Turn with me to 1 Samuel 31, finishing up the book of 1 Samuel tonight. And we'll go right on into 2 Samuel. I titled tonight's message, Rejected by God. That's a depressing title, I know. But it's an appropriate one because that's exactly what God did with King Saul. God does not save everyone. You know that. I know that. Some are rejected. Rejection from God is always, always tied to sin, rebellion, and unbelief. And let me say another thing in way of introduction.

If we fail to see the Gospel in these Old Testament accounts, basically reduced them to nothing more than just ancient biblical history. However, the gospel, I'm talking about the same gospel that we read in the New Testament and in the epistles, is throughout the Scriptures, including the Old Testament. And 1 Samuel chapter 31 is no exception. And when we go through these chapters in the Old Testament, We strive to see Christ in them crucified because that's the only hope and encouragement that a sinner has.

And so it's my prayer again tonight that we see the gospel in this story. And we do so first and foremost in what this chapter reveals about God. The gospel is found in who God is. The Gospel is seen in His sovereign right to be God. God has a right to be God. Only God does. His right to do what He wills. God does what He wills. The Scripture says, in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and our Lord is in heaven and what has He done? Whatsoever He's pleading. That's God. That's the God of the Bible. And that's the God that we endeavor to worship.

God has the right to do what He wills with whoever He wills and however He pleases. And we don't have the right to say God's fair or unfair. We don't have the right to question God. Who art thou that replies against God, the Scripture says. We're nobody. We don't have any right to reply against God. And God did with Saul what he pleased to do, and yet Saul could not blame it on anyone but himself.

In 1 Samuel chapter 8, if you remember back, Israel wanted a king. God was their king. God said, I'm watching out for you. I'm taking care of you. They said, we want a king. God was their king, but they wanted an earthly king, just like every other nation, they said.

You know, When I was a kid, a young boy, when I wanted something, I would often say to my parents, all my friends have that. All my friends have one of those. And I remember my mom used to say things like, well, if little Johnny wanted to jump off the Evansville Bridge, would you want to jump off? And I'm like, probably. Sounds like fun. Until you hit, I guess. But anyway, men and women often want what the world has, even if it's the worst thing for them. And that just tells us something about our nature.

Israel rejected the reign of God. That's what they did. They wanted human leadership instead of relying on God. So, God gave them what they wanted. He gave them a king. They wound up not wanting him. And God told them exactly what that king would do, and none of what God told them was good. God told them, said, he'll take your sons and your daughters for service. He'll make you and them to serve him.

He'll take your fields and your vineyards for his own use. He'll get it for himself. great portions of your crops and he'll take your sons and your daughters and make them chariot drivers and horsemen and he'll make them to be soldiers who are going to die in battle. He's going to appoint himself a captain over thousands and also after 50s to organize an army into groups of different sizes to exercise his control and authority. and you're not gonna like it. God said, he's gonna take your daughters and make them bakers, and he's gonna make them cooks and servants in his house to serve him. He's gonna take, and he's gonna take, and he's gonna take some more. He's gonna take your fields, your vineyards, your olive yards, and he's gonna take the best ones for himself.

And God said, you're gonna cry out to me because of this king, and when you do, he said, I'm not gonna hear you. And that's exactly what happened. You see, human kingship would come with human cost, and following a king instead of God was going to cause hardship. And that's exactly what happened. And yet, we read in 1 Samuel 8, verse 19, it says, nevertheless, after God told them all this, nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel the prophet, and they said, nay, but we will have a king over us.

After God had told them all that, this is what He's gonna do. They said, give us a king. That we also may be like all the nations and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. And God had just told them like, He's gonna have you fight His battles. He's not gonna fight your battles.

And that's exactly what happened. And Samuel heard all the words of the people and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, now listen, these are condemning words. He said, hearken unto their voice and make them a king. In other words, give them what they want.

Now listen, be the first to tell you that I am not a super bright man. I am slow catching on sometimes. But one thing that I've learned, and that is, is that I don't want the Lord to give me what I want. I want Him to give me what He wants. Because I have learned from experience that I don't know what's best for me. And that every single time, like Israel, I'll choose Me over God. I'll choose what I want best other than what God wants best.

