Nevertheless, where we are in
1 Samuel chapter 31 is a very crucial and instructive point
of consideration. And I've entitled this message
as we look at it today, The Gospel in the Death of Saul and Jonathan. And you're going to have to pay
careful attention to the reading as we look at these 13 verses
around this particular topic. How is the gospel of the grace
of God in Christ, which redeems hell-bound sinners from certain
destruction because of their sins, seen in this portion of
Scripture? That's always the question with
the Word of God. We've been taught, have we not, that the Bible is
the Word of God and it speaks to the person and work of whom?
Jesus Christ. And so we are always looking
for some aspect of the work of Christ in the text. In our theology
class, we teach hermeneutics, how to interpret the Bible. And
one of the first rules of being able to actually hear God from
your Bible is what we call the rule of observation of the text. And that is you listen to the
text as you read it, and you try with as much power in you
as not to read into the text your thoughts and ideas and the
issues that are going on in your life that day. Because you will
actually miss what the text is saying. I'm not saying that you
are trying to comprehend what it means. That's interpretation. What I am talking about is letting
the Bible speak first and foremost of what it says. That's called
observation. That's when you weed everything
out and just listen to the narrative. And this is why Sunday mornings
we read portions of scripture so you can hear the reading of
the word. And I'll notice that some of
you will go, ah, and ooh, and ah, and ah, and ooh, like a drama. And all of that's wonderful if
you are responding from an objective observation of the text. And
that's what is required for you to even begin to understand what's
going on in the narrative. We move from observation, what
it says, to interpretation, what it means. And then from interpretation
to application, what is its design and scope for us? Because all
of the word of God, while may not necessarily be to us, it
is always for us. When I say that the gospel in
the death of Saul and Jonathan are in this text, it's an arduous
task to demonstrate. But the cross work of Jesus Christ,
the cross, this is what we mean by the gospel, the centrality
of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ as depicted both by
his own historical experience in the gospels and typified throughout
scripture repeatedly by one taking on the sufferings representatively
on the behalf of others and the cross of Jesus Christ ladies
and gentlemen is that singular event in which the whole of God's
counsel is contained explained and Demonstrated that's why for
us. It's the foundation of all divinely
revealed theology and that you and I cannot understand our Bibles
without understanding the cross work of God in it. Because in
the cross, what's revealed to us is the character and nature
of God. That when we properly understand
the death of Christ on Calvary, we begin to understand and comprehend
who God is in His holiness. God is a holy God, is He not?
And we see that in the cross. Because whereas you and I may
never give up our children to death because of sin, God suffered
his son to die under his wrath because of sin. And where we
observe the fact that God did so, we observe the nature of
God, that he's a righteous God. Is that so? The cross then teaches
us about the righteousness of God. But the cross also teaches
us of the mercy of God, does it not? For on the cross, we
see how that God can be just and justifier of those that come
to him by faith. So we tremble at the cross, as
we did last night in our men's meeting, aware of the holy character
of God, who is able to, in wisdom, both demonstrate his righteousness
and his mercy, his true and his grace, his kindness to sinners,
and his holy, unmitigated wrath against sin. We hold all those
together at the cross, do we not? We say God is holy, holy,
holy, Lord God Almighty. And at the same time we say,
Lord, you are a merciful, gracious God, ever forgiving iniquity
and transgression against those who call upon your name. And
I say this to say that what we will see today are emblems and
images and pictures of what we teach when we preach the whole
counsel of God centrally manifested in the person and work of Jesus
Christ. As we look at this text, I want
you to capture the ominous warning and then also the glorious promise.
And finally, the joyful expectation of a cross motif. reverse you're
gonna see the picture of the cross of Christ in reverse it's
the author's intention once again to show us the coming of Jesus
Christ in the volume of the book we believe that right and so
the first thing we want to draw out of first Samuel chapter 31
verse 1 after having now several weeks of being confronted with
and introduced to this man named Saul whom God raised up in his
anger and and is now taking him out in his wrath. As Hosea chapter
14 puts it, Saul is a universal picture of the fallen human race. Adam won. The man who was crowned
king, but he was not really God's king. He was the people's choice. And that's why in the Hebrew,
the term Saul means asked for. asked for. The one who is asked
for is now about to die. He is the people's choice, and
God proved to them that their choice was wrong. Our choices
are always wrong, are they not? And we look at chapter 31, and
for those of us who have been following the history and narrative
of Saul, we're not surprised that we're here, right? We're
not surprised that we're here. This is where our first point
draws up, and this here is the universal principle. Notice what
it says in point number one in your outline. If you live after
the flesh, you will what? And for us, we saw that Saul
was a great type of the fleshly man, the carnal man, the earthly
man, Adam one, whose whole drive and passion and objectives was
for himself. Is that not what Saul was about?
He was for himself. And this is where we extract
from the New Testament principle of Romans chapter 8, 6, that
if you live after the flesh, you shall die. And that the carnal
mind is enmity against God. It's hostile to God and hostile
to God's law. And so was King Saul. Saul was
hostile to God, never obeyed God. He wanted to be God, if
you will. And this warning is to the human
race. All mankind is like Saul. We want to do our own thing.
We want to rule our own lives. We don't want God to tell us
anything. But I warn you, according to Romans 8, 6 and 13, if you
live after the flesh, you will die. That's verse one of our
text. Let's observe it and see if it
makes sense. Now, the Philistines fought against
Israel, didn't they? And the men of Israel fled from
before the Philistines and fell down slain in Mount Gilboa. Isn't that an ominous statement?
Mark it now, the Philistines fought against Israel. Now who
did we design or assign as a type the Philistines were? The flesh,
the uncircumcised. That thing that is antithetical
to God, that God hates. He hates the flesh in the sense
that the flesh is always at enmity against God. Now here the flesh
is that great arch enemy of Israel of which we've already learned
the only person that can subdue the Philistines is David. And
yet Saul here now is being described as being miserably destroyed
by the what? The flesh. The flesh. Now the Philistines fought against
Israel. And you and I know the New Testament
principle, don't we? The flesh lusts against the what?
