Go ahead and turn with me to
1 Samuel chapter 13. In the first 14 verses here of this
chapter, it becomes very apparent, very quick, that things for King
Saul are going to end badly. And I've titled this message
tonight, When Things Go Badly. Sometimes things go badly. Or do they? Do they for the child
of God? No. Now we know that God is the
first cause of all things. We say that all the time. And
people even say it and really don't think about it. Because
when you say that He's the first cause of all things, that means
everything. No exception. even bad things. I suppose everyone would call
darkness and evil bad. And God Himself said in Isaiah
chapter 45 verse 7, He said, I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and I create evil.
And then He wraps that whole thing up by saying, I the Lord,
L-O-R-D capital, Jehovah, the self-existent One, the One who's
always been. He said, I, the Lord, do all
these things. So light comes from Him, and
darkness comes from Him. Peace comes from Him. Evil comes
from Him. He, the Lord, does all these
things. Now, let's take it a step further. Is God responsible for
darkness and evil? Not in the sense that some may
think. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. So, how
does He form and create darkness and evil? Well, first and foremost,
all God has to do to form darkness and evil is just to let men and
women, who are full of darkness and evil, Have their own way. Just let them go. Remove His
restraining grace from them and just let them go. And you and
me and everyone else would run right to darkness and run right
to evil. That's what we are by nature.
He forms and creates it by way of permission. It didn't originate
with Him. In Him is no darkness at all.
In Him is no evil at all. and the Lord Jesus Christ. He
knew no what? Sin. He knew no sin. He took our sin. The sin originates
with us. It's the one thing. Darkness
and evil is one thing that we came up with on our own, if I
can say it that way. God's not the author. The Creator,
the Originator of darkness or evil. The only two things that
fallen, dead, and sin men and women can call their own and
take any credit for. If you want to take credit for
something, there you go. Have at it. When things go badly, the sin
of man is the cause. And God is simply accomplishing
His predestinating purpose in letting them go and do what they
want. That's what Ephesians 1-11 tells
us. When things go badly. Now, these
are the men and women who can say with a truthful heart, believers. They're the ones that can say,
it's good for me. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted. Why? that I might learn thy statutes,
thy appointments." Meaning that they know that God sent, God
appointed their affliction. When you're afflicted, when things
are going badly for you, always remember first and foremost that
God's the One that sent it. And if you're one of His, and
if you believe and trust in the Lord Jesus, He sent it for your
good. So is it bad? No. Not bad. It may be badly for the world.
It may have gone real bad for the Lord, but not for you. Isn't
that something? It's hard for us to get our heads
around that, but it's nonetheless true. Even though things went badly
for Saul in 1 Samuel chapter 13, everything, and I mean everything,
is going to turn out good for the true and chosen people of
God in Israel. Speaking of those chosen out
of God's chosen nation, you know, we've got Israel as the God's
chosen nation, and then there's some elect within that number. Just like there's some elect
out of this world today. God didn't save the whole world.
You know who the Lord saved? All that love His Son. He didn't
save anybody that doesn't love Christ. And then, to take that
a step further, which we all know is so, He is the one who
determines and calls and affectionately draws to believe and love Christ. So we're always Driven back to
the truth, it's salvations of the Lord. It's not a man. And all that goes on in our day,
the things that are determined by most to be bad, will in the
end prove to be good for God's people chosen out of this world.
Now, we don't know how, and we may never see how. But I can
tell you, according to the promise of God Himself, Romans 8.28. That's the case. And that's all.
Now, I was thinking about this as I was preparing for this message.