Well, it didn't stop there in 1 Samuel chapter 15 after Saul refused to obey God in the complete destruction of the Malachi. Do you remember that? God said, I want you to kill every one of them. He spared their king and he took the best livestock for himself. And Samuel came to town He heard the cows mooing and the sheep bawling and he said, what's that I hear? And Saul said, well, I kept some of the sheep because I won't make a sacrifice unto the Lord. You know, I did this for the Lord.

You disobey God and then you blame it on God. We do it too. That's what Adam did, that's what Eve did, that's what we do. We blame it on God or somebody else, which is in essence saying that we're blaming it on God. The woman thou gavest me, the man you gave me, the children you gave me, the parents you gave me, the boss you gave me, it doesn't matter, it's somebody's fault other than ours.

And Samuel told Saul, he said, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. It was over right then. Yet Saul went on to reign as king for another 10, 15 years. But now in our story tonight, the last chapter of 1 Samuel, Saul's reign comes to an end. Now you remember in 1 Samuel chapter 28, Saul, having no longer hearing from the Lord, the Lord went silent on him. God rejected him. Saul sought out a witch, the witch of Endor, which brought to fruition the prophet Samuel back to life. And Samuel again reminded Saul of God's rejection of him as king. God rejected him.

Samuel then prophesied that because of Saul's rebellion, the very next day that he and his sons would die at the hands of the Philistines. And that day has come right here in chapter 31. And listen, what God said came to pass, and what God says always comes to pass. Long after Saul's death in Hosea chapter 13 verse 11, God spoke through the prophet concerning Saul and Israel's history, saying, I gave thee a king in mine anger and took him away in my wrath.

It was what they wanted. God gave them what they wanted. Lord, don't give us what we want. Give us what you want us to have. You know what's best, we don't. The very thing that they asked for became a part of their judgment. What a warning this should be to us. And what futility there is in seeking salvation, guidance, and security outside of God in Christ. Don't do it. Don't do it. I'm talking to me now. Seek the Lord. Ask the Lord. And whatever you do, Okay, verse one, 1 Samuel 31.

Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell down slain in Mount Gilboa. And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons, and the Philistines slew Jonathan and Abinadab and Mount Kishuah, Saul's sons, and the battle went sore against Saul. And the archers hit him, and he was sore wounded of the archers.

And then said Saul unto his armor-bearer, draw thy sword and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse me. But his armor-bearer would not, for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell upon it." Committed suicide, he killed himself. Verse five, 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 that same day together. Now that's not talking about all the men of the army, but many of them died and the rest of them fled. This is a sad, tragic story, isn't it? God rejected Saul.

This was the consequence. This was the outcome. So the first lesson here is there's consequence for rebellion against the Lord. We're told that throughout the Scriptures. The wages of sin is death. You don't believe it, then you go out to meet God without a substitute, without a Savior, and you'll find out. Eternal death. Not just physical death. Eternal death.

This chapter opens with Israel being defeated by the Philistines. And verse 3 tells us, and the battle went sore against Saul. That word simply means severe. This was a severe defeat against Saul. And the battle went sore against Saul because God was sore against Saul. The word also means burden. God was burdened with Saul. God had already rejected him because of his disobedience. And the thing about it is, all through this book, Saul never learned anything. He just kept right on. He didn't learn anything.

Lord, I don't want to be like that. Lord, help me to learn. Show me. Teach me. Don't let me keep doing stupid things. Though Saul remained king and physician, God's favor had departed from him, which meant he no longer had God's divine guidance and God's divine protection. And I'm reminded to remind you that all things do not work together for the good of the world.

You know, when you make statements like that, people gasp. Because they've been taught that God loves everybody. He saved everybody. He's not willing that any should perish. Well, tell that to Saul. Tell that to Saul. Who do all things work together for? They work together for good to those that have God's favor. To them who love God. That's what Paul wrote in Romans 8, 28. To them that love God. To them who are be called according to His purpose. Not the world, not everybody. This is speaking of those that God foreknew. Before the world was ever made, God foreknew a people. And He set His affection and His heart upon them. And He said, I'm going to save them. I'm going to give them to my son. And my son is going to redeem them. And everything with me and them is going to be all right.

