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Saul's failure was that he did not truly believe what God had said of him.

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He was small in his own eyes, and yet God had made him the anointed of Israel.

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God had given him his spirit.

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Saul needed to act in accordance with his calling.

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So too, we must believe what God has said of us and act accordingly.

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The following message was recorded at King's Tree Church.

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May the Spirit use it to help you see, savor,

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And seeing the beauty of God in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.

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I'm really excited to get back into Samuel with you all.

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Chapter 13 is a tipping point in the narrative, specifically in Saul's life.

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A lot happens in this chapter.

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Kind of chapters 9 through 12 has been Saul's ascendancy.

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And now beginning in 13, we start to see his fall.

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So many important things happen in here.

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We're gonna cover them all.

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But to get the most out of it, the most nutrition and most understanding, we'll do a quick
little walkthrough of Sam's uh not Samuel, Saul's part in the story thus far.

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You wanna see where he's come from, where he's been.

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And so you'll remember, hopefully, in chapter eight, when Samuel's time as judge was
complete.

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The people did not want another judge.

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They demanded a king for themselves.

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Now the story makes clear that God was their king.

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He had provided for them deliverance and justice and all they needed.

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And yet that wasn't enough for them.

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They wanted a king like all the nations around them.

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A king they could see, a king who could ride out to battle before them, a king they could
approach.

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Didn't matter to them that God, the Lord of hosts, was their king.

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They wanted

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A human king.

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This was nothing less than rejecting God as their king.

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And yet, in his mysterious working out of events, God allowed for this human king to come
to Israel.

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God even folds this king into redemptive history.

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For it is in the establishing of a human office as anointed king of Israel, the Christ.

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In doing that, God pref prepares the way.

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For the future Christ, the future ruler of all the universe, Jesus Christ, fully God and
fully man.

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And so even this deviance of Israel from God was a way in which he established the office
of Christ Jesus will one day reign from throughout all of eternity.

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And we're introduced to the human king they ask for in chapter nine.

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Chapter eight, they say we want a king.

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Chapter nine, we're introduced to Saul, the one who ends up being this asked for king.

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And we, as the readers, were kind of unsure as to whether or not he'd be the right man for
the job, just based off of the clues we were getting from the text.

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He had been ineffectually pursuing these donkeys and was ready to give up.

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Because he was concerned about what his father might be thinking about him.

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His servant was the one who needed to take initiative and move the narrative forward.

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Saul also kept the matter of his anointing by Samuel secret from his uncle.

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When it was time for Saul to be declared king in chapter 11, he was out hiding in the
luggage.

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And when it came time for him to rally the troops against Nakosh, king of Amorites, well,
he

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He leveraged Samuel's name in bringing all Israel together rather than simply relying on
what God had said of him, him being the anointed one and calling them together under his

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own authority.

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So these are small things, but they're purposeful narratival insights.

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And they kind of lead us as the audience to arrive at the conclusion that Saul paid more
attention to how others responded to his actions than he paid attention to carrying out.

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His actions.

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We saw and saw a willingness to compromise his duty based upon the opinions of others and
the feelings of others.

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We also saw this concerning lack of initiative or uncertainty.

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Again, with his kind of having to be led by the hand by his servant in chapter 9, and
having to be forced to stand up and be anointed king in chapter 11.

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But it wasn't all bad things we saw from Saul.

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After all, there are some inherent blessings that come about simply by virtue of him being
the anointed king of Israel.

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We know this because of Hannah's prayer in chapter two, where she prophesied that God will
give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed one.

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And we saw that because Saul also led Israel to battle Nahash, king of the Amorites, and
he defeated him.

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And afterwards, Saul gives God the glory.

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Those are all good things.

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That was chapters 11 and 12.

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And it's in these chapters that Saul is officially coronated king, and Samuel leads Israel
in repentance before the Lord.

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Because of course Israel does need to repent.

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They've chosen a king over God.

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And so they repent to the Lord.

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And God very graciously says he will continue to bless Israel if both they and their king,
Saul, will continue to follow him.

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That's chapter 12 brings us right up to where we are now in chapter 13.

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Here we're going to hear about first Saul's first act as King of Israel.

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How is his reign going to go?

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Well, we're gonna see it here.

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But again, don't get your hopes up because just as 9 through 12 were Saul's ascendancy,
well, now 13 through 15 are gonna be Saul's downfall.

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And I want you to notice again how all the while throughout this whole narrative,

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Hannah's prayer, the Lord brings low and the Lord exalts.

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Continues to reverberate and echo through the background of the themes of the story here.

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Let me start reading for you, verses one through four.

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Saul lived for one year and then became king.

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And when he had reigned for two years over Israel, Saul chose three thousand men of
Israel.

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Two thousand were with Saul and Mitchmash and the hill country of Bethel.

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And a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin, the rest of the people he sent
home, every man to his tent.

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Jonathan defeated the garrison of Philistines that was at Giba, and the Philistines heard
of it.

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And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.

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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.

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And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.

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Might not look like it on the service, but there's a lot going on here.

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Uh it's incredibly important details here.

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So just in verse one, this is giving us the context in which this story takes place.

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And it's primarily drawing our attention as the audience to the amount of time that has
gone by.

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We're two years later than we were in chapter 12.

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Now we might reasonably think, all right, well, what has Saul done?

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In two years reigning over Israel.

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We actually know what he should have been doing because the narrative has made that clear
to us earlier.

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In chapter 9, 16, when God says who the king is going to be, he says he's going to bring
Saul.

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This is what God says to Samuel.

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He says, He, that's Saul, shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines.

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This is what Saul was supposed to do: wage war against the Philistines.

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Samuel makes that clear to Saul in chapter 10, verse 1, when he says, And you shall reign
over the people of the Lord, and you shall save them from the hand of their surrounding

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enemies.

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Saul knows that is what he's supposed to do.

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And furthermore, this is actually the reason why the people asked for this king in the
first place.

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Back in chapter 8, when they ask for a human king, and Samuel says, You don't want that,
it's not going to work out well.

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The people reply to Samuel, No, there shall be a king over us.

