legalism doesn't do that. Legalism says this.

I, for example, I have a conviction. It's not black and white in the Bible. It's my conviction, and I'm gonna make my conviction your conviction. I'm gonna make what I believe is necessary for holiness, though it's not clear in the scriptures, it's my own conscience, and I'm gonna apply it to all of you and you better submit to it. And if you don't submit to it, you're in sin.

Would Paul agree with such a thing? No. He says each one should be fully convinced in his own mind between you, God, and your conscience to determine, unless it's clearly wrong in the scriptures, what it is you need to do about these things. And we can have a whole bible study just on this issue because now look what it goes beyond. He goes, but if your conviction if you feel like, well, it's not really wrong to me.

But if it makes your brother stumble in the name of love, you put that aside for the sake of your brother. Christianity is not so black and white. It requires what? We talked about it early in the study. What was that word?

Oh, yeah. Wisdom. Wisdom. Wisdom. And here we see that there is a lack of wisdom on Saul's part.

And what did it do? It caused the people to sin against God. It caused the people to go further into darkness. Grace does the opposite. When the Holy Spirit listen, when the Holy Spirit really does a work in your heart, it's amazing what kind of decisions you'll make.

When I first got saved, nobody had to tell me to go to my laptop and delete all the junky worldly music off my list. Nobody had to tell me. Nobody had to go up and be like, if you're a true Christian, this is the type of genre of music you can only listen to. Nobody had to do that. I was so touched by the presence of the Holy Spirit that I wanted nothing in my life to defile it.

I wanted nothing in my life to grieve him. And so with joy and with grace and with no sense of burden, I said, see you later, junkie music. You're not gonna be in my ear anymore. Right? That is what the Holy Spirit does.

When you come to his word, when you absorb his standards, when you have a prayer life, you'd be amazed to know what he'll lead you into, what he'll lead you out of. And that is where true success spiritually is. That is where true holiness is formed. Because if you do things like Saul, you're gonna launch people in the other direction. The Holy Spirit has to be the one that convinces a person's heart when it comes to matters that are not so clear in the scriptures.

Does that make sense in this place tonight? I hope so. Saul looks at these people. He hears the news, and he says, you have dealt treacherously. Look what he says here in verse 33.

You have dealt treacherously. Roll a great stone to me here. Oh, this man. I'm just trying to understand here for So he sees these men, ribs sticking out. That's an exaggeration, but an illustration of being totally just in a place of exhaustion, starving.

And then he looks at them acting a fool and creating a disaster and he goes, you, you're dealing treacherously with no sense of responsibility. Not realizing, hey, it was your oath that caused him to do this. And again, we're seeing the same thing that we learned last week. This man fails to take responsibility. There is such a lack of humility that even when he's in the wrong, he won't acknowledge it.

He won't even bring credit. He He won't involve himself at all in anything that is clearly going in the wrong direction. You can't last long in God's kingdom that way. You have dealt treacherously. And so he says what?

Roll a great stone. Verse 34, and Saul said disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, let every man bring his ox or his sheep and slaughter them here and eat, and do not sin against the Lord by eating with the blood. So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night and they slaughtered them there, and Saul built an altar to the Lord. It was the first altar that he had built to the Lord. So Saul's trying to to make all this wrong right.

And so, he gets him there, they have their bellies full and he's still energized, he's still motivated to go ahead and to pursue the enemy. So what does he say in the next verse? Then Saul said, let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the morning light. Let us not leave a man of them. And they said, do whatever seems good to you.

But the priest said, let us draw near to God here. Interesting. So Saul here is he realizes, okay, the people are energized again, they had their fill, let's go, let's move forward. And he's he's again working in that angst, right, that we've seen earlier. He he's now like, let's just move on here.

Let's not stay. Let's let's take advantage of this. And the people says, alright, whatever you say. And then the priest interferes and says, hold up. Let's seek God first.

Let's stop, pause. Before we move forward, let's inquire of the Lord. Convinces Saul. Verse 37, and Saul inquired of God, shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?

But he did not answer him that day. So Saul is willing. He has his plan set, but he wants to get God's approval. He pauses, he looks to the heavens, and through the authority of the priest, they inquire of the Lord. They said, okay Lord, what do we do?

Move forward? Do we go ahead? And there's a silence from the heavens. Nothing. Now we have to read that carefully.

Look at the last two words, but he did not answer him what that day. It's not that God didn't want to give him an answer. It's not that God was holding back instruction and guidance. God was planning to. God was willing to.