I was thinking about Joseph. Out of jealousy, Joseph's brothers
threw him in a pit. You know the story. And I think
a couple of them, anyway, meant to go back and get him, but they
tarried too long and when they came back he was gone and he'd
been later discovered and sold into slavery and he winds up
in Potiphar's house. You remember that story? And
Potiphar's wife accuses him, he winds up in prison. He winds
up interpreting the dreams of the baker and the butler and
winds up on Pharaoh's throne in charge of the whole shooting
match. And a few years later, and I think
about all the trouble and the trials and the tribulations,
but the scripture says that during all that, that the Lord was with
him and showed him mercy and gave him favor. Through all that
trouble. And later when he was reconciled
to his brothers, you remember what he told them? He said, but
as for you, and don't you know they were trembling? Well, he's
the most powerful man in Egypt, other than Pharaoh himself. And Pharaoh has just said, you
take care of it. So at that point, he's probably
the most powerful man. And he said, but as for you,
you thought evil against me. But God meant it unto good to
bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. Now listen, friends, that's exactly
what God's doing today. There's some things going on. We look around in this world
and we're like, whew, this world's in a mess. And it is, naturally
speaking. But not spiritually speaking,
it's just like it's supposed to be. God's going to save His
people. And as for you, He means it for good. And it's going to save much people
alive. You and me being one of them. What a gospel this is. Darkness
and evil do not originate with the Lord, but they originate
with us. And the Lord causes light and goodness to come out
of them. I'm so glad. Verse 1, Saul reigned
one year, and when he had reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose
him 3,000 men of Israel, whereof 2,000 were with Saul in Michmash
and in Mount Bethel. And 1,000 were with Jonathan,
and Gibeah, Benjamin, and the rest of the people he sent every
man to his tent." 3,000 men. Now, let me deal with this right
off. There's much confusion about
the length of Saul's reign as king. The idea that Saul, at
this point in time, chapter 13, had only reigned for two years,
and had a son, Jonathan, who was old and mature enough to
fight and to be a mighty warrior, is not supported by the Scriptures.
We know that Saul was a young man when he became king, so more
than two years have transpired here. Could it be that only a couple
of years transpired since Saul had been king? Of course not.
Most Bible commentators and scholars of the Bible suggest that Saul's
reign at the time of our study had been significantly longer,
allowing Jonathan to mature, to be born, to mature and grow
up to be a skilled warrior. And then, matter of fact, Acts
chapter 13, I believe, yeah, verse 20, I've got it written
down, assigns 40 years to Saul's dynasty as king. Let me read
those verses. And after that, he gave, speaking
of God, gave unto them judges about the space of 450 years,
which we just studied, until Samuel the prophet. And afterwards,
they desired a king. That's what we've been looking
at. And God gave unto them Saul, the son of Sis, a man of the
tribe of Benjamin, by the space of 40 years. So, other commentators
suggest that this means that Saul reigned well, I'll get the
words out in a minute, that he reigned well for two years while
the rest of his 38 to 40 years he carried on like a childish,
selfish tyrant before David was anointed king. That could very
well be so because he did. We're not told for sure, but
one thing's for certain, Saul is now experienced enough to
know better than to do what he does in this chapter. So I'll
leave it at that. So Saul rejects him, or God rejects
Saul as king. And it's just a matter of time
before Saul is dethroned, and let me add, killed for his actions. This will fulfill what God through
Samuel had told Israel from the beginning, when they desired
an earthly king instead of a heavenly one. Now this is the teaching
of 1 Samuel 13 and all the scriptures for that matter. In order for
you and I to live eternally in the presence of God, in the presence
of Christ, we must have Jesus Christ as our king. We must have Him as our High
Priest. None other will suffice. You see, the consequence of disobedience,
King Saul's failure to follow God's instructions, God's commandments. Same thing got Adam in trouble.
God gave him one commandment and he couldn't keep it. He didn't
keep it and that's why mankind's in the shape they're in. And
God gave Saul commandments, and he winds up here in this chapter,
as we'll see, making an offering and a sacrifice when he had no
right as King to do so. Now, look at verse 3. Just to
remind you again, they've got 3,000 men, 1,000 with Jonathan,
2,000 with Saul. And Jonathan smote
the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba. And the Philistines
heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout
all the land saying, let the Hebrews hear. Let them hear what
I've done. That's what he's saying. And
all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the
Philistines and that Israel also had an abomination with the Philistines. They're upset. The Philistines
are mad. And the people were called together
after Saul to Gilgal. And the Philistines gathered
themselves together to fight with Israel. Now look at this. 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen
and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. You can't count them all, so
many. And they came up and pitched and mick-mashed eastward from
Bethhaven, verse 6, and when the men of Israel saw that they
were in a strait, and they were, for the people were distressed,
I imagine, Then the people did hide themselves in caves, and
in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits. And some of the Hebrews went
over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. But as for Saul,
he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. And he tarried seven days according
to the set time that Samuel had appointed. But Samuel came not
to Gilgal, and the people were scattered from him, scattered
from Saul. And Saul said, bring hither a
burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he, Saul, offered
the burnt offering. And it came to pass, as soon
as he had made an end of the offering, the burnt offering,
behold, Samuel came, and Saul went out to meet him, went out
to meet Samuel, that he might salute them, salute him. And
Samuel said, what have you done? What have you done? And Saul
said, well, because I saw that the people were scattered from
me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and
that the Philistines gathered themselves together in Mekmosh.
