I've entitled the message for
this evening, Saul, the People's Choice. Last Sunday evening, we closed
reading this passage of scripture, verse 1 through 3, and it came
to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over
Israel. Now the name of his firstborn
was Joel, and the name of his second, Tobiah. They were judges
in Beersheba, and his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside
after Luker, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. When
we were driving home last week, Lynn commented to me, things
were no different then than they are now, aren't they? That would
pretty much summarize a lot of politics. Politics is no different
in their day than ours. People oppressing other people
to get what they want. Unfair treatment of others. And
it was wrong then and it's wrong now. But that is what was going
on. Now there are some things that
are not political. Social and racial injustice and
oppression are not political issues, but sin, right and wrong. And God is displeased with that. One group or one race oppressing
another group, that's not political, that's evil. And I know you all
agree with that. Now there are political views
and every one of us have them, things we feel strongly about. But I want to remind you the
Lord said my kingdom is not of this world. I like hearing those amens. Now there are political views,
conservative moderate, liberal, and they are points of view. I would expect you to feel strongly
about them, but understand this, they are points of view. And in the church, keep it to yourself. Why do I say that? Well, when
you air it out, even on social media, There's someone that does
not share your point of view, and that is life. I mean, you think of the division
in this country right now over all these different points of
view. There's someone that doesn't
share your point of view, and that creates an unnecessary division
when it's not necessary. That person now feels on some
level estranged from you. Let me repeat the words of our
Lord. My kingdom is not of this world. Verses four and five. Here's
how the elders of Israel responded to these corrupt sons of Samuel. Somebody says, why did Samuel
let them in? I don't know. I'd probably do
the same thing. Doesn't make it right. And Samuel
used poor judgment at this time in bringing his sons into this
position. Then all the elders of Israel
gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah. and said unto him, Behold, thou
art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. And you can understand
why they were upset with that. Samuel had become old. He didn't
seem to be able to make the proper decisions the way he one time
did. And his sons were utterly corrupt. And they brought horrible
oppression in order to aggrandize themselves and make money for
themselves. bribes and they perverted judgment. And the children of Israel then
said, now make us a king to judge us like all the other nations. Now, why would they want to be
like the other nations? They had God as their king. Just last
chapter, The Lord fought for them and they didn't have to
do a thing. Remember the thunder that came down from heaven and discomfited
the Philistines and they went running? God was their king. Maybe they got tired of waiting
for God. We gotta wait until he acts and we'd like to have
everything up front and have a king and be able to operate
under those conditions and that way we'll know what's going on.
They didn't like waiting by faith for God to act in their behalf,
but he did. What a king he was. But the thing, verse six, displeased
Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us. I don't know
whether Samuel took it personal, whether it hurt his feelings.
That's very possible. But he was upset. I mean, things
had been going well with him as a judge until his boys took
over. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord,
verse seven, and the Lord said unto Samuel, hearken, unto all
the voice of the people, in all that they say unto thee, for
they've not rejected thee, but they've rejected me, that I should
not reign over them. Minds us of a New Testament verse,
we will not have this man to reign over us. Lord says they're acting according
to character, verse eight, according to all the works which they've
done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even unto
this day wherewith they have forsaken me and served other
gods. So do they also unto thee. Now
therefore, hearken unto their voice. Give them what they ask.
Well, I don't want the Lord to give me what I ask for. I want
him to give me what I need. Lord, I don't even know what
I need, but give me what I need. Now therefore hearken unto the
voice, albeit yet protest solemnly unto them and show them the manner
of king that shall reign over them. In verse 11, it says, he
will take. In verse 13, he will take. Verse
14, he will take. Verse 15, he will take. Verse 16, he will
take. Verse 17, He will take. He'll start all
these unjust taxes that were not necessarily scripture, different
ways to get what belongs to you and have them serve me. He was
a taker. That's the type of person he's
gonna be, a taker. Give me, give me, give me. Chapter
nine, verse one. Now there was a man of Benjamin
whose name was Kish. the son of Abil, the son of Zeror,
the son of Bekarath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty
man of power. And he had a son whose name was
Saul, a choice young man and a goodly. And there was not among
the children of Israel a goodlier person than he. From his shoulders
and upward, he was higher than any of the people. I mean, he
stood head and shoulders above everybody else. Best looking
man in Israel. Now, you know that if a good
looking man runs against an average looking man, who's going to win?
