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Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

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Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at BibleStudyHeadquarters.com. We are

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Speaker 1: continuing our look at the book of 1 Samuel, and

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Speaker 1: today we're going to be looking at portions of chapter 11,

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Speaker 1: chapter 12, and chapter 13. And you'll notice in these

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Speaker 1: portions of scripture that here you have Saul, who has

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Speaker 1: become the new king of Israel. He starts acting as

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Speaker 1: like king. So prior to this, people haven't seen him

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Speaker 1: do something kingly yet, other than just be selected, but

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Speaker 1: you're going to see him act in ways as a king,

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Speaker 1: and you're also going to see him act a bit

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Speaker 1: presumptuous about his role as king. That also gets demonstrated

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Speaker 1: in this portion of scripture. So I'm going to start

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Speaker 1: reading for us from 1 Samuel 11, and I'm going

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Speaker 1: to pick up at verse 5 and read down to

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Speaker 1: verse 11, and then we'll be looking at a variety

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Speaker 1: of other scriptures along the way as well. 1 Samuel 11,

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Speaker 1: starting with verse 5, and we'll see here some of

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Speaker 1: these early moments as the Lord raised up Saul as

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Speaker 1: king over the nation of Israel. It says this in

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Speaker 1: 1 Samuel 11, starting with verse 5. It says, Now behold,

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Speaker 1: Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen. And

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Speaker 1: Saul said, What is wrong with the people that they

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Speaker 1: are weeping? So they told him the news of the

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Speaker 1: men of Jabesh. And the Spirit of God rushed upon

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Speaker 1: Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was

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Speaker 1: greatly kindled. He took a yoke of oxen and cut

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Speaker 1: them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory

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Speaker 1: of Israel by the hand of the messengers, saying, Whoever

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Speaker 1: does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall

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Speaker 1: it be done to his oxen. Then the dread of

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Speaker 1: the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out

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Speaker 1: as one man. When he mustered them at Bezek, the

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Speaker 1: people of Israel were 300,000. And the men of Judah, 30,000.

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Speaker 1: And they said to the messengers who had come, Thus

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Speaker 1: shall you say to the men of Jabesh-Gilead, Tomorrow, by

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Speaker 1: the time the sun is hot, you shall have salvation.

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Speaker 1: When the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh,

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Speaker 1: they were glad. Therefore the men of Jabesh said, Tomorrow

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Speaker 1: we will give ourselves up to you, and you may

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Speaker 1: do to us whatever seems good to you. The next

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Speaker 1: day Saul put the people in three companies. They came

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Speaker 1: into the midst of the camp in the morning, watch,

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Speaker 1: and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day.

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Speaker 1: And those who survived were scattered so that no two

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Speaker 1: of them were left together. Let's pray. Father, we thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for the access that you've given us

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Speaker 1: to your word. We're so grateful that we're able to

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Speaker 1: read things like the portion that we're reading here. And obviously, Lord,

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Speaker 1: when we read these sorts of things, we wonder about

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Speaker 1: the context. We wonder about what was going on in

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Speaker 1: the midst of the people of Israel and in the

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Speaker 1: midst of this new king that had been raised up

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Speaker 1: among them. And Lord, there's all sorts of things that

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Speaker 1: we see in a portion of scripture like this in

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Speaker 1: the upcoming chapters that are very insightful of how you

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Speaker 1: work your plan out among us. And so Lord, we

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Speaker 1: pray that as we look at these things today, that

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Speaker 1: you'd give us your wisdom, that you'd give us your insight.

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Speaker 1: We pray that you'd help us to understand more about

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Speaker 1: your will and that you'd also help us to understand

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Speaker 1: what it actually looks like to live a life that's

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Speaker 1: lived in full submission to your Lordship. So again, we

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Speaker 1: thank you for your word and we thank you for

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Speaker 1: the privilege to be able to look at it together now.

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Speaker 1: We commit this time to you in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Speaker 1: So last week, I had the opportunity to grab dinner

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Speaker 1: at one of my favorite local restaurants, being Chick-fil-A. They

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Speaker 1: should just be like a part of our family budget

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Speaker 1: at this point. But I was there. I was actually

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Speaker 1: there by myself. I was on my way somewhere, and

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Speaker 1: I was like, you know, I better grab something to

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Speaker 1: eat on my way. And so I'm sitting there by

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Speaker 1: myself in Chick-fil-A, and while I was eating, a man

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Speaker 1: who had just received his food at the counter said,

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Speaker 1: walked toward the exit, but instead of opening the door

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Speaker 1: like you would expect a human to do, he violently

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Speaker 1: kicked it open in such a way that I thought

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Speaker 1: that door is going to smash. I literally thought the

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Speaker 1: door was going to smash. He did damage it. Somehow

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Speaker 1: the glass didn't smash, but he freaked everybody in the

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Speaker 1: restaurant out. Everybody was freaked out by what they were

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Speaker 1: seeing and wondering why this guy so aggressively hit that

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Speaker 1: door so hard as he was leaving. And immediately the

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Speaker 1: managers came out from behind the counter and they chased

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Speaker 1: after the guy and And they followed him into the

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Speaker 1: parking lot. But then the guy aggressively followed them back

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Speaker 1: into the building and started saying all sorts of things.

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Speaker 1: And in the midst of this, they were on the

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Speaker 1: phone calling police for backup. And watching this take place,

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Speaker 1: there was a restaurant full of people, but kind of

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Speaker 1: close to the door that he went out. I was there.

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Speaker 1: And then there was another man that was there with

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Speaker 1: his two rather young daughters. And at that point, we

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Speaker 1: decided to stand up. Because as this man is being

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Speaker 1: aggressive and making his threats against the managers and the

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Speaker 1: people that are in there, we stood up. And I'm

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Speaker 1: guessing that as this man saw this, he realized, I

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Speaker 1: think I'm turning this entire restaurant against me. And so

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Speaker 1: he backed up and he left. And soon after that,

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Speaker 1: the police arrived. And I thought that that was interesting.

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Speaker 1: And I know exactly... I really do think I know

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Speaker 1: exactly what I would have done and what that man

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Speaker 1: would have done had that situation progressed one step further.

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Speaker 1: We had made it very clear by our posture what

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Speaker 1: we were about to do. We had no intention of

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Speaker 1: allowing him to become violent in that restaurant. And afterward,

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Speaker 1: I was telling my children about this, and one of

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Speaker 1: them was like, so what would you have done if

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Speaker 1: it progressed one step further? And I said, I think

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Speaker 1: I would have had the best day of my entire life. Like,

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Speaker 1: there was a, I'm not going to lie, there was

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Speaker 1: a part of me, especially knowing that it was like

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Speaker 1: multiple people, I was like, just do it. Just do it.

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Speaker 1: I was like, the best day of my life I

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Speaker 1: think I would have had. But, thankfully the guy backed

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Speaker 1: up and I had an average day. A slightly better

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Speaker 1: than average, but the point being... And I was thinking

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Speaker 1: about that even this week in looking at the scripture

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Speaker 1: that we're looking at, because in the section of 1

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Speaker 1: Samuel that we're in, there's kind of a dream scenario

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Speaker 1: that I think a lot of guys work out in

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Speaker 1: their mind at some point, where you think that you're

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Speaker 1: going to step into something and have almost like a

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Speaker 1: rescuing effect, right? You would like to participate in something

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Speaker 1: that feels heroic or it feels brave. And I think

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Speaker 1: most men, myself included, Think about, you know, if that

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Speaker 1: opportunity ever comes, that's going to be a great day.

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Speaker 1: And when you get to 1 Samuel 11, you see

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Speaker 1: Saul gets that day. This is that day for Saul.

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Speaker 1: 1 Samuel 11 begins with a rescue. Now, to give

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Speaker 1: you a tiny bit of background so that you understand

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Speaker 1: what we just read from the beginning verses here, prior

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Speaker 1: to that, we find out that a man named Nahash,

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Speaker 1: he was an Ammonite leader. He surrounded the people of Jabesh-Gilead.

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Speaker 1: And he offered the people a cruel choice. Basically, I

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Speaker 1: will either destroy you or you will do this weird thing.

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Speaker 1: He said, I will allow you to surrender to me

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Speaker 1: as long as we are able to gouge out every

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Speaker 1: man's right eye and then bring disgrace upon Israel. And

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Speaker 1: the elders of Jabesh Gilead asked for seven days to

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Speaker 1: seek help. And they were granted that. I don't know

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Speaker 1: why they were granted it other than God's providence, but

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Speaker 1: they were granted that. And the messengers then carry the

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Speaker 1: news throughout Israel. And when the report reaches Gibeah, the

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Speaker 1: people start weeping out loud. And that's kind of where

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Speaker 1: the portion we just read picks up. But their tears

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Speaker 1: reveal how helpless they felt. They felt absolutely helpless. They thought,

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Speaker 1: our city is going to be destroyed. Our people is

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Speaker 1: going to be destroyed. At this point, Israel has asked

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Speaker 1: for a king who will fight their battles. And now

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Speaker 1: an enemy has arrived to test that and to test

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Speaker 1: this newly chosen leader. And so at the time, we're

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Speaker 1: told that Saul is returning. from some of his, you

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Speaker 1: would say, farming-type tasks. He's returning from the field behind

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Speaker 1: his oxen, and he hears the people crying. So it's

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Speaker 1: kind of interesting because even though he's already been anointed king,

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Speaker 1: he's not yet operating really in ways that we would

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Speaker 1: expect a king to operate. He's still doing some farming

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Speaker 1: tasks and some things that would probably characterize his life

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Speaker 1: prior to being selected king. He hasn't set up a

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Speaker 1: royal court. He isn't settled into what we would say

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Speaker 1: is the visible life of a king. But the scripture

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Speaker 1: then says in verse six that as he hears this

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Speaker 1: news and as he sees what's going on, we're told

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Speaker 1: the spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard

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Speaker 1: these words and his anger was greatly kindled. Now you

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Speaker 1: look at that phrase, his anger was greatly kindled and

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Speaker 1: you think, all right, well, is that a godly response? Well,

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Speaker 1: I will say this, this wasn't a selfish rage. That

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Speaker 1: wasn't what he was reacting with here. It was actually

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Speaker 1: a response to cruelty. Like he's hearing this cruel news,

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Speaker 1: you know, he's hearing what Nahash wants to do to

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Speaker 1: the people and how he's threatening them. And so what

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Speaker 1: ends up happening in this moment is God empowers Saul,

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Speaker 1: this newly appointed king, to act. And this is going

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Speaker 1: to be a moment that ultimately results in the people

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Speaker 1: starting to give Saul their allegiance and recognizing him as king.