Therefore said I, the Philistines will come down upon me to Gilgal,
and I have not made supplication unto the Lord. I forced myself
therefore and offered a burnt offering." Here we see at least four reasons
for Saul's rejection by God. First, Samuel took credit where
credit was not due. Verses 3 and 4, it was Jonathan
who smoked the garrison of the Philistines at Saul's request. However, it was Saul that blew
the trumpet, blew the fanfare throughout all the land saying,
let the Hebrews hear. Tell them what I've done here.
He didn't even do it. And it was heard by Israel that
Saul had smitten this garrison of the Philistines, but it wasn't
Saul. Jonathan. And Saul did not correct the
misunderstanding. Matter of fact, he, on purpose,
misled them. Secondly, Saul bypassed the office
of priest. You don't do that. Verses 9 and
10. And Saul said, bring hither a
burnt offering to me and peace offerings. And he offered the
burnt offering. And it came to pass that as soon as he had made
an end of offering, the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came
and Samuel went out to meet him that he might salute him. As
we already said, Saul decided to do that which pertained to
the priest. Don't do that. Saul's not interested
in the forgiveness of sin. He's simply attempting to cover
his tracks. He tries to appear repentant.
by doing what he's not allowed to do. And then he blames it
on Samuel for not being there when it needed to be done. You
see that? Thirdly, Saul failed to take
personal responsibility for his sin. Don't ever do that. I know we do. I know we do. I
know we do the blame game. And we all do it. Adam did it. Eve did it. Verse 11, Samuel said, What hast
thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw
that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest
not. Really, Samuel, it's kind of your fault. Because you didn't
show up when you were supposed to. They came and said, now you
didn't come in the days that you said you would come. And
the Philistines, well, they gathered together and mick-mashed with
this host of multitudes of army. So I had to do something. Well,
Saul should have sought the Lord for him and Jonathan before he
ever sent Jonathan out to fight against the Philistines to begin
with. And what Saul is saying here is, I only did this, Samuel,
because you weren't here to do it for me. Blame game. The woman thou gavest
me. I still use that one. And y'all
use it too. That man. And then Eve, the serpent
you allowed to be. here did this. Lord, you weren't
here to stop the serpent. So really, it's all your fault.
And that's really kind of what Saul was saying to Samuel. You
weren't here, and it's God's fault that you weren't here. Sacrifice needed to be made,
so I sacrificed, and I made it. That burnt offering could only
be offered by the priest. Only God would accept the offering
from the high priest. And it showed that God accepted
the substitute, the sacrifice, and the peace offering made.
That's the whole picture of a sacrifice. Picturing what Christ is going
to do for His people. And nobody but Christ can make
that sacrifice. Not you, not me, not a king of
our appointing, but the king of God's appointing. And that's
the worst part of this. And fourthly, Saul vindicated.
He justified himself for what he did. Verse 12. Therefore said
I, the Philistines will come down now upon me to kill God.
I've not made supplication unto the Lord. Now look at this. I
forced myself. I forced myself to do something
good for her. Israel and offered to burn all. He immediately began to justify
his action. He blamed Samuel. He blames the
people's fears. He ultimately blames God, saying
that since God didn't provide all that he needed, I gave myself
for the better good. You know, self-justification
doesn't have any limits. We'll go just as far as we can
until God puts a stop to it. Caught in pride, pretending to
be humble, He did all those things. And this story reveals the beginning
of the end for Saul. And things go badly. And badly
they went. The feelings of the people have
now changed from rejecting God to rejecting Saul. It didn't
take long for them to get over him. Saul's reign was doomed
from the beginning. Israel was no longer confident
in him. And this is where God brings
every believer. We're no longer confident in
ourselves. For years we were. I did this.
