Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Saul The King Who Refused to Bow │ Msg 714 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Saul The King Who Refused to Bow │ Msg 714 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: The study of people is a fascinating study. I'm engaged
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  Speaker 1: in it pretty much every day of my life, and
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  Speaker 1: so are many of you. I'm intrigued with the fact
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  Speaker 1: that no two lives are ever identical. Every story is different. However,
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  Speaker 1: I have observed that lives seem to fall into categories.
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  Speaker 1: Life styles seem to be similar, much more so than
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  Speaker 1: the individual details of the pilgrimages of life. Let me
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  Speaker 1: explain some lives. It seems to me fit the word
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  Speaker 1: picture of an oval speedway, sort of like the Indianapolis
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  Speaker 1: five hundred. They seem to be moving along at a
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  Speaker 1: very rapid clip. They're active, they're involved in many things.
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  Speaker 1: They seldom stop except briefly to gas up, to eat,
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  Speaker 1: to sleep, and they're back on the track again. But
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  Speaker 1: what is interesting in studying those lives is that they
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  Speaker 1: accomplish very little. They're quite involved in activities, but when
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  Speaker 1: the final tale is told, very little was accomplished, though
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  Speaker 1: they might have lived many years. And then there's another
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  Speaker 1: word picture that describes lives, and I think it's like
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  Speaker 1: a meteor in the sky. Perhaps the proteges of our
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  Speaker 1: lives are like that. Right from the beginning, they seem
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  Speaker 1: to hit the world with a flash or with a splash,
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  Speaker 1: and they're on their way to a life of well known, famous,
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  Speaker 1: even a life of publicity, as they are engaged in
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  Speaker 1: a number of different things. And yet their lives, though
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  Speaker 1: short lived, seem to sort of phase out, and we
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  Speaker 1: never know much of what happened to them in their
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  Speaker 1: later years. And then there are lives on the contrary
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  Speaker 1: that are like deep and quiet rivers. These are the
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  Speaker 1: lives of people who are faithful and consistent and giving
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  Speaker 1: and supportive, and it seems as though it's their delight
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  Speaker 1: in life to help other people reach their destinations. You
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  Speaker 1: perhaps had a parent like that, I certainly did, or
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  Speaker 1: maybe you have a friend like that. They will never
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  Speaker 1: make the headlines, they will never be known by the
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  Speaker 1: folks around the world. But like a deep, quiet river,
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  Speaker 1: they're moving like a solid current toward a destination, and
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  Speaker 1: their lives are supporting others as they get them to
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  Speaker 1: help them reach their final purposes for living. And then,
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  Speaker 1: without going on and on with this, let me give
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  Speaker 1: you one more, and that's a life that has lived
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  Speaker 1: like a rooftop, like a tent top. They're out of
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  Speaker 1: the starting blocks rather early in the Christian life, if
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  Speaker 1: we might use that term. Now, these are early Christians
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  Speaker 1: who are on their way to living a fulfilled and
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  Speaker 1: delighted life. God's blessed them. God has gifted them. They
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  Speaker 1: have capabilities, they have what it takes, we would say,
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  Speaker 1: and they move rather rapidly into leadership circles, and before
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  Speaker 1: you know it, they are well on their way to
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  Speaker 1: making a significant contribution. And then right at the peak,
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  Speaker 1: something happens and they turn on a pivot, and the
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  Speaker 1: latter part of their lives is altogether different from the
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  Speaker 1: former part of their lives. They have great promise at
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  Speaker 1: the beginning, and yet they conclude in disgrace and sometimes
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  Speaker 1: surrounding a scandal, a failure, or, as Paul calls it,
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  Speaker 1: a shipwreck. The Bible includes stories of all these different
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  Speaker 1: kinds of people. Those who are on the racetrack, accomplishing
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  Speaker 1: very little but moving fast, those who are meteoric in style,
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  Speaker 1: and they are off and running, only to fizzle out
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  Speaker 1: before they've hardly reached middle age. And then there are,
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  Speaker 1: through the scriptures, those deep, quiet rivers lives that continue
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  Speaker 1: to minister to others self leslie as they help others
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  Speaker 1: reach their destinations. But I am intrigued with how many
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  Speaker 1: times I come to the scriptures and find a life
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  Speaker 1: that is like a rooftop, a life that begins well
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  Speaker 1: but ends poorly. Such a life was Saul the King
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  Speaker 1: who refused to bow. What an interesting, interesting study he
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  Speaker 1: teaches me, if nothing else, that life cannot be determined
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  Speaker 1: until it has run its full We who are so
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  Speaker 1: quick to give opinions about certain individuals and seldom willing
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  Speaker 1: to wait until the final tally is told, can learn
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  Speaker 1: a lesson from this. You really don't know a life
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  Speaker 1: in full until it has lived itself out. To borrow
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  Speaker 1: from a woodsman's proverb of the nineteenth century, a tree
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  Speaker 1: is best measured when it's down. And now that the
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  Speaker 1: life of Saul has fallen, we are able to examine
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  Speaker 1: it in all of its disappointment as well as its splendor.