And the spirit against the what? So that that battle goes on what?
All the time. And if you and I live according
to the flesh, you can be sure that you are going to what? Die. Saul dies because the flesh prevails. This is a warning to carnal Christianity
too. If you pretend to be those of
the royal family, but are not born again, are not truly regenerate,
are not truly part of the kingdom of God, renewed in your spirit,
where God has given you the valiant spirit of Jesus Christ, you will
die. Religion can't save us. from
the wrath of God. It cannot save us from the power
of the flesh. Have you discovered that? That
the power of your own fallen nature will always have victory
over you so long as you are trusting in yourself. This is all for
us. I'm making application as we
go. And notice what it says. Israel fled from before the Philistines
and fell down slain in Gilboa. One quick, decisive act. Under
this first point, then three things to consider. Israel slain
by the flesh because the Lord was not with them. Is that a
legitimate observation? Deuteronomy chapter 32 plainly
tells us that. I think it's verse 32 as well.
where the Lord says as a principle, if one chases a thousand and
two puts 10,000 to flight, is it not because their rock has
abandoned them? And then second point, by human
strength, no man shall what? Prevail. I think that's a good
observation as well. If you and I try to do the will
of God after our own human strength, we can be sure of failure over
and over and over again, is that right? One of the things that
the gospel teaches us is that without Christ, you can what?
Do nothing. You and I can't produce one good
work apart from the help of God. We heard about this a little
bit this morning in John's gospel chapter 15, where Jesus says,
I'm the vine, my father's the husband, you're the branches.
Without me, you can do nothing. You cannot bear fruit without
abiding in the vine. That's the imperative for you.
Your command is to abide. And Christ's work is to bear
fruit. But we know that Saul did not abide in God, did he?
He abided as a branch that was cut off, and therefore his own
strength subdues him. This is an echo out of 1 Samuel
2, verse 9, where Hannah, who was harassed by her adversaries,
the wife of her husband, Elkanah, who bore many children and laughed
at her because she was barren, and it drove her to cry out to
God. Remember? It drove her to cry
out to God. And whenever you are a child
of God, one of the clear evidences that you are a child of God is
you'll do what? You'll cry out to God. And children of God,
we cry out to God when we recognize our own intrinsic barrenness. When we cannot bear fruit, we're
crying out to God because we know God has called us to bear
fruit. Has He not? and Hannah cries
out and travails and labors, because not only is she barren,
but her adversary, the flesh, is getting the victory over her,
mocking her and ridiculing her. And yet one day, what did God
do? He gave that girl conception, didn't He? And will you please
read 1 Samuel chapter 2, 9, so that you can see it for yourself.
This is what she says in her prayer to God as she boasts over
her enemies. She opens her mouth wide and
says to her enemies, boast no more. The Lord has come through.
He has caused me to conceive. He will keep the feet of his
saints. Is that true? Oh, I love that. See, that's
the word of triumph on the part of Sister Hannah because she
had been driven to the brink. You know how you get to the brink?
You know when you're praying, you're also praying with one
foot out the door. You know you're getting ready
to run. You're going to pray one last time before you go do
your own thing, and then God pulls you back in. Can I get
a witness? Now, see, you may not have come
to that point yet, but some of us know what it means to be driven
right to the edge of rebelling against God. And we prayed and
prayed and prayed, and it seems like God doesn't answer. Some
of y'all know what that means. And then we pray one more time,
almost in despair and in utter unbelief. And right there, God
swoops us back on in. And you know what Sister Hannah
said? The Lord knows how to keep the feet of his saints. And then
she says, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by
strength shall no man what? Oh, that's good. It speaks again
to the humility of the believer and the commitment of the believer
and the dependence of the believer upon God, especially in the time
of serious trouble. Going back then to consider our
final sub point C, the death of Saul's army, these Israelites,
and they were thoroughly rooted. If you will notice again, they
were thoroughly rooted. They fled and they were slain
in Mount Gilboa And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon
his sons. And the Philistines slew Jonathan,
Abinadab, Melchizedek, Saul's sons. And the battle went sore
against Saul, and the archers hit him. He was wounded that
day. And the children of Israel on the other side of the Jordan,
as it says, they saw it, and they all fled. Look at verse
7. And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of
the valley and they that were on the other side of Jordan saw
that the men of Israel fled and that Saul and his sons were Dead. They all forsook the cities and
fled, and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. Do you see
the implications? Watch this. In one fell swoop, the Philistines
destroyed the whole dynasty. The men that watched the destruction
and failure of their king now have no power, no ability to
resist. They turn and flee, and the Philistines
come in and take all the territory. Is there an application here?
Yes, there is. Are you ready for it? A little
leaven leavens the whole lump. I better make application as
I go just in case you guys are sleepy. What do I mean by that? If you walk after the flesh and
your strength is in the flesh, here's what you can expect. You
can expect the enemy to win battles in your life. And you can expect
him not to quit until he takes everything. Do you notice what's
happening? The inheritance that Jehovah
had given his people is being taken. because of the death of
the king. Now God gives us all inheritances.
He has blessed us all with spiritual blessings and heavenly places
in Christ. Every one of us has an inheritance, a lot, a portion
that God has given us. You better work on it. I want
mine. I don't know about you. I want
mine. And I want to know what my territory encompasses. And
I want to know what my obligations are so that God can instruct
me as to how to achieve the full measure of my responsibility
in it because I want my blessing. Y'all will get that one day what
I do know that is to whom much is given much is what I also
know this that if I open my eyes I will see what God has given
me and I can determine whether or not I am going to enjoy the
blessing of what he has given me based upon my obedience to
that accountability if you are a single person You are called
to a single status and your obligations are to God and those with whom
are in your sphere of influence. You influence them. Are you a
married person? Then the covenant of marriage
is your inheritance. Do you have children? Then the
covenant of marriage and the children that come with it are
your inheritance. Has God resourced you with skill
sets and wisdom and insight and business ingenuity? Are you successful
on your job? Then God has given you that too
for the advancement of the kingdom of God, for the testimony of
Christ, for the glory of God. How will you use those resources
to honor Him and to enjoy Him as a child of the living God?