Not because of anything they do, not because I looked ahead in time and saw, oh, you know, Linda, she's going to be a good girl, so I'm going to choose her based on that. No, that's not what God did. God chose a people. And he saved them for no reason outside of his own mercy and grace. This is talking to those that God did predestinate.

Predetermined. That's what that means. Determined beforehand. Before that person was born. Before that person did any good or evil. That the purpose of God according to election might stand. Not of him that worketh. Not of him that doeth. Not of him that's a good little boy.

But to those who God determined to save. Those who God give to Christ. Those God conforms to the image of His Son. Those who God predestinates, He calls. He affectionately calls. And what I mean by that is, if He calls, you come. You're not going to resist His will. Who can resist His will? Nobody can resist His will. He's God. And those He justifies, He's going to glorify. How does God glorify them? By conforming them to be just like His Son. A glorified body is one without sin.

And we don't attain that, this side of glory. We got to lay down this body in death before we ever get that new one. But it's coming. That's something to look forward to. Something we don't even know anything about because everything we do is painted with sin, affected by sin. A glorified body is not something we do for ourselves. It's something that God does for us. And that's why Paul went on to add the question, what shall we then say to these things? Well, what are you going to say to it? That's a good question. What do you say?

If God be for us, who can be against us? When you see who God is, and God's going to reveal to His people who He is and how He does things. If God be for us, who can be against us? Nobody. And the opposite's also apparent. If God is against us, who can be for us? Ask Saul. God rejected him.

If God didn't spare His beloved Son when our sin was found on Him, how shall He, not with Him, in giving to us His righteousness, also freely give us all things? Can anyone lay anything to the charge of God's elect, to the elect's charge? It is God that justifies. It's God who declares one righteous. If God is satisfied with what Christ has done for us, and He is, He certainly is, completely satisfied, then who else can charge us? When we stand before God in judgment on that day, who's going to stand up and charge us with anything? It's God that justifies it. If God clears us, we're cleared.

And who's going to condemn us? Paul went on to ask that. That's a good question. If Christ died for us and rose again, and He did, that means God accepted His death and His sacrifice and the shedding of His blood? And if the Lord Jesus makes intercession for us, and He does, who's gonna stand in judgment to condemn us? Nobody. Who could? Who could?

Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. That's how, through Him, just one way. Saul repeatedly chose his own way over God's command. By nature, listen, we're no different. You know, sometimes it's easy for us to kind of look down our nose at the people in Scripture.

Well, I sure wouldn't have done that. Yes, you would have. Yes, you would have. Well, I wouldn't have crucified the Lord if I'd have been there. Yes, you would have. Yes, you would have. You'd have been yelling at the top of your lungs with everybody else, crucifying, crucifying. You'd be saying, release unto us Barabbas and kill that man, Jesus Christ.

We, too, are incapable of saving ourselves from the consequence of sin. And Christ, our faithful King, perfectly obeyed God in order to save us. We better not take that lightly. Saul's life was marked by rebellion. Our sin always finds us out. That's what God said in Numbers 32, 23. You see, there is a cost to disobedience. Man, I shiver when I say that. Because that's pretty much all I am, is just disobedient by nature. God's blessings do not follow those who act against Him. What hope then do I have? Just one. That somebody did it for me. Somebody was obedient for me. Somebody kept God's law perfectly for me. Somebody satisfied God's justice that was against me. And Christ is that person.

That's my only hope. I don't have any other hope than that. Just allow me to be blunt. Trusting in our own strength, our own strategies apart from God, always, always, always leads to failure. Why do we do it? Just dumb, I guess. Dumb sheep. That's what we are. Secondly, we see the futility of human power. Look at the last sentence in verse four.

It says, therefore Saul took a sword and fell upon it. 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 that same day together. Now Saul committed suicide here. He fell upon his own sword because he was terrified of capture. He decides to take his own life because he doesn't want to fall into the hands of the enemy.

That's not bravery. That's not trusting God. Why would he start trusting God now? He had all through his kingship. And his armor-bearer follows him in death, and even in death, Saul determines not to trust God. Take matters in my own hand. Was Saul rejected because he didn't trust God, or did Saul not trust God because he was rejected?