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  Speaker 1: I think maybe the reason the Scripture includes so many
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  Speaker 1: rooftop tight lives is to give us the message it
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  Speaker 1: can happen to anyone. That's why I often say to
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  Speaker 1: graduates when I have the privilege of bringing a commencement message,
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  Speaker 1: don't show me your honors today, come back in twenty
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  Speaker 1: years and show me your life. Don't tell me how
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  Speaker 1: well you graduated from this school in four or five
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  Speaker 1: or maybe six years of time. Come back in thirty
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  Speaker 1: forty years, and let's talk about what you have made
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  Speaker 1: of your life. And then I will applaud jasion. Loel Baxter,
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  Speaker 1: in his book Mark These Men, describes Saul this way. Saul,
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  Speaker 1: the first King of Israel, is one of the most
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  Speaker 1: striking and tragic figures in the Old Testament. In some
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  Speaker 1: ways he is very big, and in others very little.
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  Speaker 1: In some ways he is commandingly handsome, in others decidedly ugly.
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  Speaker 1: All in one he is a giant and a dwarf,
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  Speaker 1: a hero and a renegade, a king and a slave,
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  Speaker 1: a prophet and a reprobate, a man God anointed, and
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  Speaker 1: a man Satan possessed. He began so promisingly, yet deteriorated
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  Speaker 1: so dismally, and ended so ignominiously as to make the
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  Speaker 1: downgrade process which ruined his which ruined him monumental forever afterward.
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  Speaker 1: To all who would read Mark and learn to jump
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  Speaker 1: ahead in his life, let me show you the epitaph
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  Speaker 1: that would fit. And these words come from his own lips.
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  Speaker 1: First Samuel twenty six twenty one. Just to jump ahead.
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  Speaker 1: We will do that first to give you a picture
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  Speaker 1: of how he would describe himself toward the end of
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  Speaker 1: his days. First Samuel twenty six twenty one, Saul said,
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  Speaker 1: I have sinned. Return my son David, for I will
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  Speaker 1: not harm you again, because my life was precious in
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  Speaker 1: your sight this day. Behold, look at the epitaph. I
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  Speaker 1: have played the fool and have committed a serious error.
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  Speaker 1: Those five words would fit the tombstone of Saul. I
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  Speaker 1: have played the fool. As we get underwigh in this
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  Speaker 1: interesting story from the Old Testament, let me immediately say
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  Speaker 1: that I never quite know why God leads me to
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  Speaker 1: speak on some subject at one time and another subject
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  Speaker 1: at another. I have no skywriting, I hear no voices,
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  Speaker 1: I see nothing visible, or I hear nothing audible. And
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  Speaker 1: yet I always sense that there is a special reason
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  Speaker 1: He directs me to speak on a subject, or on
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  Speaker 1: a life, or on a truth, because I think He
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  Speaker 1: fits truths to certain ears. And for all I know,
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  Speaker 1: someone right now hearing this message is at the pivot
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  Speaker 1: point on the rooftop of your life. You are just
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  Speaker 1: about to make a decision that will turn everything, and
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  Speaker 1: maybe this life as it is portrayed in scripture will
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  Speaker 1: be sufficient to stop you and to help you see
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  Speaker 1: what could become the ruination of the rest of your days.
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  Speaker 1: Go back from First Samuel twenty six to First Samuel
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  Speaker 1: chapter eight. Will you for Samuel eight will sort of
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  Speaker 1: set the stage. Do a brief study of Hebrew living
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  Speaker 1: before Saul became the king. The nation, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: had never had a king at this particular juncture. They
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  Speaker 1: were not a monarchy. They were what theologians call a theocracy.
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  Speaker 1: The nation looked to God for his leadership. Oh he
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  Speaker 1: spoke through people, prophets and priests, and a judge's. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: Samuel seems to be the last man in transition before
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  Speaker 1: the nation demanded a king. God had always been their king,
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  Speaker 1: and they were unlike all other nations in that they
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  Speaker 1: could claim their leader was the invisible creator Yahweh, their
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  Speaker 1: God that made them unlike all other peoples. But they
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  Speaker 1: wearied of them. First Samuel eight tells us why verse one.
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  Speaker 1: It came about when Samuel was old that he appointed
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  Speaker 1: his sons judges over Israel. Now, the name of his
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  Speaker 1: firstborn was Joel, the name of his second of Aijah.
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  Speaker 1: They were judging in Bearsheba. His sons, however, did not
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  Speaker 1: walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain
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  Speaker 1: and took bribes and perverted justice. Then all the elders
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  Speaker 1: of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Rama,
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  Speaker 1: and they said to him, behold, you have grown old,
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  Speaker 1: and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now
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  Speaker 1: appoint a king for us to judge us like all
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  Speaker 1: the nations. Well, there you have it. Those are the
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  Speaker 1: three reasons they wanted a king. First, Samuel was old
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  Speaker 1: and no longer able to keep pace with the demands
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  Speaker 1: of the nation. Second, his sons had disqualified themselves. They
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  Speaker 1: were men who had lost the respect of the people.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, isn't it interesting how often we find
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  Speaker 1: in life as well as in scripture, great people of
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  Speaker 1: God whose families do not walk in there in the
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  Speaker 1: way of the Lord. And Samuel is like Eli. You
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  Speaker 1: would have thought Samuel would have learned the lesson from
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  Speaker 1: his childhood when God awoke him at night and told
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  Speaker 1: him of Eli's boys. But it didn't change the way
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  Speaker 1: Samuel raised his family. And these boys are now reprobates.
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  Speaker 1: They are they have forfeited the right to lead. And
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  Speaker 1: so the people are saying, not only are you old, Samuel,
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  Speaker 1: but your sons are disqualified. And thirdly, we want to
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  Speaker 1: be like all the nations. Their request was displeasing to Samuel.