If you operate out of the flesh, you will see those things taken
just as quickly as they came. To him that hath, more shall
be given. To him that hath not, even that
which he has will be taken away. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? Just in case y'all don't understand practical gospel application,
I want to drive it home to you because it's a reality in your
life. Sometimes we look up after years of being in Jesus or just
years of being in the way. And we discover that the enemy
has taken a whole lot from us that used to be designated for
the glory of God. We are operating in the flesh
and we lose the time that God gave us. So we find ourselves
not being able to study anymore. We lose the ability to persevere
in prayer for two minutes because the passion for communion with
God is taken. We lose the ability to know how
to navigate our practical life on an everyday level on the job
because we didn't see the job as a mission field. Taken away. Taken away. These things happen
to the children of God frequently. And especially when you decide
to operate in the flesh. King Saul is a perfect model
of this for us in that they all were defeated when they saw the
defeat of King Saul. So our first point is clear.
If you live at the flesh, you will die. Second point, the death
of King Saul and his sons are an end of the dynasty. Show you
something really fantastic about this. Look again at verse 2 of
1 Samuel 31. And the Philistines followed
hard upon Saul and upon his sons. Do you see that first line? The
word is intentionally pursuing the head. They could have pursued
hard the other Israelites, but they went after who? The head.
They went after the king and they went after his sons. Why,
pastor? Here's the gospel motif. Are
you ready? Smite the shepherd and the sheep
will be scattered. The reason why the rulers of
Israel went after Jesus was because the devil behind them knew that
if you could kill the head, the body would atrophy and die. Teaching
you the motif now. And so the Philistines strategically
went after the king and killed the king's sons. The battle went
sore. the death of King Saul and his
sons, and end of the dynasty. And this is ominous to me because
you and I know, I've already told you, that God never meant
for Saul's family to reign perpetually. Here we see the end of that reign,
don't we? I'll talk about another little nuance here in a moment.
Sub points A and B. In Adam, all what? The wages
of sin is what? All have sinned in what? Keep
on coming short. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 says
that we by nature and Adam are dead and trespasses and sins
Do you see the parallel between the old and the new do you see
it? How that in the death of Saul we see the death of Adam
and in the death of Adam We see the death of all humanity. We
see the whole dynasty wiped out. Don't we? the dynasty wiped out
in one fell swoop at one time and This is how the devil worked
when he destroyed humanity in Adam and Eve on one occasion.
Remember? Genesis 3 verses 1 through 7. One occasion he goes after
the weakness of the family, starting with the woman, and it takes
out the whole family, and the whole human race now is dead
spiritually. See the parallels? Go after Saul. If you destroy
Saul, you destroy the house of Benjamin, which rules the throne.
But the devil did not know that he was doing God's bidding. Isn't
God good? I told you when you try to play
chess with God, he's 10 moves ahead of you. You can't do nothing
but the will of God when you play chess with God. Because
in killing Saul, he sets up David, who was the ram in the thicket
all along. And in killing Adam, it only
advanced the cause of redemption by which Christ comes into the
world. You see the parallels. Again, then, under our second
point, the death of King Saul and his sons and end of the dynasty
we have in Adam all died. But our second point is the battle
was swift, the battle was overwhelming, and the battle was what? Decisive. And it was a consequence of Saul's
family, with the exception of Jonathan. I may get to him today
walking in unbelief and walking in fear. Walking in unbelief
and walking in fear. Look at Revelation chapter 21.
verse seven and eight, which describes the excommunication
of all of humanity who fails to submit to the claims of the
gospel. One of the things this generation
of religious people are surprised about when we actually share
the totality of the gospel and all of its comprehensiveness
with them is that even in the gospel, there are exclusion principles,
that you can be excluded from the kingdom of God if certain
things mark your life. Now that blows people away because
they think that all you have to do is make a decision for
Jesus and you're good for heaven. Like, you know, like a health
card in the back of your pocket. But the reality is, here's what
God says. There are things that if they
hallmark your life, you're excluded from the kingdom. You will not
enter the kingdom of God if your life is dominated by the flesh.
Do you guys hear what I'm saying? And the way the book closes out
in Revelation chapter 21-7 is this. He that overcometh shall
what? What does the word overcome mean?
To believe to the end. Not just believe, believe to
the end. Nike uses the term running all
the way through the book of Revelation and it describes those who believe
even unto death. Because that's the kind of faith
that Christ, our head, had when he died for us and inherited
everything, right? Watch the language. And I will
be his God and he shall be my what? See, we learned that last
night. The father-son paradigm. Jesus
is the son of the living God. He is the king of the universe.
We are sons and daughters of God. Therefore, we are princesses
and princesses with God. Is that true? because we are
the sons and daughters of God. But when you look at verse 8,
watch this, here's verse 8. But the fearful, was Saul fearful? All the time. He was absolutely
petrified of the Philistines and he was fearful of God in
the unbiblical, unsanctified sense. He never pursued God.
The fearful and the what? Was Saul unbelieving? You better
know he was. And the abominable and the murderers
and the whoremongers and the what? Was Saul a sorcerer? Is that the way he died? Rebellion
is as the sin of witchcraft. And idolaters and all liars shall
have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone,
which is the second death. These are exclusion principles.