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Speaker 1: You have this man who was hesitant at first when

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Speaker 1: he first became king. If you remember last, we were

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Speaker 1: talking about the fact that after he was declared to

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Speaker 1: be king, he was hidden in the baggage. He was

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Speaker 1: trying to hide from this responsibility right away, but now

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Speaker 1: he's about to do something different. As the Spirit of

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Speaker 1: God empowers him to do this, he summons Israel with

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Speaker 1: great authority, and it says his anger was greatly kindled,

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Speaker 1: and the people hear what he says, and the people respond.

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Speaker 1: We're told that the nation gathered, and you have 330,000

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Speaker 1: people that he gets together. That's a big group of people.

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Speaker 1: And he divides them into three companies. And they enter

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Speaker 1: the Ammonite camp in the midst of all these threats

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Speaker 1: that Nahash is giving out toward the people of Jabesh Gilead.

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Speaker 1: They enter the Ammonite camp during the morning watch. And

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Speaker 1: the scripture tells us that they strike the Ammonites until

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Speaker 1: the heat of the day. So it's like from morning

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Speaker 1: until the day starts to get particularly hot. Noon, one, two,

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Speaker 1: somewhere in that vicinity. And the victory is so complete

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Speaker 1: that the survivors scatter. And Jabesh Gilead is delivered. and

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Speaker 1: Israel's enemy is defeated, and now Saul's leadership is confirmed

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Speaker 1: among the people. And so, if this was all we

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Speaker 1: talked about today, that is a very delightful story from

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Speaker 1: start to end. You're like, you have somebody, unsuspecting king,

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Speaker 1: gets appointed king, tested, meets the moment, the Lord grants victory,

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Speaker 1: the Spirit of God empowers him to his work, and

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Speaker 1: you're like, wow, Israel is blessed. What a great start,

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Speaker 1: this new kingship is getting off to. And I think

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Speaker 1: in some ways it'd be easy to read this chapter

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Speaker 1: as the story of a brave king discovering his strength.

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Speaker 1: I think some people even do read it that way.

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Speaker 1: But the truth is, if you look at what the

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Speaker 1: text is trying to do, it's actually trying to drive

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Speaker 1: our attention elsewhere. Basically, what we're being shown is the

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Speaker 1: only reason Saul succeeds is because God's spirit comes upon him.

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Speaker 1: And you're going to see Saul go his own way

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Speaker 1: instead of relying on the spirit of God to direct

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Speaker 1: and empower and lead him In fact, when we get

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Speaker 1: into chapter 12 in just a few minutes, you're going

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Speaker 1: to notice that Samuel acknowledges Israel's evil. You know, the

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Speaker 1: fact that they've even selected a king. But he also

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Speaker 1: urges the people not to turn aside from following the Lord.

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Speaker 1: And it's foreshadowing because Saul himself is going to turn

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Speaker 1: aside from following the Lord. Now, one of the things

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Speaker 1: you could see right here in this moment is that

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Speaker 1: the grace of God is already at work in the

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Speaker 1: first days of Saul's kingdom. So it does get off

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Speaker 1: to a good start. And again, Israel's rescue here wasn't

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Speaker 1: a reward for faithful conduct. They had a habit of

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Speaker 1: going their own way and doing their own thing. And

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Speaker 1: so in the midst of that, God shows them mercy,

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Speaker 1: and he recognizes they need saving, so he orchestrates the saving.

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Speaker 1: He doesn't approve of Israel's sin. He doesn't approve of

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Speaker 1: their rebellion. He doesn't approve of their selfish attitudes or

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Speaker 1: their desire to be like the other nations. But he

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Speaker 1: does love them, and he looks at them, and he

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Speaker 1: desires to remain faithful to his covenant And so he

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Speaker 1: opens up a path of deliverance for them, and that's

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Speaker 1: a beautiful thing. But now after the battle, you have

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Speaker 1: some people assessing all that's taken place here in the

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Speaker 1: early days of Saul's reign. And some of the Israelites

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Speaker 1: start thinking back to when Saul was first selected not

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Speaker 1: long before, and they remember the fact that there were

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Speaker 1: those who had questioned Saul's fitness to rule. They're like,

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Speaker 1: you know what? When Samuel anointed him and appointed him

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Speaker 1: to this role, there were some among us who questioned him,

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Speaker 1: And now he's been tested and look at how he

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Speaker 1: passed the test. And so what they wanted to do

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Speaker 1: to those who had questioned Saul was kill them. They're like,

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Speaker 1: we want to eradicate any personality, any personality type right

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Speaker 1: here in our midst that would question our new leader.

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Speaker 1: But it's interesting when you get to verse 13, Saul

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Speaker 1: refuses their idea to do that. He says, no, not

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Speaker 1: a man shall be put to death this day. For today,

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Speaker 1: the Lord has worked salvation in Israel. So those who doubted, okay,

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Speaker 1: your season of doubt is done. It's like, you got

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Speaker 1: that out of your system? No one's dying today from

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Speaker 1: among our nation. We're not going to do that. And

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Speaker 1: you look at this, and again, I look at this

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Speaker 1: and I think, boy, this is Saul at his best.

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Speaker 1: Because as the scripture goes on, we're going to see

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Speaker 1: Saul at his worst. But right here, this is Saul

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Speaker 1: at his best. He doesn't use this victory to settle

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Speaker 1: personal scores. And a lot of people in his position

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Speaker 1: absolutely would have. They'd be like, that's right, get rid

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Speaker 1: of the doubters. He doesn't do that. And in this moment,

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Speaker 1: he recognizes that God, not himself, right? God, not Saul,

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Speaker 1: has saved the nation. And so he wants to make

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Speaker 1: that day a day that's marked by mercy because he says,

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Speaker 1: you know, that victory belongs to the Lord. The Lord

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Speaker 1: is the one who did this, right? The Lord works

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Speaker 1: salvation in Israel. So then you have Samuel, who's still alive,

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Speaker 1: the final judge of Israel, segueing into the kingship here,

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Speaker 1: but he's still alive as Saul is beginning his reign.

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Speaker 1: You have Samuel at this point saying, all right, everybody,

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Speaker 1: we're going to meet in Gilgal, and we're going to

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Speaker 1: renew the kingdom. And so they make Saul officially. They

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Speaker 1: recognize him as king before the Lord. They offer peace offerings.

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Speaker 1: They rejoice greatly. Very hopeful scene. Very beautiful. You have

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Speaker 1: a threatened town that's been rescued. You have people that

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Speaker 1: have been divided. They're now united. You have a king

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Speaker 1: who was doubted, who now has shown courage as the

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Speaker 1: Lord's enabled him to do it. And again... For a season,

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Speaker 1: Israel's new beginning looks like it's going to be a

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Speaker 1: very promising time. It looks like it's going to be

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Speaker 1: a very delightful season. And then you get to the

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Speaker 1: very next chapter. Then you get to chapter 12. And

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Speaker 1: when you get to chapter 12, you have Samuel giving

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Speaker 1: them a needed warning. You have a needed warning here.

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Speaker 1: Samuel at this point realizes, all right, my season of life,

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Speaker 1: my ministry, it's getting close to the end. And so

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Speaker 1: he reviews his ministry in front of these people. Now,

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Speaker 1: I don't know how often you do this personally. How

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Speaker 1: often do you just kind of like sit back and

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Speaker 1: take stock of where you are in life? You know,

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Speaker 1: we're all at different ages. We're all at different seasons.

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Speaker 1: How often do you just kind of sit back and

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Speaker 1: take stock and say something like this to yourself? Lord,

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Speaker 1: am I doing with the time that you've blessed me with?

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Speaker 1: Am I doing with this time what you want me

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Speaker 1: to be doing? And have I been using it for

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Speaker 1: your purposes the way you want me to use it

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Speaker 1: up to this point? Do you ever take stock of

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Speaker 1: your life? I know some of you are at an

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Speaker 1: early season of life and young, but I still think

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Speaker 1: it's healthy to do that. Some of you are older.

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Speaker 1: I think it's healthy to do that. Some of you

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Speaker 1: are somewhere in between. Just looking at your life and saying,

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Speaker 1: all right, how have I used this life? Well, Samuel's

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Speaker 1: at a spot here. He knows just numerically he's getting

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Speaker 1: into the latter season of his life, but he also

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Speaker 1: knows as far as what God has called him to do,

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Speaker 1: he knows that that season is now coming to an end.

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Speaker 1: And so he reviews his ministry in front of the

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Speaker 1: people of Israel. And he asked them to testify. He

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Speaker 1: basically says, I'm summarizing his words, but he says this,

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Speaker 1: have I cheated anyone? And the people are like, no.

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Speaker 1: He's like, have I oppressed anyone? Meaning like the Lord

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Speaker 1: entrusted this responsibility of leadership to me. Did I steward

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Speaker 1: it for his glory? And the people say, yes, they

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Speaker 1: confirm his integrity. They confirm the way that he stewarded

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Speaker 1: that position. They're not going to see that same kind

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Speaker 1: of stewardship out of Saul. So it's kind of interesting,

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Speaker 1: but Samuel's saying, all right, did I steward this the

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Speaker 1: right way? They confirm his integrity. And then he kind

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Speaker 1: of walks them through all the things that God has

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Speaker 1: done to show them just how faithful he's been to

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Speaker 1: those people. All throughout the years, from the Exodus, all

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Speaker 1: through the days of the judges that are now coming

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Speaker 1: to an end. Basically, whenever Israel forgot the Lord, which

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Speaker 1: was often, they'd go through seasons where they forgot the Lord,

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Speaker 1: and their enemies would oppress them, and then they'd call out.