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  Speaker 1: We're told that in verse six was pleasing in the
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  Speaker 1: sight of Samuel when they said, give us a king
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  Speaker 1: to judges. So Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the
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  Speaker 1: Lord said to Samuel, listened to the voices of the
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  Speaker 1: people in regard to all that they say to you,
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  Speaker 1: For they have not rejected you, but they have rejected
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  Speaker 1: me from being king over them, like all the deeds
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  Speaker 1: which they have done since the day that I brought
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  Speaker 1: them up from Egypt, even to this day, in that
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  Speaker 1: they have forsaken me and served other gods. So they
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  Speaker 1: are doing to you also. Now then listen to their voice. However,
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  Speaker 1: you shall solemnly warn them and tell them of the
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  Speaker 1: procedure of the king who will reign over them. So
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  Speaker 1: Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the
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  Speaker 1: people who had asked of him a king, and he said,
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  Speaker 1: this will be the procedure of the king who will
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  Speaker 1: reign over you. Now watch how he warns them. You
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  Speaker 1: want a king, Let me tell you what he will
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  Speaker 1: be like. He will take your sons and place them
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  Speaker 1: for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen, and
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  Speaker 1: they will run before his chariots, so they will be
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  Speaker 1: involved in a mandatory military service. He will appoint for
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  Speaker 1: himself commanders of thousands and fifties and some to do
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  Speaker 1: his plowing and to reap his harvest, and to make
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  Speaker 1: his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He
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  Speaker 1: will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers.
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  Speaker 1: He will take the best of your fields, and your vineyards,
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  Speaker 1: and your olive groves, and give them to his servants.
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  Speaker 1: Verse fifteen, he will take a tenth. He's already into
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  Speaker 1: taxes by now. He will take a tenth of your
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  Speaker 1: seed and of your vineyards to give to his officers
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  Speaker 1: and to his servants. He will also take your male servants,
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  Speaker 1: and your female servants, and your best young men, and
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  Speaker 1: your donkeys, and use them for his work. Seventeen, he
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  Speaker 1: will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves
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  Speaker 1: will become his servants. Did you notice how many times
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  Speaker 1: he will take Verse eleven, he will take your sons.
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  Speaker 1: Verse twelve, he will appoint for him self commanders from
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  Speaker 1: your sons. Notice, he will appoint them for himself. He
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  Speaker 1: will take your daughters. Verse thirteen, he will take the
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  Speaker 1: best of your fields. Fourteen, he will take a tenth
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  Speaker 1: of your seed. Fifteen he will take your male servants.
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  Speaker 1: Seventeen he will take a tenth of your flops. He
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  Speaker 1: will take, he will take. The king will be known
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  Speaker 1: as a taker, not a giver, and it will become
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  Speaker 1: a kingdom that revolves around him, not around you. You'll
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  Speaker 1: learn a lesson Israel that you've never known before. You
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  Speaker 1: will discover what it's like to have a man reign
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  Speaker 1: over you, and you will regret the day you did it,
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  Speaker 1: But we will do it. In fact, verse eighteen, you
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  Speaker 1: will cry out in that day because your king, whom
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  Speaker 1: you have chosen for yourselves, But the Lord will not
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  Speaker 1: answer you in that day. Nevertheless, Verse nineteen, does this
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  Speaker 1: sound like one of your teenagers. The people refuse to
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  Speaker 1: listen to the voice of Samuel. They said, no, but
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  Speaker 1: there shall be a king over us, and we'll be
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  Speaker 1: like all the other nations. By the way, any time
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  Speaker 1: you'd make a decision to be like someone else, you lose.
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  Speaker 1: You lose your distinctive, you lose your security, you lose
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  Speaker 1: your direction, your identity, your God given purpose. God never
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  Speaker 1: made any one of us to be mirror images of
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  Speaker 1: anyone else. He has created for his own distinct, unique messengers.
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  Speaker 1: One of the most freeing days of my life came
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  Speaker 1: when I decided to stop being like anybody else, and
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  Speaker 1: stop being intimidated because I was not like someone else,
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  Speaker 1: and become who I am, good and bad, strength and weakness,
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  Speaker 1: but to be authentic. They want to be like all
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  Speaker 1: the other nations. They're tired of having the nations mock
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  Speaker 1: them and talk about their God, whom they cannot see,
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  Speaker 1: and serving a monarch who cannot be worshiped. There can't
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  Speaker 1: be a crown on his head, and there can't be
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  Speaker 1: a scepter in his hand or a throne beneath his seat.
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  Speaker 1: They want to be like all the other that you
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  Speaker 1: will regret it, and also you will notice there are
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  Speaker 1: times the Lord will let us go right on and
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  Speaker 1: do our will, knowing we will be hurt, but that's
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  Speaker 1: the only way we will learn the lessons you'll find
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  Speaker 1: out now. Chapter nine, we meet the king, the King elect.
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  Speaker 1: He doesn't know it yet. He's on his way up
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  Speaker 1: the rooftop. Okay, we're on the upswing of his life.
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  Speaker 1: And what a great first impression. Verse one. There was
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  Speaker 1: a man of Benjamin who's name was Case, the son
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  Speaker 1: of Abbiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Beccarath,
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  Speaker 1: the son of a Paiah, the son of a Benjamined,
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  Speaker 1: a mighty man of Valor. He had a son whose
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  Speaker 1: name was Saul. This is the first mention of this
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  Speaker 1: man we're studying. His name is Saul. A choice. A
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  Speaker 1: choice of that term suggests in the prime of manhood, viril, young, strong,
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  Speaker 1: and also it says and handsome man. Tove is the word.