Do you guys see that? These here show us and highlight
for us what God is completely against. And this is why in the
life of the believer as an ethic, You don't want to be as common
parlance as a practice in your life. An idolater, or a whoremonger,
or a sorcerer, or a murderer, or an abominable person, or an
unbelieving person, or a fearful person. Because fear hath torment. It's not rooted in love. It's
not based upon faith. It's not based upon grace. You
see the picture? What God demands of his people
is to trust him, which is an evidence of faith. which works
by what? Love. Which overcomes fear and
allows us to be valiant for the truth before God, no matter what
comes down. And what you see in this verse
are the epithets and characteristics of our present lost world. Our
world is full of these things, is it not? Full of unbelief,
full of fear, full of murder, full of horror mongers and sorcerers
and things of that nature, full of it. It's why we have assigned,
as King Saul, a type of the first Adam. the fleshly world who was
brought to destruction at one time, even by the providence
and prophecy of God. I wanna share with you a little
caveat, a little insight. Look then going back to our text
at what happens to King Saul when he is actually killed. This
is what happens to him in verse four. Then Saul and his armor-bearer
drew, draw their sword. Then Saul said to his armor-bearer,
draw your sword and thrust me through therewith, lest these
uncircumcised come and thrust me through and do what? Abuse
me. I'll talk about that in a minute.
But his armor-bearer would not, for he was sore afraid. Therefore,
Saul took a sword and fell upon himself. And when this happened,
we read in verse 8, and it came to pass on the morrow when the
Philistines came to strip the slain. This was the practice
in the campaigns of wars, ladies and gentlemen. You would kill
your enemy today. You would slaughter them today.
You would go and celebrate the slaughter of your victory, and
tomorrow you come and plunder them. This was a plundering of
Israel. And notice what happens. We get
into now a deeper emblem of the gospel motif. 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, and they stripped off his armor,
and they sent into the land of the Philistines round about to
publish it in the house of their gods among their people. That
day they preached their gospel. They went to church and worshiped
God, their God, based upon the destruction of their enemies.
The gospel motif in reverse. They published it abroad by demonstrating
the precise judgment of their enemy, both being killed and
having his head decapitated. So that the people are rejoicing
in the death of their enemy as men and women rejoice in the
death of Christ And as the believer rejoices in the death of Christ,
it's published every week. When we share the gospel, we're
talking about a death, are we not? When we share the gospel,
we're talking about the triumph of our enemy through that death,
are we not? And when we share the gospel,
we are seeking to demonstrate that in fact God has put away
our sin by the death of Christ on the cross. So that worship
for us is a worship of triumph because of what Christ has done.
Do you guys see the emblem? show you how this works further.
It's very interesting because while we are looking at what's
happening with King Saul, a subtle thing takes place down the road
for those of you who are a little bit more sharper. When I say
in this point number two, the death of King Saul and his sons
and end of the dynasty, this event demonstrates that that
is what happened right then and there. But a strange thing occurs
about four chapters later when David has to continue to wipe
out what we call the remains, the remains of the kingdom of
the flesh. On Calvary, there was a decisive
blow smitten upon the devil so that the power of the devil no
longer is able to subdue and kill and send to hell God's elect. But the devil in his weakness
is still able to tempt and taunt and harass God's people. But
on the last day, as we learned, his head will be fully cut off.
Will it not? He was destroyed by the stone. The stone is Christ. It was slung by the slingshot.
The slingshot is the gospel. It's the foolishness of preaching
that killed the devil on the cross. Is that true? but we are
still waiting for him to be completely and totally destroyed. And yet
for us, he is a defeated foe, is he not? But see, that's a
tension. Is it true? It's a tension because
while on the one hand he's a defeated foe, he's still also like a roaring
lion going about seeking whom he may devour. And he's still
devouring a lot of people. And we're still praying against
him. And we're still standing against him. And we're still
opposing him. Are we not? We're still resisting the devil
that he may flee. We're still humbling ourselves
before God. We're still praying that God would deliver captives
out of his hand. Are we not? And yet we're saying
he's dead. And then the book of Revelation
gives us an ominous picture in Revelation chapter 13 where one
of the heads of the beast that was smitten with a deadly wound
is healed. And that prophetic image is about
the reoccurrence of the Babylonian Roman paradigmatic kingdom rising
up. As it were, after having been
demolished by the cross 2,000 years ago, this world system,
this beast system seems to rise up in a pseudo-resurrection type. So that the whole world is wandering
after the beast and saying, who can make war with the beast?
Who can overcome the beast? And that pictures the time of
our world where you and I are enamored by technology. We are
enamored by science. We are enamored by all of the
advancements that humanity is engaging in. And I'll tell you
what, if it wasn't for the grace of God, you'd be swallowed up
by this system. you'd be swallowed up by. And
truth be told, some of us in the house are already being hogtied
by the philosophies of this world and being dragged away from a
biblical worldview because they are coming with manifold arguments
that there is no God. And they're coming with manifold
evidences. that the Bible's truths contradict
what we see empirically in this world. And the technology that
is advancing in our society is amounting to this. We don't need
God. The beast is emerging, as it
were, a resurrection. Well, that's because in the Philistines
killing Saul and his three boys, he left one. Ishmael was left. and the wicked Abner takes Ispacheth
and sets him up to be king over Israel in 2 Samuel 4. Only for
Ispacheth, that last boy, to be killed just like his daddy
and beheaded just like his daddy. And the head of Ispacheth finally
brought to David so that God says to David, in Adam all truly
die. See, you and I in this gospel
age are not taught clearly the gospel where we are not taught
that all human beings are dead in trespasses and sins. Where
you and I are taught that there is a vestige of human good in
us, that you know, mankind got its issues, but he's generally
okay. Then we are denying the biblical doctrine of total depravity. We are denying the biblical doctrine
that all have sinned. And we're denying the biblical
doctrine that we're all under the wrath of God. Am I making
some sense? If there's one human being in the world that's good
intrinsically, then God is a liar. And for Ishmael to rise up is
for him to defy God's objective in destroying the first Adam
that he might raise up the second Adam. That's good even though
you don't see it. Something down the line. Point
number three then. Saul's death. Saul's death is
a grand type of what? Goliath's doom. Why do I say
that? Say in chapter 31. Remember what
we said when we first were introduced to the man in the middle? and
we learned that the man in the middle stood between God's people
and God's promises for God's people and he waved a bet with
Israel that if you would bring out a man to fight with me and
I will fight with that man if he wins you can have us all if
we win we'll have you all and we saw how that that was a a
grand feature and bringing to the forefront David as God's
warrior king, destroying the flesh, destroying the devil,
destroying sin, that we might be liberated. It was a glorious
doctrine of substitution, right? Where David is taking our place
in a battle that we should be fighting, but Christ fought it
for us. and the eschatological David. And the Israelites rejoiced in
that battle when they saw David decisively kill Goliath. Remember
that? And the strength that Israel
gained from David killing Goliath, they ran and pursued the Philistines,
right? And routed them far and wide. And what we mean by this imagery
that we're painting is that when you comprehend the gospel, and
you understand the power of God in Jesus Christ to have subdued
all your sins by His death on Calvary, you then have confidence
to live for His glory by His grace. Because His grace is powerful
enough to subdue your sin. I'm going to say this one more
time so you can get it. The reason we preach a cross-centered,
Christ-centered theology is so that you derive your confidence
from what He did, not from what you do. The reason why we preach
the cross is that we might declare through the cross the end of
sin for you in Christ. The reason why we preach the
gospel and expound the word of God in the centrality of the
person and work of Christ is so that you might rejoice in
spirit and have hope of the glory of God based upon what God has
done for you in Christ. But your job is to drink of the
gospel and enjoy the presence of his spirit working in you
that which is well pleasing in his sight to the glory of God.
