WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.080 So, yeah, we're back in uh 1st and 2 Samuel, walking through. 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:08.880 We were there before Lent, I think, a couple months ago. 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:21.920 Then we saw that God's people had cried out to have a king like the other nations, and Yahweh had acquiesced to that desire, that request, and he gave them a man named Saul. 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:29.679 Over the next five chapters that we're gonna kind of do an overview this morning, we see the rise and fall of King Saul. 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:44.079 And this is a great study on the human tendency, the heart, the tendency of the human heart to reach for idols, something other than God that can protect us, give us hope, give us a sense of safety. 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:55.679 Saul's story sets us up for the lesson that will come at the anointing of David next chapter: that man looks at the exterior appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 00:00:56.079 --> 00:00:58.880 Let's jump back into verse chapter 12. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:00.880 Bless you. 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:12.879 And the Lord sent Jerubabel and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety. 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:21.680 And when you saw that Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, came against you, you said to me, No, but a king shall reign over us. 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:24.400 When the Lord your God was your king. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:32.480 Now behold, the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked, behold, the Lord has set a king over you. 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:34.400 Brings us to our first point. 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:38.560 The fallen human heart is an idol factory. 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:50.560 If you're familiar with John Calvin, the famous Reformed theologian, this was his kind of famous quote, that the fallen human heart, it's like it's literally a factory that's just pumping out idols constantly. 00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:53.359 The human heart can make an idol out of anything. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:58.879 I defy you to come up with something that can't be an idol of the heart. 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:18.719 Saul has already been anointed as king over Israel, and Samuel, as God's prophet and also the last judge over Israel, as he's fading into the background, he wants to give Israel one last warning against the tendency of our hearts to cling to something we feel we can control. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:23.360 In chapter 12, chapter 12 is like Samuel's goodbye speech. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:44.159 God's people get into trouble. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:44.879 Point one. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:47.039 Point two, they cry out to the Lord. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:49.280 Point three, the Lord rescues them. 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:51.599 Point four, the people rejoice. 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:54.719 Point five, the people forget the Lord. 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:59.439 And then we just rinse and repeat over and over and over again. 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:06.639 But Samuel isn't making the point that I would make about Israel's failure, right? 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:11.360 When I look at this, I think, man, Israel, you stink. 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:17.520 I mean, how often does the Lord come and rescue you from yourself, your own blindness? 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:25.199 But Samuel's point is not to point them to their failure, but to point them to the Lord's faithfulness. 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:27.360 God was Israel's king. 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:30.479 He had shown himself faithful again and again and again. 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:34.719 What he wants to emphasize is point three, the very central point. 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:35.919 There it is. 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:43.280 No matter how often, Israel, you forget the Lord, you fall into sin, you walk away. 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:46.960 The Lord has been faithful as your king. 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:50.960 To provide, to rescue, to love. 00:03:51.759 --> 00:04:01.039 And yet, when the people of Israel saw the other nations and that they had a human king who led them, they thought, that's what we need. 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:04.479 And Samuel's response is understandable. 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:06.000 He is dumbfounded. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:09.039 Why, why, O people of God? 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:11.120 God has never let you down. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:14.000 But you see, the people want something tangible. 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:25.519 They want someone they can see and touch and hear, something they could possibly manipulate, something they could possibly control, something that God will never be. 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:28.560 In other words, they want an idol. 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:34.160 They want a source of hope and rescue other than God. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:38.319 Let's continue in chapter 12. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:50.720 And all the people said to Samuel, Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king. 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:54.079 And Samuel said to the people, Do not be afraid. 00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:55.759 You have done this evil. 00:04:55.920 --> 00:05:00.639 Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:06.959 Do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:17.120 For the Lord your God will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:22.240 Point two is that our God is gracious to forgive us our sins. 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:29.680 Miraculously, Samuel's sermon worked every pastor's dream. 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:34.319 The people are cut to the heart and they repent. 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:38.079 And they ask Samuel to intercede on their behalf before the Lord. 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:43.920 Pray for us so that the Lord's wrath does not pour out on us. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:48.720 And here we see the gracious heart of God. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:51.360 Samuel doesn't rub it in their face. 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:55.279 Samuel doesn't say, shame on you. 00:05:55.759 --> 00:05:58.480 He says, Don't be afraid. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:01.839 For the Lord your God has chosen you. 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:06.560 He has already forgiven you. 00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:23.759 People mistakenly often see, and maybe you fall into this category, I hear this all the time from lots of different people inside and outside the church, but tend to see the God of the Old Testament as angry and wrathful, but the God of the New Testament as gracious and loving. 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:28.160 But that actually couldn't be farther from the truth. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:35.519 You see, what we see in the Old Testament is we get this long view over years and decades and centuries. 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:39.040 We get to see the history of God's people. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.399 God's people over time and the repeated pattern of sin and redemption. 