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That we may also be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before
us and fight our battles.

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So there's no doubt then about what Saul should have been doing.

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He should have been waging war against the Philistines.

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People knew that, he knew that.

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But has he done that?

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Well, we don't really have any reason to believe that he has.

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It seems like the Philistines have been unchallenged.

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In fact, who is it?

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And what we just read today.

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Who is it who takes the initiative to lead the attack against the Philistines?

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It is Jonathan, Saul's son.

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Just as Saul's servant took the initiative to do what Saul was supposed to do in chapter
9, so now his son Jonathan takes the initiative to do what he was supposed to do here in

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chapter 13, and he attacks the Philistines.

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But who gets the credit for it?

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Well, verse 4.

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And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated.

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The garrison of the Philistines.

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Not totally honest there.

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But it gets worse than this.

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There's actually more happening behind the scenes.

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Let me first highlight two aspects of this story to help draw it out here.

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So it says again, I'll repeat some parts: Jonathan defeated the garrison of Philistines
that was at Giva, and all the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.

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Because Saul is down at Gilgal awaiting seven days for Samuel to come and offer a
sacrifice.

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Now, reach back in your mind back to chapter 10.

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This is two to three years earlier, when Saul was first anointed by Samuel.

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You'll remember he was anointed by Samuel, and various signs accompanied his anointing.

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Specifically, the Holy Spirit rushed upon him.

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Remember that?

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Now listen to the instructions that Samuel had given to Saul way back then.

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When he first received the Holy Spirit.

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And see the similarities with our passage today.

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Samuel had said this to Saul.

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After that you shall come to Gibeath Elohim, that corresponds with Giba, we just heard of,
where there is a garrison of Philistines.

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Now, when these signs meet you, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.

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Then go down before me to Gilgal.

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Seven days you shall wait until I come to you and show you.

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What you shall do.

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So you know what this looks like?

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It looks like Saul was supposed to have taken that same garrison of Philistines three
years earlier, when he had received the sign of the Spirit and was told to do whatever

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your hand finds to do.

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That phrase, do whatever your hand finds to do, accompanied with the mention of the
Philistines and the rushing of the Spirit upon Saul, and the

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Obvious call that Saul has to defeat the Philistines, all those things together strongly
imply that Saul was meant to have taken that garrison of Philistines in the power of the

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Holy Spirit.

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That's what we'd expect.

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And yet, back in chapter 10, there's really no conclusion to that story.

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We don't hear anymore about the Philistines.

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We don't hear about Samuel offering the sacrifices in Gilgal.

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We don't hear about Saul going back to Gilgal.

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That story is just kind of left incompleted.

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And the chapter moves on.

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But now in chapter 13, well, that makes sense of all this.

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It seems like that quest given to Saul back then was still incomplete.

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He still hadn't done it.

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And now it's Jonathan who completes that quest for him.

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Jonathan goes to Giba or Gileath Elohim.

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Sometimes those names get switched in the texts.

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And he takes the Philistine garrison himself.

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That's not good news for Saul.

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He's neglected his duty for two or three years now.

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This also makes sense of our text, why Saul immediately goes from Mitchmash down to
Gilead.

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If you'll notice in the text, as soon as that garrison is taken, Saul responds by moving
from Michmash down to Gilead.

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And it's as if Saul was kind of reminded: oh, right, I was supposed to take that garrison.

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And what else?

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yeah, Samuel said to go meet him at Gilgal and wait seven days after that happened.

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Well, everyone thinks I took the garrison, so I'm gonna head down to Gilgal and meet
Samuel there.

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It's like he picks back up the quest once the first part was completed.

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And so then in our story, we have Saul moving down to Gilgal.

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Jonathan has just defeated the garrison of Philistines.

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Saul is now waiting for Samuel for seven days to show up and offer sacrifices.

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But in the meantime, the Philistines are not pleased with having their garrison taken.

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Let me read to you five and seven.

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And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel thirty thousand chariots.

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Other translations have three thousand, which is very likely more the more accurate
number, and six thousand horsemen and troops, like the sand on the seashore in multitude.

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They came up and encamped at Mikmash to the east of Bethon.

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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 and in cisterns.

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And some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead.

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Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him, trembling.

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What do we see then?

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Well, the Philistines are now really stirred up.

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They rally an overwhelming

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Force.

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Saul had 3,000 men split between him, while the Philistines have 6,000 horsemen.

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And as far as ground troops, they have as many as the sand of the sea.

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So Israel's pretty outnumbered here.

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And Saul doesn't seem to be instilling confidence in the men.

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They're hiding in holes and in cisterns.

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That's never good.

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And the ones who have accompanied him to Gilgal are trembling.

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They're concerned about what's going to happen.

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Let's continue here in the story.

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He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel.

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But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.

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And Saul said, Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.

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And he offered the burnt offering.

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As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came, and Saul went
out to meet him and greet him.

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Samuel said, What have you done?

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And Saul said,

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When I saw the people were scattering from me, and you did not come within the appointed
days, the days appointed, and the Philistines had mustered at Mikmash, I said, Now the

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Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the
Lord.

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So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.

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And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly.

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You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you.

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Now, this section is the main point of the story.

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Chapter 13 exists like a frame, and the center of that frame is Samuel's interaction with
Saul.

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It is here that we get the most dialogue and the drama and the most decisive information,
and all of our attention is focused right here.

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And in fact, again, the decision that Saul makes here affects the rest of biblical
history.

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So let's look at it closely here.

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Saul goes to Gilgal, he waits seven days, and

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Samuel's not there.

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Now, to me, that's not surprising.

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This is supposed to happen three years earlier.

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We can cut Samuel a little break if he happens to be a bit late showing up.

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Nonetheless, though, Saul gets nervous and he makes this terrible decision.

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He offers the sacrifices himself rather than waiting for Samuel to do it.

215
00:16:39,329 --> 00:16:40,490
He disobeys.

216
00:16:40,490 --> 00:16:44,133
Now he's caught red-handed when Samuel shows up.

217
00:16:44,133 --> 00:16:46,645
What does he do when he's faced with his failures?