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Speaker 1: And what would God do? Deliver them. And then the

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Speaker 1: pattern would happen again. And so the story had always been,

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Speaker 1: if you look at Israel's history, the story had always

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Speaker 1: been about God's rescue, not Israel's strength. So it was

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Speaker 1: never about their human strength. It was always about the

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Speaker 1: fact that God delivered them right when he needed deliverance.

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Speaker 1: I will say this as a foreshadowing into your life

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Speaker 1: when you're taking stock of your own life. It's not

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Speaker 1: about your strength. It's about God's ability to deliver you

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Speaker 1: in the midst of whatever you're going through. And I'm

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Speaker 1: telling you, you can trust God to answer prayers even

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Speaker 1: if you've been asking these things of the Lord for

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Speaker 1: a long time. You can have faith that he will

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Speaker 1: deliver you. And you wait for his timings. But he

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Speaker 1: definitely does that. And so you have Samuel here looking

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Speaker 1: at the people and he's saying, he's saying, look at

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Speaker 1: the pattern. Look at what God's been doing. Have this

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Speaker 1: fresh in your mind. Have this fresh in your heart.

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Speaker 1: Because Israel's request for a king, it came from failing

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Speaker 1: to trust God. Now, God was going to use a

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Speaker 1: king here in mighty ways. But their request for a

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Speaker 1: king didn't come from faith. It came from them wanting

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Speaker 1: to be like the other nations. They wanted a visible

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Speaker 1: leader because they were struggling to trust the invisible God.

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Speaker 1: They wanted someone they could see. And so Samuel tells

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Speaker 1: them this in verse 12 of chapter 12. He says,

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Speaker 1: when you saw that Nahash, the king of the Ammonites,

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Speaker 1: came against you, you said to me, no, but a

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Speaker 1: king shall reign over us. When the Lord your God

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Speaker 1: was your king. So he's speaking to the heart in

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Speaker 1: that moment. He's speaking to this group of people and

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Speaker 1: he's saying things that are probably hard to hear, but

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Speaker 1: he's telling them the truth as he always have. Because

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Speaker 1: their fear made them more desirable to see a visible

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Speaker 1: king than the king that they could truly depend upon.

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Speaker 1: They wanted to be just like the neighboring nations. And again,

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Speaker 1: I know we understand that impulse because we've done the

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Speaker 1: same exact thing. I think fear can make anything visible

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Speaker 1: feel safer than faith. Like when you're going through a

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Speaker 1: season when you're genuinely afraid, you kind of want something

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Speaker 1: you can see. And I understand that because I've noticed

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Speaker 1: that impulse in my life, and I'm sure you've noticed

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Speaker 1: it in your life. Sometimes we find ourselves looking for

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Speaker 1: a person or even just a plan or some sort

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Speaker 1: of an account or a position or something that could

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Speaker 1: just guarantee the future. We kind of want the guarantee.

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Speaker 1: We want... total assurity, total safety, but we want it

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Speaker 1: in a visible way. And Israel's thinking about their situation.

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Speaker 1: They're saying, all right, we're surrounded by neighboring nations who

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Speaker 1: hate us. And they're looking at this and they're saying, well,

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Speaker 1: we could have a king who could lead an army

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Speaker 1: and we could visibly see that. And that sounds like

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Speaker 1: a good arrangement. But the truth is a visible king

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Speaker 1: and a visible army can't replace the true and living God.

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Speaker 1: And every source of human security has its limits. And

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Speaker 1: that's a lesson not just for them. That's something I'm

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Speaker 1: supposed to be learning today, and so are you. Every

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Speaker 1: source of human security has its limits. So then Samuel

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Speaker 1: makes that authority, the authority of God, plain. But he

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Speaker 1: also says, look, here's the deal. You requested a king

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Speaker 1: for sinful reasons, and yet God is still going to

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Speaker 1: work with you. He's still going to be patient with you.

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Speaker 1: But he says both the king and the people have

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Speaker 1: to fear the Lord and serve the Lord and obey

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Speaker 1: his voice and refuse to rebel against his commandment. Because

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Speaker 1: if you live in opposition to the Lord, don't expect

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Speaker 1: things to go well. And I have to tell you,

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Speaker 1: one of the things that I just absolutely love this

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Speaker 1: portion of 1 Samuel. Now, I'm not going to bring

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Speaker 1: it up on the slide, but I want you to

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Speaker 1: just listen to me as I read this. Because in

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Speaker 1: 1 Samuel 12, verse 19, just listen to me as

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Speaker 1: I read this for us. It says this, And all

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Speaker 1: the people said to Samuel, Pray for your servants to

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Speaker 1: the Lord your God that we may not die, for

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Speaker 1: we have added to all our sins this evil to

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Speaker 1: ask for ourselves a king. And Samuel said to the people,

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Speaker 1: Do not be afraid. You have done all this evil.

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Speaker 1: Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but

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Speaker 1: serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn aside.

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Speaker 1: after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they

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Speaker 1: are empty. And then he says in verse 22 of

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Speaker 1: chapter 12, he says, for the Lord will not forsake

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Speaker 1: his people, for his great name's sake, because it has

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Speaker 1: pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.

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Speaker 1: Isn't that a fascinating thing? The Lord will not forsake

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Speaker 1: his people. Well, when I look over the course of

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Speaker 1: my life, I can point to moments in my life

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Speaker 1: where I definitely was being as best as I could

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Speaker 1: obedient to the voice of God and obedient to the

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Speaker 1: word of God. And then I can look at other

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Speaker 1: seasons in my life where I did the exact opposite.

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Speaker 1: And I'm certain that all of us have that story.

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Speaker 1: And I think that sometimes we can make the mistake

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Speaker 1: as people to look at some of those low seasons

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Speaker 1: and then assume, and you've heard me say this before,

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Speaker 1: but then assume that God has basically one emotional setting

428
00:22:28,740 --> 00:22:32,590
Speaker 1: and that's anger. We think, you know what, like if

429
00:22:32,670 --> 00:22:36,510
Speaker 1: I cross the line, like the entire nature of my

430
00:22:36,570 --> 00:22:39,270
Speaker 1: relationship with God is going to be one of anger. Well,

431
00:22:39,290 --> 00:22:41,390
Speaker 1: how many of you have succeeded at making it through

432
00:22:41,430 --> 00:22:45,129
Speaker 1: life mistake-free? Or let's use a stronger word than mistake.

433
00:22:45,190 --> 00:22:48,000
Speaker 1: How many of you have made it through life rebellion-free?

434
00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:53,100
Speaker 1: Like direct, willful, conscious, you knew you were doing wrong

435
00:22:53,140 --> 00:22:54,919
Speaker 1: and you still did it anyway. How many of you

436
00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:57,679
Speaker 1: have never done anything like that? Nobody should raise their

437
00:22:57,700 --> 00:23:00,140
Speaker 1: hand because we've all made that same mistake. We've all

438
00:23:00,180 --> 00:23:02,119
Speaker 1: rebelled against God. And then you look at Israel here

439
00:23:02,140 --> 00:23:05,100
Speaker 1: in this portion of Scripture, and you realize this is

440
00:23:05,260 --> 00:23:09,639
Speaker 1: after they've been rescued. They've experienced a great rescue, but

441
00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:11,870
Speaker 1: now Samuel, as his ministry is winding down, he says,

442
00:23:11,910 --> 00:23:14,870
Speaker 1: you know that you sinned against God in asking for

443
00:23:14,910 --> 00:23:20,010
Speaker 1: a king. And God still loves you. And He still

444
00:23:20,070 --> 00:23:23,409
Speaker 1: intends on doing great things in your midst. And He

445
00:23:23,470 --> 00:23:26,219
Speaker 1: still intends on showing you how much He loves you.

446
00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:28,540
Speaker 1: Do you ever think you've gone so far that you've

447
00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:31,609
Speaker 1: just tested the limits? of the nature of God's grace?

448
00:23:31,630 --> 00:23:32,949
Speaker 1: Do you ever think that you've gone so far that

449
00:23:32,970 --> 00:23:35,150
Speaker 1: you've tested the limits of his mercy and his patience?

450
00:23:36,450 --> 00:23:40,020
Speaker 1: He is perfect in all of those things. Perfect. And

451
00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,210
Speaker 1: I can assure you that God does not have only

452
00:23:42,540 --> 00:23:47,899
Speaker 1: one emotional setting. It's not just anger or nothing. Scripture

453
00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:51,659
Speaker 1: tells us that our Lord is perfectly compassionate, perfectly loving,

454
00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:55,859
Speaker 1: perfectly desirous of showing grace, meaning he shows this unmerited

455
00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:58,660
Speaker 1: favor that we didn't deserve. And when we're talking about

456
00:23:58,700 --> 00:24:00,900
Speaker 1: his mercy, we're talking about the fact that Even though

457
00:24:00,940 --> 00:24:03,540
Speaker 1: we deserve complete and utter destruction, he looks at us

458
00:24:03,580 --> 00:24:05,679
Speaker 1: and he says, I want to show you compassion. Israel

459
00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:08,700
Speaker 1: basically said, Lord, we reject you. We just would like

460
00:24:08,740 --> 00:24:11,619
Speaker 1: a guy. We would just like a guy who's tall

461
00:24:12,660 --> 00:24:14,919
Speaker 1: and maybe we'll put some armor on him. And if

462
00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:16,980
Speaker 1: he has a good face and like high cheekbones, that's

463
00:24:17,050 --> 00:24:20,010
Speaker 1: also good too, right? That's effectively like scripture was like,

464
00:24:20,070 --> 00:24:22,410
Speaker 1: oh yeah, he's like really handsome. He's a really handsome

465
00:24:22,430 --> 00:24:24,750
Speaker 1: guy and he's really tall and kind of looked like

466
00:24:24,770 --> 00:24:28,540
Speaker 1: he was good at fighting people. To which the Lord

467
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:30,920
Speaker 1: could say if he chose to, remember when I spoke

468
00:24:30,980 --> 00:24:33,920
Speaker 1: creation into existence and sustained it by my powerful word?