Am I making some sense? In other words, don't act as
if the grace of God doesn't have the ability to keep you. Don't
talk like all the grace of God has done is put away your sins
because the doctrine of justification is the foundation of your life.
But the doctrine of sanctification is the evidence of your life.
If he has justified you by the death of Calvary on by the death
of Christ on Calvary Street, he also has sanctified you by
the presence of his spirit in your life, giving you faith and
causing you to be more than conquerors through him that loved us and
gave himself for us. Am I making some sense? There's
always a danger of purporting that your faith is so weak that
it doesn't even have the ability to look to God. And I'm telling
you, a look will deliver you from your enemies. I'm telling
you, a look will deliver you from your enemies. I'm telling
you, if you will lift your head up and look to Christ, all of
the poison of the ass that bites you week in and week out will
be healed. I'm telling you that now. I'm
telling you that. As Paul said it in Philippians
chapter 4, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens
me. There's a fearful kind of capitulating that I wonder about
as we define and we depict grace as just simply being like, you
know, we're just holding on, we're just holding on. No, we're
doing more than holding on. We're triumphing always in Him
over everything and not through faith. and that by grace, because
the power of God is able to make all grace abound in your life.
It can cut you free of the cords of sin. We were talking two weeks
ago about the wonderful work of the doctrine of redemption
and recovery. Did David recover it all? Did
he recover it all? Do you believe that Christ recovered
it all? Do you know that recovery is a process? that's good watch
this when God saves your wretched soul and he has a recovery process
that's different from every one of us like some of us are the
consequences of sin in the area of our mind like some of us are
nutty and crazy and when God saves us he has to recover our
mind does he recover our mind Does he give us a new mind? Does
he renew our mind? Do we learn how to think right
with these minds? Ask the demoniac whom Christ
clothed in his right mind. And then some of us, we were
defeated by the enemy in areas of practical life, just unable
to put two pieces together. Our life was raggedy and chaotic.
And once the grace of God started working, You started learning
how to order your life for right right the steps of a good man
are ordered of the Lord. Is that true? He started giving
you the ability to organize and delineate and categorize and
the next thing You know, you're actually by the grace of God
looking like you actually have some order in your life These
are recovery principles that God works by his grace. It's
not about you. It's about him It's about how
God can make all things new how he can take a jacked up messed
up life and manifest his glory in it After all, Israel was a bunch
of slaves in Egypt, working under a hard taskmaster, crying and
groaning under the burden of the weight of their slavery. And now they are in the promised
land, experiencing the grace and blessings of God, called
kings and princes and priests, and enjoying the blessings of
God, though God is saying you still have to fight for them.
The parallel is with us, ladies and gentlemen. Just because you
saved don't mean you ain't got to get up and go to work tomorrow.
You still got to get up and go to work. Try to get saved and
just say, I'm a prince and I'm a king now in the Lord. I'm just
going to wait for the Lord to bless me with a check in the
mail, and I'm just going to live large in Jesus' name. Watch how
broke you'll be and how depressed you will be when God doesn't
show up that way, where you think that God's just going to bless
you without you operating according to principles of obedience. It's
not going to happen. It's just not going to happen.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? And so God is in the process
of recovering us as he did with the children of Israel. And I
guarantee you by the time we see him face to face, everything
will be recovered. Saul's death, the grand type
of Goliath's doom. Will you mark this with me again?
Verses eight through 10. It came to pass on the morrow
when the Philistines came to strip the slain that they found
Saul and his three sons fallen dead and they cut off his head. Now where did we see a cutting
off of the head before? Goliath. Chapter 17 verse 55
and following. David stood on top of his chest
and took his own sword out and did what? Cut it off. This is
absolutely phenomenal. This is what we call again the
gospel motif in reverse. Saul's death the grand type.