218
00:16:46,645 --> 00:16:47,726
What does he do?

219
00:16:48,014 --> 00:16:50,546
He makes himself the victim, doesn't he?

220
00:16:50,546 --> 00:16:52,948
He takes no responsibility.

221
00:16:52,948 --> 00:16:55,450
He blames everyone around him.

222
00:16:56,070 --> 00:16:59,713
He considers himself the victim of his circumstances.

223
00:17:00,054 --> 00:17:01,455
The people were scattering.

224
00:17:01,455 --> 00:17:04,057
And you, you, you didn't show up when you're supposed to.

225
00:17:04,057 --> 00:17:08,661
And I've got the Philistines mustering up there, and I've gotta seek the Lord's favor.

226
00:17:08,661 --> 00:17:11,824
So I I just forced myself to do it.

227
00:17:11,824 --> 00:17:13,945
I didn't want to, but I had to do it.

228
00:17:15,006 --> 00:17:17,476
Isn't Saul such a relatable thing?

229
00:17:17,476 --> 00:17:18,016
Character.

230
00:17:18,016 --> 00:17:21,279
I love the humanity we see in Saul.

231
00:17:21,279 --> 00:17:25,703
uh How often do we do things like this?

232
00:17:25,703 --> 00:17:33,869
We weave a story where we're the victim and the problem lies in everyone and everything
around us.

233
00:17:33,970 --> 00:17:37,833
And then when we sin, you're just forced to do it, right?

234
00:17:37,833 --> 00:17:40,175
It's it's like Pastor Christopher just talked about.

235
00:17:40,175 --> 00:17:42,337
No, no, no, sin is uncommon to you.

236
00:17:42,337 --> 00:17:45,360
You're able to resist these things, but that's not what we do.

237
00:17:45,360 --> 00:17:46,240
We say,

238
00:17:46,338 --> 00:17:51,431
If this hadn't been that way, if he hadn't responded this way, if this circumstance had
diff been different, I wouldn't have sinned.

239
00:17:51,431 --> 00:17:52,441
But it was all against me.

240
00:17:52,441 --> 00:17:54,512
And I was, I was forced to.

241
00:17:54,512 --> 00:17:55,210
I didn't want to.

242
00:17:55,210 --> 00:17:56,573
I was forced to.

243
00:17:56,934 --> 00:17:59,695
That's not how we respond to temptation.

244
00:17:59,695 --> 00:18:02,437
That's not how Saul should have responded.

245
00:18:03,237 --> 00:18:05,598
But oftentimes that's how sin goes.

246
00:18:06,028 --> 00:18:12,082
Well, I want you to remember Saul's response here when he was confronted with his own sin.

247
00:18:12,082 --> 00:18:13,093
It's very important.

248
00:18:13,093 --> 00:18:15,804
We're gonna come back to this in a few months.

249
00:18:16,016 --> 00:18:18,757
Remember how Saul responded.

250
00:18:18,757 --> 00:18:24,588
But moving in a little deeper, more specific detail, verse eight, it was very important
for us to see.

251
00:18:24,588 --> 00:18:28,479
It says the people were scattering from him.

252
00:18:28,780 --> 00:18:33,361
And of course, this is the first thing he mentions to Samuel, why he made that sacrifice.

253
00:18:34,361 --> 00:18:38,362
This is so much in line with Saul's character, isn't it?

254
00:18:38,802 --> 00:18:41,823
He couldn't bear losing the support of the people.

255
00:18:41,823 --> 00:18:45,314
He cares too much about how others view him.

256
00:18:45,444 --> 00:18:53,627
He's overly concerned about how others view him and not concerned enough about what God
has already said about him.

257
00:18:53,768 --> 00:18:55,889
God has called him anointed.

258
00:18:55,889 --> 00:18:57,589
He needs to believe that.

259
00:18:57,589 --> 00:19:00,450
God gave him authority and duty and responsibility.

260
00:19:00,450 --> 00:19:02,671
He needs to act on that.

261
00:19:02,671 --> 00:19:13,846
But instead, it appears that Saul's perception of himself is only as solid as what others
happen to be thinking about him at the time.

262
00:19:14,554 --> 00:19:21,590
God has given him authority, but in his mind, it's the people who give him the authority.

263
00:19:21,590 --> 00:19:25,432
If they leave, it feels like he has nothing left.

264
00:19:25,633 --> 00:19:30,857
Saul's confidence is not in God's declaration about who he is.

265
00:19:30,857 --> 00:19:33,298
Rather, it comes from others.

266
00:19:33,298 --> 00:19:37,882
Again, we've seen that pattern throughout his story, and this is a huge example.

267
00:19:38,503 --> 00:19:40,764
I believe that God presents this.

268
00:19:40,810 --> 00:19:49,827
As the foundation upon which all of Saul's failures are built, him doubting what God has
made him.

269
00:19:50,148 --> 00:20:01,748
Later on in chapter 15, when Saul is decisively forsaken by God, God speaks this word,
this clear and final words to Saul, and it really just seems to boil all his failures down

270
00:20:01,748 --> 00:20:03,299
to this one statement.

271
00:20:03,299 --> 00:20:05,781
This is what God will later say to Saul.

272
00:20:06,682 --> 00:20:09,204
Though you are little in your own eyes,

273
00:20:09,942 --> 00:20:12,973
Are you not the head of the tribes of Israel?

274
00:20:12,993 --> 00:20:16,814
The Lord anointed you king over Israel.

275
00:20:17,254 --> 00:20:22,815
Wow, that is a deeply insightful look from God into Saul's heart.

276
00:20:22,856 --> 00:20:30,277
The core of his failure was not believing what God had made him, but being small in his
own eyes.

277
00:20:30,638 --> 00:20:31,738
It's strange, isn't it?

278
00:20:31,738 --> 00:20:37,119
We don't think about that, but but strangely enough, Saul thinks too little of himself.

279
00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:39,960
It's not that he should have been prideful.

280
00:20:40,034 --> 00:20:44,588
No, but it is that he should have trusted what God said about him.

281
00:20:44,588 --> 00:20:47,530
And don't be deceived, by the way.

