So, this ending in his life, this tragic ending. It's just more of the same. This is the physical. um event, but the spiritual event had long been going on And you look at this and you say, as a believer, the archers have sought me too. The believers can say this.
Whether it is a temptation, whether it is somebody who is trying to harm you through life, or some, whatever, sickness, whatever it is. The arrows being fired at you are meant to hurt you. And yet the righteous will prevail. Yeah. You're listening to 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. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of 1 Samuel chapter 31 with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Let's open our Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 31.
Someone can be so abusive. of the living That their death is a relief. It's just a fact. It's an improvement. among for those still living.
And God warns us not to rejoice over the Fall of an enemy? since that quickly turns into something else. It turns into a license going forward, if it's not checked, to fertilize hatred, and God doesn't want that. Proverbs twenty four, verse seventeen, do not rejoice when your enemy falls. And do not let your heart be glad.
When he stumbles, Well, that has to be in the context of all Scripture, because you remember when Moses made it through with the people through the sea. And the Egyptians did not. Moses broke out into a song in Exodus 15: I will celebrate, I will sing to the Lord. And the women picked up the tambourines and followed Miriam, and they were. Rejoicing.
that they were delivered. and that delivery So that being delivered is more accurately. Um It involved the death of those who were pursuing them. David would go on to grieve this tragic loss of Saul and his sons. His beloved friend Jonathan.
And even though Saul was demonically influenced and David's enemy. David also Rejoiced. That the day came when God delivered him from all of his enemies. Psalm 118, the heading to that psalm is to the chief musician, a psalm of David. The servant of Yahweh.
Who spoke to Yahweh the words of this song on the day that Yahweh delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said, I will love you, Yahweh, my strength. My point is We can rejoice in being delivered from an enemy. And Saul was an enemy. And glad he's gone.
I wish it were turned out differently. I'm not saying that we should. I hated him anyway. That would be wrong. to give in to that.
We are not grandstanding because of this victory, if you could, for the righteous. Death is always wrong. And sin has done this to humankind. And so we are We check ourselves. We do not allow ourselves to lose our self-control in this regard.
And David struck that delicate balance we call grace. Unfortunately, it's absent in many churchgoers. One fool this man Saul took an army of others to their death, and their sorrows. He had been bringing sorrow to others. And so we do say it is a good riddance.
Glad he's gone, because otherwise He would stack up more victims because of his cruelty. I'm not going to rejoice over such a thought. Yee-haw, wish he was still here to kill us all. Of course, that would be absurd, but it makes hopefully, by sharp contrast, it makes the point. Is so Uh there's no hope that he went to hell.
That would be hatred. But still there is relief. And there are some who spend their lives just taking from other people. They are drains on their environment. There are some who give and there are some who give more than others.
There are some who give and take. And there are some who not only take but ruin every life they get close to. In some way, and I think this was Saul. It was a wasted life because he had such potential, such opportunity. Which he neglected, he abused, and he wasted.
And hopefully, we look at a life like this and we say, I'm not going to be that person. God help me to never be this person. remarkable opportunities are no guarantees of success. We have Children that are raised in wonderful homes that demonstrate this oftentimes when they go into rebellion and become prodigal. wasteful with their lives.
They don't seem to realize the great opportunities that they have are to bring glory to Christ or to bring success. And it is where the fight is for many of us, and it is a fight that is worth it.
Well, we look now at verse 31, remembering that's a brief commentary on Psalm 2013. Because this kind of behavior cannot be Winked at, or ignored, or just lightly passed over, I think it it has to really be considered. And once we close this chapter, we'll move on to David. And we'll have other Struggles. Verse 1: Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
Well, Saul had been so distracted over the years In his hatred for David, that he neglected his duties as king. And as a result, he left the kingdom ill-prepared for this great Philistine invasion. And the king and his men perished. Just like that. How many broken hearts did they leave behind, all because of this one Foolish man.
Verse 2. Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons, and the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab. and Maucheshua, the sons of uh Saul's sons. The battle around Saul intensified, the enemy concentrating his forces on Saul. Why?
Well, he's still dressed like a king, a lightning rod. I mean, get yourself some camis, man. Why are you doing this? He wore his crown into battle. We know that because the Amalekites says, see, I got his crown.
Well, of his body. Yeah, well, 1 Kings, this wasn't, he's not the only foolish king that did this. Re well, you know, you think of the British with the red coats. You know, like dressed like a bullseye. And yet, part of their strategy, though they had logic to it, they didn't want their troops to see their own blood.