Huh? Which was it? Well, according to divine sovereignty and human responsibility, I believe both are true. Let me ask you that question. Was Saul rejected because he didn't trust God? Yes. Or did Saul not trust God because he was rejected? Yes. Saul disobeyed God first, so God rejected him and his lack of trust caused the rejection. That's the human responsibility side. But from the sovereign The sovereignty of God perspective, God's purpose never ultimately depended on Saul's trust. His rejection was part of the unfolding of God's sovereign will, no different than Pharaoh.

And then what Paul said about Pharaoh, he said, God raised him up. Why did God raise up Pharaoh? That he might show his power, God's power in him. That God's name might be declared throughout all the earth. that mighty Pharaoh God brought down into the dust. Same with Saul. God raised him up just to bring him down, that his glory might be seen, that his power might be shown, that his name might be declared. God is God. David was God's chosen king.

Saul didn't trust God and was rejected. And at the same time, God's sovereign purpose included that rejection, yet the responsibility fell on Saul. It always falls on man. We can't blame God for our sin and disobedience. God takes and uses a man's sin and disobedience to accomplish his will.

We see that, we've talked about that so many times. The sad, and then the sad truth about this armor bearer. You know, you think about that. I just, I pictured that he'd probably a young man. And boy, I tell you, these are hard lessons. Often those who live in close association with the fallen, the fallen, follow the same path of destruction. Devotion without God's direction usually leads to destruction. May we always be conscious of our example to those who are near to us. Our actions of unbelief and disobedience have more effect on others than we might know. I have some children that are lost, that don't know the Lord. And there's no one to blame for the state of my lost children any more than me. That's just true. Lord, forgive me here where I failed you and them.

Saul chooses death over faith in God. Everyone who rejects Christ does the same. And when trials come and fear often tempts men to rely on themselves instead of God, but true courage comes from trusting God solemnly, not trying to control their own outcome. You know, I just found myself thinking, what if Saul would have just surrendered?

And asked God for forgiveness. Maybe God would have delivered him. Maybe God would have restored him. He's known for doing that. Can't find anywhere in the Scriptures where somebody sought mercy that didn't get it. But even in Israel's defeat, God's purpose unfolds, and this loss, this devastating loss to Israel, paves the way for David to ascend and become king, whom God had chose to be king. All those months, years, however long it was before, God's purpose is gonna be done. Christ came into the world to bring victory from human defeat. And though Saul and his sons died physically, the gospel points us to eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ. What is final for the lost is not final for those that are in Christ. In lieu of what's going on with Miss Judy, I mean, she's facing death. Death is soon. Her family's surprised that she's held on this long. And death, when you lose somebody you love, it's tough. It's hard. You know that. Most everyone here has lost somebody they love. But there's worse things than death for a believer.

Pretty soon, Miss Judy's going to be completely well. We ought to be rejoicing. We ought to be thanking the Lord. But we think more of ourselves, like how hard it's going to be on us when we lose somebody. think about them. I can look out here right now and I could name several people that are no longer here with us. That I have confidence are in glory with God. I'm not going to feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for us because we're left behind without them, but they're with the Lord.

The Lord help us to get a hold of that and to rest in that If we trust in the Lord, we're going to be with Him very soon. Very soon. I don't know how all that works. Heaven, that is. But I know that when I'm there, I'm going to see Him face to face. And that's all that's really going to matter. That's all that's really going to matter.

Christ alone, the perfect King, conquered sin and death. And where Saul failed, David rose. And where David failed, Christ rose. And the Lord Jesus, our King, was victorious and eternal. And because of that, we've got a good hope. Christ in you is what? The hope of glory. What hope do any of us have other than that?

Now look at verse eight, and it came to pass on the morrow, on the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they're gonna pilferage all the, anything of value that Israel had, and they came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen at Mount Gilboa.

And they cut off his head. and they stripped off his armor and sent it 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 Ashtaroth and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshem." His headless body, they just hung up on a wall. It was like a trophy, you know, it was like, look what we did. Don't mess with Philistine. Saul's body is desecrated. The Philistines openly shame him. They take his head and his armor, his trophies. And what a picture of sin and rebellion, bringing dishonor even after death. Even after death, it's apparent that God rejected Saul.

But this points us to our ultimate need for resurrection. The Lord's resurrection ensures that believers, though physically dead, will rise gloriously and be honored in eternal life. We're gonna die, we're gonna be buried, but we're not gonna stay there. Not gonna remain in that grave.