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  Speaker 1: It means good, good looking, a specimen of masculinity. He is.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, there was not a more handsome person than
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  Speaker 1: he among the sons of Israel. And to make matters
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  Speaker 1: even more impressive, from his shoulders and up, he was
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  Speaker 1: taller than any of the people. He was tall, he
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  Speaker 1: was dark, he was handsome. Nothing wrong with that. It
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  Speaker 1: isn't fair, in my opinion, but nothing wrong with it.
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  Speaker 1: Here is this handsome leader. By the way, I heard
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  Speaker 1: a statement many years ago from a good friend of
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  Speaker 1: mine who referred to an excellent young preacher and he said,
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  Speaker 1: My only fear for him is that he is cursed
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  Speaker 1: with good looks. There's a lot of wisdom in that
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  Speaker 1: he is not only capable in the pulpit, he is
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  Speaker 1: extremely handsome. That's Saul. When you first looked at him,
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  Speaker 1: you got your impression of him. Wow, what a man.
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  Speaker 1: Most people I know would like to be taller. There's
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  Speaker 1: something about height that gives you a sense of commanding presence.
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  Speaker 1: How many people have said to me when they for
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  Speaker 1: some reason want to come look at what I look like.
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  Speaker 1: They'll say, we expected you to be taller. And isay,
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  Speaker 1: what you see is what you get. This is me
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  Speaker 1: and Saul. They would never have said that. There is
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  Speaker 1: this mystique about looks, about image, about style. People want
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  Speaker 1: to see, they want to see size, They want to
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  Speaker 1: see mannerisms. And Saul ranked high and every one of those.
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  Speaker 1: On top of that, he was genuinely modest. Nine twenty one.
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  Speaker 1: After Samuel has addressed these things, Saul answered and said,
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  Speaker 1: when he hears it, being the king, he said, am
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  Speaker 1: I not a Benjamite of the smallest of the tribes
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  Speaker 1: of Israel. My family, the least of all the families
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  Speaker 1: of the tribe of Benjamin, Why then do you do
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  Speaker 1: you speak to me in this way? I'm not your man.
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  Speaker 1: He's genuinely modest. Ten One look across the page. Samuel
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  Speaker 1: took the flask of oil and poured it on his head,
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  Speaker 1: kissed him, and said, has not the Lord nointed you
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  Speaker 1: a ruler over his inheritance? If we were to take
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  Speaker 1: the time, which we will not, we could find in
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  Speaker 1: these chapters that he was a man of discretion. He
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  Speaker 1: was interested in waiting on God. He's a man of
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  Speaker 1: generous spirit. He is the one who spoke for God.
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  Speaker 1: He is energized and inspired of God. Look at verse
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  Speaker 1: six of this tenth chapter. The spirit of the Lord
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  Speaker 1: will come upon you mightily a saul, and you will
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  Speaker 1: prophesy with them and be changed into another man. God's
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  Speaker 1: hand is on your life. It shall be when these
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  Speaker 1: signs come to you. Do for yourself what the occasion requires.
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  Speaker 1: For God is with you. Can you imagine being told
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  Speaker 1: that by Samuel in a day when the visible presence
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  Speaker 1: of God rested and it became a miraculous series of events.
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  Speaker 1: God's hand is on your life. What a prediction. Now,
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  Speaker 1: all this leads Samuel to present the new King to
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  Speaker 1: the nation. You're gonna smile when I read something to you.
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  Speaker 1: Go back to chapter nine, verse sixteen. About this time tomorrow,
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  Speaker 1: I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin.
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  Speaker 1: You shall annoyt him to be prince over my people Israel.
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  Speaker 1: He shall deliver my people from the hand of the Philistines.
