The title I've given the lesson
this morning is The End of the Wicked. Now the scriptures declare
that God's greatest glory is His sovereign mercy to sinners
in our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that, don't we? That's
what we believe. And we preach God's sovereign
mercy and grace as boldly and as clearly as we know how to
preach it. But in all this talk of God's mercy, never mistake
God's chief attribute is His holiness. God is holy. Yes, He's merciful, but God's
chief attribute is His holiness. God must and will punish sin. God's justice is just as sure
as God's mercy. I wanted to make that the title,
but I think it's too long to fit. God's justice is just as
sure as God's mercy. Now, the old writers tell us
that 1 Samuel chapter 30 and 31 occur on the same day. On
the same day that God is delivering David and allowing David to recover
all that was lost, God is executing the sentence of divine justice
on Saul. And in his death, we see the
end of the wicked. Earlier this week, I got home
late from work, and I don't know what I was doing with my studies.
Janet came in, sat down, and my Bible was open. She looked
at it, and I said, read this chapter. And she read it, and
I said, what do you think? And she said, that's so sad.
That's just so sad. Well, that's the end of the wicked.
The end of man's free will always produces a sad end. And I have
a few things here in Saul's death I want us to see that is a picture
of the end of the wicked. And the first one is this. Sin
always kills the body. Sin will keep attacking and attacking
and attacking until it ultimately kills the flesh. Now that's true
of everyone, believer and unbeliever alike. But to the wicked, it
produces eternal death. See here in verse 1 of chapter
31, now the Philistines fought against Israel and the men of
Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell down slain in Mount
Gilboa. The Philistines just kept attacking and attacking
and attacking Saul all throughout his reign until they finally
killed him. And this battle, we'll see this
in a second, they zeroed in on Saul and his sons. And that's
exactly what sin does to this flesh. It keeps attacking and
attacking and attacking until it finally destroys this flesh. And we may think we got beat
for a while. You're healthy and strong. You might get a little
sick and you seem to recover. But eventually, sin will win
out and will kill this flesh. Look over at James chapter 1.
Paul told us in Romans 5 that sin has reigned unto death. Sin reigns. It will ultimately
destroy this flesh. And in James 1, verse 13, let no man say when he is tempted,
I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with
evil, neither tempted he any man. But every man is tempted
when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when
lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is
finished, bringeth forth death. Every time, that's what sin does.
When it's finished, it bringeth forth death. And in this battle,
many men died with Saul. And that's a picture of how all
flesh dies. It dies rotten and stinking. We read here that these men fell
down slain in Mount Gilboa. Now, I looked up that word Gilboa,
and you know what it means? A swollen heap. A swollen heap. That's how this flesh dies. It ends up in a swollen, stinking
heap. So sin always kills the body. Second, there is no escaping
God's justice. There is a specific, exact day
of reckoning appointed to everyone, and there is no escaping that
appointment. It is appointed unto man once to die, and after
this the judgment And that's an appointment we must keep.
Look here at verse 2 in our text. And the Philistines followed
hard upon Saul and upon his sons. They zeroed in on them. And the
Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchashua, Saul's
sons. And the battle went sore against
Saul, and the archers hit him, and he was sore wounded at the
archers. And the Philistines' archers, their arrows, found
Saul. Just as surely as God's arrows
of justice will find the wicked. Look over in Job 16. God's arrows find their mark,
just like the Philistines' arrows found their mark this day. In Job 16, verse 12, Job says, I was at ease, but
he had broken me asunder. He hath also taken me by my neck,
and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark. He set
me up for target practice, and his archers compassed me round
about. He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare. He poureth
out my gall upon the ground. He set me up for his mark, his
archers compassed me about, and they don't miss. Their arrows
find the mark." Now that's the way a man feels when he's in
just a fleshly trial. How about when we come to judgment
and eternity? Look over Psalm chapter 7. Psalm 7 verse 11. God judgeth the righteous, and
that should read, he is a righteous judge. God is a righteous judge,
and he's angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he
will wet his sword. He hath bent his bow, he's pulled
that arrow back and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him
the instruments of death. He ordained his arrows against
the persecutors. And those arrows find the mark
every time. Janet showed me a picture of
Maggie Kennel on Facebook this week. That arrow, she's an archer.