469
00:24:34,460 --> 00:24:36,640
Speaker 1: That was great that you did that. We would just

470
00:24:36,660 --> 00:24:39,570
Speaker 1: like a tall guy to lead us. And the Lord

471
00:24:39,590 --> 00:24:42,109
Speaker 1: looks at them and he could have said, why are

472
00:24:42,150 --> 00:24:46,110
Speaker 1: you so dumb? Why are you so dumb? Who have

473
00:24:46,150 --> 00:24:48,790
Speaker 1: I shown miracles to more than the nation of Israel?

474
00:24:49,190 --> 00:24:52,050
Speaker 1: Who have I revealed myself to more than you? And

475
00:24:52,070 --> 00:24:54,590
Speaker 1: yet you would just choose a visible king so you

476
00:24:54,609 --> 00:24:57,590
Speaker 1: could be like the other nations. And I look at

477
00:24:57,609 --> 00:24:59,609
Speaker 1: that and I'm like, yeah, Israel, you were so dumb.

478
00:24:59,890 --> 00:25:01,169
Speaker 1: And then I look at me, I'm like, oh, I

479
00:25:01,210 --> 00:25:04,379
Speaker 1: was so dumb. Because I've done the same thing and

480
00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:05,889
Speaker 1: all of us have done the same thing. And then

481
00:25:05,930 --> 00:25:07,320
Speaker 1: I also look at it and I'm like, Lord, thank

482
00:25:07,340 --> 00:25:10,320
Speaker 1: you for loving me through those low seasons. And that's

483
00:25:10,380 --> 00:25:12,560
Speaker 1: exactly what he was communicating to the people of Israel.

484
00:25:13,020 --> 00:25:15,280
Speaker 1: He's like, I'm going to give you yet another opportunity

485
00:25:15,980 --> 00:25:19,600
Speaker 1: and another opportunity and another opportunity. He gives them opportunity

486
00:25:19,780 --> 00:25:21,699
Speaker 1: after opportunity. And I look at that and I just

487
00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:26,330
Speaker 1: think that that's such a beautiful thing. And then as

488
00:25:26,410 --> 00:25:29,710
Speaker 1: Samuel is speaking, and I don't know if the Lord

489
00:25:29,730 --> 00:25:31,470
Speaker 1: will ever do this favor for me in the midst

490
00:25:31,510 --> 00:25:33,930
Speaker 1: of a sermon or anything like that, but I'm very

491
00:25:34,090 --> 00:25:37,990
Speaker 1: open to this. In chapter 12, to confirm Samuel's words

492
00:25:38,050 --> 00:25:41,580
Speaker 1: as he was speaking, we're told that God sent thunder

493
00:25:41,700 --> 00:25:43,980
Speaker 1: and rain during the wheat harvest. Wouldn't that be great?

494
00:25:44,020 --> 00:25:46,300
Speaker 1: Like after a really powerful point, we just hear like

495
00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:51,160
Speaker 1: a crack of thunder. I'd be like, okay, all right.

496
00:25:52,140 --> 00:25:57,290
Speaker 1: That would be so helpful sometimes, right? I'm waiting. I'd

497
00:25:57,310 --> 00:26:01,300
Speaker 1: be all right with that. But Samuel, I mean, he's

498
00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:05,700
Speaker 1: very confrontational. They know he loves them. He's not speaking arrogantly.

499
00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:07,300
Speaker 1: He's not just trying to point out all their faults,

500
00:26:07,340 --> 00:26:09,020
Speaker 1: but he is trying to speak truth to their hearts

501
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:11,960
Speaker 1: and have the Spirit of God convict them in a

502
00:26:12,020 --> 00:26:15,030
Speaker 1: healthy way. And so the people do recognize their guilt.

503
00:26:15,050 --> 00:26:18,090
Speaker 1: They recognize we've goofed up. The Lord has been the

504
00:26:18,190 --> 00:26:21,169
Speaker 1: one who ultimately delivers us. We've goofed up. And then

505
00:26:21,190 --> 00:26:23,330
Speaker 1: in verse 23, Samuel says, all right, here's the deal.

506
00:26:23,670 --> 00:26:25,430
Speaker 1: Far be it from me that I should sin against

507
00:26:25,470 --> 00:26:27,690
Speaker 1: the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I

508
00:26:27,730 --> 00:26:30,110
Speaker 1: will instruct you in the good and the right way.

509
00:26:30,170 --> 00:26:32,540
Speaker 1: He said, look, yeah, you goofed it up, but I'm

510
00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:34,560
Speaker 1: going to spend the remainder of my time with you,

511
00:26:35,380 --> 00:26:37,200
Speaker 1: and I'm going to still try and point our nation

512
00:26:37,260 --> 00:26:40,359
Speaker 1: to the Lord. He's speaking like the conscience of the nation.

513
00:26:40,780 --> 00:26:42,480
Speaker 1: He's saying, I'm still going to teach you the word.

514
00:26:43,460 --> 00:26:46,020
Speaker 1: You know, he doesn't minimize their sin. He's open about it.

515
00:26:46,020 --> 00:26:47,780
Speaker 1: And by the way, in your own life, if you

516
00:26:47,859 --> 00:26:50,200
Speaker 1: actually want to grow in your walk with Christ, don't

517
00:26:50,250 --> 00:26:52,470
Speaker 1: minimize your sin. Don't pretend that it's not there. Just

518
00:26:52,609 --> 00:26:55,500
Speaker 1: own it. Just accept it and own it. Don't try

519
00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:58,020
Speaker 1: and be perfect in your own mind. That doesn't work.

520
00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:01,139
Speaker 1: Don't minimize your sin. He doesn't minimize their sin. But

521
00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:03,540
Speaker 1: he also doesn't withdraw from them, and neither does the Lord.

522
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,780
Speaker 1: The Lord doesn't withdraw from them. Here you see Samuel

523
00:27:06,859 --> 00:27:09,480
Speaker 1: interceding on their behalf. He says, I'm going to pray

524
00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:11,560
Speaker 1: for you. And he says, I'm still going to teach you.

525
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,880
Speaker 1: But he's also calling them back to faithfulness. He's saying,

526
00:27:14,900 --> 00:27:17,090
Speaker 1: all right, you had a low moment. I'm calling you

527
00:27:17,140 --> 00:27:21,530
Speaker 1: back to faithfulness. And Samuel also reminds Israel why hope

528
00:27:21,830 --> 00:27:25,010
Speaker 1: remains possible. Again, this is back in verse 22. He says,

529
00:27:25,030 --> 00:27:27,510
Speaker 1: for the Lord will not forsake his people for his

530
00:27:27,550 --> 00:27:30,750
Speaker 1: great namesake. The Lord will not forsake his people. Do

531
00:27:30,770 --> 00:27:33,419
Speaker 1: you think the Lord will abandon you? Do you think

532
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:35,399
Speaker 1: he'll abandon you just because you have a low season

533
00:27:35,420 --> 00:27:37,659
Speaker 1: of life? Do you think he'll abandon you because you

534
00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:40,399
Speaker 1: have a season of immaturity or selfishness? Is that how

535
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,320
Speaker 1: the Lord operates? Did your salvation ever depend on you

536
00:27:43,380 --> 00:27:46,050
Speaker 1: getting it right? Did your salvation ever depend on you

537
00:27:46,109 --> 00:27:49,540
Speaker 1: being perfect in your own strength before the Lord? No,

538
00:27:49,740 --> 00:27:51,740
Speaker 1: he looked at us when we were his, scripture says

539
00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:54,590
Speaker 1: that we were his enemies and we were dead in

540
00:27:54,950 --> 00:27:58,270
Speaker 1: our trespasses and sins. That's not a very pretty picture,

541
00:27:58,930 --> 00:28:01,610
Speaker 1: living as enemies of God. And yet he looked into

542
00:28:01,630 --> 00:28:03,709
Speaker 1: that situation. He said, I'm going to pull you out

543
00:28:03,850 --> 00:28:07,709
Speaker 1: of that mess. And then we get to chapter 13

544
00:28:07,710 --> 00:28:10,220
Speaker 1: of 1 Samuel. And when we arrive in the next

545
00:28:10,260 --> 00:28:14,970
Speaker 1: chapter of 1 Samuel, you would think, all right, The

546
00:28:15,010 --> 00:28:17,609
Speaker 1: nation's going to be characterized by repentance. What a great

547
00:28:17,670 --> 00:28:20,840
Speaker 1: message that Samuel has shared with them. Saul's heart's going

548
00:28:20,859 --> 00:28:23,100
Speaker 1: to be on fire for the Lord, but it brings

549
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,580
Speaker 1: us to the first major crack in King Saul's reign.

550
00:28:27,460 --> 00:28:29,760
Speaker 1: We're told that there's another battle that starts forming in

551
00:28:29,820 --> 00:28:33,140
Speaker 1: chapter 13, and the Philistines had gathered with a vast force.