I did that. I made a decision. I gave Jesus
my heart. Whatever. A multitude of ways
to justify yourself. But God brought us to the point
where we're no longer competent in ourselves. No longer competent in a work
that we do. We see that it falls way short.
We don't put any competence in ourselves and we don't put any
competence in any other man. We put it in the God-man, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And they know, as they'll see
with David, that success from an earthly monarch occurs only
by the will and purpose of God. The man of God's choosing. The
providence of God has brought His people to disdain this choice
of Saul. God told them they would. God
told them, said, OK, I'm going to give you a king, but I'm going
to tell you exactly what he's going to do. And he did every
bit of it. And still, when he taught them,
We want a king. And we'll take that one. We'll
take that. Things have changed, haven't
they? Israel begin to fear. God removes
their confidence in this earthly king. And they begin to fear
as to what might happen between them and the Philistines, yes,
but also a thrice holy God. That's what happens to us. Somewhere along the line in our
salvation, God reveals to us who He is. What we are and who
He is. And we see that He's thrice holy. He's so holy that He can by no
means clear the guilty. He can no longer excuse our sin. He can in no way just let us
off the hook. He's too holy. And we see who
He is with the eyes of faith, the revelation of God, and we
begin to say, oh my, I'm in trouble. I'm in real trouble. And another lesson here is that
we should always consult our great God in everything. and everything. Saul tooted his
own horn and everything. Presumably, undoubtedly, he thought
the Lord was with him. He didn't even ask the Lord.
He just went and did it and just assumed, I mean, you're going
to go out and take on that kind of army with 3,000 people? You
had to think God was with you. But He wasn't. And he had the
trumpet sounded after they defeated that one small group, garrison, And he blew the trumpet to brag
on his military dominance. But it was not as he presumed. You know, I remember when God
showed me the power of salvation and who saved me. It wasn't as
I had presumed. It wasn't as you presumed either. Before He revealed it to me,
all the credit went to me. Salvation was of me. But not for long. None went to
God and what He did. And it's still the same. And
free will works religion. Adam covered himself with fig
leaves. He provided his own covering until God intervened. That's
the story of my life. I covered my own with the filthy
works of righteousness that I'd done until God intervened. God clothed him and his wife
Saul got what he least expected. Instead of recognition by Israel,
he got the recognition of the Philistines. And this made the people fear
and it made them run for their lives. Now the enemy's engaged. The Philistines prepare for battle.
The Philistines are about to wreak havoc and vengeance on
Israel. And that's nothing new to a believer.
We're always engaged in war with our enemies. Don't let your guard
down. It'll come upon you before you
even know it. We're always engaged against
sin, Satan, and self. And the self one's always close
by to inflict it the quickest and the fastest and the hardest. Until we learn to pray to the
Lord, the prayer of Moses, if thy presence go not with me,
carry us not up hence. We should pray that. Lord, if
you're not in this, keep me from doing it. Lord, if you don't
go with me, don't let me go. It's a simple prayer. It shows us that the brightest
and smartest people in the world are but fools at spiritual warfare. Israel was afraid not only of
God, but of the Philistines. And get this, Israel was unarmed
to do battle. If they had any weapons, they
were but few. What was Saul thinking? I suppose
he was too blinded by his own greatness to realize that he
didn't have anything to fight with. And that's the same with
us by nature. Apart from Christ, we don't have
any formable weapons to defend ourselves. We're nothing, we
have nothing, therefore we can do nothing. Look at verse 19. Now there was no smith, no blacksmith,
throughout all the land of Israel. Why? For the Philistines said,
lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears. Now when the Philistines
had ruled over Israel before this time, in the days of the
judges, and took captive their land, They refused to allow the
Israelites to partake in the trade of a blacksmith. No blacksmiths
in Israel. And after all the original blacksmiths
died, there wasn't any left. And the Philistines did this
so that Israel would have no weapons, and it took away along
with it their knowledge, of how to make weapons and how to use
them. It says there, lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears.