Look down and see blood and start running. But anyway, 1 Kings chapter 22, this is that wicked king Ahab, and he tells that gullible, naive king Jehoshaphat, who was good. He said, We're going into battle. You dress like a king, I'll dress camouflaged. I'll dress like one of the common troops.
And Jehoshaphat said, Okay, boss, whatever you say. 1 Kings 22, verse 31.
Now the king of Syria. Had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariot, saying, Fight with no one, small or great, but only with the king of Israel. which was Ahab. But Ahab they couldn't find him, so they surround Jehoshaphat. And they realize, oops, he's the king of Judah.
We're really not interested in him. And they go look for Ahab and uh Arrow. Archer at a venture fires an arrow and hits him, kill uh, will end up killing him.
So might read that to say The kings wore their robes into battle, so it's. Clearly the Philistines said, If you seek s Saul, Concentrate your attack on him, and that's why it has intensified. I don't find much spiritual. Uh m lessons in this is just common sense is missing. Uh well, it wasn't too common.
But anyway. The only son apparently not on the battlefield that day was Ishbosheth. Perhaps he was too young or perhaps he was in quarantine because he saw a picture of somebody who had a virus, and he was not to go anywhere near human beings for ten years. Anyway. He would this Ishbosheth would be assassinated seven years later.
Uh verse 3. The battle became fierce against Saul. The archers hid him. And he was severely wounded by the archers.
Well, Samuel said this was going to happen, he was going to die on the battlefield with the Philistines. Spiritually, the archer's arrows of this enemy of Saul, it hid him all his life. Satan's archers had targeted Saul, and he really did not make an effort to. Escape them. In contrast, to Joseph.
I mean, here's Joseph sold by his brothers who are going to kill him, then they sell him into slavery. And he ends up, of course. And then he's Framed for a crime he did not commit. He goes to jail. And you would think that he would say, you know, I'm just tired of this religion, it doesn't work for me.
And yet he stays true to God. His father recognizes that on his deathbed in front of everyone. And so Strong was this prophetic word on Joseph that we have it to this day. It's thousands of years old since these came off the lips of Jacob. Genesis 49:23.
He said this of Joseph, the archers hath bitterly grieved him. shot at him and hated him. And then he goes on, but Joseph's bow abode in strength, held by the mighty hand of God. And that didn't happen to Saul. The archers Sought him.
All his life And got him, and he behaved, his behavior was proof of this. And so, this ending in his life, this tragic ending. is just more of the same. This is the physical event, but the spiritual event had long been going on. And you look at this and you say, as a believer, the archers have sought me too.
The believers can say this. Whether it is a temptation, whether it is somebody who is trying to harm you through life, or some whatever, sickness, whatever it is, the arrows being fired at you are meant to hurt you. And yet the righteous will prevail. You do read this story, you think of Custer, you know, the last stand, but Saul here, verse 4. Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, Draw your sword.
There's no time for artwork. I'll wait. Draw your sword. Anyway. Yeah.
Then the armor bearer Draw your sword, he says to him, and thrust me through with it. I could keep making jokes, but I'm not. At least I call them jokes. Lest these uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and abuse me. But his armor-bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid.
Therefore, Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
Well, when Saul says these uncircumcised men, Saul is not conscious of the covenant of God when he uses that phrase, as David would be. When David said, Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? He is saying, This is a man that rejects the true God and has fallen for the gods from hell. Saul, it is us versus them. We're Jews, so we're obviously of the circumcised kind, and they're not, so they're the uncircumcised.
And really, God wasn't in his thoughts. Uh this is not a covenant moment that he's having. Wounded, he believes I'm not going to survive this. I'm going to die. I can't.
At least Very easily kill myself.
So he, as typical Saul, hey, why don't you kill me for me? Get uh the armor bearer to do it. Maybe the story of Israel's first false king, Abimelech, who appointed himself king back in the book of Judges. came to mind. There, Abimelech, who appointed himself king, he was a butcher.
A violent man, and and he attacks a c a city, a walled city, and a woman uh leans out from the tower and throws a stone and clunks someone is noggin. We pick it up in Judges 9, verse 53. But a certain woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech's head and crushed his skull. Then he called quickly to the young man, his armor-bearer, and said to him, you know, these guys with the artwork again, Draw your sword and kill me, lest men say of me, A woman killed him.