282
00:20:47,530 --> 00:20:49,712
It's not meekness that we see in Saul.

283
00:20:49,712 --> 00:20:50,723
It's not humility.

284
00:20:50,723 --> 00:20:52,014
Those are virtues.

285
00:20:52,014 --> 00:20:54,736
No, it's a lack of faith.

286
00:20:54,736 --> 00:20:57,098
God says, you're anointed.

287
00:20:57,098 --> 00:21:06,145
Saul should have acted with confidence, authority, love, humility, and risen to the
station God had set him in.

288
00:21:06,265 --> 00:21:10,052
Doesn't matter, remember Gideon, doesn't matter if I have this many troops or 300 troops.

289
00:21:10,052 --> 00:21:11,774
God is gonna have victory through me.

290
00:21:11,774 --> 00:21:16,057
That should have been his mentality, but it wasn't.

291
00:21:16,077 --> 00:21:20,821
He considered himself through the eyes of man rather than through the eyes of God.

292
00:21:20,821 --> 00:21:22,962
See that coming up a little bit as well.

293
00:21:23,584 --> 00:21:25,264
And where did this lead?

294
00:21:25,645 --> 00:21:31,810
Well, it led him to fear and then to fear's close associate, disobedience.

295
00:21:32,151 --> 00:21:38,766
And he made a panicked and anxious decision directly against the commandment that God had
given him.

296
00:21:38,766 --> 00:21:41,377
He offered the sacrifices himself.

297
00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:47,745
And it's here that I want us to step back from the text for a moment and examine our own
lives.

298
00:21:47,745 --> 00:21:53,196
Remember, these things are written down for our example and our instruction.

299
00:21:53,196 --> 00:21:54,971
So let's think about this.

300
00:21:54,971 --> 00:22:03,370
The question we need to ask ourselves is: where do we, as God's people, find our
self-identity?

301
00:22:03,908 --> 00:22:07,120
Now, I don't want to lose the men when I say self-identity.

302
00:22:07,120 --> 00:22:12,423
I think some guys often hear self-identity and they think, oh, who cares?

303
00:22:12,423 --> 00:22:14,214
You know, just just live your life.

304
00:22:14,214 --> 00:22:15,774
Stop being so emotional about it.

305
00:22:15,774 --> 00:22:17,555
I know I've I've thought that before.

306
00:22:17,555 --> 00:22:23,559
you know, self-identity is maybe for for low esteem or low confidence people, but you
know, I'm a man, I'll be fine.

307
00:22:23,559 --> 00:22:29,342
Um, but self-identity is not just an emotional thing.

308
00:22:29,342 --> 00:22:33,934
It's actually one of the most practical aspects of our lives.

309
00:22:34,158 --> 00:22:40,591
Because we act in ways that reflect how we think about ourselves.

310
00:22:40,591 --> 00:22:41,511
We do.

311
00:22:41,511 --> 00:22:45,933
We act in ways that reflect how we think about ourselves.

312
00:22:46,514 --> 00:22:53,737
So if I think I'm the center of the universe, I'm so special, I'm gonna act in accordance
with that, right?

313
00:22:53,737 --> 00:23:00,580
Others become competition or threats or resources to be manipulated for my own benefit.

314
00:23:00,908 --> 00:23:04,630
And I'm gonna value all my priorities over the priorities of others.

315
00:23:04,630 --> 00:23:07,471
I'm acting in a way that reflects how I think about myself.

316
00:23:07,471 --> 00:23:08,851
I'm most important.

317
00:23:09,452 --> 00:23:14,353
Other end of the spectrum, if I think I'm totally worthless, well, I'm gonna act in ways
that show that.

318
00:23:14,353 --> 00:23:23,228
Maybe not taking care of myself, no self-respect, no real ambition or desire to kind of do
anything or assert anything is I'm no good anyway.

319
00:23:23,228 --> 00:23:25,338
Well, there's the other end of the spectrum.

320
00:23:25,338 --> 00:23:29,259
Maybe I think of myself as the guy who everybody just loves.

321
00:23:29,259 --> 00:23:31,010
I'm just such a likable guy.

322
00:23:31,172 --> 00:23:34,694
Well, then I'm gonna act in ways to try to make that true.

323
00:23:34,694 --> 00:23:37,396
And I'm not gonna be able to stand it if someone doesn't like me.

324
00:23:37,396 --> 00:23:39,857
Because after all, I'm the guy who people like.

325
00:23:39,857 --> 00:23:40,618
And so what do I do?

326
00:23:40,618 --> 00:23:44,500
I can tort my life to try to please other people.

327
00:23:44,500 --> 00:23:52,545
There's a variety of ways this can work, but just notice this immediate practical effect
of how we think of ourselves.

328
00:23:52,545 --> 00:23:58,948
We act, we do things based upon how we view ourselves.

329
00:23:59,684 --> 00:24:02,065
The mindset about ourselves leads to fruit.

330
00:24:02,165 --> 00:24:07,787
The question then very quickly becomes how should I think about myself?

331
00:24:07,787 --> 00:24:09,638
We do, it's gonna affect how we act.

332
00:24:09,638 --> 00:24:12,069
Okay, well then how should we?

333
00:24:13,070 --> 00:24:17,372
Well, the Bible has a lot to say about this, actually.

334
00:24:17,372 --> 00:24:20,133
The Bible teaches about God.

335
00:24:20,133 --> 00:24:23,114
The Bible also teaches about us.

336
00:24:23,114 --> 00:24:28,366
This is one of the reasons why James calls the Bible a mirror in which one can see
himself.

337
00:24:29,072 --> 00:24:30,873
Well, what does the Bible say?

338
00:24:30,873 --> 00:24:32,894
Who does the Bible say we are?

339
00:24:33,936 --> 00:24:36,237
Some will think, well, sinners.

340
00:24:36,277 --> 00:24:39,940
But actually, no, that's not primarily not for Christians.

341
00:24:39,940 --> 00:24:43,622
That's really not what the Bible teaches as our identity.

342
00:24:43,622 --> 00:24:45,744
Our identity is not founded in sin.

