Saul should have looked after his character. You know what Saul looked after? Not his character, but his reputation. What was more important to Saul is how he looked to other people on the outside rather than who he really was on the inside. Reputation was important, character should have been important. So he said, indeed I have played the fool. Indeed you have.
Didn't have to, but you did, and this is how you ended up. It's been said that your reputation is who people think you are, your character is who you really are, and King Saul only cared about appearances. Today on Connect with Skip Heideck, Skip shares about the lessons you can learn from King Saul's life so you can grow in your walk with God. But first, if you love Bible study, a trip to Israel is a life changer.
Your Bible study will never be the same. Skip has lived in Israel and led tours many, many times. Here he is to invite you on his next tour. You know, there's always something new to see and experience in Israel, and I'm so excited to let you know that I'm taking another tour group to Israel next spring in 2022. You're in for an incredible time as we travel throughout Israel and experience the culture that's so unique to that country. We'll start on the Mediterranean Sea and head north, seeing places like Caesarea and Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. We'll spend several days in and around Jerusalem and see the Temple Mount, Calvary, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Mount of Olives, and much more. This remarkable itinerary is made richer with times of worship, Bible study, and lots of fellowship. Now, I've been to Israel a number of times over the years, and I can honestly say that visiting the places where the events of the Scriptures unfolded, where Jesus lived, taught, and healed, it just never gets old. I can't wait to see you in Israel. Start planning and saving now to tour Israel with Skip Haizik. Information at inspirationcruises.com slash cabq.
That's inspirationcruises.com slash cabq. Now, we're in 1 Samuel chapter 26 as we dive into our study with Skip Haizik. Saul built himself a monument, a monument to himself in Carmel. So he thought he was so cool that he needed a statue so people could check it out as we're going back and forth on the road. Pride is the only disease known to man that makes everyone sick except the person who has it.
This boy was sick. He was running red lights. He was playing the fool by arrogance. Not only by arrogance.
Let me give you a second red light. Saul played the fool by indifference. Indifference. To explain that, I need you now to look at chapter 14 of 1 Samuel. And before you jump into it, let me tell you what is happening. In chapter 14, Jonathan, Saul's son, takes action. The enemies of the Philistines.
Listen to what Jonathan does. He had a thousand men, but he's looking at his armor bearer, just two dudes. He looks at one guy, his armor bearer, and he goes, you know what? How about we do something crazy? Let's you and I go against the garrison of the Philistines.
Just you and I. Because maybe the Lord will give us the victory. And listen to his rationale. For what restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few? I mean, if it's the Lord, he can use a thousand or two or five thousand men, but he could also just use you and me.
Armor bearer said, I'm game. They went in and God miraculously gave them the victory. What Jonathan didn't know is that his dad, Saul, had given an order to his men saying, no one can eat anything until after the war is over and I've gained the victory on my enemies. And anyone who eats anything will be killed. Now, how stupid is that? How indifferent to the needs of a soldier is that?
Soldiers need fuel before the battle. I mean, you can't eat anything until after the battle. That's like me telling my staff, nobody gets paid until we see 25 salvations.
That's the quota. Well, Jonathan had not heard this curse his father put on. Look at chapter 14, verse 24. And the men of Israel were distressed that day. For Saul had placed the people under oath saying, cursed is the man who eats any food until evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies. So none of the people tasted food. Now all the people of Israel came to a forest and there was honey on the ground. And when the people had come into the woods, there was the honey dripping. But no one put his hand to his mouth for the people feared the oath.
But Jonathan had not heard his father's charge the people with the oath. Therefore he stretched out the end of his rod that was in his hand, dipped it into the honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth and his countenance brightened. Sugar will always do that. Then one of the people said, your father strictly charged the people with an oath saying, cursed is the man who eats food this day and the people were faint. See what indifference does?