So his young man thrust him through and he died.
Now, Saul would have had that story. And maybe that is, you know, he thought this was the proper way to go out. To have your armor bearer finish you off there on the battlefield. He would have, as all soldiers do, pondered how he would not want to die on the battlefield. And so, this wasn't something he just thought up all of a sudden.
He had long ago said, you know, if they get me in battle, I'm not going to let them. capture me alive and then torture me. And so this is uh Uh something that He was ready for Uh it may have been that Again, that he thought this was a proper request and not based on Abimelech, the precedence that some people find to be so important. And so he dies as he as he lived really killing himself by playing the fool More anxious about men than concerned with God. He does not cry out to the Lord.
As other kings, Jehoshaphat, when he was surrounded, he cries out to the Lord, and the Lord delivers him. Saul does not do this. And uh He's physically, he's going to die, but dead spiritually already. His last breath. It was the belated Announcement of a death that occurred long ago.
It's tragedy, a very big tragedy, and something that. I think Okay, so why do you spend so much time with Saul? Because this needs to be preached to unbelievers. It's okay to bring up Saul to them. Just to say, have you ever heard the story of King Saul, Israel's first king, taller than everybody, outstanding.
But he became a monster because of how he treated God. This is so much ammunition in the life of Saul for we believers to not only preach to ourselves, which I hope we do. But also to preach to The Believer. And here looking back Saul said, I have sinned to David when David spared his life. Return, my son, David.
For I will harm you no more. Of course, David's saying right. Because my life is precious in your eyes this day. Indeed, I have played the fool and erred exceedingly. Characteristic of Saul.
He takes a step in the right direction and then he turns and takes all the other steps in the wrong direction. It's how he lived. before God.
Now, if you do tell these stories to non-Christians, you have to keep it tight to salvation and not let it get away and become the moral of the story. It's a message from God. That's what it is. Because what can happen is the unbeliever can hear about the life of Saul. I know a guy just like that.
He just, you know, starts to do the right thing and he turns and does the wrong thing. But that unbeliever isn't detaching it from themselves and sin and. missing the point or trying to evade it, and that's where we are there to pull them back. Christ knew he'd hit his target when he met the woman at the well. When he said, You've had five husbands, and the one you're with now is not your husband, she tried to change the subject.
Oh, I think you're a prophet. And he was easy with her. He didn't say, no, wait, let's talk about these five husbands. He lets that fall to the side. but then he continues to minister to her.
And what is the effect? She becomes an evangelist. She goes to the village, and all the men come out to see this. Come see the man who told me everything. I mean, he's amazing.
And they come out, and he stays there for a couple of days.
So the lessons that fly off the pages of Scripture are for us. And in spite of whatever failures you may incur, if you plow your field, you will have a harvest. Or you can just say, I'm not worthy to preach the gospel and just let Satan just gag you. Verse 5, and when his armor-bearer saw Saul was dead, he fell on his sword. And died with him.
You know the wording, it makes them sound so clumsy. Hey, he fell on his sword, and he said, What a fool. Anyway, of course, that's a euphemism for. They are Uh kill themselves. But who lived to tell the story?
Well, there are survivors. As the battle is intensifying, There are survivors. Who are getting away? The armor bearer likely thinks he's not going to get away. The fact that they're using archers at this point indicates the enemy is not close enough for sword to sword combat.
So there's some time, but again, the archer may be in a position like if I run, they're going to get me in the back, and I don't want that. then I'll be incapacitated and they'll torture me. And so that may be some of his logic. Saul here. Trying to reconcile this account of his death with the Amalekites' account that's mixed with lies, and when we get that in the next chapter, first chapter of 2 Samuel.
The Amalekite He claims that he killed Saul.
Well, if that part is accurate, which that part of it probably is, it's because Saul is here passed out. He falls on his sword, he's filled with arrows, or he has arrows in him. Uh he He falls on his sword, puts it on, probably props it on the ground and impales himself, but he just passes out. And he then comes to later when the Amalekite, who was a battlefield scavenger, is looting the dead and comes across Saul. Uh which is part of history uh to this day.
They are battlefield scavengers.
So that would account for some of the how the events are are taking place. This armor bearer ended his life Now, again, if he's saying, I can't get away and I'd rather do this to myself than let them get me, that's one thing. But if it is out of some sense, misguided sense of loyalty to Saul, then he was a fool too. And Saul did have fools around him and sycophants that just did whatever he wanted to do. Where's Abner when all of this is going on?