God was able to. But Saul, as we're about to find out, did not have the patience to wait on the Lord. Again, we're seeing what we learned last week. Remember when he called the ark forward and he asked the priest to inquire of God, and then he hears the commotion and the chaos in the camps of the Philistines, and he's so nervous, he's so torn between the two, he wants to take advantage of the opportunity that he tells the priest, withdraw your hand. Withdraw your hand.

And now here he is, he's inquiring of God and God is not answering in the timing that he desires. We are getting a very strong impression that between God and Saul, Saul is really the one who thinks he's Lord. When he inquires of the Lord and it's not in his timing and not in his favor, he says, I'll talk to God later. When he wants to talk to God and God doesn't answer in his timing, he goes, look, I'm gonna move forward with God without God. And so here's what we have to understand, there are people that relate to the Lord in such a way as well.

The Lord is the one who is following me. I'm not the one following him. And if God doesn't bless what I want him to bless and he doesn't speak when I want him to speak and he doesn't move when I want him to move, then I'm gonna go on without him. And that is not what it means to have Jesus Christ as Lord over our lives. There is a willingness to wait on the Lord, to seek the Lord, to obey the Lord.

And Saul here is just digging himself deeper. It's only gonna be one more chapter until we see this man finally fall to his face and crash in a way that will not be recoverable. So he doesn't wait on the Lord. In fact, he goes beyond that. This is what he does.

God doesn't answer in this specific timing that he wants and he assumes that it's somebody else's fault. That's what he does. Right? Verse 38, and Saul said, come here all you leaders of the people and know and see how this sin has arisen today. For as the Lord lives who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die.

But there was not a man among the people who answered him. So he's with the priest. Imagine this. Visualize this. These guys are probably sitting down rubbing their bellies after a buffet.

And Saul hears with the priest and he says, okay, let's inquire God. Lord, shall we pursue the Philistines? Lord, what's going on? He's supposed to speak. You have the Urim, you have the Thummim, we're not getting any answers.

What's happening here? And then it dawns on him, he made an oath. Surely somebody grieved God by disobeying his oath and so he turns to the leaders, he calls them and now he's about to make another oath. He's so frustrated that things are not going in his way, that he's ready to now pin it on someone else, and that's exactly what he's about to do. And he is so irritated that even if the fault was found in Jonathan, his own son, he was willing to slice his neck.

He was willing to destroy his own offspring. The one who is apparently going to take over his stone, he's willing to destroy him. And that just teaches us not only what kind of a leader he was, but what kind of a father he was. I want you to think about this. Think about a man, a few bible studies ago, actually many weeks ago, where he made a vow.

He made a foolish vow that would cost his offspring's life. And upon realizing it, what did he do? Well, first who am I talking about? Somebody said it, Jephthah. Jephthah made that vow that would cost his daughter's life.

Whoever is the first one to come out of my house and greet me upon my return, I will sacrifice to the Lord. And the daughter comes out, and when his daughter comes out, I want you to hear the words of this man when he realized what his oath led him to. In Judges eleven thirty five, he tore his clothes and said, alas my daughter, you've brought me very low and you have become the cause of great trouble for me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord and I cannot take back my vow. Keep that in mind when you realize that Jonathan is going to be revealed as the one who did break Saul's oath and you're gonna see polar opposites of reactions.

Here's a man that's broken. Here's a man that's broken for his foolishness. And what's Saul doing? He's trying to save face. You're gonna see that when his son is the one that's exposed, Saul is still even willing to move forward to try to show everybody just how spiritual he is.

So he says, even if it's Jonathan my son, I will kill him. Look at verse 34 31, excuse me, 41. Therefore, Saul said, oh Lord God of Israel, why have you not answered your servant this day? Is this guilt is in me or in Jonathan my son, oh Lord God of Israel? Give Urim.

But if the guilt is in your people of Israel, give Thummim. Remember, these things, this Urim and Thummim were kind of like dice. Kind of like dice that the priest would use to try to determine God's will. It was almost like a yes and no thing. And so this was applicable then.

We have the Holy Spirit now. Lots are not cast anymore to determine God's will because of Acts chapter two. The last use of lots was when they determine who would be the replacement for Judas. Right? Remember that?

They cast lots to see who's gonna replace Judas. After that, acts two, the Holy Spirit came, there's not one mention of casting lots because we have the indwelling, because of the indwelling of the spirit. So they cast lots, now what happens? And Jonathan and Saul were taken, but the people escaped. 42, then Saul said, cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan, and Jonathan was taken.