It was that way then, it's that way now. This man was everything
that they thought, what a king. Man, he's bigger, better looking,
he can lead us, and so on. So they were excited about this
man Saul. Now, Saul ended up reigning in
Israel for 40 years. And he's a very tragic figure,
if you read the history of Saul. He could appear humble. He could
appear religious. He could appear faithful, but
he was an utterly unstable man. He had what Charles Spurgeon
called a rubber heart. You can't break a rubber heart. You can indent it, but it's going
to come back to where it was. He could say, I've sinned. He could say to David, thou art
more righteous than I am. And he seemed to mean it when
he said it. But it wouldn't take long, and that dent that was
put in him would come right back, and he'd be just the same way
he always was. You see, he didn't have a new
heart. He didn't have a clean heart.
He didn't have a pure heart. But he had another heart. Look
in chapter 10, verse 6. And the Spirit of the Lord will
come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy within, and thou shalt
be turned into another man. Notice, not a new man, but another
man, a different man. And let it be when these signs
are coming to thee that thou shalt do as an occasion, serve
thee, for God is with thee, and thou shalt go down before me
to Gilgal. And behold, I'll come down unto thee to offer burnt
offerings and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days
shalt thou tarry till I come to thee and show thee what thou
shalt do. And it was so that when he had
turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart. Not
a new heart, another heart. He acted out of character, and
you'll remember they said of Saul among the prophets, when
he started prophesying, he was given another heart. Now, in our text in Acts chapter
13, it says, after his time, God removed him. Forgot to read
that scripture, that was my text. Acts chapter 13, verse 22, he
raised up Saul, the son of Sis, and when God had removed Look
in 1 Samuel 13. Verse 13. 1 Samuel 13, chapter
13, verse 13. And Samuel said to Saul, thou
hast done foolishly. This is when he felt it was okay
for him to offer up an offering to the Lord. He wasn't a priest.
Only the priest offers up sacrifice. Samuel, I mean, Saul was scared
that Samuel didn't come when he said he did. So he said, I
went ahead and did this. And what did Samuel say to him? Samuel said to Saul, thou hast
done foolishly. Thou has not kept the commandment
of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee. For now would
the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever.
But now thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought
him a man after his own heart. And the Lord hath commanded him
to be a captain over his people. because thou hast not kept that
which the Lord commanded thee. Look in chapter 15, verse 28. And Samuel said unto him, the
Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and
hath given it to a neighbor of thine that is better than thou. Now, here's something we all
have in common with Saul. He was a self-righteous man. He was willing to try to come
into God's presence without a priest. He wouldn't wait on Samuel. You
can read about that in 1 Samuel 13, and that's the first time
the Lord tells us he's getting rid of him, because he thought
he could come into God's presence without a priest. Look in 1 Samuel
13, beginning in verse 5. And the Philistines gathered
themselves together to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots,
6,000 horsemen, people as the sandwiches on the seashore in
multitude. And they came up and pitched
in Mekmash, eastward toward Beth-Avon. And when the men of Israel saw
that they were in a strait, for the people were distressed, then
the people did hide themselves in caves, and thickets, and rocks,
and in the high places, and in pits. And some of the Hebrews
went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. 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. 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. And Samuel said, what hast thou
done? And Saul said, because I saw the people were scattered
from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed,
and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Mishmach.
Therefore said I, the Philistines will come down now upon me to
Gilead, and I have not made supplication of the Lord. I forced myself,
therefore, and offered a burnt offering. I forced myself. I
knew better than this, but I had to do it because we couldn't
face the Philistine without a burnt offering. Offering Saul offered
an offering something that only the priest could do and he demonstrated
What a low view he had of God and what a high view he had of
himself in doing that That's all that can be said Look in
verse 3 of chapter 13 and Jonathan Smoked the garrison
of the Philistines that was in Geba who did it Jonathan? 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. And all
Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines. Now, who did it? Jonathan did
it. Who did Saul say did it? I did
it. Saul was not only a self-righteous
man who could come into God's presence without a priest, he
was a man who would take credit where credit was not due. Have you ever been in a position
like that where you did something and somebody swindled you and
took credit for it and you didn't get the credit for it? You got
mad, didn't you? It's not right. I'm sure all of us have happened
to that. I remember one time back when I was in college working
in a steel mill. I'll never forget this. We were under some kind
of hot pit. I was working like crazy, just
trying to get the gravel moved. And I was about to faint. And
this girl that wasn't working, well, all of a sudden, she comes
up and says, let me give you a break. And I said, OK. So as soon as I sat down, in
walks the foreman. She saw him. And she made sure
that she was working and I wasn't. And I moved all those rocks,
but she was getting the credit for it. The foreman looked at
me. How do you feel about folks like that? Well, what about salvation? Who is due the credit in salvation? God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. All of it. Who maketh thee to
differ from another, and what do you have that you didn't receive?
