Where Antichrist and his sidekick will go. We're Satan. We'll go also, but God uses Satan. He uses him to judge sinners. to expose unbelievers, distinguish between believers and unbelievers?
to refine the saints. To encourage the saints, as is the story of Job. to discipline those in the church. Purify. Believers?
Quest to be Obedient to God. God has his uses for Satan and when we get to heaven we're going to um have not one complaint. Mm. 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. And now here's Pastor Rick as he continues teaching through the 16th chapter of 1 Samuel on today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio.
So for Saul, henceforth, severe bouts of depression. Irrationale. Anger. Violence, paranoia, delusion, full blown delusion. This spirit again will flash out against David in an attempt to kill him.
Either David was really that bad of a musician, Which he was not. For Saul was that delusional, Again, 1 Samuel 18, verse 11, Saul cast the spear, for he said, I will pin David to the wall. But David escaped his presence twice. It's a little we don't it it's it either.
Somewhere between fourteen and twenty four times Saul tried to kill David. It depends on how you count the events. Crazy, David doesn't know he's in for this. At the time, at this section here, where they're discovering how depressed Saul is. With this spirit.
David's out in the field with the sheep. And Life is, you know, not so bad there. Anyway, this spirit would initiate and aggravate Saul to the point of Violence and these other actions that went with it. I suspect there may have been alcohol that helped trigger these things, though it's not explicitly stated. Or implied.
But we know how. People did business then. We know how they do business today. And that would not be. Outside of it.
Not that alcohol is the culprit, but There are things that certainly Aggravated the situation and the settings that they were in, like Saul's tent in his court. There would be Of course those uh opportunities to have your cup filled with wine throughout the evening. Anyway. The world would diagnose Saul as a manic, depressive, Individual that was insane. God scoffed at that.
God says no, he has a demon. messing with him Messing with his mind and his head, and you can't x-ray and find it, you can't take a blood test and discern it. It's there. You look at his actions, you listen to what he says. If it goes against what I say.
Both in action and word. You've got some serious problems. Again, that's the whole thing behind Ephesians 6. When Paul says we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, he's not saying it's only Christians, he's saying humanity. Has to wrestle with these demonic forces, whether they know it or not, believe it or not.
Satan doesn't ask, do you believe me? Because if you don't believe me, I'll leave you alone. He harasses everybody. He hates the believer and the unbeliever alike, although he hates the believer even more. And so with little remaining to prevent Satan Ram Attacking Everything that was godlike in this man and around this man, and that's what it comes down to.
We'll find as we move through the life of Saul, anything connected with God, he went against. And that's just not normal. There's demonic activity there. This is a It was so in the final days of Judas Iscariot. God gave Christ gave him years to get that corrected and he didn't take it.
This is the case in Romans chapter 1. Thrice, three times, we hear Paul say. God also gave them up to uncleanness. God gave them up to vile passions. God gave them over to a debased mind.
He gave them over. Fine, if this is what you want, here you go. We're looking at it in Washington, D.C. We have a whole house that's white and God has given them over to their vile passions. A few doors down is a couple of other buildings which is going on the same thing is going on.
You know, when the Bible says, do not grow weary in doing good, it's saying, you know, Satan's going to try to. Give you battle fatigue.
Well, you get tired of resisting. This is why some of the parents just roll over to their kids, they get tired. This is why we see Otherwise, decent people in government have a stalwart stance against the absurd, and the next thing you know, they're just drinking the Kool-Aid with everybody else. Who has got the nerve? To stand and guard their bean field To the end.
Those who have the Word of God so attached to their hand that they can't let it go. and one of the great stories of The Book of Kings and Chronicles. Question God departs from the heart. That he invested in. What is left?
What happens? There's a vacancy there. There's a void. And the answer is this here again in verse fourteen. And a distressing spirit from Yahweh troubled him.
That's what happens when God invests in you and you trample it. I don't mean struggle with it. David struggled with obedience. He struggled with. obeying God from time to time.
But he never, ever wanted it to be that way. If you could have just given him the power over the flesh that none of us have in full. David never would have committed those things. I mean, just read the sixteenth Psalm and you just get another insight into how this man thought, David, how he thought.