I have a question and I'm wondering how you're gonna answer it tonight. We all agree, we just spent most of our time here determining that Saul's vow was foolish, without justification, rash. If that is the case, why is God clearly guiding people, clearly guiding Saul to expose Jonathan as though Jonathan eating the honey was the reason why he did not answer Saul upon his request. Do you understand my question? How does this work?

If what Saul did was wrong, it wasn't guided by the Lord, then why is he compliant, almost affirming that yes, what Saul thought was to be true is true. God is actually saying I am agreeing with Saul here or is he? Does anybody have a reason or an idea why this is happening? Very good answer. Did you hear the answer?

It wasn't as much as affirming what Saul believed about his vow. It was about exposing him about his vow. God was gonna use this moment to bring Jonathan forth to actually humble Saul, to reveal to Saul just how ridiculous his vow actually was. So God is going along with it, not so that Saul could have his way and prove himself, but the opposite to actually show Saul that he was in the wrong from the beginning. And you're gonna see how that's the case right here.

Verse 40, we read it, and then we read here in verse 43, then Saul said to Jonathan, tell me what you have done. And Jonathan told him, I tasted a little honey with the tip of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am. I will die. And Saul said, God do so to me and more also.

You shall surely die, Jonathan. Now this is incredible because when Saul discovers that it was his son, Jonathan, you would think as a father, just like Jephthah, you would be reluctant, you'd be broken, You would rip your garments, or at least you would do this. At least you would do this, investigate. Right? You would at least investigate to figure out what?

That Jonathan didn't hear the oath. He didn't even hear it. So how could he be condemned for it? But instead, he's willing to move forward because he's lacking something that we we talked about earlier. Oh, yeah.

He lacks wisdom. He lacks wisdom. Wisdom asks questions. Wisdom doesn't make quick decisions based on emotion or opportunity to to look like something or someone. Wisdom pauses.

Wisdom is silent, and wisdom calculates before making big decisions such as taking somebody's life. He doesn't have wisdom, and so he says, you're actually gonna die. I'm gonna kill you right here like we just slaughtered those ox. And it's really revealing his foolishness. And by the way, by the way, this is a a a very faint picture of Jesus.

Here is a son willing to die for a wrong that he did not commit, but not by an unrighteous father, by a righteous father. By a righteous father whose word has been broken. Jonathan volunteers himself to die. You know what's amazing? Jonathan doesn't defend himself.

Did you notice that? He's like, yeah, I tasted a little bit of honey. So you want me to go on the same rock that you killed the ox with? And I'm wondering why? Is he being sarcastic?

Or two, does he so know his father that he's such an unreasonable person that to argue for yourself would not even lead you one step closer to being liberated. So let's just get this over with. I think that's the case. Yeah, I had a little bit of honey. Let it be known that Saul killed his son because he had a lollipop to quench his hunger.

But it goes further than that. Notice what happens here in verse 45. Then the people said to Saul, shall Jonathan die who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it, as the Lord lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground for he has worked with God this day so the people ransomed Jonathan so that he did not die. This is unbelievable.

Wow. So Jonathan's there and the people earlier, when when Saul said, we're gonna find out who did this. Even if it's Jonathan, my son, he's a dead man. And then it says that no one spoke a word. You can just imagine the tension in the air because the men knew that that Jonathan had some honey earlier.

No one spoke up. When they realized that the man was willing to kill his own son, they stepped into his defense. You know what that means? They stood up to Saul's authority. They corrected Saul.

They rejected Saul in favor for Jonathan. Look at this. If Saul, and most likely he was, was trying to fish out some kind of acknowledgment and praise from his people to be the spiritual man. Oh, did you hear about Saul? Saul was even willing.

Saul actually killed Jonathan because he ate honey because his vow. He's a man of his word. That's what he was looking for. And the praise that he was searching from the people of Israel actually went back to Jonathan anyway. Just think about that.

The very thing that he was trying to get for himself that he did back in chapter thirteen and fourteen. The very thing that he was trying to with great zeal and even willing to throw his son on the bus, all that now even turns back on him again. You can imagine just him standing there just flushed in his face like, is this actually really happening? Which brings us to another point about honey. Because honey is often used as an illustration of the word of God, but there's another proverb that speaks about honey that applies to Saul in this moment.

In Proverbs twenty five twenty seven, the same chapter that we learned about those other qualities of wisdom. Look what it says here, twenty five twenty seven, it is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one's own glory. Honey here is not used as a good thing. Honey is a good thing, but the principle here is overindulgence. Eating too much of something, taking something good and abusing it.

