How Do You Know Who Your Savior Is?, 1 Samuel 11, Dr. John B. Carpenter

First Samuel chapter 11 be reading the entire chapter Hear the word of the Lord The Nahash the

Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash Make a treaty with us and we will serve you but Nahash the

Ammonite said to them on this condition I will make a treaty with you that I gouge out all your right eyes and thus bring disgrace on all

Israel The elders of Jabesh said to him Give us seven days respite that we may send messengers through all the territory of Israel Then if there is no one to save us, we will give ourselves up to you

When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul they reported the matter in the ears of the people and all the people wept aloud now behold

Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen and Saul said what is wrong with the people that they are weeping

So they told him the news of the men of Jabesh and the Spirit of God Rushed upon Saul when he heard these words and his anger was greatly kindled he took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and Sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers saying whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel So shall it be done to his oxen then the dread of the

Lord fell upon the people and they came out as one man When he mustered them at Bezek the people of Israel were 300 ,000 and the men of Judah 30 ,000 and they said to the messengers who had come

Thus shall you say to the men of Jabesh Gilead tomorrow by the time the Sun is hot You shall have deliverance when the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh.

They were glad Therefore the men of Jabesh said tomorrow. We will give ourselves up to you

And you may do to us whatever seems good to you and the next day

Saul put the people in three companies and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch and Struck down the

Ammonites until the heat of the day and those who survived were scattered so that no two of them were left together

Then the people said to Samuel Who is it that said shall Saul reign over us bring the men that we may put them to death

But Saul said not a man shall be put to death this day for today.

The Lord has worked salvation in Israel Then Samuel said to the people come let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom

So all the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul King before the

Lord in Gilgal There they sacrifice peace offerings before the Lord and there

Saul and all the men of Israel rejoice greatly May the

Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word Jeopardy had a category called stupid answers you

Jeopardy Watcher like us It's it's called that because like a stupid question

The answer is so obvious. It makes you feel stupid if you can't see it and not really smart if you do see it for example

It was established by an act of Congress in 1800 as a reference library for Congress.

Can you guess? the Library of Congress or It's the one -word name of the

Ben and Jerry's flavor described as vanilla ice cream with vanilla bean specks Vanilla, right or the logo of this brand depicts an arm holding a hammer

Yes arm and hammer or it's the First Amendment to the US Constitution that mentions religion the

First Amendment Or here's another one I have to say a Chinese word for this one

China's Song Dynasty was noted for its contribution to the Sioux So how you say it?

I don't know a form of this song or Just before serving this

Chinese soup drop some beaten egg into it egg drop soup or Finally last one

Leonardo da Vinci was born near this small Tuscan town in 1519 Vinci Right now sometimes the answer to a question is so obvious you can miss it.

So you think there's got to be more to it But no, it's right there. Like how do you know who your

Savior is? You might think it's a it's a stupid question because we all know the answer

But I'm not asking who is your Savior? But how do you know by what way did you learn who the

Savior is? Did someone tell you and you just kind of trusted them There's some authority, you know certify

This is this is the real Savior and you accept their pronouncement Or maybe did you you reason your way to it?

You took on all the available information? Examine all the candidates may be comparing Buddha and Confucius and Muhammad whoever else to Jesus and then come to your conclusion

Is that how you came to know who your Savior is? Or did you experience it?

How do you know who your Savior is? Of course, it all depends on on What you think you need saving from if you think poverty is what you need saving from your

Savior is whoever gives you money so the customer is king because The customer pays you or your business your career is your

Savior It pays the bills it keeps a roof over our head this kind of thing But all of that seems unsatisfying especially people once people have taken care of their basic needs

You know once you've been fed and housed you realize what was really true all along that you need saving from more than just hunger and weather

For generations now in our culture. We've been told that through novels through poems through songs

Who plays through movies? There's a whole genre of such things called romance that our

Savior is the soulmate now called You know the relation the soulmate that one he or she is the in the words of Jerry Maguire will finally

Complete you it sounds an awfully lot like save you if you're incomplete the one who completes you is your

Savior So in the 19th century the the Bronte sisters wrote about romance as if it were the secret to fulfillment

To yourself your salvation even if it was often elusive even if you never fully got it

Of course if your soulmate is your Savior, then how do you know who your Savior is? the cult of romance just teaching us that That relationship is is what we need which means

You better find the right one in the eyes of the cult of romance getting the right relationship is so important it is

Salvation it justifies then dissolving The old relationship, you know,

I fell out of love. It's a new one. And so divorce becomes common There's the irony in the cult of romance

Divorce is more common and So frequent the frequent young person's question was maybe still is

How do I know if I found the one, you know my one true love?