552
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,199
Speaker 1: And so Israel's soldiers see that they were in trouble,

553
00:28:36,220 --> 00:28:39,740
Speaker 1: and the Philistines become a recurring problem for the children

554
00:28:39,780 --> 00:28:42,120
Speaker 1: of Israel. And the people are so afraid that chapter

555
00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:47,100
Speaker 1: 13 tells us The men were hiding in caves. They

556
00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:49,450
Speaker 1: were hiding in holes in the ground. They were hiding

557
00:28:49,490 --> 00:28:53,070
Speaker 1: in tombs. They were hiding in cisterns and pits, basically

558
00:28:53,150 --> 00:28:55,330
Speaker 1: anywhere they could hide because they thought the Philistines are

559
00:28:55,450 --> 00:28:58,209
Speaker 1: absolutely going to wipe us out. We're also told that

560
00:28:58,230 --> 00:29:00,650
Speaker 1: some fled across the Jordan. So you have people going

561
00:29:00,670 --> 00:29:03,760
Speaker 1: in all kinds of directions. And you have King Saul

562
00:29:03,820 --> 00:29:07,200
Speaker 1: waiting at Gilgal for Samuel to show up, pray on

563
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:09,580
Speaker 1: behalf of the people, lead a sacrifice on behalf of

564
00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:12,960
Speaker 1: the people, and ask the Lord for his blessing. and

565
00:29:13,180 --> 00:29:15,540
Speaker 1: there was an appointed seven-day period of time that was

566
00:29:15,580 --> 00:29:18,380
Speaker 1: set to pass for that to take place, and as

567
00:29:18,570 --> 00:29:22,430
Speaker 1: that seventh day passes, and you have Saul waiting for

568
00:29:22,490 --> 00:29:24,430
Speaker 1: Samuel to show up, but he hasn't shown up yet,

569
00:29:24,810 --> 00:29:26,910
Speaker 1: the people are starting to get fearful, and they start

570
00:29:26,990 --> 00:29:29,690
Speaker 1: slipping away. And Saul's looking at the people that are

571
00:29:29,710 --> 00:29:32,110
Speaker 1: supposed to be fighting this battle against the Philistines with him,

572
00:29:32,330 --> 00:29:35,370
Speaker 1: and he sees some drifting over here, some drifting over here,

573
00:29:35,410 --> 00:29:37,490
Speaker 1: and he's thinking, what are we going to do? And

574
00:29:37,510 --> 00:29:40,440
Speaker 1: he's under pressure, and people are saying, look, Samuel hasn't

575
00:29:40,500 --> 00:29:42,860
Speaker 1: shown up yet. Like, maybe you should do something. You're

576
00:29:42,900 --> 00:29:45,420
Speaker 1: waiting for him to come and do the sacrifice. We

577
00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:47,200
Speaker 1: know that that's not your role, but maybe you do it.

578
00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:49,020
Speaker 1: And he's thinking, maybe I should do it. Maybe I

579
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:53,610
Speaker 1: should do that. Well, what ends up happening is under pressure,

580
00:29:53,730 --> 00:29:56,570
Speaker 1: Saul then decides to offer the burnt offering himself. Why

581
00:29:56,650 --> 00:30:00,080
Speaker 1: is that a big deal? He offers the burnt offering himself.

582
00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:04,840
Speaker 1: What's Saul's role? He's what? King. He's not prophet. He

583
00:30:04,900 --> 00:30:09,320
Speaker 1: is not priest. And he takes on the role here

584
00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:13,600
Speaker 1: effectively as the priest. He's not a priest. So why

585
00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:14,880
Speaker 1: is that a big deal? Some people would look at

586
00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:16,780
Speaker 1: that and you're like, I don't know, it just seems expedient.

587
00:30:16,820 --> 00:30:20,780
Speaker 1: He's still seeking the Lord. No, here's the problem. These roles,

588
00:30:20,900 --> 00:30:23,080
Speaker 1: prophet and priest and king, are all supposed to point

589
00:30:23,140 --> 00:30:26,160
Speaker 1: our hearts toward Jesus. And Jesus is the only one

590
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:29,280
Speaker 1: who can fulfill all three. So when Saul, who is king,

591
00:30:29,340 --> 00:30:33,600
Speaker 1: takes on the role of the priest here by offering

592
00:30:33,620 --> 00:30:37,360
Speaker 1: the sacrifice, he's basically saying, I will be your substitute Jesus.

593
00:30:38,300 --> 00:30:41,480
Speaker 1: I will be your false savior. I will be the

594
00:30:41,580 --> 00:30:45,440
Speaker 1: one who rescues you. This world is filled with false saviors.

595
00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:49,120
Speaker 1: And here, when Saul does this, that's the big part

596
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:50,800
Speaker 1: of why this is such a big deal, why he

597
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:54,420
Speaker 1: wasn't supposed to do this. And ironically and interestingly enough,

598
00:30:54,700 --> 00:30:56,880
Speaker 1: Instead of passing that test of just waiting a little

599
00:30:56,900 --> 00:30:59,500
Speaker 1: bit longer, yes, people are starting to scatter. And you're

600
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:01,400
Speaker 1: nervous you're not going to have an army that's big enough.

601
00:31:02,060 --> 00:31:06,140
Speaker 1: Then he offers that sacrifice. And right as he's finishing up,

602
00:31:06,180 --> 00:31:09,550
Speaker 1: Scripture tells us, then Samuel arrives. And Samuel looks at

603
00:31:09,570 --> 00:31:12,170
Speaker 1: him and he's like, what have you done? You don't

604
00:31:12,230 --> 00:31:14,910
Speaker 1: even know the significance of what you've done. And when

605
00:31:14,950 --> 00:31:18,320
Speaker 1: he's confronted about it, Saul explains it. People were scattering.

606
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:20,340
Speaker 1: So I guess it's just pragmatic. I guess I should

607
00:31:20,380 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 1: just do whatever I needed to do. You didn't arrive

608
00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:26,300
Speaker 1: when I expected you to arrive. The Philistines are assembling.

609
00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:28,500
Speaker 1: Our people are going. I was afraid that they would

610
00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:31,440
Speaker 1: attack before we had sought God's favor. And in fact,

611
00:31:31,460 --> 00:31:33,600
Speaker 1: this is what he said. Look at this. As the

612
00:31:33,660 --> 00:31:37,420
Speaker 1: king of excuses Saul starts to become, he says, I

613
00:31:37,500 --> 00:31:40,680
Speaker 1: forced myself and offered the burnt offering. I forced myself.

614
00:31:41,220 --> 00:31:42,980
Speaker 1: It's like, I didn't want to do it. I didn't

615
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:44,810
Speaker 1: want to do it. You know what I think about Saul?

616
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:46,290
Speaker 1: And you're going to notice this as we get to

617
00:31:46,330 --> 00:31:49,780
Speaker 1: the upcoming chapters and upcoming weeks, I don't think he

618
00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:51,740
Speaker 1: forced himself at all. I think he wanted to be

619
00:31:51,780 --> 00:31:56,020
Speaker 1: thought of as the everything to everyone. I think he

620
00:31:56,100 --> 00:31:59,989
Speaker 1: wanted to be seen as their savior. This wasn't like,

621
00:32:00,150 --> 00:32:02,070
Speaker 1: I forced myself to do this. This was one of

622
00:32:02,110 --> 00:32:04,590
Speaker 1: those moments where he's like, no, I took it upon

623
00:32:04,650 --> 00:32:06,990
Speaker 1: myself because I didn't want to wait for God's way

624
00:32:07,050 --> 00:32:09,750
Speaker 1: to actually take time to develop. I didn't want to

625
00:32:09,790 --> 00:32:11,990
Speaker 1: be patient for God to do his thing. I wanted

626
00:32:12,010 --> 00:32:15,540
Speaker 1: it to be under my strength. And you're going to

627
00:32:15,580 --> 00:32:19,080
Speaker 1: notice that he becomes such an insecure leader, such an

628
00:32:19,180 --> 00:32:22,420
Speaker 1: insecure leader. And you know what? I'll probably say this

629
00:32:22,460 --> 00:32:24,340
Speaker 1: multiple times in coming weeks, but I'll tell you what.

630
00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:26,900
Speaker 1: There's different kinds of leaders in this world. There are

631
00:32:26,940 --> 00:32:29,400
Speaker 1: good leaders. How many of you enjoy working with and

632
00:32:29,460 --> 00:32:31,830
Speaker 1: for good leaders? How many of you try to be

633
00:32:31,890 --> 00:32:35,770
Speaker 1: good leaders, right? And then there's bad leaders. And some

634
00:32:35,850 --> 00:32:37,630
Speaker 1: leaders I look at, I'm like, all right, they're bad leaders,

635
00:32:37,670 --> 00:32:40,390
Speaker 1: but they mean well. They're just not good at leading people,

636
00:32:40,790 --> 00:32:43,080
Speaker 1: but their intentions are good. So you have good leaders

637
00:32:43,100 --> 00:32:44,920
Speaker 1: and you have bad leaders, but there's a worse leader

638
00:32:44,940 --> 00:32:48,750
Speaker 1: than a bad leader. It's an insecure leader, because this

639
00:32:48,810 --> 00:32:51,489
Speaker 1: is what an insecure leader does. An insecure leader will

640
00:32:51,510 --> 00:32:54,630
Speaker 1: try and kill you. If you threaten their power in

641
00:32:54,690 --> 00:32:56,710
Speaker 1: some way, they'll try to kill you, maybe not physically,

642
00:32:57,250 --> 00:33:00,790
Speaker 1: hopefully not physically in most cases. Now in Saul's case,

643
00:33:00,810 --> 00:33:03,800
Speaker 1: you're going to see major insecurity with him with David.

644
00:33:03,820 --> 00:33:05,720
Speaker 1: What does he spend a major portion of his reign doing?

645
00:33:06,060 --> 00:33:08,820
Speaker 1: Trying to kill David. But an insecure leader in our

646
00:33:08,860 --> 00:33:11,000
Speaker 1: day will do the same exact thing, just differently. They'll

647
00:33:11,020 --> 00:33:15,760
Speaker 1: try and kill your reputation, kill your opportunities, anything like that.