Now, God gets all the credit, and we like it that way, we want
it that way. Like I said this morning, if he doesn't get that
credit, that means something to do out of me, and I don't
want anything to do with that. I want him to get all the glory,
because that means he does it all, and I rest totally in what
he did. But for someone to take the credit
of salvation, my free will, works where I become more holy, my
greater reward in heaven. Why, that's blasphemous. And
you see in this man's character that he was willing to take credit
where credit was not due. Now, the next thing that I would
notice about this man is that he would not take personal responsibility
for his sin. He was always a victim. His sin
was never his fault. Look in chapter 13, verse 11.
And Samuel said, what hast thou done? And Saul said, because
I saw the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest
not within the days appointed, that the Philistines gathered
themselves together at Mekmash, therefore said I, the Philistines
will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication
unto the Lord. I forced myself, therefore, and
offered a burnt offering. I had to do it. I had to do it. Look in chapter 15. Verse 19, this is after he spared
the Amalekites. Wherefore then didst thou not
obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and
didst evil in the sight of the Lord? And Saul said unto Samuel,
Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and I have gone
the way which the Lord sent me, and I have brought Agag, the
king of Amalekites, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites,
but the people, they're the ones, the people, took of the spoiled
sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have
been utterly destroyed to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.
They're the ones that did it, not me. Now he was the one in
charge, but he put the blame on them. Look in verse 24 of
the same chapter. And Saul said unto Samuel, I
have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in
thy words, because I feared the people. That's the problem. They're
the real problem. You put, brought them into my
position, no different than Adam in the garden. The woman that
you gave me, she gave me of the fruit and I did eat. Now, unless my sin is all my
fault, guilty as charged, Unless my
sin is all my fault, I will never ask for mercy. And I'm never
owning myself as a sinner before God. I'll have a sense of entitlement.
I'm owed these things. Now if I have any sense of entitlement
at all, all that means is I don't really believe I'm a sinner and
God ought to do this for me. No understanding of mercy and
grace. Now Saul would take credit where
credit was not due and he would not take credit where it was
due, his own sin. You see the character of this
man that was the people's choice. Look in chapter 15, verse one. Samuel also said unto Saul, the
Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over
Israel. Now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words
of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts.
I remember that which Amalek did to Israel. And he's talking
about something that took place in Exodus chapter 17. We're going
to look at it. It was the first battle they
had. Remember the Exodus took place
in 12, 13, and 14, the parting of the Red Sea. In chapter 17,
the first time they were attacked was by Amalek. And they weren't
attacked until they had been delivered. You know when sin
becomes a problem? when God saves you. That's when
it becomes a problem. You don't even know what it is,
really, until God reveals himself to you. And now all of a sudden,
you're attacked by the Amalekites. And look what the Lord tells
Saul to do. Well, before we go on reading,
turn back to Exodus 17. Hold your finger there in verse
8 and 15. Verse 8, came Amalek and fought with Israel
and Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, choose
as I mean, go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I'll stand on
the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua
did as Moses had said to him and fought with Amalek. And Moses,
Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill and it came to
pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed. And we
let down his hand. Amalek prevailed. He held up
his hand, looking to Christ. Israel prevailed. When his hands
drooped and he was not looking up, Amalek prevailed. Now understand this. When I look
to Christ, I prevail. And it's only by his grace that
I do that. But when I don't look to Christ, There's all kinds
of problems that are created, and you know that in your own
experience. Amalek prevailed. Verse 12, but Moses' hands were
heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he
sat there, and Aaron, the great high priest, and her, his name
means light. This represents our great high
priest and the Holy Spirit. stayed up his hands, the one
on the one side and the other on the other side. And his hands
were steadily, steady into the going down of the sun. And Joshua
disconfined Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Now
listen to these words. And the Lord said unto Moses,
write this for a memorial in a book. and rehearse it in the
years of Joshua. For I will utterly put out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar
and called the name of it Jehovah Nisi. For he said, because the
Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from
generation to generation all the time. Now, as long as you
have the flesh, you're going to have a war from generation
to generation. And we're called upon to destroy
the flesh. And it's a lifelong work. Now, back to our text. Amalek represents the flesh. You look to Christ, you prevail. You look to the flesh, Amalek
prevails. You know, what is more glorious
than simply resting in Christ? Nothing. What is more miserable
than looking to yourself for anything? Nothing. Now here we
have Samuel saying, thus saith the Lord, verse two, of Hosea. I remember that which Amalek
did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way when he came
up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and
utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not, but
slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel
and ass, completely destroy everything about Amalek. Somebody says,
well, that's the God of the Old Testament. Yeah, it is. God of
the New Testament too. And this is what this represents.