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:57.680 And it's actually easier for me to see my life mapped onto the history of Israel than it is sometimes in the New Testament as the Messiah has come and God's new church is being birthed and unfolding. 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:05.199 More often than not, my life looks like the history of Israel of repeated rescues from God. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:09.120 Oh my gosh, I can't, God has met me, He has delivered me. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:15.360 Man, 30 times in my life I've recorded God's faithfulness and deliverance. 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:18.000 But here comes that 31st time. 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:20.800 Is he gonna come through? 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:24.000 Will he be faithful this time? 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:28.959 It's the very pattern we see taught in the New Testament. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:35.120 As John writes, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:44.560 But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:46.079 Amen? 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:47.920 Amen? 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:49.279 That's right. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:51.680 Okay, here we go, into chapter 13. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:56.959 He saw waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:01.439 But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:08.319 So Saul said, Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings, and he offered the burnt offerings. 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:13.439 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offerings, behold, Samuel came. 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:15.439 Now isn't that always the way? 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:19.920 And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:22.480 Samuel said, What have you done? 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:39.200 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 Philistines had mustered at Mi'mash, I said, Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord. 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:42.960 So I forced myself and offered the burnt offerings. 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:47.840 Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:53.519 You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:02.399 Point three, our greatest sin is not believing that we are loved by God in Christ. 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:06.399 Saul finds himself in a bit of a pickle. 00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:13.200 He and Samuel had a prearranged plan given to them by the Lord. 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:25.759 This uh, they Saul was to go down to the battleground and to wait seven days, and then uh Samuel would come and make the offering, the burnt offering, and then the battle would ensue. 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:30.639 But Samuel was late in Saul's view. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:33.279 And the people of Israel began to scatter. 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:35.919 They were getting nervous, they were getting bored, whatever. 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:38.320 We've been here seven days, how long is this gonna take? 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:41.440 I've got stuff at home to take care of. 00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:43.679 He was losing his army. 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:47.360 How can I win a battle if I have no army? 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.159 It's a pretty practical question. 00:09:50.799 --> 00:10:01.039 I don't know about you, but I feel a lot of compassion for Saul in this passage, and maybe it's less compassion for Saul as compassion for myself. 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:07.120 Because I see myself so clearly in his response. 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:16.799 How often do I take matters into my own hands when it seems like the Lord won't show up in time? 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:24.639 How often do I take matters into my own hands because I think I have a better perspective? 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:31.120 I'm on the ground level, I can I can see the angles God, He's pretty busy doing other things. 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:35.600 How often do I tell God what He should be doing through my prayers? 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:41.840 Rather than simply crying out to the Lord and trusting him to know how to answer. 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:48.320 Beloved, where are you currently being tempted to believe that God is late? 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:53.440 Or that you need to twist his arm to get what you need. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:10:57.200 You see, here's the problem. 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:01.440 In verse 12, Saul admits what was going on in his heart. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:02.399 He's very open. 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:10.320 When he saw that the people were scattering and that the Philistines were mustering their strength, he said to himself, Now the Philistines will come down against me. 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:14.240 And I have not sought the favor of the Lord. 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:30.720 You see, Saul believed that if he didn't offer these sacrifices, he saw Yahweh, Israel's God, like all the other pagan gods, who need to be convinced, who need to be bought off, who need to be persuaded. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:40.480 And so he said, if I don't do this now, I can't trust in the Lord's promise because this may slip away from me and I may not get what I want. 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:44.000 Disaster can ensue for me, for God's people. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:46.000 We have so many excuses. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:51.519 And so Saul did what we often do. 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:56.720 He he wanted to make sure, he wanted to do something to gain the favor of God. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:03.120 But he forgot, or he never learned, that he already had God's favor. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:12.559 He was a people of God's own choosing, and he was anointed king over Israel. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:19.279 It was Saul's lack of faith that God already loved him that led him to sin. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:31.440 And beloved, I believe that the root of all sin is our lack of belief that God loves us and so is trustworthy. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:33.600 All our sins flow out of this. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:35.679 Why do we run to idols? 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:37.200 Why do we take control? 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:42.320 Why do we break God's commands? 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:45.919 Because we don't think that they're gonna come through for us. 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:56.639 We don't actually believe that God is our Father, that Jesus has died for all of our sins, and that He will provide for all of our needs. 00:12:56.879 --> 00:13:00.720 And so we have to make the way ourselves. 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:06.000 I love this quote from Henry Nowen, and I read it almost every day, and I commend it to you. 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:18.960 My true spiritual work is to let myself be loved fully and completely, and to trust that in that love I will come to the fulfillment of my vocation. 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:29.600 And so I keep trying to bring my wandering, restless, anxious self home so that I can rest there in the embrace of love. 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:46.799 Beloved, if you are in Christ by faith, you are a beloved son or daughter of God, and he wants you to know more than anything else in the world that he loves you, that he is with you. 