648
00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:18,120
Speaker 1: So there's a worse leader than a bad leader. In

649
00:33:18,180 --> 00:33:21,630
Speaker 1: my opinion, an insecure leader is a worse leader than

650
00:33:21,670 --> 00:33:26,550
Speaker 1: a bad leader. But here, you have Saul saying, I

651
00:33:26,590 --> 00:33:29,190
Speaker 1: forced myself and offered the burnt offering. And you have

652
00:33:29,230 --> 00:33:32,090
Speaker 1: Samuel looking at him and saying, you have no idea

653
00:33:32,110 --> 00:33:34,010
Speaker 1: what you've done. You basically just tried to take the

654
00:33:34,050 --> 00:33:37,320
Speaker 1: rule that belongs to Christ. You're king. Do king stuff.

655
00:33:38,740 --> 00:33:42,790
Speaker 1: You're not the priest. Don't do the priest activity, right?

656
00:33:43,310 --> 00:33:45,650
Speaker 1: But you look at Saul's reasoning, and some people would argue, well,

657
00:33:45,670 --> 00:33:47,970
Speaker 1: it does sound a little bit practical. Again, the army

658
00:33:48,010 --> 00:33:50,770
Speaker 1: was shrinking. The enemy was strong. He's looking at the

659
00:33:50,790 --> 00:33:53,780
Speaker 1: situation saying, someone's waiting for me to make a leadership decision.

660
00:33:54,220 --> 00:33:58,780
Speaker 1: Something has to be done. But he's basically showing that

661
00:33:58,820 --> 00:34:03,240
Speaker 1: his heart is governed by circumstances, not God's command, meaning

662
00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:06,350
Speaker 1: that when he's truly tested and he's given the option,

663
00:34:06,750 --> 00:34:10,640
Speaker 1: listen to what God said, or do what seems expedient

664
00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:13,819
Speaker 1: in the moment, he will choose what seems expedient in

665
00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:17,799
Speaker 1: the moment, even if it conflicts with the word of God. Now,

666
00:34:17,820 --> 00:34:20,020
Speaker 1: that could be a very convicting thought when we apply

667
00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:22,840
Speaker 1: it to our own selves. It's not unique to Saul.

668
00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:25,899
Speaker 1: But basically, you look at Saul here and he's saying, look,

669
00:34:25,940 --> 00:34:28,839
Speaker 1: I want God's favor, but I'm not willing to wait

670
00:34:28,900 --> 00:34:32,129
Speaker 1: for God's word. I'm not willing to listen to God's word.

671
00:34:32,810 --> 00:34:35,629
Speaker 1: And so Samuel gives him an answer. In the midst

672
00:34:35,670 --> 00:34:39,969
Speaker 1: of this, he says, you have done foolishly. You have

673
00:34:40,110 --> 00:34:44,069
Speaker 1: not kept the command of the Lord your God. And again,

674
00:34:44,170 --> 00:34:46,969
Speaker 1: Saul's failure isn't that he feels afraid. Everybody goes through

675
00:34:47,010 --> 00:34:51,640
Speaker 1: seasons where we feel fearful. And Scripture often shows how

676
00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:56,900
Speaker 1: faithful people in the midst of fear still trust God.

677
00:34:57,719 --> 00:35:02,820
Speaker 1: But Saul here, his failure was allowing fear to become

678
00:35:02,900 --> 00:35:07,020
Speaker 1: permission for disobedience. He's saying, because I'm afraid, I can

679
00:35:07,060 --> 00:35:09,950
Speaker 1: do whatever I want. And so he looks, you'd say,

680
00:35:09,969 --> 00:35:13,580
Speaker 1: like he reaches for religious action, but rejects the command

681
00:35:13,620 --> 00:35:16,700
Speaker 1: that's supposed to actually give that worship, that moment of worship,

682
00:35:16,980 --> 00:35:20,259
Speaker 1: its meaning. And again, as a challenge to us, I

683
00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:22,880
Speaker 1: think we can also end up using spiritual language sometimes

684
00:35:23,500 --> 00:35:27,860
Speaker 1: to justify choices that, if we're really honest, are choices

685
00:35:27,900 --> 00:35:31,259
Speaker 1: that are maybe driven by panic or pride or a

686
00:35:31,330 --> 00:35:35,420
Speaker 1: desire for control. We see those things in Saul. I

687
00:35:35,460 --> 00:35:39,490
Speaker 1: think Saul teaches us that urgent circumstances don't make obedience optional.

688
00:35:39,510 --> 00:35:44,149
Speaker 1: I think trust, if you and I say we trust

689
00:35:44,190 --> 00:35:46,350
Speaker 1: the Lord, I think that's going to be most clearly

690
00:35:46,430 --> 00:35:50,850
Speaker 1: revealed if we actually trust him when our obedience is

691
00:35:50,969 --> 00:35:54,570
Speaker 1: costly and maybe even feels unsafe to be obedient in

692
00:35:54,630 --> 00:35:58,529
Speaker 1: that moment. And Samuel tells Saul that his kingdom will

693
00:35:58,570 --> 00:36:01,450
Speaker 1: not continue. When you get to verse 14 of chapter 13,

694
00:36:01,450 --> 00:36:03,489
Speaker 1: he says, the Lord has sought out a man after

695
00:36:03,510 --> 00:36:06,710
Speaker 1: his own heart. saying your kingdom isn't going to continue.

696
00:36:06,750 --> 00:36:09,450
Speaker 1: Now that statement in its initial context, you'll notice right

697
00:36:09,469 --> 00:36:12,489
Speaker 1: away that it points forward to David. But you'll also

698
00:36:12,550 --> 00:36:15,580
Speaker 1: notice when we get to, you know, things that reference

699
00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:18,320
Speaker 1: David a little bit more, that David isn't going to

700
00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:22,279
Speaker 1: be a flawless king. He will trust God certainly in

701
00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:24,900
Speaker 1: notable ways, but he's also going to commit serious sins.

702
00:36:25,140 --> 00:36:27,560
Speaker 1: And you see that really throughout the book of 2 Samuel.

703
00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:31,100
Speaker 1: So Israel still needs a king whose heart never turns

704
00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:34,060
Speaker 1: from the father. That's the spot they're in. They need

705
00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:37,739
Speaker 1: a king whose obedience never bends under pressure. They need

706
00:36:37,780 --> 00:36:43,930
Speaker 1: a king whose reign can't be undone by sin. That

707
00:36:44,010 --> 00:36:48,930
Speaker 1: king is Jesus. So think about how Saul begins his

708
00:36:48,989 --> 00:36:51,169
Speaker 1: reign here, and let's tie the two together here. Because

709
00:36:51,230 --> 00:36:55,469
Speaker 1: Saul began his reign by rescuing Jabesh Gilead from a

710
00:36:55,610 --> 00:36:59,710
Speaker 1: cruel enemy. And then you look at what Jesus came

711
00:36:59,750 --> 00:37:01,590
Speaker 1: to this earth to do. He came to accomplish a

712
00:37:01,670 --> 00:37:04,640
Speaker 1: greater rescue. Well, what's the greater rescue? Christ came to

713
00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:08,850
Speaker 1: this earth to accomplish. He came to rescue us from sin. Likewise,

714
00:37:08,890 --> 00:37:11,950
Speaker 1: he came to rescue us from death. Likewise, he came

715
00:37:11,989 --> 00:37:16,969
Speaker 1: to rescue us from Satan, a cruel enemy. Here you

716
00:37:16,989 --> 00:37:19,810
Speaker 1: have Saul rallying an army when the Spirit of God

717
00:37:19,910 --> 00:37:23,490
Speaker 1: rushes upon him. Then we look to the ministry of Jesus,

718
00:37:23,530 --> 00:37:26,590
Speaker 1: the ultimate king. Well, Jesus conceived by the Holy Spirit,

719
00:37:27,090 --> 00:37:31,990
Speaker 1: anointed for his mission and He faced the enemy of sin, Satan,

720
00:37:32,030 --> 00:37:35,550
Speaker 1: and death. The enemies, we could even say. He faced

721
00:37:35,590 --> 00:37:39,799
Speaker 1: those enemies as the obedient son. The father directed, the

722
00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:43,580
Speaker 1: spirit empowered, and Christ carried it out. And when you

723
00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:47,960
Speaker 1: look at the ministry of Christ, he didn't save by

724
00:37:48,020 --> 00:37:50,340
Speaker 1: trying to gather military strength. And that was one of

725
00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:53,060
Speaker 1: the expectations that many people living during that time had

726
00:37:53,180 --> 00:37:56,360
Speaker 1: of him. But what did Christ do? How did he save?

727
00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:58,819
Speaker 1: He saved by giving himself on the cross and then

728
00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:01,799
Speaker 1: rising victorious over the grave, showing that sin, Satan, and

729
00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:08,569
Speaker 1: death were completely defeated. Here you have a moment, you know,

730
00:38:08,610 --> 00:38:11,190
Speaker 1: in chapter 11, you have Saul's refusal to kill his

731
00:38:11,310 --> 00:38:14,290
Speaker 1: earthly opponents, and he shows some mercy. And you look

732
00:38:14,310 --> 00:38:15,390
Speaker 1: at that and you're like, all right, that's a high

733
00:38:15,430 --> 00:38:18,380
Speaker 1: moment in Saul's life. Well, think of what Jesus has

734
00:38:18,420 --> 00:38:23,120
Speaker 1: done on our behalf. Jesus has every right to judge

735
00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:26,819
Speaker 1: those who reject him. What did Jesus say, by the way,

736
00:38:27,050 --> 00:38:29,070
Speaker 1: as he was being mocked as he was on the cross? Father,

737
00:38:29,110 --> 00:38:31,870
Speaker 1: forgive them. They know not what they do. And in

738
00:38:31,969 --> 00:38:34,489
Speaker 1: our language, what would we say? Father, forgive them. They

739
00:38:34,510 --> 00:38:37,210
Speaker 1: have no idea what they're doing. They have no idea.