Look at verse 11. And when the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan and came to Jabesh and burnt them there." And verse 13, excuse me, they took their bones and buried them under a tree at Jabesh and fasted seven days. So we have the end of Saul. Not a pretty end.

Why? Because God rejected him. Because he rejected God. Because God rejected him. And he rejected God. It must come to pass. Because it ushers in the beginning of David as king. And David was the king of God's choice. And God's choice is always going to be done. It's going to be accomplished.

The only thing that makes any of us different, you and I are no different than Saul. Listen, we're just not. Don't think that we are. The only difference between us and Saul is the difference that God makes in mercy and grace. So what do we have that we didn't receive? Huh? Nothing. And if we received it, if it was a gift to us from God, What do we have to glory in about it? God gave it to us. We didn't earn it, merit it, or deserve it. So let Saul be a warning to us. There's a cost to rejecting God's will. There's a cost to trusting in our own strength.

Saul's a picture of the king called self. By nature, my choice of king is me. You and I by nature desire to rule in our own domain by the exercise of our will. All of us. Like Saul, our end will not be a good one if we persist to follow our own course to the end. If God doesn't intervene, if God doesn't divinely interrupt, we're in trouble, big trouble.

And it's sad but true, those who have made themselves their own king would choose eternal punishment rather than admit they made the wrong choice. Saul did. You know, you have to think that at some point in time during all these years that he had to have thought at least once to himself, am I the one wrong in this? The nature of our depravity It's clearly seen in this. Men would rather face God in judgment than call upon Him for mercy. Unless God gives life. Unless God divinely intervenes. Unless God show a man his need, he would rather face God in judgment than to seek God for mercy.

And every time, what happens is that we wind up killing the king of self. It's spiritual suicide. Conscience makes cowards out of all of us. Saul represents our so-called free will. This should cause us to cry, Lord, not my will, but Thine be done. I've been crying that a lot lately. Lord, don't let me have my way.

Saul's end was suicide. He fell on his own sword. And every effort of our carnal nature is a form of suicide. By nature, man asserts his way rather than submit to Christ, who is the way. And our ways are but the ways of death. That's what the wise man said. He said, there's a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof is the ways of what? Death.

Our Lord said in Proverbs 8, 36, he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me love death. I don't know that I ever really paid any attention to that scripture. I'm sure I read it and maybe forgot it. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul. And all they that hate me love death. Rejecting God's wisdom doesn't harm God, It destroys our own souls.

And we think we're doing disjustice to God? It don't change God. God still remains God. God still remains holy. We're just killing ourselves. Sin is self-destructive. It brings the ultimate loss. And what is that? It's eternal separation from God. That's what eternal death is. Eternally separated from God. Hating wisdom is loving death. Refusal of God's instruction brings just that, both spiritual and eternal death. Rejecting God's guidance is just courting destruction. And while this verse in Proverbs highlights the consequence of sin and rejection, the implied gospel is that God's wisdom gives life. Christ is wisdom incarnate. God took all His wisdom as God and put it in the man, Christ Jesus.

What think ye of Him? Huh? What think ye of Christ? That's the issue. That's the issue. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things, all these other things shall be added unto you. One thing. Everything. Everything you need. Everything that you need. All who seek Christ will not have no need to seek anything else. All we need will be added to us.

You know that verse, Christ is all in and of? That's what that's saying. That just simply means that He is all. He's the source of our salvation. He's the standard of truth. He's the fullness of God revealed. If Christ is all, then we don't need any additions. If Christ is all, then He's enough, right? What did he tell Paul? Paul cried out three times to deliver him from the thorn in the flesh. Whatever it was. The Son said, my grace is sufficient for you.

I'm enough. I'm enough. If Christ is all, then we don't need anything else. Christ is always enough when He's all that we have. I love the thought of that. When the believer has everything else stripped away, and that's what death's gonna do for us. It's gonna strip us of everything that we have. Health, reputation, Money. Relationships. It all goes away.

And what is left is what actually sustained them. What was that? Who was that? Christ. In the end, when our lungs take our last breath and our heart beats its last beat, all the child of God is going to have is Christ. That's it. Not going to have anything else. And that's going to be sufficient. It'll be enough. And when He's all you have, it always is. It always is. Christ is all in all.