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  Speaker 1: For I have regarded my people because their cry has
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  Speaker 1: come to me. Now ten seventeen look at that. Next
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  Speaker 1: thereafter Samuel call the people together to the Lord at Mizpah,
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  Speaker 1: and he said to the sons of Israel, thus says
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, the God of Israel. I brought Israel up
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  Speaker 1: from Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of
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  Speaker 1: the Egyptians, from the power of all the kingdoms that
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  Speaker 1: were oppressing you. But today you rejected your God, who
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  Speaker 1: delivers you from all your calamities and all your distresses.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Yet you have said, no, but set a king over us. Now, therefore,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: present yourselves before the Lord, by your tribes and by
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: your clans. Thus Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: near and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by Lot.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: And he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: families and the Metrite family was taken, and saw the
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: he could not be found. This is the day of
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: his coronation. They can't find him. And they inquired further
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: of the Lord. Has the man come here? Yet? The
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: Lord said, behold, he is hiding himself by the baggage
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: wherever that was. He is so modest, he is so
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: genuinely timid. He's shy that he feels uncomfortable standing before
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: all the people. So they ran and took him from there.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: And when he stood among the people, he was taller
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: than any of the people, from his shoulders upward. And
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: that Samuel said to all the people, you see him,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: whom the Lord has chosen. Surely there's no one like
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: him among all the people. So the people shouted and
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: said words that have been said hundreds of times through
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: the centuries, Long live the King. That's our man. And
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: here stands tall but modest Saul. A disaster getting ready
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: to happen, But you would never guess that he comes.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: By the thirteenth chapter, to the peak of the roof.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: He has the people's vote, he has won the victories,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: he has fought the Philistines. He has shown himself a warrior,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: and the people are ecstatic over the fact that they
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: have a man they can call their king. They're still
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: impressed with him. They've looked on the outward appearance and
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: public opinion and runs high, probably eighty five to ninety
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: percent or more, not one hundred percent. But alas with
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: such men, there is the immense possibility of a fall
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: where he becomes a victim of himself. Pride, impatience, stubborn rebellion, jealousy, and,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: if you can believe it, by the time he comes
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: to the end of his life, he dies a suicide.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: His life becomes like sewage that pours into a harbor
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: at night from beneath the water. You don't see it,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: you can't even for a period of time smell it.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: But slowly, and ever so surely it pollutes the water
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: so that it's unsafe for anyone to enter or for
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: the fish to live. His life is bec like that.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Let me show you the tragic erosion of his character
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: and the balance of my time with you. Here there
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: are three brief yet powerfully damaging scenes set forth in scripture.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: We've reached the turning point of the roof. The peak
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: of his life has been reached over a period of years.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: He has won the people's approval, he has set up
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: an army, he has become a victor in battle. But
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: something happens at the height of his career, and he
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: starts his way down the other side. Chapter thirteen tells
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: us of an irreverent act of presumption. Saul was thirty
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: forty two years over Israel. He chose for himself all
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: these people, and they are numbered, and some of them
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: are named for us. Jonathan verse three smote the garrison
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: of the Philistines. Jonathan is his son. By the way
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: verse four, all Israel heard the news that Saul had
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: smitten the garrison of the Philistines. The people were summoned
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: to Saul at Gilgal, and they are numbered for us.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Here verse seven, some of the Hebrews crossed the Jordan
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: into the land of Gad and Gilead. But as for Saul,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: him trembling. They're at a very threatening point in the battle.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: He waited seven days according to the appointed time set
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: by Samuel You can reference that in chapter ten, verse eight,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: where earlier Samuel told him when he came to this place,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: to wait, and he would come and would meet with
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: him and would sacrifice on the altar as the priest
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: was a qualified to do. Saul, it is king. Remember, priest,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: kings had no right to sacrifice offerings. But Samuel, we
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: read in verse eight, did not come to Gilgal and
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, bring
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: he offered the burnt offering. Wait, he has no right
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: to do that. But you understand, when you come to
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: this place in your life, when you're on the downside
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: of pride and arrogance and conceit, you care little about
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: roles and realms of responsibility. You're in charge of everything.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: He says, bring the sacrifice to me, bring the altar
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: to me, Bring the burnt offering and the peace offerings.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: And he offered the burnt offerings verse ten. It came
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: about as soon as he finished offering the burnt offering. Behold,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Samuel came, and Saul went out to meet him and
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: to greet him. Now you would expect I would expect
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: that he would be embarrassed, there would be a sense
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: of uneasiness and maybe shame appropriately because he had hurried
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: ahead and impatiently offered this offering. But we read that
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Saul went out to meet him and to greet him,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: and Samuel said, what have you done? Saul said, because
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: I saw that the people were scattering from me, and
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: that you did not come within the appointed days, and
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: that the flistines were assembling at mcnash. Therefore, I said,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: now the flistines will come down against me at Gilgal,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: and I have not asked the favor of the Lord.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: So I forced myself and I offered the burnt offerings.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Notice how he puts it. I mean I just couldn't
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: help myself. I look down and my hands were doing it.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, it just kind of happened. I had to
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: make myself do it, fat chance. That's not the way
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: it works. This is deliberate disobedience. Samuel calls his hand
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: on it verse thirteen. He said, you've acted foolishly. I
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: spoke rather recently on the subject of confrontation, some of
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: you may remember, and in that message I talked about
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: the importance of having someone who looks out for our
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: character more than our comfort. Remember my sharing that quotation,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: Samuel is a friend like that. You've done the wrong thing.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: You may be king, but you're not priest. You've gone
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: too far. Man, You've played the fool. You haven't kept
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: the commandment of the Lord, your God, which he commanded
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: you for now. The Lord would have established your kingdom
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: over Israel forever, but it will not any longer endure,
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: or it won't for much more time endure. The Lord
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: has sought out for himself a replacement, a man after
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: his own heart. You might wonder where the phrase comes from, David.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: A man after God's own heart comes from that statement
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: right there. And the Lord is already on the move
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: to find a replacement. Let me tell every one of
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: us something that is easy, easy to forget. There isn't
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: a person on this earth who is irreplaceable. There isn't
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: a person so powerful that they can't be removed in
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: a split second and another individual step in. No one
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: is permanently in a role of responsibility. Those of us