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:49.039 He is not disappointed in you. 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:55.840 Now, in chapter 15, we come to the last straw for Saul. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:59.919 The Lord has commanded him to wage war against the Amalekites. 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:03.600 God says, I'm ready to pour out judgment on these people. 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:12.799 For when my people Israel were fleeing slavery in Egypt, the Amalekites took advantage of them, fought against them. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:22.320 And so part of that command to Saul was something called harem warfare, or to devote this whole people to destruction. 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:34.480 What that means is they were to leave no one alive, no human, no cattle, no livestock, and not to take any treasure from the battle. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:37.679 But when Samuel, the prophet, arrives, this is what he finds. 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:44.080 He says, What then is this bleeding of sheep in my ears and the lowing of oxen that I hear? 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:53.360 Saul said, They, they have brought them from the Amalekites, and for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice it to the Lord. 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:56.159 The rest was devoted to destruction. 00:14:56.799 --> 00:14:57.679 Point four. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:02.240 Obedience is better than sacrifice. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:04.960 You see, Saul disobeyed the Lord. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:07.759 This is Saul disobeying the Lord for the last time. 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:12.559 Little allowances here and there, excuses continued to accumulate. 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:20.639 Saul blames the people for his own unfaithfulness while seeking to claim that he is remaining faithful himself. 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:23.759 And Samuel is having none of it. 00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:27.919 Now, two fascinating truths come out of this passage. 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:31.519 First is what Samuel says to Saul in verse 17. 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:38.559 He says this Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not head of the tribes of Israel? 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:43.279 The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:48.639 You see, Samuel sees into Saul's heart and he exposes what we said before. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:54.559 Saul didn't think too highly of himself, he thought too lowly of himself. 00:15:54.720 --> 00:16:03.440 He was little in his own eyes, and so he feared the people rather than fearing the Lord. 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:06.480 And beloved, the same is true for us. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:08.240 We often fear other people. 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:15.440 We give in to sin, not because we think too highly of ourselves, but because we see ourselves too lowly. 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:36.399 If we would embrace the fact of God's love for us, unconditional, never-ending, conquering love, and the fact that we are his anointed, beloved sons and daughters, we would have great power to fight sin, to speak truth, to love our enemies. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:42.240 And that's exactly what Samuel is calling Saul back to, his God-given identity. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:47.279 He says, The Lord has anointed you king over Israel. 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:49.919 Yet you live like a slave to the people. 00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:57.840 How often do we, beloved, live as slaves to our sin rather than free sons and daughters, for that is who we are. 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:07.599 Second, Samuel says this has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:14.240 Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:26.559 You see, Saul is exhibiting the tendency of all of our hearts to have our outer exterior, our outsides look holy while our insides are far from the Lord. 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:29.039 This is easy to do in the South, right? 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:29.759 What do we do? 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:30.559 We go to church. 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:31.200 What do we do? 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:32.240 We get cleaned up. 00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:33.039 What do we do? 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:34.160 We look good. 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:37.839 That's what Russ was referring to earlier. 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:40.559 We look good on the outside. 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:46.160 Jesus spoke out against the Pharisees about this very point. 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:53.119 He said, You're whitewashed tombs, you look great on the inside outside, but on the inside you're full of death. 00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:57.279 We could paraphrase this that the Lord wants our hearts. 00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:02.640 The Lord longs for us to love him, to receive his love. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:16.000 And sure, he dotes over us, he loves us as a parent, loves a child, but he could care less what we look like on the outside if we aren't healthy and spiritually strong on the inside. 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:19.200 Again, this is what we'll hear next chapter. 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:22.880 Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:28.880 Beloved, the Lord loves you, and more than anything, he wants your love in return. 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:33.599 But the only way to get there is to receive his love first. 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:44.000 The rise and fall of Saul teaches us many things about the heart of God and the idle, loving nature of our fallen hearts. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:49.039 Because of sin, we continue to distrust our good God. 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:57.759 Now, the Lord is about to take the kingdom away from Saul, and he'll anoint another, a man after God's own heart, David. 00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:02.240 But if you read the story of David, you know that David also fell short. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:08.799 And so Saul and David both point us to a future and a better king, King Jesus. 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:14.960 Where Saul and David and we fail, King Jesus succeeded. 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:20.000 He is the embodiment, literally the enfleshed love of God for us. 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:25.279 And so when we put our faith in him, we become sons and daughters of God. 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:28.000 He is the one who will never let us down. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:32.640 It is on him on whom we place our faith. 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:34.000 Let's pray. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:41.920 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, thank you that you love us far better than we deserve. 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:44.160 Far more than we understand. 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:52.000 Lord, what we ask is that we would understand how high and wide and long and deep is your love for us in Christ Jesus. 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:54.240 That is enough for us. 00:19:54.559 --> 00:19:56.799 I pray and ask this in Jesus' name. 00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:57.599 Amen.