Always. Even in the worst people, I think there are flashes of brilliance. At some point that you see these flashes of brilliance in the most despicable of people, but it never gets developed, so that's why they are despicable. It's not like they've been dealt a bad hand and they have no chance to be good. They've got every chance that everybody else has.
But they choose not to be. And these are the great lessons that come Out of the Bible. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Samuel.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio, specifically, how you can get a free copy of this teaching.
Now, let's join Pastor Rick with part two of his study called Mobilizing Saul in 1 Samuel 11. we will find that Apologies are apologies. of Saul's, that is. of a homicidal prideful, unstable, selfish man. who claim to follow Yahweh.
but really wanted Yahweh to follow him. Titus, they profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. There are groups. or people in groups. that uh will insist they are Christians.
I love the Lord. But they trample the word. They trample his commandments. They try to justify, well, but I love him. Uh it's psychotic.
And here is the scripture verse that refutes that. You profess to know him. but you have no intention to work to follow him. You just insist on defending your wrong, and you can't beat God. You know, the old play that was on Broadway years ago: your arms are too short to box with God.
He's got reach. You can't beat it. Anyway, looks can be deceiving, and talk can be cheap. Looks are not always deceiving, but they can be. We have another way of saying it, right?
Don't judge a book by its cover. Verse 7.
So he took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hands of the messengers, saying, Whoever does not go out with Saul and Samuel to battle, so it shall be done to his oxen. And the fear of Yahweh fell on the people and they came out with one consent.
Well, this is reminiscent back to that grisly savage Levite who butchered his concubine in Judges 19 and 20, as the story runs. This reminds us of that because he cut her up and sent her out, but he's using oxen.
Some improvement there. I don't know what he should have done. He was a brute by nature, and this is how he did things. Samuel rallied troops without all this drama, where they won at. the battle at what became Ebenezer.
But Saul is less savage than the Levite with his concubine. But not as refined as the prophet when we get to First Kings, and he is going to illustrate to Jeroboam: you're going to take ten parts. of a twelve part kingdom And takes a garment And he tears it in strips. That's better than butchering a couple of oxen at the least. Anyway, his leadership style, not something to be followed.
Question that comes up: Did Saul use the anointing of the Holy Spirit that we read about in verse 6? to terrorize his people into action. Maybe. Maybe. Certainly, an indication that he just doesn't have the right stuff.
Whoever does, it continues in verse seven, not go out with Saul and Samuel to battle.
Now, of course, he's going to do this to their oxen if they don't come with him, which is a heavy financial burden on them. At least he wasn't threatening to kill them like they did in Judges. But here's another interesting thing. Whoever does not go out with Saul and Samuel to battle. Is it because this is now royal etiquette, the king gets first building over the prophet?
Or Did Samuel Who Certainly gave much of the information we read in the books of Samuel. to whoever finally put it together But not all of it, of course, as Samuel didn't record his own death. That would have been impressive. But I think that Samuel repeats the story as he heard it spoken. uttered off the lips of Saul.
Whoever does not go out with Saul and Samuel, I think that Samuel knew Saul had a self-esteem issue. He really esteemed himself. It shows up again in another of Samuel's reports, 1 Samuel 18.
Now, of course, it's the report from the book of Samuel. not the man at this point. 1 Samuel 18, and this is after David had killed the giant.
So the women sang and they danced. and said, Saul has slain his thousands, David is ten thousands. 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.
Now what more can he have but the kingdoms? He is a petty man. Instead of saying, well, yeah, David's been out on the battlefield. I mentioned to you, we have about three battles of Saul, but we've got a bunch of them with David. But this is how he was.
Those things didn't escape him. And he's not going to say, whoever doesn't come with Samuel and me, he's not going to put himself second. 'Cause he's too insecure. He's too paranoid. And Self-absorbed and self-impressed.
The thing about self-impressed people is most of the time they don't deserve. They're not as good as they think they are.
Sometimes they are.
Sometimes you get somebody who's really good and as a bragging at the same time, and that's a drag. But in his case, He just really doesn't have. I mean, can you find a Christian that says, I love King Saul, I love him? I want to be just like him. You can't find a Christian that would say that.
Because the evidence is too strong. And we have a lot of. Saul in the story of the Bible. It's almost as though God is saying, look, you're not going to be able to do it. You might miss how mean Nabal was.