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: who are in places such as this need the admonition
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: from First Samuel thirteen that when it's better to wait,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: we should wait. Even in threatening times, if we are
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: unsure that the game plan is to wait, to remain silent,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: to let God move. I heard a man say many
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: years ago who was in a church that was under
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: a time of stress, it's better to do something, even
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: if it's wrong, than to do nothing. That is stupid, counsel.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: It is never better to do wrong, never, even if
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: you're king. If Samuel hasn't come, if the offering needs
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: to be offered, there's a reason for the delay. Sit tight, Saul, wait, wait,
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: But to go back to my illustration, when you're on
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: the rooftop and you've peeked out, and now you're threatened
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: with what people are thinking about you, and you're caught
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: up in your image and your self willed ways, you
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: diminish the importance of obeying God, and you do whatever
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: you can to keep yourself intact in the eyes of others.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: In this initial act, I find Saul took his circumstances seriously,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: but he didn't take God seriously. That is the Achilles
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: Heel of Saul's life. He never took God seriously. That
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: was the turning point of his life. He didn't take
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: God seriously, took his circumstances seriously, but not God. In
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: chapter fourteen, we have a second act where the erosion
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: continues and it is an irresist It is an irresponsible,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: unwise decision he makes that almost cost the life of
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: his son Jonathan. If you can believe it, I give
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: you a quick analysis of what has happened. Jonathan, through
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: a sneak attack, is the one responsible for victory over
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: the Philistines. And while the troops are surrounding Saul, they
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: find themselves confused and unsure about what to do next.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: Jonathan leads this ambush and he stands against enemy lines,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: and through a series of events to a little too
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: detailed to get into, God gives them the victory. However,
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: in the meantime, Saul is panicked fourteen verse twenty four
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: because his men are pressing on him. And if you've
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: ever been in battle, you know how confusing that can be.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: The men of Israel were hard pressed on that day,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: for Saul had put the people under oath, saying, curse
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: it be the man who eats food before evening, and
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: until I have avenged myself on my enemies. So none
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: of the people tasted food, and all the people of
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: the land entered the forest, and there was honey on
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: the ground. When the people entered the forest, Behold, there
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: was a flow of honey. But no man put his
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: Now the question comes, why would he make such a
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: rash vow. Nobody knows. When you are on the downside
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: of the rooftop of your life, you make statements and
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: vows that are foolish, irresponsible, and sometimes even dangerous, as
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: this was. And these men need food to continue fighting.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: Now verse twenty seven, Jonathan was in another place of battle.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: He hadn't heard when his father put the people under oath.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: Therefore he put out the end of the staff that
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb,
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: Of course, he got a little energy. One of the
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: people answered and said, oh, your father strictly put the
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: people under oath, saying curse it be the man who
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: eats food. Today the people were weary, Jonathan said, my
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: father has troubled the land. Ah, sometimes the confrontation comes
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: from one of your own grown kids. See now, how
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: my eyes had brightened because I tasted a little of
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: this honey. How much more if only the people had
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: they found. For for now, the slaughter among the Philistines
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: has not been great. In other words, what a vow
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: for my dad to make. Why would he say such
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: a thing? Look, I'm an example. If we were cursed,
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: God would kill me. But I'm strengthened. But would you
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: believe it? Over in verse forty three, Saul said to Jonathan,
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: tell me what you have done. And Jonathan told him
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: and said, I indeed tasted a little honey with the
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: end of the stay that was in my hand. Here
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: I am. I must die. And Saul said, may God
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: do this to me? And more also, for you shall
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: surely die Jonathan. I take it that he was reaching
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: for his sword. He's going to take the life of
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: his boy rather than retract and say, Jonathan, I can't
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: do that. You're a living example of how foolish my
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: orders were. I made the wrong statement before God. I repent.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: I apologize. You know who saved Jonathan's life? The people.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: Next verse, the people said to the king, must Jonathan die?
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: Who has brought about this great deliverance? In Israel, he's
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: the man that led the ambush. Far from it, as
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: the Lord lives. Look at them, they're challenging the king's words.
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: There shall not one hair of his head fall to
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: the ground, for he has worked with God this day.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: Let your eyes study that for a moment and try
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: to imagine how blind this leader has become. So determined
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: is he to get his way that he's willing to
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: take the life or have someone take the life of
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: his son rather than retract a stupid decision. Point number two,
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: Saul took himself seriously, but not God. I mean, after all,
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: he had said it and he was not about to
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: go back on his word. Let's all learn a lesson
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: from Saul's negative example. Sometime the wisest thing you can
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: do is simply face the music and say what I
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: decided earlier was unwise, wasn't right, wasn't cool, wasn't best?
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: And I publicly declare the fact that I was mistaken,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: and I've learned through this my own imperfection, and I
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: beg your forgiveness. I repent of that. How much they
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: would have rallied around it. But you know what's happened
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: now The people are seeing through the cracks of his life.
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: There is nothing quite like the loss of a respect
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: in a spiritual leader's life. When that begins to happen,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: it's only a matter of time. The people are saying, Saul,
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: that wasn't right, and we stand with Jonathan and not
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: with you. So he's forced to retract. He's at least
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: forced to back away. Chapter fifteen is the final straw.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: Here's one more chance, it seems. Here we see the
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: true colors of Saul's character. By now, he's drifted so
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: far that he's able to do one thing and to
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: talk another. Look at verse two, Thus says the l host,
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: I will publish. I will punish Amelek for what he
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: did to Israel, how he set himself against him on
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: the way while he was coming up from Egypt. Now go,
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: these are the words from Samuel to Saul. According to
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: verse one, go and strike Amelek and utterly destroy all
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: that he has, and don't spare him, and put death.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: Put to death both man and woman, child and infant,
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: ox and sheep, camel and donkey. Now I want to
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: ask you something. Is that clear? If you had heard
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: those words in Hebrew as a Hebrew from your commander,
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: the man who anointed you was king who spoke for God,
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: would you have understood what God was saying. First of all,
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: it's God that's saying this, not Samuel. Thus says the
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: Lord to punish Amelek. I'm going to strike the king
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: and all of the people and all of the animals.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Make no mistake. The Lord has given the assignment. It's
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: crystal clear. So Saul goes. You anticipate, don't you. Verse seven,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havla. As you go to shore,
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: which is east of Egypt, and he captured a gag.