It makes the army faint. But Jonathan said, my father has troubled the land, now look how my countenance has brightened because I tasted a little of this honey. How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found for now, would there not have been a much greater slaughter among the Philistines. Not only does this happen, when Saul finds out that his son Jonathan has eaten something, you know what he says? Oh, well we have to kill my son then. Now again, Jonathan wasn't there to hear the order. It was a lame order anyway. But because this guy is so stubborn and indifferent to the needs of his soldiers, he goes, oh well, even though my son brought us the victory, we got to kill him because I said it. That's what his men stepped in and said, not going to happen. And they started losing respect at that point for him.
Loyalty began to wane right then. Now here's what he could have done. Rather than intimidating his men, he could have inspired his men. You inspire people by things like Nehemiah. Nehemiah was building a wall. And it says, for the people had a mind to work. I love that phrase, the people had a mind to work.
And they got a mind to work because their leader Nehemiah fostered that, encouraged that, exemplified that. Saul just intimidated them. And this is why Saul never really developed loyalty among Israel because he was indifferent. A fool will be indifferent, oblivious to the needs of others around him or her. So he plays the fool by arrogance, by indifference. There was a third red light that he ran.
He played the fool by disobedience. Now after chapter 14 is chapter 15. Thank you.
I hope you're there. Chapter 15. Again, I'm just sort of telling you the broad story and having you look at snippets of it. In chapter 15 there's a whole new enemy called the Amalekites. Bad dudes.
They surface once again. And the king, King Saul, was told by the prophet Samuel to eliminate them. He doesn't do that. Now his arrogance that has birthed his indifference now leads to disobedience. Disobedience is always the fruit of pride. Disobedience is always the fruit of pride. When a person begins to inflate and think that they're really important, they start making their own rules up.
They start writing their own rule book. So this king, King Saul, spares the enemy king, Agag, and spares some of the animals that were taken. Keeps them for himself. And when he does that, he even uses spiritual words to cover up his disobedience. God talk. Praise the Lord, brother.
But he doesn't really mean it. I want you to see it. This is chapter 15 verse 13. Then Samuel went to Saul and Saul said to him, this is Saul coming fresh off the battlefield, blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.
Doesn't that sound good? Praise God, Sam. Good to see you. This is the guy who says praise the Lord by putting the knife in your back. Just cover up talk. God talk. And Samuel said, what then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? If you obey God, why do I hear animals still? And Saul said, they, he's pointing to the people now, they brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God.
And the rest we have utterly destroyed. Well, you can make a lot of excuses when you pull up spiritual reasons to do so. And Samuel said to Saul, be quiet like this guy.
Be quiet. I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night. It goes on to say God is taking the kingdom away from you. Now you've got a king flatly disobeying and making excuses while he's doing it. Billy Sunday the evangelist said an excuse, listen to this, an excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.
Isn't that a great description? It's the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie. Paul Eldredge wrote, we hate the hypocrite more keenly than the mere liar because hypocrites add to the lie with the lacquer of flattery.
This is a lacquer of spirituality. And he likes to blame lots of other people. In chapter 13, after he made that sacrifice that he shouldn't have made, he blames Samuel for being late. In chapter 14, that oath that he made against his men, he blames Jonathan and now he blames the people. He's blame shifting. Never takes personal responsibility.
It's always somebody else's fault. He played the fool by disobedience. Let me show you a fourth and final way he did it. He played the fool by preeminence, by preeminence. He always wanted to be the guy that people looked up to as the best. That's where his pride leads, now to preeminence.
He can't stand it if somebody gets the attention. Okay, now look at chapter 18 for just a moment. And as you're turning there, let me tell you what you are skipping. In between what we just read in chapter 15 and chapter 18, there's a notable battle, a little shepherd boy named David against a big dude named Goliath. That happens in chapter 17, David and Goliath.
This little shepherd kid has guts, faith, goes up against Goliath, beats him. Now let's look at chapter 18, verse 5. So David went out wherever Saul sent him and behaved wisely.