1st Samuel chapter 7 verse 50 51 and 54 look at it I want you
to see the parallels because I want to show you something
that God does in this account that is a warning to Saul and
a warning to us in 1st Samuel chapter 7 17 verse 51 it says
therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine and took
his sword and drew it out of his sheep and slew him and cut
off his head there with, and when the Philistines saw their
champion dead, they did what? See the motif? Israel sees Saul
dead, they flee. The Philistines see the champion
dead, they flee. Now watch what happens in verse
54. Here's what it says, and David
took the head of the Philistines and brought it to where? Remember
what they did with the head, the body of Saul? They took it
to their own temple. But he put the armor in his tent,
Where did the sword go that was in Goliath's sheath? In the temple! Remember? David had devoted it
to God in the temple to demonstrate that the power of the Philistines
was subdued by the one act of David. Again, the power of the
gospel in subduing our enemy, taking his sword and putting
it in the temple as a memorial of the defeated foe. Do you see
the paradigm in reverse? The model in reverse? So we see
David took the head of the Philistines, brought it to Jerusalem and put
the armor in his tent. So David's act against Goliath
is mimicked by the Philistines against Saul. Sub point number
two under Saul's death, the grand type of Goliath's death. The
rules of engagement are as follows. The goal in war in those days
and now is to always cut off the head. When you cut off the
head, it will defeat the body because head is Grand Central
Station. You cut the head off, the body has to now fall apart. And that's why I said earlier,
smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. Israel was
scattered upon Saul's head being taken and they saw it. But this
is remarkable. Point number C, are you with
me? Saul observes his own doom and misses the gospel David's
vanquishing of the foe and I want you to see this Because this
is where we know that Saul was an enemy of God Perpetually and
here's a gospel truth. I want you to get we are told
here in verse 55 through 57 these words and when Saul saw David
go forth against the Philistines, did he see it and He said unto
Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this you? Did not tell you that David transformed
right then and there? He became like another man when
he destroyed Goliath. He was such that no one recognized
him. And the king had just, the king
had just given him the right to go fight Goliath. Now he said,
now who is this dude? Because what he saw in his presence
was a little boy. And what he saw in the battle
was a man of war. There was a radical transformation
of David at that time pointing to the valiancy of Christ on
the cross. But here is the lesson that you
and I want to learn out of this. Because Saul is once again raising
a question that gives us insight into the fact that Saul did not
know the gospel. And to not know the gospel is
to not know Christ. And to not know Christ is to
mean that you are still outside of the kingdom of God. And even
though you are able to hear how Christ died and how Christ suffered
and how Christ endured, unless you know him for yourself, the
cross means nothing to you. It's a mystery. Am I making some
sense? How many of you went to church
all your life and heard about how Jesus died until the Spirit
of God revealed to your soul intricately the work of redemption,
the work of atonement, the work of justification, the work of
substitution, and you saw the death of Christ for the first
time and it changed your life. Until that happens, guess what
we all say? Who is Jesus? Who is Jesus? Watch it. And when
the king inquired, thou whose son the stripling is, David returned
from the slaughter of the Philistines. Watch this, Abner took him and
brought him before the king. So David is standing before Saul.
Are you ready? With the head of the Philistine
in his hand. Do you see it? The gospel motif
in reverse. What is Saul seeing? His own
doom. Saul is seeing his own doom.
The head of the Philistine is Saul's head. Didn't I tell you
that the Philistine was nothing but Saul on what? Steroids. And when the lost sinner hears
the gospel of the death of Christ, and does not bow the knee to
Christ, you are seeing your own doom. Standing there with the head
of the Philistine right in front of Saul. You know what Saul says?
Who is this boy? Just like the Jews said, who
is he? And Jesus says, you know who I am. You know where I'm
from. But hereafter you shall see the
son of man coming on the clouds with great power and glory. Peter
Saul described for us a person that's near but not in. A person
that's privileged but not empowered. A man that comes close to the
truth but is still lost because he does not recognize in front
of him is not only his own doom, but his salvation. The man standing
in front of him is his savior, is he not? That little handsome,
ruddy, redhead fella, we call him Red, is standing there In
front of Saul, and all Saul has to do is believe, and he would
see the salvation of the Lord. Did you get a revelation just
now? All he would have to do is believe what he saw. Many
people saw the crucifixion, but only the elect understand it
and believe it. Wherever the gospels preached
to you faithfully, when you don't believe it, you are seeing your
own doom. Where you believe it, you see
the death of a substitute in Jesus and in David fighting your
battles for you. That's good. That's good. The young man standing in front
of Saul is his salvation, his substitute, but because there
is no faith in Saul at all, he cannot see Christ in David and
therefore cannot cry out for mercy. Point number four. The preservation of God's kingship
typified in the act of the boys from Jabesh Gilead. The preservation
of God's kingship typified by the act of the boys from Jabesh
Gilead. Now we see an ugly, infamous
account of the death of Saul and his sons and the abuse by
the Philistines. Ladies and gentlemen, this still
goes on in our world today. In Middle Eastern countries,
they not only capture you, And especially if you're a ruler,
they shame you. They devastate you personally. I was just remarking recently
about how when Gaddafi, Omar Gaddafi was taken in battle after
the UN in America had devastated that land. He was trying to hide
because he knew if his enemies caught him, that they would do
deplorable things to him. And they did. They sodomized
him and then stuck his organs in his mouth as an act of shame,
which is a common practice in war around the world, both by
us and them, if truth be told. Saul said, I do not want them
to catch me because they will abuse me. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? I'll explain that here in a moment
as we go further down into the text. Once again, the denial
and rejection of the mandates of suffering on the part of the
king. The preservation of God's kingship in verse 11 through
13. We read an interesting thing here. And when the inhabitants
of Jabesh Gilead heard that which the Philistines had done to Saul,
I wonder what they heard. I guarantee you they heard more
than what we are reading in our account. I guarantee you that
what they heard grieved them to their heart and moved them
to act. Now, this is quite interesting
because this is what we call a parenthetical. And the only
way you can know what's going on here is to go back to 1 Samuel
11. Don't go there. But in 1 Samuel
11, where King Saul has freshly taken the throne, he actually
intervenes for Jabesh-Gilead because Jabesh-Gilead is being
threatened to be annihilated by the Philistines. And Saul
comes in and delivers the whole camp. Jabesh Gilead is indebted
to Saul. They actually love Saul as their
own king. David says as much. And I want
you to see the motif here. And when they heard that which
was done to Saul, he goes on to say in verse 12, the valiant
men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and
the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshem and came to
Jabesh and burnt them there. And they took their bones and
buried them under a tree at Jabesh and fasted." What? This is what
we call the honor of the dead by those who are devoted to him. But there's a motif here that
you have to see. The preservation of God's king, what? Typified. What do you mean by that, Pastor?