The flesh. Is any of the flesh to be spared? And Saul gathered the people
together and numbered them at Tilaim, 200,000 footmen and 10,000
men of Judah. And Saul came to a city of Amalek
and laid weight in the valley. And Saul said to the Kenites,
go depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I
destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all
the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt. So the Kenites
departed from among the Amalekites. And Saul smote the Amalekites
from Havaiah until thou comest to Shur that's over against Egypt.
But what did he do? And he took Agag, the king of
the Malachites, alive. God said, destroy everybody.
Let me give you a hint. Agag means, I will overtop. I will overtop. Sparing the flesh. Free will says, I will overtop
God's will. I will trump God's will. Free
will, that's what usually men spare in the flesh, free will. But Saul and the people, verse
nine, spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen,
and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good,
and would not utterly destroy them, but everything that was
vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. It couldn't help them
any, it couldn't benefit them any. Then came the word of the
Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I've set up
Saul to be king, for he's turned back from following me, and hath
not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel. And he
cried unto the Lord all night. When Samuel rose early to meet
Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to
Carmel. And behold, he set him up a place
and has gone about and passed on and gone down to Gilgal. And
Samuel came to Saul. And Saul said unto him, blessed
be thou of the Lord, I perform the commandment of the Lord.
And Samuel said, what meaneth then this bleeding of the sheep
in mine ears and the lowing of oxen which I hear? And Saul said,
they brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best
of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy
God. He put a religious twist on his
disobedience. and the rest we have utterly
destroyed. Then Samuel said unto Saul, stay,
I'll tell thee what the Lord has said to me this night. And
he said unto him, say on. And Samuel said, when you were
little in your own sight, was thou not made the head of the
tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee king
over Israel. And the Lord set thee on a journey and said, go
and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against
them until they're consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not
obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and
didst evil in the sight of the Lord? And Saul said unto Samuel,
Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and I have sent
the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king
of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people
took of the spoil, sheep, and ox, and the chief of the things,
which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto
the Lord thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, hath the Lord
as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying
the voice of the Lord. Behold, to obey is better than
sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of lambs. Now, his claims of obedience
were false, weren't they? What is partial obedience? Disobedience. Nothing more. Kind of like the Pharisee, I
thank thee that I'm not as other men are, and starts talking about
all he did. Everything he said was a lie.
He was an adulterer. He was an extortioner. And he
was unjust. And so am I, and so are you. But he made these claims of this
partial obedience, which was nothing more than disobedience. Now you can talk about all the
religious things you've done, but have you obeyed the gospel?
Have you believed on Christ? Now you can answer that. When
you hear these words, this is the work of him that sent me
that you believe. This is the work of God that
you believe on him that sent me. And you know what comes after
that? A period. Have you ever obeyed the gospel? Have you ever ceased from your
own works as God did from His and rest in the Lord Jesus Christ? That's obeying the gospel. All
this other stuff is periphery. It's not even real. Have you
obeyed the gospel? Look in verse 24 of chapter 15
again. And Saul said unto Samuel, I
have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in
thy words. That sounds sincere. Because I feared the people and
obeyed their voice. Saul was controlled by the fear
of man. He, like the Pharisees who were said to believe, but
they wouldn't confess Christ because they loved the praise
of men more. than the praise of God. Saul was controlled by
the fear of man, the lust of the eyes, the fear of man, which
is a snare. And Saul would not wait on the
Lord. Now you remember in chapter 13
where he wouldn't wait on Samuel? That's not waiting on the Lord. Turn to 1 Samuel 28. This is
toward the end of his life, shortly before his death. Verse 5. And when Saul saw the host of
the Philistines, he was afraid, his heart greatly trembled. And
when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither
by dreams, nor by the Urim, nor by prophets. No answer. Then said Saul unto his servants,
seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her. A witch. A witch. I'm obviously not getting my
answer from the Lord, so find me a woman that is a witch of
some kind that can tell me what to do and bring up, what he wanted
her to do is bring up Samuel from the dead, where he thought
Samuel could speak to. Then Samuel was brought up from
the dead. Somebody says, explain that to me. I can't. There it
is, though. If you go on reading that chapter,
Samuel was raised up from the dead, and he told Saul exactly
why He was being rejected. He said, this is Samuel speaking
to him. Verse 17, and the Lord hath done
to him as he spake by me, for the Lord hath rent the kingdom
out of thy hand. He's given it to thy neighbor, even to David,
because thou obeyest not the voice of the Lord, nor executed
his fierce wrath against Amalek. Therefore hath the Lord done
this thing unto thee. He would even go to false religion.