And Saul set him over the men of war and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. Now it happened as they were coming home when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine that the women had come out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul. With tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments, and you've got to know that Saul was super stoked when the chicks were coming out and singing about him.
What he didn't count on were the lyrics to the song they were singing. It was a popular song. It was on the top 40 list. It was number one in the country. It says, verse 7, the women sang as they danced and said, Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands.
Didn't like the lyrics of that song. David has now been launched because he defeated Goliath. He's launched into celebrity status higher than Saul.
Let's look at his reaction. Then Saul was very angry and the saying displeased him and he said, they have ascribed to David ten thousands and to me they have ascribed only thousands. I have to do it in that pouty voice because it's like pouty boy king. Now what more can he have but the kingdom? So Saul eyed David from that day forward. Now you have a king who's jealous of a shepherd boy. And jealousy always blows everything out of proportion. And will create irrational behavior. When you're jealous of a person, you always look at the Instagram post or the Twitter feed and you read stuff into it and you're angry with what you see. That's what jealousy does. It blows things out of proportion and it creates irrational behavior. Saul will ask for David later on to come and play his music before him because he's so distressed and so depressed. And he needs David because David is skillful and he needs his personal iPod there to kind of give him a concert. So David plays for him and soothes Saul and he feels better but then he looks up at David and that jealousy monster starts creeping up and he decides, I'm going to pin the spear on the musician, grabs his spear and throws it at David.
Irrational behavior. Did you know that fishermen who fish for crabs will tell you that they never need a top to their crab basket. They'll go down and they'll get a whole basket full of crabs and crabs can crawl out of things. But crab fishermen say, I never need to put a lid on it. You know why? They say whenever one crab starts to crawl out of the basket, another crab will grab it and bring it down.
Isn't that amazing? So here's a crab saying, I got to get out of here. And the other guy goes, no, you don't.
Then he goes, I got to get out of here. The other guy goes, no, you don't. They always pull each other down. Some people are a lot like crabs. Crabby people. Jealous of others. Let me pull you down to my low level.
Because I always have to have the preeminent. That is foolish. He played the fool that way. So those are the areas he did it in. That's how he began. That's what went wrong. Let me end on this note. What should have changed? Is there anything that Saul could have done to stop from ending up by saying, I have played the fool and erred exceedingly?
Yes, there is. Let me suggest a few things. Number one, he should have lived before his God. Now that's not just God talk.
Listen to that. He should have lived before his God. Saul mentions God. He acknowledges God. He even praises God. But there's never evidence in his life that he allowed God to rule in his life.
He never lived in the conscious awareness of the presence of God. There's a phrase in the Bible used 27 times. It's called the fear of the Lord. I wish it was brought back into more churches and talked about in more settings these days. The fear of the Lord is a good phrase. It doesn't mean I think God's going to zap me.
It's the idea that I'm living in the ongoing reality that God is always listening, always looking, always seeing what I am doing and hearing what I'm doing and thinking. It's important to me and I fear that I might somehow displease God. That's a healthy reverence or fear of the Lord.
Saul didn't have that. The biggest blasphemy is not a person who shakes his fist at God and says, I don't believe in God. The biggest blasphemy is a person who says, I believe in God, but then lives as though God didn't exist. That's called being a practical atheist. It's worse than a philosophical atheist. Some people just say, I don't believe in God. And they live like that. Other people say, I believe in God.
He's important to me. But they live their lives through the week as though God didn't exist. Saul should have lived before his God. Second thing he should have done, Saul should have learned from his past.
Twice in this book, he utters the sentence, I have sinned. But never does he do anything about it. Never is there a change in his behavior. There's never a real self-assessment that would enable him by God's grace to make it turn, a change.
You can't change your past, but you can learn from it. He should have done that. Third thing he should have done, he should have leaned on his friends.
I mentioned this, I think, last week with Samson. It's a pattern we see with people who crash and burn. They neglect good friends. He should have leaned on his friends. Ever thought about who was available to be his friend? Samuel would have been a good start. Samuel was a prophet who got in his grill and would be honest with him. He was a man of God who pursued God and would have been a great benefit for Samuel to be a friend of Saul.