It's got to be the one. How do I know and the answer the stupid answer, of course

You'll just know It's a mystical experience kind of like salvation

From its inception in the early 20th century Hollywood joined in this cult of romance telling us in movie after movie until very recently

That our greatest need is that one true? meaningful relationship the romance

If so That's if that's true and this cult of romance that Hollywood's been selling us for so long then your

Savior is Is that one the one? So life is about finding that special someone and then and only then

Can you live happily ever after? but then in 2016 in In la la land an extremely charming well -done movie and what appears to be a romance movie

It starts out that way that the couple finds their soul mates. Do you think this is happily ever after?

But then it ends by saying that sometimes You have to sacrifice the romance the relationship for success for the career

Consumerism has finally managed to consume even the relationship and despite all the smiles and the charm in that movie

It's tragic because they don't know who their Savior is. It's not romance

They're right about that, but it's tragic because they'll find that consumerism is an even harder taskmaster so Do we know who our

Savior is Again, I'm not asking who is your Savior, but how do we know?

Not who but how here in 1st Samuel chapter 11, we see that the stupid answer we see that here in four parts first the provocation second the inspiration then the salvation and finally the coronation

At the end of chapter 10 remember left at the end of last time Paul was selected be king by lot

King of Israel, but some worthless fellows Scoffed how can this man save us and they despise

Saul worthless fellows literally the sons of Belial Is the same term used for them those Bob of rapists remember that a couple of months ago and Gibeah?

Come they go the Levi comes into Gibeah He said a band of Bob of worthless fellows

They called him surrounded the house demanding that the traveling Levi come out. It's easy to see how that kind of perversion

Makes one a worthless fellow, but here the end of chapter 10 getting into chapter 11 being a worthless fellow is being a scoffer scoffers despise

Authorities despise leaders that they mock them and they assume the worst of them and here they ask at the end of chapter 10

How come this man this pretty boy? He's too good -looking. He's too shy hiding out in the baggage

He's a spoiled rich kid. How can this man? Save us now in this country in America We're too full of that kind of worthlessness often thinking that scoffing is a virtue since it's a legal, right?

Some people become here in our culture come just deranged or obsessed Constantly pouring out insults on on our leaders now sure the

Constitution protects the right our right To be a mocking worthless fellow

We have a First Amendment right to be a mocking worthless fellow if we want to be But we also have a

First Amendment right to use to say hey that's worthless, you know get help and then we take the advice of Psalm 1 and not sit in the seat of scoffers not associated with them, but the light in God's Word and Meditate on it.

Now here the scoffers despise Saul At the end of chapter 10 they despise

Saul and they but he said nothing He wasn't provoked by their insults then after that Nahash the king of the

Ammonites just east of Israel attacks a border town Most of their trouble in the days of Saul and David came from the

Philistines Who were just just west of them on the Mediterranean coast, but here they get attacked by the

Ammonites from the east Showing again what they said in chapter 10 Israel is surrounded by enemies

Nahash doesn't name me serpent. He was a serpent to Israel He was a serpent to Israel biting at Israel's Heels, he laid siege to Jabesh Gilead a city east of the

Jordan the area of Gilead the people of Jabesh are so are so Desperate they're being besieged by the

Ammonites by Nahash. Mr. Serpent and They plead let's make a treaty. We will serve you.