All right, three sub points. I'm going to try not to develop
it too much. But a good deed always receives its what? Yeah,
we're learning this. You have to just accept it. I
don't care what you say. Whatsoever man sows, that shall
he also reap. Even wicked men. Saul does good to the people
of Jabesh Gilead, and they reward him by honoring him. See, everyone
else would have left his body up there to rot. You've seen,
you've all seen in the Middle Eastern wars how what they do
when they get their enemies is they hang their bodies, decapitated
heads, up against the pole for everybody to see, right? Same
thing going on here. But now if you honor that body,
you will act valiantly to go get it and retrieve it, won't
you? Because the body is all you have as a symbol of the person. These men were valiant to go
into Philistine territory to get their king's body. Are you
guys seeing this? To get their king's body. All
right, three sub points. A good deed always receives its
reward. Secondly, Jabesh Gilead is a
foreshadow of whom? Joseph and Nicodemus. When they hung our master on
the tree, seeking to shame him by crucifixion, not knowing that
Christ, unlike Saul, despised shame. And yet there were two
men who loved Our master, like these Javish Gileadites, loved
Saul. And what were their names? Joseph
and Nicodemus. And they came and pleaded with
Pilate for the body and took his body and did what? Buried
it. The Old Testament points to the
new. The New Testament fulfills the
old. Do you see the picture, saints? And what's actually being
taught here is that God honors the office of king. He honors
the office of King. This is an interesting truth
that's given to us. Saul is molested. Saul is devastated. Saul is ruined. Saul is defiled
by these Philistines. So much so that the Gileadites
had to do something really unusual. Notice what the text says. Verse
12. And the valiant man took his
body down from the wall and came to Jabesh and did what? Burned
them there. Do you see that? What's going
on here? Well, this here is not an Israelite
tradition. And nor is it a grounds for cremation. That would only mean that you're
not reading your Bible carefully. I told you, you got to read your
Bible carefully to come up with legitimate interpretation. What's
going on here? The men of Jabesh Gilead are
people of the north, further up from Israel, on the border
of Jordan between Benjamin and Jabez Gilead, where Saul was
from the land of Benjamin. And Judah
is further down south. And the Gileadites are actually
taking Saul and burning his body, their bodies, for two or three
what I consider inferred reasons. One is they burned his body.
logically speaking, so that the Philistines couldn't come back
and take it to do more with it. Because if you aren't understanding
what we're dealing with, I told us this in the series, we are
dealing with a context of war. Saints, listen to me. In war,
bad things happen. In war, rules of engagement are
different than in a civil time of peace. What the Gileadites
knew was that they were not secure if they didn't burn their bodies
and keep the bones. Why? Because enemies often go
into territories even years after and dig up the bones and dig
up the bodies of their adversaries posthumously and defile them. The other reason why I say they
did this has to do with how closely Israel was to the days of the
theocracy. The theocracy is the days of
the judges. Are you with me? So watch this.
I'm going to try to help you get this. This is why, to me,
the Bible is the most superlative, the most rich, the most comprehensive,
the most real, the most accurate truth in literature in the world.
It speaks to every issue accurately, pristinely. Now, you and I sit
there and say, oh, I wouldn't do that. Yes, you would. Yes,
you would. And you would celebrate it, too.
you would get picnic baskets and sit around and watch your
enemies hang and burn before you as our folks did in our own
country. Are you hearing me? See, don't
act like you're not depraved. You are by nature. The only reason
you don't act that way is by the grace of God. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. But if God takes his hand off
of you, you can eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while human
beings are burning up in front of you. That's how vile we are. Am I telling the truth? Don't
act like I'm giving you a tough message. I'm sharing with you
the nature of the gospel and the holiness of God against war
and even in war. God's a holy God. Now, the period
of the theocracy, which was just some 50 years before our present
time, which is around 1000 BC. We are almost at 1000 BC because
that's when David takes the throne. But just a few years earlier,
we are in the days of the judges. Do you understand? Do you remember
the theme of the days of the judges? Every man did that which
was right in their own eyes because there was no king in the land.
And much of the life of the children of Israel in the days of the
judges was pagan. Much like the evangelical church
today is riddled with paganism. Are you guys following me? Riddled
with paganism. Riddled with paganism. We do
whatever we want to do. We just do whatever we want to do. We
don't ask God. We don't inquire of his word.
We don't determine what the Bible says. We just do whatever we
want to do in Jesus name. Can I get a witness? Because
we are we are untethered from the text. Now the Gileadites
had done a noble thing in that they were protecting the honor
of their king from further abuse. But that wasn't the most honorable
thing they could have done. The second reason again for which
they did it was because they may have believed that what the
Philistines had done in abusing the body of Saul and his sons
was so defiled that the only thing you could do is burn the
body and save the bones. Because the bones are the statue
of a man. So that as Paul said it in 1
Corinthians chapter 6, give him over to Satan for the destruction
of the flesh. What God preserved was the dignity
of the kingship. which kingship would now be occupied
by David. Am I making some sense? So we
see the picture of God using these Gileadites to preserve
the kingship. The flesh dies, but the spirit
now is going to take the position of rulership, so that the Philistines
won't be rejoicing in killing the king of Israel, because the
king of Israel is still alive. Hallelujah! Is he still alive?
His name is Jesus, not David. Because our Lord Jesus Christ,
though they killed him, rose again the third day with all
power and authority in his hand. Is that true? Is that true? They thought they had killed
him. They killed Saul, but they didn't kill David. So let me
show you a few more things and wrap it up here, this is so very
clear to see. Point number five. Are you there?