343
00:24:45,744 --> 00:24:51,228
Saints, sons of God, walking in the newness of life, alive with Christ.

344
00:24:51,228 --> 00:24:52,469
Yes, these things.

345
00:24:52,469 --> 00:24:57,572
As you read through your New Testament, look at the way it talks about Christians.

346
00:24:57,842 --> 00:25:02,594
Our identity is not primarily founded in sin.

347
00:25:03,134 --> 00:25:04,075
Ephesians 2.

348
00:25:04,075 --> 00:25:11,697
You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, but God made us alive
together with Christ.

349
00:25:11,998 --> 00:25:13,618
You were a sinner, yes.

350
00:25:13,618 --> 00:25:14,849
Of course you still sin.

351
00:25:14,849 --> 00:25:15,639
We all know that.

352
00:25:15,639 --> 00:25:21,292
But your primary identity is not sinner right now or ever again.

353
00:25:21,292 --> 00:25:24,823
It is someone who is with Christ.

354
00:25:24,823 --> 00:25:25,607
We need to be

355
00:25:25,607 --> 00:25:28,249
Thinking that, that'll cause us to act differently.

356
00:25:28,249 --> 00:25:31,210
Or read Romans 6, specifically 11.

357
00:25:31,610 --> 00:25:40,035
So also you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

358
00:25:40,035 --> 00:25:40,736
Interesting.

359
00:25:40,736 --> 00:25:47,959
Here's a verse that commands us regarding our self-identity, regarding the way we think
about ourselves.

360
00:25:48,020 --> 00:25:54,353
We're commanded to see ourselves, not from the perspective of what we have done.

361
00:25:54,409 --> 00:26:02,141
But we're commanded to see ourselves from the perspective of what Christ has done for us
and who he has made us.

362
00:26:02,541 --> 00:26:08,263
In other words, your sins are not the truest thing about you.

363
00:26:08,263 --> 00:26:12,604
God's love is the truest thing about you, and his grace is the truest thing about you.

364
00:26:12,604 --> 00:26:14,564
And we need to think that way.

365
00:26:14,805 --> 00:26:16,545
Consider Colossians 1:13.

366
00:26:16,545 --> 00:26:22,006
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his
beloved Son.

367
00:26:22,787 --> 00:26:23,547
I don't

368
00:26:23,547 --> 00:26:25,588
Live in the domain of darkness.

369
00:26:26,069 --> 00:26:31,593
And I don't, I'm not a part of the kingdom I happen to be in spatially.

370
00:26:31,593 --> 00:26:34,054
No, I'm part of Christ's kingdom.

371
00:26:34,054 --> 00:26:35,595
He's my king.

372
00:26:35,595 --> 00:26:37,236
I'm not a slave to sin.

373
00:26:37,317 --> 00:26:42,460
That self-identity changes the way we act and respond to things.

374
00:26:43,561 --> 00:26:49,965
What about if instead of thinking I'm too tired and too depressed and too burdened and too
busy?

375
00:26:49,965 --> 00:26:53,007
You saw First Timothy 1 7.

376
00:26:53,011 --> 00:27:00,537
For God for God gave us not a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control.

377
00:27:00,537 --> 00:27:05,181
Or Romans 8, 31, if God is for us, who can be against us?

378
00:27:05,562 --> 00:27:10,565
In all these hardships, I'm more than a conqueror through Christ who loved me.

379
00:27:10,966 --> 00:27:15,009
This is important to think the truth of Scripture to ourselves.

380
00:27:15,590 --> 00:27:17,011
Or how about this one?

381
00:27:17,311 --> 00:27:22,085
When you're feeling uncared for, uncherished, unappreciated.

382
00:27:22,099 --> 00:27:23,800
James 4, 5.

383
00:27:24,541 --> 00:27:32,346
Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture says he yearns jealously over the
spirit that he has made to dwell in us?

384
00:27:32,546 --> 00:27:35,228
I'd love to go more into this, we can't.

385
00:27:35,468 --> 00:27:36,809
But this is an amazing verse.

386
00:27:36,809 --> 00:27:40,852
This idea, he jealously yearns over us.

387
00:27:40,852 --> 00:27:49,028
That's describing this righteously jealous, rageful feeling that a husband might have if
someone were trying to cheat on his wife.

388
00:27:49,028 --> 00:27:51,035
This happens in context and

389
00:27:51,035 --> 00:27:54,298
In James, with the adultery coming right before it.

390
00:27:54,298 --> 00:28:02,034
So this is showing us God's spirit is like this jealous husband who says, No, you may not
have this person.

391
00:28:02,034 --> 00:28:03,685
This person is sacred to me.

392
00:28:03,685 --> 00:28:05,767
You will not have this person.

393
00:28:05,767 --> 00:28:07,407
She's mine.

394
00:28:07,628 --> 00:28:12,772
That's the way God feels about our soul, us, the people He's made us.

395
00:28:13,733 --> 00:28:16,055
That will, that's good to say to yourself.

396
00:28:16,055 --> 00:28:16,595
That's true.

397
00:28:16,595 --> 00:28:18,786
That's good to say to yourself about your children as well.

398
00:28:18,786 --> 00:28:21,256
That'll help to strengthen your prayers.

399
00:28:22,477 --> 00:28:35,050
With no pride, with no pretense or presumption, you can say about yourself, God loves me
so much, He is stirred to a jealous rage over the thought of someone or something taking

400
00:28:35,050 --> 00:28:37,360
me away from him.

401
00:28:38,201 --> 00:28:40,562
That's good for you to hear, it's true.

402
00:28:40,562 --> 00:28:46,367
And there are really too many scriptures to go through, so you'll just have to go through
it in your Bible with a highlighter and

403
00:28:46,367 --> 00:28:50,829
Highlight those things that it says about yourself and think those things.

404
00:28:50,829 --> 00:28:55,671
You're a person who is taken care of, Matthew 6.

405
00:28:55,671 --> 00:28:59,613
You're a person who has no wants, Psalm 23.

406
00:28:59,707 --> 00:29:09,537
You're a person who God is going to avenge those who do evil to you, 2 Thessalonians 1:6
and Romans 12:19.