He only gets about a chapter. You might miss that Ishmael, his hand was against every man. Every man's hand was against him. He was just, you know. Abrasive as you just cause trouble, Ishmael.
Laban, we know he was a scoundrel. But Saul There's a lot of information about him. And it's on purpose. Verse 8. Then he numbered them, and Bezek, the children of Israel, were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.
Now Bezek's about 11 miles away from Jabesh, so that's That's where they're going to launch the mission from. They're going to move. 11 miles. At night. to get to the battlefield and surprise the enemy.
Uh without lights, probably moonlight. Unless it was a new moon, which it likely was not, may have been, I wasn't there. Standard practice. To rally the troops and number them for war, to know what you have, to know how you can marshal them. This distinction made between Israel and Judah is an indication that it was.
These comments have made their way in, which doesn't corrupt the material at all. It's actually. quite realistic. It's an indication that at some point the final publishing of Samuel's. Scroll, which was originally one book.
But we have it divided properly into two. Was done after the kingdom was divided. in after Solomon's death. There's w the final publication or a final I know it's a paradox.
Sounds like it's contradictory. But it's not and we don't have time to really go into it except to say that There have been amendments here and there. Anyway Other known contributors. I mentioned that there are other people involved in giving us the books of Samuel. 1 Chronicles 29, 29.
Now, the Acts of King David, first and last, indeed, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the Seer.
Well, we don't have Nathan and Gad's books, we have Samuel's books. But of course, we don't have all of the story in the first part. And if Nathan and Gad contributed to the scripture, then of course we have every reason to believe that there were others also. The school of prophets, there were those that would have. been allies of these righteous men and wanted to get the story in print and yet had to minister to their generation as they published it.
That's why we read things like in those days the prophet was called the seer. Because the language is evolving. Verse 9: And they said to the messengers who came, Thus you shall say to the men of Jabesh, Gilead, tomorrow by this time, when the sun is hot, you shall have help. Then the messengers came and reported it to the men of Jabesh, and they were glad. I bet they were.
That should have been a hint to Nahash when he saw those party hats. And party favors whipped out by the Jews running around. He just said, ha.
Somebody's either had a birthday or they're getting help.
So some of this, looking back, is kind of cartoonish to me. It was real at the time, and very scary stuff. But some of it is because it is given to us in fragments, it's amusing. But Here is Saul doing the right thing. Again, it'll be the last time.
He is going to say, We're going to help you. We're coming to your rescue. Mostly because, how dare you come against us, kind of a thing in Saul. And he did not make a habit of displaying such courage and such righteous indignation. Instead, again, he becomes petty and homicidal.
and a bully. and a fool on top of that. David, however, of course, displays the fortitude, the courage, the care, just the wisdom. There's so many I mean, he makes mistakes, David does, but that's what they are. They aren't his character.
They're products of just being human.
Well he says before the sun becomes hot, it's before noontime we'll be there. Always. Even in the worst people, I think there are flashes of brilliance. At some point that you see these flashes of brilliance in the most despicable of people, but it never gets developed, so that's why they are despicable. It's not like they've been dealt a bad hand and they have no chance to be good.
They've got every chance that everybody else has. But they choose not to be. And these are the great lessons that come. out of the Bible when Nabal had a chance to reason as a businessman. When David's men came, said, Look, we've been watching over your guys, we've spared your sheep.
Can you just spare a few of them? We've saved you. 20 times more than what You would have if it weren't for us. Do you think he would have said that's just sound business? Sure, take a few sheep.
No, he gets all up in their face. Who's David? Who do you think you are? Get off my property, kind of a thing. Nabal had every chance.
To be a hero. And I read that in my sphere of life, as you do in your sphere. We have a chance to be a hero as a parent, as a husband, as a brother, a son, a daughter, whatever we are, not what we choose to be. what we are assigned from birth. As a man or a woman, we have some say so.
In spite of our weaknesses, in fact, The weaknesses of the battlefield. And every Christian struggles, every single one has struggled with them. You read the writings of other great men of God, women of God, Brainard, you know, ministering to the Indians here in America. And he just was so. Just hounded by his own flesh.