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: You hear the breaks. All of a sudden, my mind says, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: wait captured? Did I recaptured? In the original orders, I
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: re put to death, destroy, utterly destroy, strike, do not spare.
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: But he captured a gag. The king of the Amalekites
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: of the sword. But Saul and the people spared a gag,
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: and not only the king. They spared the best of
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs and all
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: But notice that they were not willing to destroy them,
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: but everything despised and worthless they utterly destroyed. Who gave
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: them the right to discriminate one section or group from another.
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: They were to leave only corpses on the land in
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: obedience to God mystery or not agree with it or not,
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: that is obedience. God says, do it this way. That
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: is exactly what they should have done. But they didn't.
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: So here's Saul sitting in the tent, smoking the peace
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: pipe with Agag the king, and rapping about the best
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: sheep that they've kept out there. Verse ten. The word
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, I regret I
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: have made Saul king, for he's turned back from following
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: me and has not carried out my commands. By now,
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: Samuel's about headed. Wouldn't you think he was distressed? The
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: word means angry, And he cried out to the Lord
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: all night, and he rose early in the morning to
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: meet Saul. And it was told Samuel saying Saul came
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: to Carmel, and he sent up a monument for himself,
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: and then turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal. Interesting,
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: isn't he set up a monument for himself. Samuel came
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: to Saul, and Saul said to him, blessed are you
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: of the Lord. I've carried out the command of the Lord.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: Wait a minute, where are we? Is this Zenith or
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: our Jupiter? What part of the world are you in? Saul?
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: He said, I've carried out the command of the Lord.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: Samuel's just been told by God he hasn't. And hey,
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: Gay is standing there. Look at Samuel's answer, What then
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: is the bleeding of the sheep in my ears? The
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: sheep all over the place? What then, if you've carried
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: out the command? Who are these living four footed creatures
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: running all around here? And who are the what's with
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: the oxen? Which I hear? What saal backpedal? It is
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: a very interesting study. He greets Saul rather than bows
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: and shame and regret verse thirteen. He lies about his
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: actions verse thirteen and fourteen, and now he rationalizes around it.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: Look at what he says a Saul said, they have
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: brought them from the Amalekites for the people, spared the
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: the Lord your God. But the rest we've utterly destroyed.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: Look at all those carcasses, but these we've kept as
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: offerings to God. I checked my dictionary for the word
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: rationalize and found this definition to provide plausible but untrue
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: reasons for conduct. Here's another one, to attribute one's actions
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: to rational and creditable motives without the analysis of true
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: unconscious motives. Let me give that to you again. To
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: attribute one's actions to rational and creditable motives without analysis
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: of true unconscious molieves he had convinced himself that because
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: they were going to be offerings to God, it was
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: okay to leave them alive, to keep them alive. But Samuel,
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: I'm sure Saul thought, think of the sacrifice, this marvelous
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: animal sacrifice that will come before the nostrils of God.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: Then Samuel said to Saul, wait which could be rendered?
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: Shut your mouth and let me tell you what the
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: Lord said to me last night. And now I'm sure
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: his mouth's open and says speak. You know what, folks,
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: I really believe Saul thought he was doing right. That's
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: a tragedy of it. I honestly believe he is so
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: blind to his disobedience that he really, in his mind,
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  Speaker 1: had talked himself into doing it this way rather than
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  Speaker 1: that you can do that, he says, speak, I'm ready
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  Speaker 1: to hear. And Samuel said, is it not true? Though
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  Speaker 1: you were little in your own eyes, you were made
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  Speaker 1: the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord
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  Speaker 1: anointed you king over Israel. I'm sure, Saul said, that's right.
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  Speaker 1: That's the way it all began. The Lord sent you
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  Speaker 1: on a mission and said, go and utterly destroy the sinners,
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  Speaker 1: fight against them until they are exterminated. Well, yes, I recall,
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  Speaker 1: why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: but rushed upon the spoil and did what evil in
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  Speaker 1: the sight of the Lord? I call that direct confrontation.
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  Speaker 1: And Saul said to Samuel, I did obey the voice
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord. We're talking major blind spot. And you
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  Speaker 1: and and and I went out on a mission on
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: which the Lord sent me, and I brought back Agag
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  Speaker 1: the king, and have utterly destroyed the Amalachite. But the people,
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  Speaker 1: these people he's passing. The buck took some of the spoil,
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  Speaker 1: and sheep and oxen, choicest of the things devoted to destruction,
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  Speaker 1: to sacrifice to the Lord. Your God. Can't you get
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  Speaker 1: that straight? Samuel? I mean, look at what we're gonna
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  Speaker 1: do with these sheep. We've saved them for the altar
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  Speaker 1: of God. That is how rationalism works. Rationalization works. You
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  Speaker 1: you so talk yourself into another game plan, you convince
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: yourself it's God's will. I want you to hear the
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  Speaker 1: words of Samuel. Samuel said, has the Lord as much
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  Speaker 1: delight in burn offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the
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  Speaker 1: voice of the Lord. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
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  Speaker 1: and to heed than the fat of rams. Look at this, folks,
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  Speaker 1: for rebellion is as the sin of divination. Insubordination is
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  Speaker 1: as iniquity and idolatry. The next time you're tempted to
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  Speaker 1: laugh about your children's rebellion, go back to this verse.