407
00:29:09,557 --> 00:29:10,568
There are many things.

408
00:29:10,568 --> 00:29:13,479
You're God's children, Romans 8:14.

409
00:29:14,573 --> 00:29:18,244
So believe these things about yourself because God has said them.

410
00:29:18,325 --> 00:29:28,569
And don't let a fear of failure or a disbelief in what God has made you mask itself as a
humility and lead to a passivity in your life.

411
00:29:28,569 --> 00:29:30,389
You don't live according to what he said.

412
00:29:30,389 --> 00:29:34,311
No, that was the ultimate downfall of Saul.

413
00:29:34,491 --> 00:29:41,193
He didn't believe what God had said, and so he didn't act in accordance with what God had
said, and he was undone.

414
00:29:41,193 --> 00:29:42,984
His reign was undone.

415
00:29:44,246 --> 00:29:45,817
And the consequences were great.

416
00:29:45,817 --> 00:29:49,038
Let's look at the consequences here in thirteen through fifteen.

417
00:29:49,038 --> 00:29:54,210
And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly.

418
00:29:54,350 --> 00:30:02,634
You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you, for
the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.

419
00:30:02,794 --> 00:30:04,815
But now your kingdom shall not continue.

420
00:30:04,815 --> 00:30:13,128
The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be
prince over his people.

421
00:30:13,152 --> 00:30:16,684
Because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.

422
00:30:16,845 --> 00:30:24,169
And Samuel arose, went up from Gilgal, and the rest of the people went up after Saul to
meet the army.

423
00:30:24,310 --> 00:30:28,272
They went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin.

424
00:30:29,333 --> 00:30:34,016
Look at the profound effect the sin had in Saul's life.

425
00:30:34,016 --> 00:30:39,379
And not even just primarily Saul's life, look what it meant for Jonathan and all his
descendants.

426
00:30:39,620 --> 00:30:42,966
God would have established his kingdom over Israel.

427
00:30:42,966 --> 00:30:44,006
Forever.

428
00:30:44,267 --> 00:30:48,710
But now it's going to come to an end, be replaced by David.

429
00:30:49,231 --> 00:30:56,797
And yet, immediately, when we say that, we're presented with a bit of a theological
conundrum that we have to think through.

430
00:30:57,078 --> 00:31:06,536
The tension is between God's plan, declaring the end from the beginning, and the fact that
Saul genuinely could have chosen differently.

431
00:31:06,536 --> 00:31:11,410
And if he had, his family would have reigned over Israel forever.

432
00:31:11,862 --> 00:31:13,843
Now here's the core of the tension.

433
00:31:14,064 --> 00:31:15,164
It's this.

434
00:31:15,184 --> 00:31:19,407
David would not have replaced Saul if Saul hadn't disobeyed.

435
00:31:19,527 --> 00:31:29,494
But for the prophecies of Scripture to come true, Jesus had to arise as a kingly
descendant from Judah, of David, one of David's descendants.

436
00:31:29,594 --> 00:31:34,478
We already have a prophecy in Scripture saying the Messiah is going to come from Judah.

437
00:31:34,478 --> 00:31:36,278
Again, that's from David.

438
00:31:36,459 --> 00:31:37,970
It's in Genesis 49 10.

439
00:31:37,970 --> 00:31:41,342
It says this the scepter, that ruling authority.

440
00:31:41,356 --> 00:31:51,309
Shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute
comes to him, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

441
00:31:52,189 --> 00:31:56,350
God has already ordained Jesus to come through Judah.

442
00:31:56,350 --> 00:32:00,251
That's David's tribe, not through Benjamin, Saul's tribe.

443
00:32:00,251 --> 00:32:10,614
So how then can God say that he would have established Saul's kingdom forever when he has
already promised to establish David's kingdom forever in Jesus Christ?

444
00:32:11,296 --> 00:32:21,904
There seem to be places in scripture in which characters are presented with a choice, and
yet it seems like they could not have chosen otherwise because their choice lines up with

445
00:32:21,904 --> 00:32:25,416
a plan that was already predetermined by God.

446
00:32:25,637 --> 00:32:26,567
And that's confusing.

447
00:32:26,567 --> 00:32:28,058
How do we reconcile that?

448
00:32:28,058 --> 00:32:34,593
You see it most clearly in the crucifixion of Jesus, with the choices that led to the
crucifixion of Jesus.

449
00:32:34,593 --> 00:32:36,565
Could the crowd have just said, let him go?

450
00:32:36,565 --> 00:32:38,986
Could Pilate have just made him be let go?

451
00:32:39,852 --> 00:32:43,224
Well, Luke writes something about this in Acts 4 27.

452
00:32:43,224 --> 00:32:54,150
Luke says, For truly and this city were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus,
whom you had anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the

453
00:32:54,150 --> 00:33:00,914
peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

454
00:33:01,915 --> 00:33:05,837
So the gospel of Jesus was predestined before the foundation of the world.

455
00:33:05,837 --> 00:33:08,488
So could Pilate have done anything differently?

456
00:33:09,132 --> 00:33:10,172
What about Adam and Eve?

457
00:33:10,172 --> 00:33:15,185
Could they have just refused to sin and then there'd be no gospel and no Jesus and no
cross?

458
00:33:15,185 --> 00:33:19,466
What then do we make of the gospel being established before the foundation of the world?

459
00:33:19,606 --> 00:33:24,148
These are confusing conundrums to us that the Bible presents.

460
00:33:24,809 --> 00:33:32,352
How do we reconcile humans' genuine choices and the weightiness of those choices with
God's sovereign plan?

461
00:33:32,992 --> 00:33:36,934
Well, the Bible does not give an answer to these things.

462
00:33:36,934 --> 00:33:38,054
It doesn't.

463
00:33:38,208 --> 00:33:43,358
What it does give are facts, a parallel set of facts.

464
00:33:43,358 --> 00:33:48,964
And what we need to do is accept those and the way in which they present themselves.