She's got that thing. It looked good to me. But she
misses occasionally, don't she? But I mean, it looked good. God's
arrows find its mark every time. Every time. And we'll either
find that justice, God's justice will be satisfied either in our
eternal punishment or in the punishment of our substitute.
But his justice will be satisfied. And before Saul dies, he watches
his sons die. I mean, wow, what a horrible
experience to watch three sons die just in moments, a few moments. And I see this often in scripture.
It often stands out to me. I look at it and pray that the
Lord would deliver us from this. The results of bad leadership.
I mean, they're far-reaching, damaging results of bad leadership. It crossed my mind. What is Jonathan
doing with Saul? I mean, have you ever wondered
that? What is he doing with Saul? He knew Saul was evil. He knew
David was God's king. What's he doing? Now, we have
every reason to believe that Jonathan is one of the Lord's
own, don't we? We have every reason to believe
that. Well, then what's he doing with Saul? Well, if you go back
and read the statements that Jonathan makes about Saul to
David, it sounds like Jonathan thinks he can influence Saul
to do good towards Jonathan. That's what he thinks. And he
could not do it. He just couldn't do it. It can't
be done. And Jonathan ended up being killed with Saul because
he was not with David. That's the reason he died. None
of David's men died this day, did they? David recovered all. Saul lost all. All those men
that were close to him and his sons, they all died. And here's
a warning to us. Now, we must Preach the gospel
to all men. Isn't that the commandment of
our Savior? Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. We preach to them, but now listen, don't hang out
with them in their false religion. Don't do it. Don't do it thinking
that you can influence them over time because you can't do it.
This flesh cannot be influenced to do good. It's completely,
totally depraved and sinful. Even God does not influence the
flesh to do good. God creates a new heart in a
man. He causes a new man to be born in holiness and eventually
kills that old man. It takes the new man to be with
him. Now we must preach to him, but don't compromise. Just so
you can hang out with him and hope that you can slowly influence
him over time. The only thing that will change
then is God put a new heart in him. And that's only going to
happen by preaching the gospel to him. You can't influence them.
Thirdly, the wicked die like they live. They die without God. The wicked, and that's all flesh
outside of Christ, the wicked have no interest in God during
this life. And they end up dying without
God and without God's mercies. That's what happened to Saul
in verse four. Then says Saul and his armor bearer, draw thy
sword and thrust me through therewith. lest these uncircumcised come
and thrust me through and abuse me, torture me, make fun of me."
But his armor-bearer would not, for he was sore afraid. Therefore,
Saul took a sword and fell upon him. Now Saul, just like all
the wicked, died like he lived. You think about how Saul lived.
First of all, Saul lived and he died full of self-love. I can't think of a greater demonstration
of a person's self-love than suicide. A person commits suicide
because they're trying to avoid something that they think is
horrible for themselves. And all they're thinking about
is themselves, not thinking about the horrible damage that they
leave their family and loved ones. It's the greatest act of
self-love I can think of. And Saul, just like everyone
in the flesh, lived his life full of self-love. I mean, it's
always, oh, poor me, poor me. This is all about me, me, me,
me, me. Somebody does something, oh, you love me. It's all about
me, me, me, me, me. And he died that way too, didn't
he? He didn't care. What about the army he's leading?