He went to this woman to find out the answer, rather than waiting
on the Lord. Now, if the Lord doesn't answer
me, I better wait until he does. That's all I can say, wait on
the Lord. He saw no reason to do this at
all. And the Lord rejected him as
king. May the Lord deliver me and you
from ever being like him, yet we will be like him if the Lord
doesn't prevent it. So, now what do we learn from
this? Brief as I can, first the need
of a new heart. Another heart won't do me any
good. A changed heart won't do me any good. An improved heart
won't do me any good. I need a new heart. Create in
me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. May we be unlike Saul and dare
not approach God any other way than Christ, our great high priest. At all times, under all circumstances,
I come only by him. And I dare not come any other
way. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. Thirdly, we're all to take personal
responsibility for our sin. We're not victims. My sin is
all my fault. I love what Paul said in Romans
2.1, Thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For thou that judgest, doest. Present tense, active voice. Thou that judgest, doest the
very same things you're judging that person for. Everybody in
this room, beginning here, ought to be scared to death to judge
anybody because we see it's such an act of hypocrisy on our part,
every one of us. And yet, every day, we judge
people. I know I do. I know you do, too.
But it's inexcusable. Every mouth is to be stopped,
Romans 3.19. And all the world stand guilty
before God. It's only as I own my own sin
and take sides with God against myself that he's faithful and
just to forgive my sin and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. And we're not to spare the Amalekites.
How do you do that? by glorying only in the cross. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said in Philippians
chapter three, verse three, we are the circumcision, which worship
God in the spirit. It's not a flesh. The only way
I can worship God is by the Holy Spirit causing me to. There's
no worship without the Holy Spirit. Secondly, we are the true circumcision
which rejoice or glory in Christ Jesus. All my salvation, I love what
David said. Although my house be not so with
God, his house was a mess. Is your house a mess? Well, his
was worse. This house is not so with God, I'm still a sinner. Although my house be not so with
God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure. And this is 99% of my salvation. This is all my salvation. And
this is all my desire. I don't want anything else. Though
He makes it not to grow. Now that is what it is. You don't
give the room for the Amalekites, your flesh, credit in any part
of your salvation. It's all Him. Really believe the gospel. You can't do that unless the
Lord enables you to. I realize that. But rest in Christ. He that's entered into his rest
hath ceased from his own work. Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Not
believe that you're saved or not look at some kind of evidence
within yourself to convince yourself that you're saved. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Lord, He's the Savior,
He's God's Christ, God's prophet, God's priest, God's king. Rely
on Him. Saul was so controlled by the
fear of man that the Lord said, fear not him that killeth the
body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him
that's able to destroy both soul and body in hell. The only antidote
for the fear of man is the fear of God. And what is the fear
of God? The fear of God, you're afraid
of God when you're afraid to look anywhere but Christ. That
is the fear of God. You're afraid to look anywhere
but Christ alone at all times. Saul wouldn't wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. And you know
when you'll do that? When you see there really isn't
any other options. Saul had a plan B and a plan C, but if you see
there really are no other options, you'll wait on the Lord. And
don't use any aspect of false religion the way Saul was willing
to. Neither the methods of false
religion nor the message of false religion. Now, God removed Saul,
and I bet every one of us in some measure feel sorry for him,
because you see yourself in him so much. But Saul was removed,
and God replaced him with what I believe is the highest commendation
a man has ever been given. David, the man, God said, I found
a man after my own heart. A man whose heart beats with
mine. Now, the heart of God, I know
this for sure. The heart of God is Jesus Christ,
His Son. He sees His Son as all. And you know what a man or a
woman after God's own heart does? They see Christ the same way
God sees Him. They see Him as all. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name that you would deliver us from
being Saul and that we might be enabled by your grace to be
men and women after thine own heart. Lord, as we face this coming
week, enable us to walk with our son Lean on him. We pray that you would open up
doors for us to preach your gospel according to your will. Bless
this message for the Lord's sake. In his name we pray. Amen.