Now you look at Saul's Psalm. Oh wait. He doesn't have one. He's so disconnected from God, who had time for him to sit down and express any passion for God.
Well Anyway, the distressing spirit From the Lord. The Old Testament is notorious. for presenting God's sovereignty in this way, that what God permits He is often said to do, but it's not his will, his direct will. There's God's permissive will, there is his perfect will. His perfect will can't be touched.
I don't care what you do, you're not going to pray to God to get Him to keep the sun from rising the next day. That is His perfect will, and no anyone is going to do anything about that. But there are other things that God will just allow for various reasons. They're all over the board. And this is one where he says fine.
And the reason why it's worded this way is to tell us God is sovereign. This is not a master stroke of Satan on Saul. God is in control. And these things will behave the way He permits them to behave for His divine purposes. It has to be this way if He is to extract from humanity people who genuinely want Him versus those who really can't be bothered.
or don't want him on his terms. Isaiah 64.
So I will choose their delusions. and bring their fears on them. Because when I called, no one answered, and when I spoke, they did not hear. But they did evil before my eyes, and chose that which I do not delight. Who did this, God?
The people that were claiming Yahweh as their God. They really weren't interested. I don't mean struggling. They just weren't interested. They say they were.
And so those under the government of God, They are protected. And you see, Satan is not able to break free from his sovereignty, though he tries. And if he cannot Break free from God's sovereignty, He will try to convince you that He can. And the result is Confusion, perplexity, and where there is confusion, there is weakness. Colossians chapter 6.
This is the verse in Colossians I wanted to connect to Ephesians chapter 6. This is Colossians chapter one, verse sixteen. I think I said Colossians six. For by him that's Christ Jesus, All things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him.
And he controls them. It wasn't that he created them and then he lost control. is using them for his purposes. God even allows His beloved to have face-to-face duels with satanic forces. What is Matthew chapter 4?
The Spirit led Christ out into the wilderness. To be tempted for 40 days by the tempter, by Satan. God's beloved Son, attacked by Satan, but not seized. and not defeated. Then there's Job and there's Joseph.
God allowed those men to suffer. We cringe when we read those first two chapters of Job. And then there is Simon Simon. Satan, he said, Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan has asked for you. That indeed is not to be dismissed.
There's a force with that. He said, Peter, this is serious. I'm telling you what happened. Satan asks for you, I know, 'cause he's got to come through me. That he can sift you.
Like they sift wheat. Yeah, toss you up in the air, see where you land, whether you're chaff or whether you're Grain. Whether you're good as fruit or to be burned as husk, So the Lord does let his people be. Tested you and me alike? Saul, as I mentioned, Judas Iscariot, they were not commandeered.
They were they were not Hijacked. They offered themselves willingly. Because again, they tasted the anointing and they spit it out. Those who love the Lord are shielded from this kind of stuff, though we have to deal with it. We're shielded from the defeat from these elements.
Matthew chapter six, verse thirteen. This is an interesting one. I'll just do it this way. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Very, very clear.
The address to that letter, you could say, is very clear. Our Father who who is in heaven. Jesus referred to God as Um his Father in heaven, righteous Father. Oh this my father And Here, our Father art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, your will be done.
Well, this was Saul's kingdom, and God was not permitted in it. And then it goes on to say, Your will be done. Give us this day our daily bread. We gotta eat. We're gonna fight.
If we're going to stand against anything, we've got to eat, physically and spiritually alike. Give us this day our daily bread. And then he goes on to say: and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Saul wasn't praying these kind of prayers. He wasn't praying any kind of prayers.
So the man of Stature was in distress. Samuel distanced himself. From Saul. Why? Because God distanced himself from Saul.
Samuel, as much as he loved Saul and didn't want it to go this way, he says, if God's not walking with you, there's two of us not walking with you. I'm not going with you anymore. All because Saul's sin-filled heart. Self-serving pride resulted in his instability. That's the lesson of Nebuchadnezzar.
Nebuchadnezzar writes what we would call a whole chapter on this, how he had this dream. He called for Daniel. Daniel said, King, I wish this was for your enemies, but it's for you. They're going to drive you from men because you'll go, woo-hoo! And then you'll come back.