465
00:33:48,964 --> 00:33:58,839
The facts of Scripture are these that God has predestined and determined from the end to
the beginning, that nothing happens apart from his preordained plan.

466
00:33:58,839 --> 00:34:00,210
That's one fact.

467
00:34:00,210 --> 00:34:07,572
Another fact is that humans make genuine decisions, which have genuine consequences, and
for which we're

468
00:34:07,572 --> 00:34:10,223
genuinely held responsible.

469
00:34:11,163 --> 00:34:15,104
There are ample examples of both of these facts in scripture.

470
00:34:15,104 --> 00:34:17,645
Biblically, they must both be affirmed.

471
00:34:17,645 --> 00:34:20,206
Biblically, neither can be denied.

472
00:34:20,206 --> 00:34:30,328
And so the best practice for us as humble believers is to accept them both and just deal
with the tension we feel between them, but to accept them both.

473
00:34:30,689 --> 00:34:34,100
And we have just a a perfect example of that right here.

474
00:34:34,100 --> 00:34:35,500
You know,

475
00:34:35,500 --> 00:34:47,105
Somehow, this prophecy that there would be a throne established forever in Judah through
David, fulfilled in Christ, this prophecy begins with Saul's own disobedience and

476
00:34:47,105 --> 00:34:50,496
neglecting his own throne from being established forever.

477
00:34:50,837 --> 00:34:52,997
It's pretty mind blowing.

478
00:34:53,778 --> 00:34:55,818
And as a result, what do we see?

479
00:34:56,019 --> 00:34:59,120
God has chosen someone else to be prince of Israel.

480
00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:01,441
This won't be an asked-for king.

481
00:35:01,441 --> 00:35:04,382
This will be a king by the commandment of God.

482
00:35:04,502 --> 00:35:07,204
This won't be a king like the nations.

483
00:35:07,204 --> 00:35:10,767
This will be a king after God's own heart.

484
00:35:11,008 --> 00:35:21,237
Now, what this does, saying this is a king after God's own heart, what this does, this
invites us as the audience to compare David to Saul.

485
00:35:21,237 --> 00:35:27,541
God essentially says, Saul, I'm not picking someone like you, I'm picking someone like me.

486
00:35:27,722 --> 00:35:32,502
Well, this means that those places in the text.

487
00:35:32,502 --> 00:35:41,469
That contrasts Saul and David's character, those are the exact places we want to look to
see in what ways David reflects God's heart.

488
00:35:41,469 --> 00:35:43,431
That's gonna show us what God's heart is like.

489
00:35:43,431 --> 00:35:47,754
This is one of the reasons why I've been emphasizing Saul's character so much for us.

490
00:35:47,754 --> 00:35:51,497
Then when we see David come onto the scene, we say, whoa, David's different than Saul.

491
00:35:51,497 --> 00:35:53,379
And they say, Yes, look at that.

492
00:35:53,379 --> 00:35:56,782
That's a highlight of what God's heart is like.

493
00:35:56,782 --> 00:36:02,262
So in the coming weeks, we're gonna be seeing the differences between Saul and David, and
that's gonna highlight for us.

494
00:36:02,262 --> 00:36:05,065
The ways in which David is a man after God's heart.

495
00:36:05,065 --> 00:36:08,807
And of course, we all want to emulate that ourselves.

496
00:36:09,869 --> 00:36:20,678
And so Saul then has been rebuked for his disobedience, lost his dynasty, and we now begin
the earliest process of David being lifted to the throne.

497
00:36:20,739 --> 00:36:22,610
But we got to jump back to the story here.

498
00:36:22,610 --> 00:36:25,643
There's a big battle, it seems like it's about to happen.

499
00:36:25,643 --> 00:36:26,923
How's this gonna go?

500
00:36:27,404 --> 00:36:29,736
I'll finish this out with 15 through 23.

501
00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:34,413
And Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal.

502
00:36:34,413 --> 00:36:39,356
The rest of the people went up after Saul to meet the army.

503
00:36:39,497 --> 00:36:42,419
They went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin.

504
00:36:42,419 --> 00:36:46,642
And Saul numbered the people who were present with him, about six hundred men.

505
00:36:46,642 --> 00:36:47,563
That's not good.

506
00:36:47,563 --> 00:36:48,864
He lost a lot of men.

507
00:36:48,864 --> 00:36:57,130
And Saul and Jonathan, his son, and the people who were present with them, stayed in
Gibeah of Benjamin, and the Philistines encamped at Mikmash.

508
00:36:57,588 --> 00:37:01,802
And raiders came out from the camp of the Philistines in three companies.

509
00:37:01,802 --> 00:37:13,512
One company turned towards Ophra, to the land of Shual, another company turned towards
Betharan, and another company turned towards the border that looks down on the valley of

510
00:37:13,512 --> 00:37:16,354
Zeboim, toward the wilderness.

511
00:37:16,695 --> 00:37:25,312
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 spears.

512
00:37:26,166 --> 00:37:33,270
But every one of the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen his plowshare, his
matdock, his axe, or his sickle.

513
00:37:33,270 --> 00:37:41,854
And the charge was two thirds of shekel for the plowshares and for the mattocks, and one
third a shekel for sharpening the axes and setting the goads.

514
00:37:42,095 --> 00:37:50,039
So on the day of the battle, there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of
the people with Saul and Jonathan.

515
00:37:50,039 --> 00:37:52,460
But Saul and Jonathan, his son, had them.

516
00:37:52,460 --> 00:37:56,022
And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of

517
00:37:56,022 --> 00:37:57,162
Mi'kmash.

518
00:37:57,583 --> 00:37:58,723
It's a cliffhanger.

519
00:37:58,723 --> 00:38:00,684
That's where we have to stop.

520
00:38:00,684 --> 00:38:04,946
The story is primarily about the interaction between Saul and Samuel.

521
00:38:04,946 --> 00:38:08,347
Next time we're gonna get into stories that deal with this battle.

522
00:38:08,827 --> 00:38:12,037
But it doesn't look like it's going to go well.

523
00:38:12,037 --> 00:38:20,842
We've got Saul, he's just lost his dynasty, and he's got 600 men, and they're encamped at
Giba.