What about the nation he's king over? Didn't matter. Threw himself
on the sword. Second, Saul lived and he died
as a fool, a complete fool. Saul was more afraid of what
the Philistines would do to his body than what God would do to
him through Saul in judgment. Foolish! Saul chose to meet God
in judgment, outside of Christ, rather than risk losing a battle
to the Philistines and have them make fun of him. Foolish, just
utter foolishness. He cared more about his body
than he did his soul. And that's the way every unregenerate
person thinks. That's the way they are. Lives
a fool and dies a fool. Thirdly, Saul lived and he died
full of pride. Now remember when we first met
Saul? He seemed pretty humble that day, didn't he? What was
he doing? He was wandering around, completely lost, looking for
his father's lost donkeys. He seemed pretty humble then,
didn't he? That didn't last long, did it? When he became king and
everybody's shouting, God save the king! Saul became full of
pride real quick, and he never lost it. He quit seeking the
Lord. He quit listening to Samuel. He was going to do things his
way, and he tried to kill anybody that stood in his way. Full of
pride. And Saul lived as if he had no
need for God's mercy. Full of pride. Isn't that the
way he died? Without God's mercy. I can't
think of anything more sad than that. Saul chose to kill himself
rather than humble himself and beg God for mercy. That's pride. That's the end of man's pride. The wicked die like they live.
Fourth, the wicked cause the death of others. Now, they'll
cause the death of others, or they'll lead them to misery and
destruction in this life, and that's especially true eternally.
They lead them to eternal death, eternal destruction and misery. Saul did that to others. Look
at verse 5. And when his armor bearer saw
that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword and died with
him. So Saul died and his three sons and his armor bearer and
all his men, all his bodyguards, that same day together. say that Saul's armor-bearer
was Doeg. This was a position of honor
to be the king's armor-bearer. And Doeg received this honor.
Remember, he was the Edomite, the descendant of Esau, who killed
the 85 priests of the Lord. And he killed all the people
of Nob, because Ahimelech, the high priest, gave David a sword
and bread. And Saul told Doeg to kill him,
and he did. And this was the honor he received,
being the king's armor-bearer. Now those Jews also say that
Saul took Doeg's sword and held it up to him and said, now thrust
me through. And Doeg wouldn't do it, he's praying. So Saul
threw himself on Doeg's sword, that's what they say. And then
Doeg took his sword and fell on it and killed himself. They
both died of Doeg's sword is what the Jews say. And I don't
know if that's true or not. But if it is, Saul and Doeg died
by the exact same sword to kill the 85 priests of the Lord. I
don't know if it's true or not, but if you look back over in
Psalm chapter 7, we were there just a minute ago, look back
at Psalm chapter 7. It would not surprise me that that's true.
This is the way the Lord frequently orders things. Look at Psalm
chapter 7, verse 14. Behold, he travaileth with iniquity.
and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
He made a pit, he digged it, and has fallen into the ditch
which he made. His mischief shall return upon
his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon
his own pain." This is the way the Lord frequently ordains things. He gives the wicked just enough
rope to hang themselves, and that's exactly what they do.
The wicked cause the death of others. Saul caused the death
of Doeg, and he caused the death of all those other soldiers,
his bodyguards that were right around him. And everyone who
didn't die ended up homeless. They all ran away from home,
they hid in the woods, and the Philistines came and lived in
their homes. People under the rule of King Saul ended up running
out of the Promised Land. Can you imagine? And this is
what happens when people insist on having their own way. Remember,
the people were determined to have a king. They wouldn't have
Samuel anymore. They wouldn't have God rule over
them. They were determined to have their own king instead of
God. And they got Saul. That's who
they chose. So Saul represents man's free will. This is what
man would choose. And Saul's reign was a complete
failure. Just like man's free will will
always be a complete failure and lead to eternal death every
time. So the end of the wicked, sin's
going to kill the body and give them eternal death. Secondly,
there's no escaping God's justice. Third, the wicked die like they
live without God. Fourth, the wicked cause the
death of others. And fifth, the plans of the wicked. all end in failure. All their
plans and their ideas about God and about eternity die with them.