And then that happened. God warned him, don't go around puffing yourself up. I don't want any more of this pride, man. Especially in your position, this has got to be dealt with, Nebuchadnezzar. I'm giving you a chance.
And he blew it. And the next thing you know he's eating grass and his hair is growing long. And one reason why I keep my hair short Not to identify with Nebuchadnezzar. That is not. Entirely true.
Not true at all, as a matter of fact. In other words, when God walks out, Satan walks in. When it's on this level. Hebrews 10:31, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. What was Nebuchadnezzar's sin?
Self-serving pride What that that drove him insane. And what is Saul's major sin? Self-serving pride, self-exaltation, excessive. Self-love. And the people looked at the height of Saul and they missed the heart of David, but God's going to correct all that.
put it in print for us to read, to study, to meditate and examine. The Spirit came upon David, departed from Saul. Psalm 51. This is after he made terrible sins, not one. A collection, a serial Cereal sins were in a row.
Do not cast me away from your presence. Do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Cast me not from your presence. Why didn't Saul say this? He did not have to be as articulate as David.
He just had to say, God, I don't want to lose you. And God will decide how to control how far a man's evil will go. Proverbs in the first chapter we have this Presentation of Wisdom being sought for. And the consequences of not getting it. And the wisdom, of course, is that wisdom of having a relationship with God.
The exercise of the proper use of knowledge, of holy knowledge. What do you do with it? You have a relationship with God. You begin to crave God. And you know, as born-again Christians, you begin to crave God and you crave the things that God wants.
You side with Him.
So much so that you begin to love the brethren even if they're not so lovable, which is an evidence of your salvation. I don't as you know, I'm not a people person. But I know I love the flock. That has to be God. Because prior to salvation, I would have been avoiding most of you.
And you might you would have been avoiding me too. Not saying I'm Special or anything. I'm just saying the evidences of the signatures of God's hands. Anyway, Proverbs chapter 1 will skip over so much leading up to this point. It's all good.
He says, They would have none of my counsel, and despise my every rebuke. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies. Turn them over to Satan. You just turn them over to yourself. Walk away.
'Cause you don't want me and I'm not going to allow you to s b play me for the fool.
So the demon hounds of hell were hounding Saul. Prior to this Prior Look at that, I have it right open to Daniel chapter 6 4. I could have read all of it to you. Uh anyway. Uh That was not by accident.
Like you need to know that. Second Thessalonians, I'm reading this to to establish my point. That God restrained this evil spirit from the life of Saul, and it reached a point where the restraint was withdrawn, and that's when the floodgates opened up. You want to play with Ouija boards, you want to play with horoscopes, and still claim you're a Christian, you may be setting yourself up for the Lord to turn you over to those spiritual things you're poking around with. He said, I don't believe that.
Many a fool has said that. and found out too late Paul writes to these believers, he says, Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And how you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time. What is restraining the revelation of the Antichrist? If this is Antichrist, how will the world know when he comes forward?
What is keeping him back?
Well, the Holy Spirit. He says, For the mystery of lawlessness, as we see in Saul and so many others, already at work. Only He, that's the Holy Spirit. who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then what happens?
And then the lawless one will be revealed. whom the Lord will Consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming, and be no match. In other words, God will take care of this just with a blink, and it's done. He's in total control. Continuing, he says: The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power.
signs and fake wonders. Lying wonders. Then he continues, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perished because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. It's all about receiving the truth. He says, for this reason, God will send strong delusion that they should believe the lie.
Saul was believing his own lie.
Now we look at verse 15. Hey, we got one verse done. And Saul's servant said to him, Surely a distressing spirit from God is troubling you. Oh, he's observing him, and he's saying, This is not natural. This is heavy melancholy.
I mean, this is not just I'm bummed out. This is going beyond that. Perhaps they hoped that maybe if we can bring a musician in and he listens to some music. That he'll come out of this and seek God. Maybe that was their hope.
Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. Because the number one saint in Israel wanted nothing any more to do with This king. A distressing spirit. I think part of it was a spirit of conviction. Saul knew his own guilt.