Well, he's probably commanding other on this a large battle, sprawling. It's not just on Mount Gilboa. Saul likely moved to Mount Gilboa. The higher ground gave you the advantage, a great advantage. It does to this day.
And thinking that this was going to You know, be a good place to hold off the enemy, and it did not work.
So, The Amalekite, he has less regard for life. David will dispatch him. David, first David hears the story, grieves and says, starts to think about it and says, wait a minute. This guy's got some holes in his stories. He's just a murderer.
And David kills him.
So we'll get that next session if things go according to plan. David here, not anywhere near the battlefield. But this is an interesting thing. David had said. that one day Saul's going to kill me.
But he didn't say it under the anointing. I have noticed that I can tend to not be so accurate about a lot of things when I'm in the pulpit, not in the pulpit, we'll catch that one, not in the pulpit, but when I'm in the pulpit. I just see things that I think that are God-given. And David, of course, God, and you too, you know that. Maybe you've gotten in front of someone and shared the gospel.
You say, boy, God was just there. I could feel the anointing.
Well, David, when he made that remark, was not under the anointing. When he wrote his Psalms, he was under the anointing. And the simple test is the circumstances surrounding the realities, the truths, the facts. all pile up together to either point upward or outward. And but David was wrong.
Saul did not catch him one day, and Saul did not kill him. And that is not beating up on David. That is identifying with David. Because we get to that place in our own experiences in life where we feel like, you know what, this is just God is not, He's not going to shield me. Or he's not going to do this, and it's going to be bad.
And we just okay, fine, I just submit one day I'm going to this crash and burn. And that did not happen. Fortunately, it was not a superstitious thing. But we can be superstitious. Watch out for that.
If someone wrote me a check for $666, I would cash it and spend it. I would not say, ooh, that's an evil number. I'm not cashing that.
So, if you get a check for $666 and you got that superstition going on, give me the check. and I'll cash it for me. John's Gospel, chapter 6, verse 66. There's nothing evil about that verse.
So, watch out for those superstitions. The Antichrist has his mark, but there's more to the story than just that number. There is the fact that they get the chip. There's still more to the story, that they willfully worshiped him. There's the crime right there.
So, I mean, there are humans that have chips in them now.
Some have them on their shoulders, and some have them barbecued. But anyway, verse 6: So Saul and his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men died together that same day. Again, they should not have died this death, but they did because of Saul. And this man, Saul, had such an opportunity. Remember, God gave him a fresh start in life, gave him a heart to serve.
He cannot go to heaven and stand before God and say, I deserve heaven because I didn't get a fair shot. 1 Samuel 10, verse 9.
So it was when he turned his back to go from Samuel that God gave him another heart. And all those signs came to pass that day. Opportunities are no guarantees of success. Success if you treat those opportunities as something other than what they are supposed to be. All his men died the same day.
Together, it says here, referring to those troops that made up Saul's unit. It was not the entire army and not all the men on the hill. His immediate guard, more than likely. Else, we wouldn't have the story as we do. I mentioned Abner, Saul's general, is missing because he is in other parts of the theater fighting.
And he will end up promoting Saul's son Ishboseth to king. And again, Ishboseth will be assassinated. We have a lot of intrigue coming. Verse 7, when we get to 2 Samuel. Verse 7, and when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those who were on the other side of the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities and fled.
And the Philistines came and dwelt in them.
So this is an overview of the aftermath built in, not a play by play. But there you see the men on the battlefield in verse 7 are fleeing, so they're not all dead. It was a rout, but it was not absolute slaughter, awful defeat. Hosea, centuries later, makes this comment. Hosea 13, verse 11, speaking to the Jews who were up in the northern kingdom, and almost all of the leaders were apostates and monsters.
And so this prophet Hosea, of course, speaks to them. He tries to minister to them so gently. He tries to say, you know, I had an unfaithful wife, and And this is how you are with God. And he tries to appeal to them. That, of course, did not work for many of them.
And so then the prophecies turn into straight-out direct prophecy to the nation. Hosea 13:11, God speaks through him and says, I gave you a king in my anger and took him away in my wrath. And that is sort of an overview. God's saying, Fine, you want a king, you don't want a man of God like Samuel, a prophet over you? I'll give you what you want, but I'm not, it's not my first choice.
And then Saul, of course, his behavior brought the day of judgment. 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.
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