He'd write about it in his journal. I hate these things. He would, you know, even didn't ever tell us what they were, and we're glad. Verse 10: Therefore the men of Jabesh said, Tomorrow we will come out to you. and you may do with us whatever seems good to you.
So the implications. of surrender. That's what they're implying. It's honest. But it's ambiguous.
Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you can do with us whatever you want. But they're leaving out. That they'll be swinging swords when they come out. And if you can do something with that, then go ahead. And that's what they're really saying to them.
If you can beat us, I like it. That shows you the spirit of these guys. They were like, okay, we're getting reinforcements.
Now we can talk junk to these people. Sure, we'll be out tomorrow. Do with us whatever you please as we're cutting your heads off. I like it. It's real.
It's very real to life. And these were clever people. We have no right to look at the ancients and think that they were somehow not as smart as we are. They are not as technological as we are. Sure, if you went up to Abraham and gave him a phone, he wouldn't know what to do with it.
All right, verse 11.
So it was on the next day that Saul put the people in three companies, and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning, watch, and killed. Ammonites until the heat of the day. And it happened that those who survived were scattered so that no two of them were left together.
Well, it's not an uncommon tactic. We've read of it before. Gideon employed the three-prong attack of Bimelech also in the book of Judges. The Philistines will do a similar thing later. It must it's just a standard tactic.
I do believe others were part of the planning. I don't think Saul came up with it. He's certainly Part of it. I don't, he's not completely incompetent. This is a surprise attack before.
Sunrise And the Ammonites were not prepared. Under the cover of darkness, they moved into their territory and they started killing them. In fact, it's almost like an assembly line, the way it reads. They just killed them until the heat of the day.
So, this is the third time the Ammonites tried to get back their land and failed.
Sort of like the Arab world today coming against Israel, trying to take that land back. I mean, how many times does Israel have to beat them? before they understand that the God of heaven and creation is is protecting The Jewish people As a nation, Well, and it says, and it happened that those who survived were scattered so that. No two of them were left together. I think this is a big part of the lesson also for us.
A scattered army is no longer an army. It's a target.
Now they were targets, individual targets. They were no longer a fighting force. And we don't want to retreat. We talk about the weapons of our warfare not being carnal. We talk about the Armor of God.
Wherever we talk about that, we are quick to mention that when the Romans designed their armor, they wanted their own troops to know that you had no protection in back of you. If you retreat, like if you run away from a battle with your back to the enemy, you're going to be. More vulnerable, and there is a way to advance backwards. You say it that way because you're never admitting, there's still that defiant spirit.
So I read this and I say, you know, each Christian should understand this. That when we go off to do our own thing, we run away from the battle line like this, we're separated from others. We're no longer an army. We're we're targets. And we see this played out.
repeatedly. Sadly, many churches force this upon good Christians. Sadly, some churches become so apostate that no decent Christian would ever attend there again. And then that individual has to become an army with the Lord. Verse twelve.
Then the people said to Samuel, Who is he who said, Shall Saul reign over us? Bring the men that we may put them to death?
Okay, so the battle's over. The Ammonites have been defeated. Israel is now debriefed, they're together again. Invigorated by the victory, Emotional. I think there should be a law against interviewing athletes after they come off of a very big win.
This is like, what is he saying? This is all gibberish.
Well, they certainly shouldn't when they have a big failure. How does it feel to get knocked out in the first eight seconds of the fight?
Well, it feels wonderful. I'm going to knock you out right now to show you. That's how it should be. But anyway, they're just emotional.
So we've won, yeah, let's win. Who are those guys that didn't want Saul to be king? Let's bring him out, let's kill him. That's the wrong way to handle this. That's not right.
It's not giving any space for people to correct themselves. Just via church discipline. One of my least favorite topics, but it's mandated by the Lord. You give people a chance to fix it. You cannot allow them to continue in blatant sin and assemble in the body.
And so you have to say, look, we're going to disfellowship until this gets fixed. We do what we can to help you. But if you don't fix it, we have to. Do more than profess To be believers, we have to uphold these things. And very unpleasant.
Sometimes, few times, they work with us. Most of the time, they cop an attitude, and then they try to turn everybody else against us, whoever they can. We're just trying to hold the Word of God. And when we get to the epistles, We find it when Paul says, I can't believe you people are bragging about this stuff. You've got a guy there who's living in sin, and you think you're showing him grace.