524
00:38:20,842 --> 00:38:24,153
That's only one mile from Mi'kmash, where the Philistines are.

525
00:38:24,153 --> 00:38:25,932
The Philistines are sending out raiding.

526
00:38:25,932 --> 00:38:29,944
Parties are attacking all around, overwhelming forces.

527
00:38:30,105 --> 00:38:38,790
The Philistines have imposed a sort of weapons ban on the Israelites, not allowing
blacksmiths, no blacksmiths, no swords, no spears.

528
00:38:39,071 --> 00:38:48,757
And to add insult to injury, Israel, if they want to fight, they've got to take their
gardening tools over to the Philistines and ask them to sharpen them for them.

529
00:38:49,198 --> 00:38:55,880
And so as the battle lines come together at the end of this narrative, Israelite
outnumbered 100 to 1.

530
00:38:55,880 --> 00:39:05,696
Israelites fighting with what what amounts to sharpened hose and and rakes, things of that
nature, only Saul and Jonathan having swords.

531
00:39:06,056 --> 00:39:07,737
Where's this battle going to go?

532
00:39:07,737 --> 00:39:09,078
We'll have to wait and watch.

533
00:39:09,078 --> 00:39:10,879
But the odds are very bad.

534
00:39:11,319 --> 00:39:19,264
In closing, though, I want to bring back to your mind that central picture of chapter 13.

535
00:39:19,484 --> 00:39:22,646
Saul acting out of his

536
00:39:22,646 --> 00:39:28,371
His perception of himself seen through the eyes of others and not seen through the eyes of
God.

537
00:39:28,431 --> 00:39:33,175
Saul's failure was that he did not truly believe what God had said of him.

538
00:39:33,175 --> 00:39:37,739
He was small in his own eyes, and yet God had made him the anointed of Israel.

539
00:39:37,739 --> 00:39:39,921
God had given him his spirit.

540
00:39:40,141 --> 00:39:43,564
Saul needed to act in accordance with his calling.

541
00:39:44,045 --> 00:39:50,450
So too, we must believe what God has said of us and act accordingly.

542
00:39:51,020 --> 00:39:54,672
How we think of ourselves affects how we act.

543
00:39:54,733 --> 00:39:58,155
We need to think of ourselves the way God tells us to.

544
00:39:58,155 --> 00:39:59,243
Where has God placed you?

545
00:39:59,243 --> 00:40:01,117
What are responsibilities He's given to you?

546
00:40:01,117 --> 00:40:08,241
What is the words that you can tell from Scripture that He speaks to you in having those
responsibilities?

547
00:40:08,922 --> 00:40:10,684
Just your own identity.

548
00:40:10,684 --> 00:40:12,455
You're not primarily a sinner.

549
00:40:12,455 --> 00:40:14,786
That's not the most true thing about you.

550
00:40:14,786 --> 00:40:20,490
The most true thing about you, the way you must consider yourself, according to Romans 6,
is that you're dead to sin.

551
00:40:20,502 --> 00:40:22,403
You're a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.

552
00:40:22,403 --> 00:40:23,504
You're beloved.

553
00:40:23,504 --> 00:40:26,553
God is jealously, He jealously yearns over you.

554
00:40:26,553 --> 00:40:35,850
I encourage you once again to go through scripture, see what it says about you, think on
those things, let that become the way you reference yourself, the way you think about

555
00:40:35,850 --> 00:40:40,273
yourself, and then act in accordance with that.

556
00:40:40,313 --> 00:40:49,858
Lead to a life of following the Lord and faithfully acting out and believing what he has
said of you, what he has done for us all in Jesus Christ.

557
00:40:50,114 --> 00:40:52,159
Let me pray for us as we close.

558
00:40:54,230 --> 00:40:59,442
Lord God, I thank you for what you have done for us in Christ.

559
00:40:59,442 --> 00:41:03,154
You've seated us along with you in heavenly places.

560
00:41:03,154 --> 00:41:06,455
You've made us your own, your sheep, your children.

561
00:41:06,455 --> 00:41:07,656
We're taken care of.

562
00:41:07,656 --> 00:41:08,366
We're blessed.

563
00:41:08,366 --> 00:41:10,877
We have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

564
00:41:10,877 --> 00:41:13,348
uh You say so many things.

565
00:41:13,348 --> 00:41:22,722
And God, I pray that by your spirit you would apply those truths to us such that we would
believe them, such that when we think about ourselves.

566
00:41:22,902 --> 00:41:26,265
It wouldn't be through the eyes of others, how others look at us.

567
00:41:26,265 --> 00:41:37,213
It wouldn't be through whatever kind of skills or giftings we have, but we would see
ourselves through your eyes, and that we would act from that.

568
00:41:37,674 --> 00:41:47,703
Maybe it leads to humility, maybe it leads to boldness, maybe it leads to turning the
other cheek, or maybe it leads to uh pursuing a uh different action.

569
00:41:47,703 --> 00:41:52,150
Lord, let us live in with regards to what you have said.

570
00:41:52,150 --> 00:41:54,542
Help us to believe what you have said of us.

571
00:41:54,542 --> 00:41:57,434
We thank you for this example in Scripture.

572
00:41:57,434 --> 00:41:59,956
We thank you for the book of 1 Samuel.

573
00:41:59,956 --> 00:42:03,368
And the joy it is to read through your scriptures.

574
00:42:03,368 --> 00:42:05,099
Thank you for giving us so many of them.

575
00:42:05,099 --> 00:42:12,064
A big book of scriptures to teach us and equip us to do righteously and to follow you.

576
00:42:12,064 --> 00:42:14,446
We thank you for these things in Jesus' name.

577
00:42:14,446 --> 00:42:15,406
Amen.

578
00:42:15,967 --> 00:42:21,270
Thank you for listening to this message from Kingstree Church in Sabina, Ohio.

579
00:42:21,270 --> 00:42:29,783
To see more of the beauty of God in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, come worship
with us on Sundays at 10 a.m.

580
00:42:29,783 --> 00:42:33,728
or visit our website at kingstreechurch.org.