That was a biased tactic of war. Verse 20, But all the Israelites
went down to the Philistines to sharpen every man his share,
and his colter, and his axe, and his mattock, I read folks
on this, what they seem to say is they found some part in Palestine
where they could for hire, hire a blacksmith, one of their cities,
to sharpen farm parts. They took a plow blade and sharpened
it up and used it like a sword. As we'll see, they used other
type utensils like that. That old scene in a movie where
a guy comes to a gunfight with a knife. It's not going to do
you much good. You're not going to get close
enough to use that knife. So what will it cost? The Lord
said in Luke 14.31, What king, going to make war against another
king, sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be
able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with
twenty thousand? So what is it going to cost to
go out with 3,000 men against 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen,
and as many men as the sand which is on the seashore? A lot. It's going to cost a lot. Man's imagined work of righteousness
will magnify their trouble and create for them only more, more,
and more obstacles. Saul is assuming that the Lord
is going with him, but Saul never asked the Lord to go with him.
So he didn't go with him. Verse 21, And yet they had a
file for the mattocks, and for the colters, and for the forks,
and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads." Picture this, Saul
and Israel going out to fight with axes, pitchforks, and parts
of a sharpened plow, and a probing stick used for oxen against fully
armored men, trained warriors. Don't sound good. Don't sound
good. Pride that calls men and women
to do stupid and ignorant things. I know it so and so do you. Well, what is your point? God had a king for the people. What were his qualifications?
Well, first he was a man after God's own heart. What were his
personal qualifications though? He was a poet and he was a shepherd. Obviously not qualifications
for kingship. But being a man after God's own
heart, certainly was. You've got a king who is a man. He's the God-man, but he's after
God's own heart. And with him is the anointed
king Everything's going to be alright. The King chosen of the
people will finally be removed. And that's why believers sincerely
pray, and we should if we're not, not my will, but Thy will
be done. We don't know what's best for
us. We've said that time and time again. Do you really think
you know what's best for you? I don't. I know I don't. But God does. And we're taught
to want what He wants for us. With us, the King of kings has
come. The King of our choice is done. It may rain over us
for a while. We may give them homage for a
period. But they, like us, are dead in
trespasses and sin. Our only hope is in the King
of God's choosing. With His kingdom, there'll be
no end and everything's going to be alright because He's promised
that we'll be there with Him. For unto us, as a child is born,
unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his
shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful." What's
your king's name? King Wonderful. Counselor. My King is the mighty
God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, of the increase
of His government and peace. There shall be no end. How long is everything going
to be alright under this King? It's going to always be alright.
There is no end. Upon the throne of David and
upon His Kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform this. Our King is the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. The government of heaven
is upon His shoulders, and so is earth. And She shall bring
forth a Son, and Thou shalt call His name Jesus. Joshua, Savior. For He shall save His people
from their sin. And now all this was done, that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets,
saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel. Which being
interpreted is what? God with us. The King has come. The King has come. Have you bowed to Him? If you
haven't, you will. Romans 14, 11, and 12, For it
is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow
to me, and every tongue shall confess to God, so that every
one of us shall give an account of himself to God. Romans 14,
11, and 12. And for this reason, we ask the
question the Lord asked. What do you think? What do you
think of Him? Will you not have Him to rule
over you? Or will you bow to Him and confess Him to be your
Lord? They said, whose son is He? Whose son is this speaking of? He said, He's the son of David. And the Lord responded, how then
did David in spirit call Him Lord? Jesus Christ, David's Son, and
yet David's Lord. Only by being God the Son. And if you know the answer to
that, and you believe it, then God's revealed to you this great
mystery of salvation. The answer is simple. God became
a man. He became David's Son. And God the Son is David's Lord. For without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up in the
glory." Isn't that wonderful? That's your key. And with Him,
things don't go badly. Pray with me. Thank You, Lord,
another glimpse of Christ from Your Word. Enable us, Lord, to
see our need of Him, David's Son, yet David's the Lord. And
we beg of You, Lord, not to give us what we selfishly want, but
what You desire for us. Give us not what we deserve.
We definitely don't want that. Lord, we need Christ. We need
the King of Kings. The one who's captured your own
heart. And Lord, it's in His name and for His sake that we
ask for mercy, knowing that You delight in giving it. Please,
please, please give mercy. Again, for His sake. Amen.