And rather than, rather than. Repenting, he resented. That he dared be corrected even by God. Maybe you felt that way. Maybe you have felt so justified in a complaint before God that you could feel welling up in you a defiant spirit.
But Because of the Holy Spirit, you check it, you put it in its place. It may flash out and you check it. And those that don't may suffer. Big consequences. And We've come to this question that is asked in the Robinson Caruso story.
By Friday to Caruso is why doesn't God kill the devil? That would be nice.
Well, he will eventually, as far as we're concerned, I don't, you know, they're going to be thrown into the abyss, the lake of fire, and there that'll be it for them. We won't ever see them again. I'd stand in line to see that.
Well, anyway Obedience is a test of love. And there are degrees of obedience. As we've been hitting on with David's life, when we get to 2 Samuel, God's going to say: before you get to thinking David is all of this, let me just show you that he's human like everybody else, as much as I love him. And out of that we're supposed to be emboldened in the faith. Otherwise, if obedience Well, while obedience is has to be measured in the presence of temptation, Or otherwise, it's just a philosophy.
It's a good idea. But uh or a you know a figure of speech How does obedience become something that's actually meaningful to God and to me, and harmful to the enemies of God? By standing in the face of temptation. And God uses the devil to filter out of creation. Rebellious souls.
The ones that he doesn't want in heaven, because they don't really want to be under his authority. And so God uses Satan as an alternative choice between himself. Or not? And that's why God does not kill the devil. Satan does not show up.
In the first two chapters of the Bible, he doesn't show up in the last two chapters of the Bible. He's not in the beginning, he's not in the end. Because he's not the beginning and he is not the end. He's not the alpha, he's not the omega. and he is barred he is he is contained like the sea the borders of Satan are fixed God knows what He s doing when He makes such lessons plain to us.
Revelation twenty And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. Where Antichrist and His side kick will go? We're Satan, We'll go also. But God uses Satan. He uses him to judge sinners.
to expose unbelievers, distinguish between believers and unbelievers? to refine the saints. To encourage the saints is the story of Job. To discipline those in the church. Purify.
Believers Quest to be Obedient to God. God has his uses for Satan, and when we get to heaven, we're going to. I have not one complaint. God will wipe away every tear from our eye. I am so looking forward to that.
And I won't have spectacles either. And I won't have sunglasses either, because the Lord will be the light, and there will be no desire to filter that light out.
So he says here in verse 15, God is troubling you. Again, what God permits, he is often said to do in the Old Testament because of his sovereignty. And this is the consequent of the of a defiant Self, overly self-important. Spirit Which leads to Self-exaltation, which God will not stand for. Was it too late for someone in this court to say, Saul, let's go to God?
You know, people can get there. You can't even bring God up with some people, they'll go off. Can we just, can I mind if I just pray for you? What do you mean, pray for you? What do you just?
Oh, brother, if you've ever experienced that. You know, that's just not God's will. Anyway, Um verse 16. Let our master now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is a skilful player on the harp, And it shall be that He will play Play it with his hand and the distressing spirit from God. is upon you, when it is upon you.
and you shall be well.
Well This uh Is a spiritual ailment. and there's no physical treatment for this. You can buy a little time with a physical treatment, but it's going to fail. And that's what happened with Sol. It's sort of like losing your keys.
Um you know And Outside In the dark, and then going in the house and looking for them because that's where the light is. It's goofy, it sounds like it's gonna work. Hey, let's go look where the light is. We can see things there. But it's absurd, but this is standard practice with human beings.
Depression is not uncommon to sinners. Don't be surprised if you find yourself going through depression. I don't want to overplay the saying, but if you I don't want to just trivialize it, say, deal with it, but that's what it's going to come down to. In the end, you have to face it, look it in the face and deal with it. After you get sick of it.
And redirect your energies elsewhere. It doesn't mean you have an evil spirit because you deal with depression. It does mean that when you do have an evil spirit, there can be heightened forms of depression, as we're considering here with Saul. But the key thing with Saul is he didn't want God. 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. If you'd like to listen again to this or other messages or share it with someone you know, please visit crossreference radio.com. Here, you can also listen to interviews with Pastor Rick to learn more about his life and ministry.
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