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  Speaker 1: The next time you're willing to just sort of smile
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  Speaker 1: and say, that's another little temper tantrum. They do it
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  Speaker 1: all the time, go back to that verse. Because you
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  Speaker 1: have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected
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  Speaker 1: you from being king. He goes further down the tubes.
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: He lands on David, and out of inn being jealousy,
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  Speaker 1: tries to murder him. On more than one occasion, and
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  Speaker 1: by the end of his life, as I mentioned earlier,
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  Speaker 1: when life reached its lowitz Ebb, he dies the tragic suicide.
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  Speaker 1: A man who was once tall, handsome, modest, giving, generous,
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  Speaker 1: a warrior, and a fine leader, turns against everything that
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: he was to represent. There's a great hymn we loved
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  Speaker 1: to sing, and can it be? It starts. I'm tempted
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  Speaker 1: to ask at this point, how can it be? With Saul?
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: How can it be? He took the people seriously, but
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: he didn't take God seriously. He took himself seriously, didn't
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: take God seriously. He took his circumstances seriously. He never
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: took God seriously. That's what happened. Four reminders that live
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  Speaker 1: on beyond the story of King Saul. Let me give
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  Speaker 1: them to you, just sort of one, two, three, four.
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  Speaker 1: To assume that you will end strong because you have
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  Speaker 1: begun strong is foolish. To assume that you will end
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  Speaker 1: strong because you have begun strong is foolish. You want
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: to talk to me about your ministry, come back when
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: you're seventy seventy five years old. Let's talk about your ministry.
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  Speaker 1: Tell me how God's hand has been on your life.
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  Speaker 1: Talk to me when you're old and gray. Talk to
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: me about it when you're spending your years in the
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: retirement home. Tell me about it when you have finished
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: with the flash and the years are past. Let's talk
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: then about God's hand on your life. It's foolish to
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: think that because you began strong, you will automatically end strong.
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  Speaker 1: You know what message I have for you and A
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: Keep short accounts. Keep short accounts. Second. To presume into
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: inappropriate areas because circumstances are uncomfortable is dangerous. To presume
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: into inappropriate areas because circumstances are uncomfortable is dangerous. My
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: message to all of us at this point is watching, pray,
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: Watch and pray. Here's a third, and I get it
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  Speaker 1: from what happened between him and his son. To jeopardize
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: the well being of another because you're unwilling to alter
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: an unwise decision is unfair. To jeopardize the well being
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  Speaker 1: of another because you're unwilling to alter an unwise decision
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  Speaker 1: is unfair. Admit and change. Be humble enough to admit
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: it was the wrong decision. You realize the outcome of
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: it would be dangerous, or would hurt the well being
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  Speaker 1: of another, back off of that decision. And finally, to
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: rationalize your disobedience because you wanted your way is rebellion,
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: face the truth. To rationalize your disobedience because you wanted
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: your way is rebellion, Face the truth. The dangerous. The
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: most dangerous part of all of it, I have found
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: is that it can happen today just as readily as
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: it happened in that day. Not one of us is
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  Speaker 1: beyond on this kind of thing occurring. It's very possible
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  Speaker 1: that God has brought you to a place of responsibility
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: in leadership. And if he has, I'm grateful and I
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: praise his name. He's still using individuals a young, middle aged,
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: and old alike. I just want to caution all of
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: us that in being used for him, there is a
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: process of trial that continually comes our way, where pride
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: has a chance to act in place of modesty and humility,
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: where we can, as I've often said, start start believing
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: our own stuff rather than realizing we have this as
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: a as a very sacred trust. Let's hold it loosely.
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: Let's be quick to admit when we are wrong. Let's
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: be careful to listen when God directs. Let's be disciplined
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: enough to do just what he says, and let's try
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: to protect one another in the process, lest our disobedience
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: flow over into the hurting of another life. And the
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: greater the leader, the more lives are hurt by rebellion disobedience.
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: Will you bow for a few moments of quiet reflection? Please.
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  Speaker 1: It may be that you have come from a past
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: that has been marked by a brokenness and strife. It
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: may be that what you have made of your life
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: really is a first class mess. But unlike Saul, you
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: have come to realize that, and you've turned the corner.
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: You've come back to God, and it is the Father's
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: desire to use you as he wants planned to use
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: you now that you have turned around and seen the
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: error of your ways. Father, I pray that you will
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  Speaker 1: speak in a direct way to one or two folks
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: who needed to hear these words of warning in this message.
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: Thank you for speaking to me and for the quiet
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: reassurance that you and I have had this week of
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: going back over the very things that I've learned from
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: Saul's life. May it never be said of me, May
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: it never be said of us that we have played
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: the fool. Rivet these things to our hearts, our Father,
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: as many sit on the very urge of a future
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: that is both great and God honoring, May we humbly
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: walk with you through it in Jesus' name. Amen.
• 56:18
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, Saul the King who Refused to Bow,
• 56:22
  Speaker 2: was copyrighted in nineteen ninety nineteen ninety two, two thousand
• 56:25
  Speaker 2: and six, twenty twelve, and twenty twenty four, and the
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty four by Charles R.
• 56:32
  Speaker 2: SWINDAALF Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted
• 56:38
  Speaker 2: material for commercial use is strictly prohibited