740
00:38:37,350 --> 00:38:39,089
Speaker 1: If they had any idea what they're doing, they wouldn't

741
00:38:39,150 --> 00:38:41,660
Speaker 1: do it. They have no idea what they're doing. So

742
00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:45,040
Speaker 1: what did Christ do? He bore judgment for sinners. He

743
00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:47,500
Speaker 1: bore it. He's saying, Father, forgive them. I take their

744
00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:50,460
Speaker 1: guilt upon me. I give them my righteousness. I take

745
00:38:50,500 --> 00:38:53,850
Speaker 1: their guilt upon me. In fact, Romans 5.8 tells us this,

746
00:38:54,090 --> 00:38:56,900
Speaker 1: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So

747
00:38:56,920 --> 00:38:58,020
Speaker 1: he looked at us and he said, I'm going to

748
00:38:58,060 --> 00:39:00,180
Speaker 1: show you mercy. You deserve condemnation. I'm going to show

749
00:39:00,219 --> 00:39:03,500
Speaker 1: you mercy. So our king makes us, we who were

750
00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:06,259
Speaker 1: his enemies, he makes us part of his kingdom and

751
00:39:06,300 --> 00:39:10,110
Speaker 1: he does it through a sacrifice of himself. Very different

752
00:39:10,150 --> 00:39:14,430
Speaker 1: from an insecure king like Saul. So Jesus succeeds where

753
00:39:14,510 --> 00:39:18,350
Speaker 1: Saul failed. That's part of the contrast we're actually supposed

754
00:39:18,370 --> 00:39:19,990
Speaker 1: to notice when you look at a portion of scripture

755
00:39:20,010 --> 00:39:23,140
Speaker 1: like this. Again, think of Jesus' earthly ministry. When he

756
00:39:23,180 --> 00:39:25,719
Speaker 1: was under pressure, you could find multiple examples of this,

757
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:27,609
Speaker 1: but I'll just give you one. When he was under

758
00:39:27,650 --> 00:39:31,740
Speaker 1: pressure early in his earthly ministry, like his public ministry,

759
00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:34,940
Speaker 1: the public portion, he was under pressure in the wilderness

760
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:38,140
Speaker 1: when Satan was tempting him. All sorts of categories, right?

761
00:39:38,160 --> 00:39:39,859
Speaker 1: The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,

762
00:39:39,930 --> 00:39:42,549
Speaker 1: the boastful pride of life. And what does Jesus do?

763
00:39:43,489 --> 00:39:47,450
Speaker 1: He refuses Satan's invitation to act outside of the Father's will.

764
00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:52,230
Speaker 1: because Jesus always carried through the Father's will. How about this?

765
00:39:52,270 --> 00:39:54,410
Speaker 1: In the Garden of Gethsemane, with the cross right there

766
00:39:54,469 --> 00:39:57,509
Speaker 1: before him, what did Jesus say as he's praying and

767
00:39:57,530 --> 00:40:02,810
Speaker 1: communicating with the Father? Not my will, but yours be done.

768
00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:06,620
Speaker 1: So he never used urgency, and he never used suffering,

769
00:40:06,719 --> 00:40:08,899
Speaker 1: and he never used what we would say is like,

770
00:40:10,660 --> 00:40:12,580
Speaker 1: you know, any form of trepidation, however you want to

771
00:40:12,620 --> 00:40:16,430
Speaker 1: categorize that. He never used those as excuses to disobey.

772
00:40:17,390 --> 00:40:20,399
Speaker 1: He obeyed perfectly in the midst of great pressure. There's

773
00:40:20,420 --> 00:40:22,979
Speaker 1: a lesson for us in that. But it's also showing

774
00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:25,279
Speaker 1: us we can't be the Savior. Only Jesus could do

775
00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:27,200
Speaker 1: that perfectly. So he did it for us because he

776
00:40:27,239 --> 00:40:29,800
Speaker 1: knew we couldn't do it. And in fact, Philippians 2.8

777
00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:32,410
Speaker 1: says it this way of him. He humbled himself by

778
00:40:32,450 --> 00:40:36,290
Speaker 1: becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on

779
00:40:36,330 --> 00:40:39,950
Speaker 1: a cross. That's a pretty big contrast between Christ and

780
00:40:39,989 --> 00:40:43,009
Speaker 1: a king like Saul. Because Saul, all he was trying

781
00:40:43,030 --> 00:40:46,170
Speaker 1: to do was preserve himself. After a while, he got

782
00:40:46,210 --> 00:40:47,760
Speaker 1: a taste of power. And I got to tell you,

783
00:40:47,770 --> 00:40:50,170
Speaker 1: I don't think most people can handle power. I don't

784
00:40:50,190 --> 00:40:52,450
Speaker 1: think most people can handle fame. I don't think most

785
00:40:52,489 --> 00:40:54,969
Speaker 1: people can handle power. I also don't think most people

786
00:40:54,989 --> 00:40:58,549
Speaker 1: can handle major amounts of money. Because once you have

787
00:40:58,590 --> 00:41:00,870
Speaker 1: those things, they end up becoming idols that you then

788
00:41:00,930 --> 00:41:03,880
Speaker 1: try and protect. And apart from the Spirit of God

789
00:41:04,010 --> 00:41:06,470
Speaker 1: intervening in our minds and in our hearts, we will

790
00:41:06,510 --> 00:41:09,980
Speaker 1: make those our substitute saviors. We'll try and hold on

791
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:11,840
Speaker 1: to it. And Saul got a taste of power. He

792
00:41:11,860 --> 00:41:15,730
Speaker 1: also got a taste for notoriety. and prestige, and respect.

793
00:41:16,010 --> 00:41:19,030
Speaker 1: And he's like, I will never allow anyone to challenge

794
00:41:19,070 --> 00:41:21,430
Speaker 1: this ever again. And I'm never going to let anyone

795
00:41:21,469 --> 00:41:24,220
Speaker 1: take it from me. And even a priest like Samuel,

796
00:41:24,260 --> 00:41:27,680
Speaker 1: if he shows up in my mind late, fine, I'll

797
00:41:27,719 --> 00:41:30,700
Speaker 1: do the job you can't do, Samuel. I'll take the

798
00:41:30,739 --> 00:41:33,840
Speaker 1: role of the priest. And what he ends up doing

799
00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:35,900
Speaker 1: is showing that he's trying to be the Savior instead

800
00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:39,900
Speaker 1: of trusting the real Savior. Then you also look at Samuel,

801
00:41:39,940 --> 00:41:41,820
Speaker 1: and I'll say this as we wrap things up today.

802
00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:44,900
Speaker 1: And it's something that I think is valuable for our

803
00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:49,300
Speaker 1: hearts to wrap ourselves around. You have Samuel interceding for Israel.

804
00:41:49,910 --> 00:41:51,649
Speaker 1: You know, in chapter 12, he talks about the fact,

805
00:41:51,670 --> 00:41:54,650
Speaker 1: I'm going to pray for you, and I'm going to

806
00:41:54,690 --> 00:41:56,629
Speaker 1: teach you as long as I can. He promised he's

807
00:41:56,690 --> 00:41:59,230
Speaker 1: not going to cease praying for the people, and that's

808
00:41:59,270 --> 00:42:04,150
Speaker 1: a beautiful thing. And I will tell you this, you know,

809
00:42:04,170 --> 00:42:07,140
Speaker 1: this past week I had the opportunity, there's something I've

810
00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:11,340
Speaker 1: been praying about for quite a few years, four years

811
00:42:11,380 --> 00:42:14,040
Speaker 1: and four months to be exact. And so I had

812
00:42:14,060 --> 00:42:16,880
Speaker 1: to wait it out. And I watched as God answered

813
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:19,040
Speaker 1: a prayer that I've been praying for four years and

814
00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:22,140
Speaker 1: four months. And not that long ago, my son-in-law Vinny,

815
00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:24,629
Speaker 1: he and I were praying together about that very same thing.

816
00:42:25,190 --> 00:42:26,950
Speaker 1: And the other night, as the two of us were

817
00:42:27,270 --> 00:42:32,250
Speaker 1: sitting there watching something be answered, he nudged me. He

818
00:42:32,310 --> 00:42:36,029
Speaker 1: gave me an elbow. Careful with that, all right? But

819
00:42:36,050 --> 00:42:39,660
Speaker 1: he nudged me. He points and he goes, how cool

820
00:42:39,719 --> 00:42:41,540
Speaker 1: is this? I was like, how cool is this? I

821
00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:45,610
Speaker 1: was like, I This is so cool. And like, without

822
00:42:45,650 --> 00:42:47,630
Speaker 1: saying any more words, both of us knew what each

823
00:42:47,670 --> 00:42:49,710
Speaker 1: other was thinking. We're like, we are now seeing with

824
00:42:49,810 --> 00:42:53,350
Speaker 1: our eyes, God answer prayer. Something we've been praying about.

825
00:42:53,370 --> 00:42:56,109
Speaker 1: We get to see it right now. And I was like, well,

826
00:42:56,130 --> 00:42:58,730
Speaker 1: how cool is that? And so here you have Samuel saying,

827
00:42:58,750 --> 00:43:00,509
Speaker 1: I'm going to intercede for you, Israel. I'm going to

828
00:43:00,550 --> 00:43:02,569
Speaker 1: pray for you. And the Lord's going to do things

829
00:43:02,630 --> 00:43:04,950
Speaker 1: in response to those prayers. But understand this of the

830
00:43:04,989 --> 00:43:08,489
Speaker 1: ministry of Jesus. Scripture tells us that Jesus is the

831
00:43:08,610 --> 00:43:12,840
Speaker 1: greater intercessor of who always lives to plead for those

832
00:43:12,890 --> 00:43:16,750
Speaker 1: who draw near to God through faith in him. Every

833
00:43:16,810 --> 00:43:20,930
Speaker 1: day of your life. Samuel here could pray for sinful people,

834
00:43:21,989 --> 00:43:26,430
Speaker 1: but he couldn't also remove their guilt. Well, Jesus intercedes

835
00:43:26,890 --> 00:43:32,690
Speaker 1: for sinful people and provides the sacrifice that cleanses. And

836
00:43:32,710 --> 00:43:37,130
Speaker 1: his priesthood never ends because his saving work is complete.