Saul commits what? As an act of self-condemnation. So what we're told in verses
three through five, aren't we? The battle went sore against
Saul and the archers hit him and he was sore wounded of the
archers. He's wounded. Okay. You're wounded. What? Just go out, just kill yourself
now because you've been wounded. But this gives us insight into
Saul's nature. Saul never believed God at once. I'm going to share with you several
clear things in points 5 and 6. First and foremost, his actually
going to war was delusional, defiant, and destructive. Was it? His actually going to
war, when God had forsaken him, when the witch of Endor and the
delusional demonic Samuel told him, you're going to die! For
him to actually go to war is to defy the testimony of God. He was still acting in rebellion
against God, was he not? Listen, if somebody came to me
and said, Amar, you're going to die if you go over there.
If you go over there, you're going to die if you go over there.
You know what I'm going to say? Thank you. I'm not going over
there. See, and I got a few more minutes,
and I have to drive this home to help you understand the insanity
of unbelief. The insanity of unbelief. Saul
tried every way he possibly could to live in defiance of God's
decree. What was God's decree? He had
taken the kingdom away. He had given it to another. He
had taken his spirit away. He had given Saul over to demons.
He had tormented Saul. And all along this whole period,
Saul is in open, persistent defiance of God. Is he not? Even to the
point where he is now going to go face his enemies in war hopelessly. defying God. What happens? It comes to pass just as he was
told. He's wounded even to death. And
ladies and gentlemen, will you hear me now? This is the way
reprobation works. When God takes his hand off of
you, you will continue to live defiantly against God because
you feel as though you can endure the hits. The problem is every
day that we live in defiance against God, we shut the door
of repentance upon ourselves. Are you guys listening to me?
Every day that we live in defiance against God, we shut the door
of repentance. Can I expand on that just briefly?
You think you can turn from your sins when you want to. You're wrong. You think you can
stop committing that sin that you're engaged in now that you
do in open defiance against God. You're wrong. You think you're
going to slow it down and move away from it and one day turn
to Jesus. Like a lot of people who buy
into the notion that they're saved by their decision for Jesus
thinking that they're going to turn from their sin on their
deathbed. I got news for you. I've met many people on their
deathbed who never turn. Who never repent. Who never turn. Because they discover their hearts
are hardened. Proverbs 29 one, he that often
being reproved will over time harden his heart and that will
occur to a point where there is no remedy. Are you guys hearing
me? He that being often reproved
hardens his neck and shall suddenly be destroyed. Is that what happened
to Saul? There's no remedy. Saul then is a foreshadow of
whom? Judas Iscariot. Judas Iscariot
hardened his heart for three and a half years of gospel ministry.
He refused to bow the knee to Christ while actually communing
with Christ. The devil found a way into his
heart and used him as the cheap instrument of betraying Jesus.
Judas saw what he had done, failed, and still did not repent to give
God glory. He'd rather go out and hang himself,
which is what he did. And the prophecy of scripture
is he went to his own place as it was prophesied a thousand
years before by our beloved David in Psalm 102. Are you guys hearing
me? Prophesied beforehand. You and
I don't have the ability to turn. You have to ask God to turn you
or you will never turn. So follow the logic. Chapter
point number five, Saul commits suicide as an act of self-condemnation.
His going to war was delusional. Subpoint B, his going to war
was self-motivated and demonically inspired. God didn't tell him
to go. He went up his own. I've been
fascinated by this for decades. The strength that we have to
rebel against God. Do you know it takes strength
to rebel against your God? Proverbs chapter eight, verse
36. All that love sin hate me. And all that hate me love death. You got it? Last sub point. He killed himself like Judas
because he would not, nor could he repent. Now let me share with
you in point number six. I'm going to say point number
seven for next week. Point number six is what we call our contrasts
between Saul and Jesus. Saul kills himself in what? Shame. He was ashamed. He was ashamed
of the thought of letting the Philistines get to him. You guys
got that? Jesus lays down his life for his sheep. Hebrews 12,
2 says he despised the shame. He went right into it. Jesus
endured the shame. When you hang on a cross, butt
naked between heaven and earth, you are despising the shame.
When you voluntarily stick your hands out and say, take me, you
are despising the shame. You're not running from it. You're
not hiding. You're not fearful. You're believing God. Saul died
selfishly for himself. Christ died for sinners. Saul,
he himself was ashamed of the shame. Christ despised the shame. These are the contrasts. Saul
was in love with himself. Christ was in love with his father
and with his elect. It was an act of love on both
part, one with the hail, one with the glory. Saul's was delusional
and mad. Christ was clear about his mission
from the beginning, was he not? I came to do the will of him
that sent me and to finish his word. Saul is defiant. Christ was compliant and submissive. He's called the Lamb of God.
And so he opened not his mouth when he stood before his shearers.
He was just dumb, submissive to the will of God. That's called
bravery, ladies and gentlemen. Brave, brave to face hell and
death and demons for the glory of God and the salvation of sinners.
Do you see the contrast? Absolutely amazing Saul was governed
by demonic spirits. Christ was led by the Spirit
of God without measure Saul was selfish and his death benefited.
No one Christ laid down his life for his sheep Saul's body was
molested defiled decapitated Christ's body was whole not a
bone broken Pierce not divided and his body was preciously anointed
and perfectly placed in a hotel until Sunday morning. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. He laid his head down in regal
glory saying it is finished. No one took his life from him.
He laid it down in love for his elect. He swallowed up death.
He swallowed up Jordan. He did it out of love. He redeemed
his people because he loved him. He was a good shepherd. He was
a good shepherd. My father loves me because I
laid down my life for the Sheeb. Do you see the contrast in the
motif? Absolutely splendid and glorious. And I wish I had time, I'll take
this up next week. The gospel and the death of Saul
and Jonathan. What about beloved Jonathan?
Jonathan died too. What did his death teach us?
Well, it's going to point you to Jesus. And you're going to
see some glorious truths there in this same account. Did we
learn something today? Amen.