Wouldn't have anything to do with it. He could have cultivated a friendship with David. I know David was a shepherd boy, a musician, maybe a little flighty, but a man after God's own heart and a great one to have as a close friend.
J. Oswald Sanders said, You can tell the stature of a leader by the quality of his friends. He should have done those things. Let me give you a fourth and final thing he should have done. Saul should have looked after his character. You know what Saul looked after? Not his character, but his reputation. What was more important to Saul is how he looked to other people on the outside rather than who he really was on the inside.
Reputation was important, character should have been important. And so he said, Indeed I have played the fool. Indeed you have. Didn't have to, but you did. And this is how you ended up.
I have played the fool and erred exceedingly. Once upon a time there was a king who loved to laugh. And while being entertained by his court one day, a jester was coming through town and decided to join the festivities and he put on a show for the king.
It was the best show the king ever saw. The king never laughed so hard in his life. And afterwards he said to the jester, I want you to be my personal court jester.
You made me laugh. You were the funniest guy in the world. And then the king just laughing like a giddy child picked up a little stick and gave it to the jester and said, I'm giving you this stick because you're the biggest fool I ever met. Ha ha ha ha. Gave him the stick and he said, now, if you ever meet a fool bigger than yourself, give him this stick.
Well, years went by. And at the end of the king's life, he was on his deathbed and he called for the jester one last time. He needed one final laugh. The jester came, put on a wonderful show for him. The king laughed and laughed. And the jester leaned in and said, king, where are you going? The king said, on a far journey. And how will you get there, king? The king said, I don't really know how I'll get there.
And what will you do when you get there? He goes, I don't know. And the jester pulled out of his pocket the little stick and handed it back to the king. And he said, I'm giving you this stick because you are the biggest fool I've ever met. For, king, you see, I have only trifled with the things of this life, but you have trifled with the things of eternity. You see, the biggest fool is someone who provides for this life but makes no preparation for the next. And if you are somebody who has provided only for this life and have made no preparations for the next, then your line is, indeed, I have played the fool and erred exceedingly. But it doesn't have to be that way.
It should be different, and it can be different. That concludes Skip Heiseck's message from the series Crash and Burn. Right now, we want to share about a great resource that will help you live victoriously through the power of the Holy Spirit. Counselor, Comforter, Advocate, Helper. These are some of the names for the Holy Spirit found in the Bible. The Holy Spirit isn't a warm, fuzzy feeling or a vague cosmic force. He's a person who loves you, cares for you, and wants to empower you to be everything God calls you to be.
Here's Skip Heiseck. I think there's a lot of Christians who have heard the term Holy Spirit, obviously, but they have a very vague idea of who the Spirit of God is and what He's supposed to do in their lives. We want to help you better understand the Holy Spirit by sending you Expound, Holy Spirit, a DVD study from Pastor Skip. And for a limited time, we'll also send you a booklet by Lenya Heiseck called Empower, Discover Your Spiritual Gifts. Both resources are our way to say thanks for your gift of $25 or more to help keep this Bible teaching ministry on the air, connecting you to God's life-changing truth. Call now to request your copies of these resources, 800-922-1888, or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Listeners like you are a crucial part of helping connect people around the world to the good news of Jesus.
If these messages have made a difference in your life, please consider helping connect others to Jesus so they too can experience His love and grace. You can do that by giving a gift today at connectwithskip.com slash donate. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate. Or you can call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Thank you. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heiseck talks about King David's crash and burn in his battle with lust, giving you some tools to help you triumph over this sin. You may have heard of this book.
It's been around for a few years. It is called Every Man's Battle. As the authors of this book write, our maleness brings a natural vulnerability to sexual sin. That was David's battle.
And when David should have been out fighting different battles, he was at home losing this one. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heiseck is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-09-24 08:41:55 / 2023-09-24 08:51:30 / 10