But there's a parallel here, and I believe this is the parallel, that the same effects that you would have on your body by eating too much of something is the same effects that you will have on yourself if you're a person that seeks his own glory. In other words, if you eat a lot of honey, you're gonna do yourself some harm. And the same thing happens when you're a person that seeks his own glory. You're only gonna hurt yourself if you do it. If you pursue the pleasure of being loved and cherished and adored and exalted, just like you, stuffing your face with something as sweet as honey, to its extreme will actually make you nauseated.

So will be for those who seek for vain glory for themselves. And Saul here in pursuit of his own glory is just hurting himself more and more. He's harming himself more and more. Because when you are a person that seeks for what only belongs to God, you will only bury yourself deeper and deeper and deeper. That's exactly what's happening to this man.

And I wanna end with this thought. You would wonder what what will Saul do? Imagine, there's 600 men and they all stand up to you and they pull Jonathan out of your sight. I believe in part, God used this moment not just to humiliate Saul, but to humble him. And I believe because of the character of God that we see from cover to cover, God was searching for this man to respond to this moment of great embarrassment only to be molded into a greater person.

You know, I read this and I thought, if I were in Saul's shoes, I would probably run after God like Solomon did and beg for wisdom because I know that I can govern God's people. Solomon knew right away, I am but a little child to govern this great people. Lord, you better give me something to work with here or else I'm finished and they're finished under my leadership. And you would hope that after Saul experienced such a great humiliation, that he would step back, go into that same forest where the honey was and to get on his knees and say, God Almighty, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm making these vows left, right and center.

I was willing to kill my own son. 600 people are all on unanimous decision saying, you're wrong Saul. So Lord, I'm humbled, I'm broken, I'm coming before you change me. Nothing of the sort. Verse 46, then Saul went up from pursuing the Philistines and the Philistines went their own place.

That's it. He just shut his mouth, he realized that he's outnumbered and he says, whatever, and he just moves on. And this is the point that I wanna close with tonight. Never forget that our own failures in the Christian life are invitations to grow in greater ways for God's glory. I wanna encourage you that failure, no matter how great it is, no no matter how embarrassing it is, no matter how much people know about that failure, it is not the place where you will finish if you realize it, humble yourself and seek Christ as a response to your own mistake.

You and I might have seasons where we're failing like Saul. We have we might have moments where we will fall in a way where just like, I can't believe I said that out loud. I can't believe I I made that decision. I can't believe people heard about what happened. That might happen in your life, very likely.

And that's not prophetic, that's just human nature. But when you do and if you do, remember, as crushing as those moments are, Jesus is not finished with you. The Lord will use even such a failure as that in a redemptive way if you allow him to. Satan is waiting right there to convince you otherwise. He might do what he did to Saul and convince you that you were never wrong even though you were blatantly wrong, or he might so overwhelm you with sorrow that you never feel worthy enough to step forward in the will and the purposes of your king ever again.

You might want proof for that and I'll show you. I'll show you in a place where the one of the greatest failures in all of the Bible was demonstrated by one of the closest people to Jesus. A man that denied Jesus three times. A grown man couldn't stand up to a little teenager girl who said, you're you are you sure you're not one of them? He's like, nope.

And he starts cursing at one point. That kind of a person. Not only did he deny Jesus, he did denied Jesus with swear words. But before all of this happened, Jesus sat down with his disciples and Peter was boasting in his faithfulness to Christ. And Jesus with his wisdom and his love looks into those fiery eyes of Peter.

And Luke twenty two thirty two, and I'm closing here, but I've prayed for you. Jesus says, but I've prayed for you that your faith may not fail. Now look at this, and when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. If he had stopped at your faith may not fail, I would say, Lord, you are a gracious master. There is no one like you.

You pray for Peter knowing his failure in advance and you ask the father that no matter how bad he falters, that his faith would not be ultimately consumed by Satan. Wow. Lord, if you pray for Peter, surely you pray for me, and he does according to Hebrews. But he goes beyond that. He goes, and when you turn again, I have a ministry ready for you.

When you fail, I want people to realize my mercy towards you so that you can tell them about my mercy that's preserved and ready for them to experience. When you fail, I want you to go and tell the church about how the evil one is like a roaring lion that prowls around seeking someone to devour, so that you can warn them in advance that they may not fail either. See, Jesus doesn't just forgive, he restores. And he doesn't just restore you as a restored soul, he uses you to restore others. But what does it require in our failure?

What does it require of us when we fall, even if it's a great fall, even if it's a even if it's a humiliating fall? Turn again. That was an automatic. Peter had to make a choice. God had a plan for him.