Look at verse 8, And it came to pass on the morrow, when the
Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and
his three sons fallen in Mount Gilboa, and they cut off his
head, stripped off his armor, and sent him into the land of
the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of
their idols and among the people. And they put his armor in the
house of Ashtoreth, and they fastened his body to the wall
of Bethsheba. Now Saul, he was very interested
in avoiding torture at the hand of the Philistines. He was very
interested in not being mocked and made fun of by them. And
he avoided that while he was alive, but not while he was dead. They cut off his head. They humiliated
him. He couldn't avoid that. And over
in 1 Chronicles chapter 10, We read that they cut off his head
after they paraded around laying the flistings, stuck his head
and his armor in the house of their idol, Ashtaroth. That's
where Saul's head was. He didn't avoid the humiliation
of the flistings, did he? His headless, naked body was
either nailed to the wall of the city or was nailed to a stake,
you know, right beside the wall. And that was his end. The wicked
will experience the worst failure in judgment. And Saul, all that
happened to his dead body, but still it's humiliating. The wicked,
their humiliation and punishment won't end with the death of his
body. That's just where it begins. It's eternal. That's the end
of the wicked. And Saul's head and his armor
were put in the house of Ashtoreth. And that's my sixth point. The
wicked attribute their success and their failure to anyone other
than God. If they're successful at something,
it's because they're smart and hard workers. And if they fail
at something, it's because of bad luck or, you know, the economy's
bad. You know, we're talking about
that where the economy's bad. You know, that's why I failed.
Or somebody was mean to me. No. The Philistines attributed
their victory to their idol, Astaroth. And Astaroth didn't
have anything more to do with that than you and me did. Look
over Hosea, chapter 13, right after the book of Daniel. Daniel,
Hosea. This event, this death of Saul,
was like every other event that's ever happened. It's off the Lord. In Hosea 13, verse 9, O Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself. We've got nobody to blame but
ourselves. We've destroyed ourselves. It's
not anybody else's fault. It's my fault. Israel, you've
destroyed thyself. But in me is thine help. I will
be thy king. Where is any other that may save
thee in all thy cities? And thy judges, of whom thou
saidest, give me a king and princes? I gave thee a king in mine anger,
and took him away in my wrath. The Philistines didn't remove
Saul from the throne. God took him away. And that's the end of the wicked.
That's the end of all flesh outside of Christ. That's the end of
man's free will. God's justice is just as sure
as his mercy. Now, is there a way that is not
my way, that will not end in death, but end in mercy and grace? Is there? Well, yes, there is. There is. Now, that way is not
solved. That way is not man's way. That
way is not man's free will or man's choice. That way is not
Saul's sword. See what Saul got in his sword,
don't we? The way of salvation, the way
of forgiveness of sins, the way of mercy is found in the sword
of God's word. Not Saul's sword, the sword of
God's word, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you look back to 1 Samuel
21, this will be a review. Maybe
you remember when we looked at this chapter some time ago, but it
does us good to review. 1 Samuel 21, verse 8, And David
said unto Ahimelech, Is there not here under thine hand a spear
or sword? For I have neither brought my
sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required
haste. And the priest said, the sword of Goliath, the Philistine,
whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here,
wrapped in a cloth behind Ethan. If thou wilt take that, take
it, for there is none other save that here. And David said, there
is none like that, give it me. And you may recall I gave you
a threefold outline on that sword. That sword, David said, there
is none like it, give it me. First of all, represents the
Word of God, which is described as the sword of the Spirit of
Scripture. There is no other book like the Word of God. What
you are holding in your lap is God-breathed. This is not something
man thought up. This is God-breathed. This is
God's Word to men. And it is truth. It's the truth. There's no error to be found
in it. This Word kills. and it makes a line. In Hebrews
chapter 4, it kills and it makes a line. It does both. In Hebrews 4 verse 12, for the word of God is quick
and powerful. It's life-giving and it's powerful,
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit. and of the joints and marrow,
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. That
two-edged sword, one side cuts, kills the flesh, the other side
gives life, life to the spirit. And at the same time, this sword,
this sharp two-edged sword that kills and makes alive, it's the
children's bread. Only God's Word could be bold.
Now you fall on this sword. You take this sword and fall
upon it. You just make it your business
to find out what this book says. You beg God, show me what this
says. That's how you fall on the sword.