837
00:43:39,260 --> 00:43:42,480
Speaker 1: So you're looking at a hopeful beginning here of Saul's reign,

838
00:43:43,300 --> 00:43:46,839
Speaker 1: but that reign doesn't last. You know, he shows that

839
00:43:46,860 --> 00:43:49,259
Speaker 1: he could be courageous in battle. He could keep his

840
00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:51,520
Speaker 1: heart steady for a brief time when fear presses in.

841
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:54,880
Speaker 1: But you're also going to notice Israel's search for a king,

842
00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:58,160
Speaker 1: the ultimate king. It's going to continue through generations of

843
00:43:58,260 --> 00:44:01,320
Speaker 1: failed rulers. Someone that's raised up and they fail. Someone's

844
00:44:01,340 --> 00:44:03,989
Speaker 1: raised up and they fail. And what's that supposed to

845
00:44:04,030 --> 00:44:06,989
Speaker 1: point our heart toward? Well, it's supposed to help us

846
00:44:07,030 --> 00:44:11,089
Speaker 1: understand that that search will only end for your heart

847
00:44:11,610 --> 00:44:15,650
Speaker 1: and for my heart when it ends in Christ. The

848
00:44:15,690 --> 00:44:18,230
Speaker 1: search for the king, that's where it ends, in Christ.

849
00:44:18,330 --> 00:44:22,690
Speaker 1: Jesus is the king who rescues without pride. Jesus is

850
00:44:22,730 --> 00:44:26,890
Speaker 1: the king who shows mercy without compromising. He's the one

851
00:44:26,910 --> 00:44:29,910
Speaker 1: who shows perfect justice. He's the one who obeys the

852
00:44:29,969 --> 00:44:33,410
Speaker 1: father without exception or excuse. And he's also the one

853
00:44:33,450 --> 00:44:37,310
Speaker 1: who reigns without end. And so, as we think about

854
00:44:37,350 --> 00:44:39,469
Speaker 1: a portion of Scripture like this, understand that there's a

855
00:44:39,510 --> 00:44:41,670
Speaker 1: lot of historical and useful things that we can learn

856
00:44:42,110 --> 00:44:44,589
Speaker 1: from Saul and Samuel and what happened in Israel, but

857
00:44:44,630 --> 00:44:47,230
Speaker 1: also understand that it's meant to point us toward Jesus Christ.

858
00:44:48,070 --> 00:44:50,930
Speaker 1: And the search for the King of your life, the

859
00:44:50,969 --> 00:44:54,910
Speaker 1: search for the Lord of your life, it will only

860
00:44:54,989 --> 00:44:58,759
Speaker 1: be met when you welcome Jesus into that role. If

861
00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:01,640
Speaker 1: you're still trying to occupy that role, it's not going

862
00:45:01,660 --> 00:45:04,230
Speaker 1: to work. You're going to be disappointed. You're going to

863
00:45:04,250 --> 00:45:06,850
Speaker 1: become very insecure because you're going to become convinced throughout

864
00:45:06,870 --> 00:45:09,170
Speaker 1: the course of your life that you can't actually do

865
00:45:09,210 --> 00:45:12,129
Speaker 1: the things that you're trying to do. If you're trying

866
00:45:12,150 --> 00:45:14,540
Speaker 1: to find the answer to that in a political leader,

867
00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:16,620
Speaker 1: it's not going to work. If you're trying to find

868
00:45:16,660 --> 00:45:20,439
Speaker 1: that in a perfect job or life circumstances, perfect relationships,

869
00:45:21,040 --> 00:45:25,180
Speaker 1: whatever it is, perfect amount in your account, any substitute savior,

870
00:45:25,219 --> 00:45:27,750
Speaker 1: any category you can think of, I promise you it

871
00:45:27,790 --> 00:45:33,190
Speaker 1: won't work. But when you recognize Christ as king... You

872
00:45:33,210 --> 00:45:36,229
Speaker 1: recognize Christ as Lord of your life, and you fully

873
00:45:36,290 --> 00:45:39,080
Speaker 1: submit yourself over to him, and then when he directs,

874
00:45:39,120 --> 00:45:42,759
Speaker 1: you obey. You're going to discover something. Your heart is

875
00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:46,120
Speaker 1: going to find peace. You're going to be at rest,

876
00:45:46,900 --> 00:45:49,020
Speaker 1: and you're going to enjoy your life a lot more

877
00:45:49,060 --> 00:45:51,480
Speaker 1: when you stop trying to occupy the throne that only

878
00:45:51,540 --> 00:45:56,320
Speaker 1: belongs to him. You will be less anxious. Most of

879
00:45:56,360 --> 00:45:59,040
Speaker 1: your anxiety is because you're trying to occupy the throne

880
00:45:59,060 --> 00:46:01,890
Speaker 1: that doesn't belong to you. You're trying to control things

881
00:46:01,950 --> 00:46:04,759
Speaker 1: that don't belong to you, And trust it to him.

882
00:46:05,239 --> 00:46:07,560
Speaker 1: And trust every moment of your life and trust every

883
00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:11,640
Speaker 1: single thing that you're going through over to him. And

884
00:46:11,660 --> 00:46:14,180
Speaker 1: then wait for him to operate and to work in

885
00:46:14,239 --> 00:46:17,240
Speaker 1: his time. And sometimes he'll answer you quickly and sometimes

886
00:46:17,280 --> 00:46:18,910
Speaker 1: he'll take a good long time to do it and

887
00:46:18,930 --> 00:46:22,330
Speaker 1: your faith will grow in the process. And it's a

888
00:46:22,350 --> 00:46:24,270
Speaker 1: beautiful thing to be reminded of. So even as we

889
00:46:24,310 --> 00:46:26,569
Speaker 1: look at an ancient scripture like we're looking at today,

890
00:46:26,610 --> 00:46:28,310
Speaker 1: I hope that's something that's on our minds and on

891
00:46:28,370 --> 00:46:31,609
Speaker 1: our hearts. And I certainly hope that that's something that

892
00:46:31,650 --> 00:46:36,489
Speaker 1: encourages us in this coming week. Let's pray together. Lord,

893
00:46:36,510 --> 00:46:39,600
Speaker 1: thank you so much for who you are and for

894
00:46:39,640 --> 00:46:42,780
Speaker 1: the ways in which you do things that are so

895
00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:49,970
Speaker 1: far beyond our control. We have the privilege to come

896
00:46:50,010 --> 00:46:53,850
Speaker 1: before you and entrust ourselves to your lordship. Father, we

897
00:46:53,890 --> 00:46:56,250
Speaker 1: know that it's so easy for us in the midst

898
00:46:56,290 --> 00:46:58,570
Speaker 1: of this world to try and go our own direction

899
00:46:58,710 --> 00:47:01,210
Speaker 1: and to be our own boss and to think that

900
00:47:01,230 --> 00:47:04,339
Speaker 1: we call the shots. And Lord, certainly we're responsible for

901
00:47:04,580 --> 00:47:06,799
Speaker 1: decisions that we make and all of those things, but

902
00:47:06,840 --> 00:47:09,890
Speaker 1: then we look at someone like Saul who demonstrates utter

903
00:47:10,030 --> 00:47:16,350
Speaker 1: insecurity and impatience, an unwillingness to trust your timing, an

904
00:47:16,530 --> 00:47:21,610
Speaker 1: unwillingness to trust your word, a demonstration that he loved

905
00:47:21,680 --> 00:47:24,739
Speaker 1: the applause of the crowd, the adulation of those who

906
00:47:24,800 --> 00:47:33,270
Speaker 1: admired him. He loved calling the shots. He gets to

907
00:47:33,310 --> 00:47:35,770
Speaker 1: a point where He just wants to remove anyone that

908
00:47:35,870 --> 00:47:40,649
Speaker 1: operates like a threat to His authority. Father, please help

909
00:47:40,750 --> 00:47:43,130
Speaker 1: us not to copy His example, but even as we

910
00:47:43,150 --> 00:47:45,400
Speaker 1: look at His example, please help us to learn from it.

911
00:47:46,190 --> 00:47:48,250
Speaker 1: And with humility, Father, we pray that we would come

912
00:47:48,290 --> 00:47:52,450
Speaker 1: before You and recognize the role that Your Son, Jesus Christ,

913
00:47:53,690 --> 00:47:56,410
Speaker 1: should occupy in our lives. Father, You tell us in

914
00:47:56,450 --> 00:47:58,450
Speaker 1: Your Word that Your Son is the King that we're

915
00:47:58,469 --> 00:48:03,370
Speaker 1: looking for. You tell us in Your Word that He

916
00:48:03,410 --> 00:48:07,390
Speaker 1: lived the perfect life we couldn't live and that he

917
00:48:07,430 --> 00:48:11,530
Speaker 1: destroyed our ultimate enemies. So Father, I pray for myself

918
00:48:11,570 --> 00:48:14,770
Speaker 1: that you'd help me not to trust in me. I

919
00:48:14,810 --> 00:48:16,870
Speaker 1: pray for our church family that you'd help our church

920
00:48:16,910 --> 00:48:20,300
Speaker 1: family not to trust in themselves, but that our trust

921
00:48:20,340 --> 00:48:25,180
Speaker 1: would be in your son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, our

922
00:48:25,340 --> 00:48:28,620
Speaker 1: eternal king who reigns forever over a kingdom that never ends.

923
00:48:28,700 --> 00:48:30,440
Speaker 1: And Father, thank you so much that we get to

924
00:48:30,460 --> 00:48:34,299
Speaker 1: be part of that kingdom. We're so grateful for it all.

925
00:48:35,650 --> 00:48:37,649
Speaker 1: Help us to walk with you, we pray. We thank

926
00:48:37,690 --> 00:48:41,129
Speaker 1: you for all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.