There was a restoring plan, there was a redemptive plan, there was a sanctifying plan and there was a ministry plan ready for Peter. But Peter had to do something and it happened at the end of the book of John. That when he saw his savior at the shore, he jumped out of that boat with such excitement and zeal, came and he saw a charcoal fire and that charcoal fire would have reminded him, according to John earlier, of the charcoal fire where he denied Christ. Because Jesus doesn't sweep our sin underneath the rug. He wants us to deal with it.

And he brings it towards us, not to condemn us, but he has a feast ready. He wants to fellowship even over the matter. Let's talk about your failure. Do you love me? Yes, Lord.

I love you. Of course, I love you. Feed my sheep. Do you love me? Yes, Lord.

Of course. Feed my lambs. Do you love me? And he's grieved. I mean, you know all things.

You know that I love you. Then feed my sheep. And then he tells Simon Peter, follow me. And that's what he was saying earlier. When you turn again, I'm calling you to strengthen your brothers.

That is why Satan, listen carefully, that is why Satan is so vicious towards believers when they fail. Because he knows if this person believes Jesus enough, God is gonna use them again. And I can't afford for this person who's experienced the mercy of God to get back up for the Lord to empower him and then use him to bless others. So I'm gonna keep him in that place of condemnation and self loathing shame so that the Lord Jesus would not recruit this one and keep him there until he gives his final breath. And there are people like that that are wasting their Christianity because Satan knows the mercy of Jesus better than a lot of believers do.

Satan realizes what a weapon you will be, not when you don't fail, but even after you fail. So he lies and he lies and he whispers to you. When when the noise settles down and you lay down on your bed at night and there's no volume, there's no phone, there's no YouTube, there's not just you and your thoughts, you hear those those lies. You're a failure. Look how disgusting your past is.

You think God is gonna use someone like you? What's gonna happen if if everybody finds out what you did those those many years ago? You think God is gonna actually have a plan for you? Oh, oh, he might let you come to church, but he'll no. No.

No. No. No. Peter committed a sin so grievous that Jesus says, if you deny me before men, I will deny you before my father. Jesus didn't say that about pornography.

Jesus didn't say that about murder. Jesus said that about denying Christ with your mouth publicly. And Peter did it thrice. And even after such a grievous sin pounded in more than once, Jesus still said, when you turn, strengthen your brothers. I'm not done with you, Peter.

I don't only just pray for you to be preserved from your faith being swallowed up. I've prayed and I've prepared that your faith would bless the church of Jesus Christ. You can't run from his mercy unless you deliberately run from his mercy. But if you just plant your feet and you turn, I can guarantee you that just like the prodigal son, you will be embraced in a way that you never thought. Saul didn't see it that way.

He wasn't crushed to the point where he couldn't see God using him and prolonging his kingdom. No. He didn't even see that he was wrong in the first place. And today, I wanna end with that point with many warnings that have been offered even throughout this bible study. Let's end in the place of mercy and grace.

No matter what you've done tonight, no matter what you did ten years ago, no matter how shameful, how dark, how perverse, how ugly it is, Jesus is not just ready to forgive you. He's ready to use you. All you have to do is turn and say, Lord, I submit to that truth, then he'll do it. That is the master that we serve. Can we talk to him as a result of him talking to us?

Heavenly father, much was said today. Much was said about wisdom, practical wisdom, spiritual wisdom. Much was said about how we have to respond to certain people and and their authority. We learned about legalism and how it's human wisdom and not yours. May we learn about your mercy somehow.

That when you expose sin, it's not just to discipline us, it's to win us back to you. Lord, in this place tonight, only you know, only you know the depths of our depravity. But Lord, help us when we we are crippled by the thoughts of our past or even in things that we are in right now where we can't even imagine people knowing and you forgiving. Lord, help us defeat those lies with the truth that you are ready to heal us so that we can be instruments of healing to others. That you are willing to restore us so that people can see, oh, God is a God of restoration.

Lord, we don't take that truth to place ourselves in a campaign of sin. But Lord, through our honest failures, help us rest in your mercy. Lord, only you know. And what we have to say from the study has been said, we trust that your Spirit will work in our hearts. And Lord, we just wanna, we just wanna rest in your grace tonight.

We just wanna rest and rejoice that you're a God who prays for us, and that you're a God who sees our failures in advance. But you're also a God who knows all that and takes it into consideration and but still wants to use us to be your ambassadors. We can't we can't even compare you to anyone else, Lord. So we just worship you. Help us do that tonight.

Jesus' name. Amen.