All you're doing is infecting the congregation. That's why Corinth was so lonely.
Well, one reason why And Paul comes in to clean up things, and because, as he says to the Galatians, because I tell you the truth, I become your enemy. What kind of nonsense is this?
So listening to such stories, we say, Lord, may it never be me. May may I get it right. Saul does the right thing at this point. Again, verse 13, but Saul said, Not a man shall be put to death. This day For today, Yahweh has accomplished salvation.
Okay, I just can't give him credit. I'm sorry. I believe he glanced over at Samuel. I just can't. I don't like the guy so much.
If he poured water into a glass and didn't spill a drop, I would think he was up to something. That kind of a relationship. I think if you read Material enough. It becomes so real to you, you can almost you know Taste it. You're part of it after a while.
Is it not that way when you read the Gospels? Do you not feel as though you're in the crowd? When Jesus is preaching on the Sermon on the Mount, You know when he's condemning certain sins, he's talking to the guy next to you? I don't know if I'm the only one that feels this way, but I have a grudge against Saul. And I don't apologize for it.
It's not a malicious grudge. I think it's just built on facts. All right, verse 14. Then Samuel said to the people, Come. Let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there.
So you see, Samuel's there. As Saul is saying this, if David were here instead of Saul. Being new at being a king, and Samuel was there too. You know David would be looking over at Samuel. Looking for cues, looking for approval or disapproval.
It's just the way it is in life. Until you get your, you know, proverbial sea legs, you look to your mentors to to approve or disapprove of what you're doing, so you know if you're on the right track. I mean, when he says, no, we're not going to kill them, he looks over at Samuel. Samuel might be saying, no, we need to take these guys out now. They didn't, they made the right choice.
I just want us to understand there's no magic here. Uh could I be wrong? No. Uh m maybe. Verse 14: Then Samuel said, Come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom.
As we discussed, he's anointed in a place called Zuf. That anointing would be something he'd never forget. I mean, you just don't pour oil on somebody's head, and they forget like five years later. You always remember that. Then he was proclaimed in chapter 10 in front of the people as king, and he goes back to farming.
But then this battle comes up, Saul steps to the front. And he doesn't mess it up. It's a victory for Israel.
Now he's their king. And there The kingdom is united. Samuel, where he says, Come, let us go to Gilgal to renew the kingdom there, he's all about public worship. And for them as a nation, he's about national worship. You have to love him for this.
Any chance he gets to bring sacrifice to the Lord to the forefront, any chance he gets to honor God, Samuel takes it. Every time we see him, there's something godly going on about this man. It's like three, there's more, but the three that just come to my mind now. Joseph, Samuel, and Daniel. I mean, these men were just like always on top of their Their their ministry, they're just always doing the right thing.
When Joseph vets his brothers after those years in. Not being around them, he wants to make sure. These men are not the same men that threw him into a pit and sold him And he goes about it quite methodically. Verse fifteen, so all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before Yahweh in Gilgal. There they made sacrifices of peace offerings before Yahweh, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
What Gilgal, what it meant to the nation. This is again the second crowning of Saul. This is a more enthusiastic crowd, of course. And the dark ages of Saul now will begin. And it's going to be, I think, a very educational.
Walk through the scripture as we see David emerge. And we see how David responds to Saul. I don't know about you, but David makes me feel small. Because David had two excellent opportunities. to end it with the Saul chasing him, And he doesn't take 'em.
And he's right. And God blesses David. The Lord takes, He breaks. And what he breaks As offered to God, he distributes on behalf of others in ministry. And that is largely the life of David.
By the time God was finished with David, he was ready to be king, unlike no other king among men that Israel ever had. None of them Reach the level of David, not Hezekiah, not Josiah. David's just in another class, and the Psalms. Declare that, most importantly, what tells us that David was in another class is the Lord Jesus Himself associates His eternal throne with David. I mean It's incredible.
It's God saying, This is my work. Let's pray.
Now, Father. We hope That we are getting the lessons from the scripture just enough. to be useful to you. And if there's any surplus, so that would be a bonus. May you receive all the glory.
Amen. Yeah. Um Thanks for joining us for today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Rick is in the book of 1 Samuel.
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