Fall on it. You'll find life. Not death,
but eternal life. Secondly, that sword. David said
there's none like it. Get it, me. That represents,
secondly, the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate word. Christ is
the Living Word. There's no other Savior. There's
none other. Name under heaven, given among
men, whereby we must be saved. There's none like Him. There's
no other righteousness than the righteousness of Christ. His
name is Jehovah's attendant. There's no other righteousness.
The Lord our righteousness. There's no other high priest.
There's no other mediator between God and men but the man Christ
Jesus. No one else would love you enough
to be made sin for you, to suffer the hell that you deserve so
that you could go free. The Lord Jesus loved the ungodly. He didn't die for good people.
He loved the ungodly. He died for the ungodly. He loved
us while we were yet sinners. Only God would do that. There's
no other Savior like Him. He died to purchase the salvation
of his people, then he rose from the grave to apply that salvation
to his people, so there's no chance of failure. Christ is
not just a good Savior. He's the only Savior. The only
Savior. Now, fall on Him. Now, how do
I do that? How do I fall on Him? You fall
before Him at His feet with your face in the dust. Begging Him
for mercy. And just don't leave. Just don't
leave. Just stay at His feet. Begging
for mercy. Be like that Canaanite woman.
Just don't leave. When He calls you a Gentile dog,
say, true Lord. Don't leave. Fall at His feet.
Begging for mercy. That's the only place you'll
find life. Fall on Him. In Matthew chapter
21. This is a good scripture to make
this point right here. Matthew 21, verse 42. The Lord Jesus here
is talking to the Pharisees, and he said unto them, Did you
never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders
rejected, the same has become the head of the corner? This
is the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous in our eyes. Now, we
know that stone is referring to Christ the chief cornerstone,
don't we? We all know that. Well, verse 43 says, therefore,
say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and
given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever
shall fall on this stone shall be broken. You'll be a broken
sinner, broken in a contrite heart. That's the people of God's
mighty. You'll be broken. He'll be nigh unto you. If you
fall on this stone, fall on the Lord Jesus Christ. But on whomsoever
it shall fall, it will grind you to powder. You see how God's
mercy is just as sure as his justice is. Fall on him. Ask God to give you mercy in
Christ. And third, this door, David said,
it's a good one. There's none like it. Give it
me. It's the gospel concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. This is
the only gospel that saves. All these other so-called gospels,
they offer salvation to anyone who will accept it. Anyone who
will do something to make it effectual. The gospel of Christ
declares the salvation of God's elect. It's finished. It's complete. Roy, it's free. It's free. No
other gospel declares salvation complete and free, but the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's not another. This is
the only one. Follow on this gospel and find
life. Follow upon it. Now again, I
know somebody, I hope somebody is wondering, how do I do that?
How? Make it your business to be where
the gospel is preached. And ask God to give you faith. Ask Him to give you faith to
believe it, and love it, and cling to it. Follow this gospel. It's the only place you'll find
life. See, the big difference between Saul's sword and the
sword of God's Word is that one kills. The other kills the flesh,
but gives life to the Spirit. Now this book, this book of 1
Samuel, it ends in a dark place, doesn't it? Israel or Israel.
run out of their homes, they're all hiding out in the woods.
Philistines are living in their houses. Like Chance said, it's
a sad story. It's sad. But don't despair. Now, don't despair. God's King's
coming. The King the people chose is
dead. His head's cut off, his naked body's hanging on the wall.
There's the Philistine city. But God's King's coming. Just
like the darkness and all those years of silence from God, before
the Lord Jesus was born. It was a dark time, wasn't it?
Don't despair. God's King's coming. Suddenly,
he appeared in the temple and said, there he is. Now let thy
servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. And the Lord willing, we'll see
that in 2 Samuel, in the reign of David. When I began our study
of 1 Samuel, it was my intention to stop there, but I have been
strongly encouraged to continue on, so we will. There are some
difficult chapters and difficult subjects. Pray for me. I covet your prayers as we begin
next week our study of 2 Samuel.