Which means in other words, we'll pay you taxes We'll do what you say make a treaty and we will serve you They're asking for terms of surrender literally to cut a covenant the word treaty here translated

ASV means a covenant Cut the covenant may cut cutting the covenant with a serpent

Rather than be killed there. They're willing to to be servants of the serpent and here the stipulations of serpents covenant

Are pretty severe the stipulations of the Lord's covenant Is to love him with all your heart

Serve him with all your life But the serpents terms in verse 2 he says on this condition

I will make a treaty with you Here's what you have to do. I Will gouge out all your right eyes and thus bring disgrace on Israel on all

Israel Now that's his stipulation of his covenant. I'm going to gouge out your right eyes and then

I'll let you live That's that's your choice Either have your eye gouged out or you die

Now first there's a practical military reason for gouging out the right eyes When I you lose all depth perception

Which makes you inaccurate for clinging weapons like bows and arrows or slingshots, so you're not gonna be a very good shot

They fight again later at another time. Also most most people are right -handed

So infantry troops would carry their sword in their right hand and in their left hand

Frequently carry their shield Used for blocking right now for blocking they frequently cover up the left side of their face their eye

And if the right hands gouged out either they carry their shields with their they have no right eye

Either they end up carrying their shields with the right hand and there's swords in their left hand Which they're not very good at I'll be horrible at that or they have to They're limited to what they can do with their shields.

They can't raise it up higher. Otherwise, I can't see anymore So it incapacitates them militarily

But the main reason for this stipulation as he admits is to bring disgrace on all

Israel He wants to show that Israel and thus the Lord is so weak and helpless That it or he the

Lord can't protect One of their cities from being so subjugated

So much under the thumb of a pagan king named serpent that they'd choose to have their eyes gouged out.

So the serpent Wants to prove that the Lord Can't protect his people the serpent wants to show that he will not hold you fast

Now the elders of Jabesh asked for seven days to see if anyone could save them likely They has figured that they could hold out for seven more days

So a siege of a siege and so he granted that so they allowed messengers to come in and out

So there's a truce for a week and Jabesh sends out his messengers Their messengers throughout

Israel and imagine, you know, they're so telling everybody they're so desperate We're willing to have our right eye gouged out.

Otherwise, we'll have to be killed if no one can come save us. They tell Nahash If no one comes

Mr. Serpent, no one comes. There's no Savior after a week. Then we will give ourselves up to you now

Imagine how desperate you have to be To agree to that To agree to have your eye gouged out

But that's what people agree to when the serpent makes a covenant with them. They agree to have their eye gouged out

So they're unable to defend themselves. They can't protect themselves from the world the flesh the devil

They've surrendered to their enemy. Maybe the enemy will say it'll just be one eye

But soon it becomes two and then they're blind and they can't see what is life and what is death

What is light or what is dark? Because they made a covenant with the serpent and if only they could know the covenant is if only we can keep our sin

Then we'll serve you But then they lose everything they find out that the stipulations of the serpents covenant are very hard And so the messengers go out to Israel with the news about the serpents covenant from Jabesh one of their covenant people

So Jabesh is sending out these messengers throughout Israel You know, we're going to surrender to the serpent

Israel as they get there are they should be thinking there are covenant People are covenant brothers.

We're in covenant together with them and when they come to Gibeah Remember Gibeah We mentioned them already

Gibeah is the town that was wiped out because that the worthless fellows Tried to do to the traveling

Levites and now it's called here notice here in verse 4 called Gibeah of Saul It's a new

Gibeah. They should have named it new Gibeah. I guess Gibeah has been resurrected and now it's produced Saul When they tell the news of the people of Gibeah, they're they're provoked

To wail and to cry But they don't do anything. They're just grieving

How grievous it is to be a citizen of a country that can't protect itself That's the provoke provocation grief tears

Desperation and Jabesh on the verge of surrendering to a covenant with a serpent next is the inspiration and Behold in verse 5 pay attention to this

Saul has been anointed King. He's commissioned to protect Israel from all their enemies around them

The anointed one protects God's people from all their enemies. That's what he's for.

Remember That's what the anointed one does. He protects God's people from their enemies He holds them fast and the rest of the people are crying and wailing but Saul is different because he's anointed

He's provoked to action. He's coming from his field It's behind his oxen.

He's still farming This is interesting the being king of Israel is not yet a full -time job

He's not yet used his power Remember what Samuel? Warned them about the king would make other go out and do his work for him so far

Saul has not done that It's not use his power to make others work for him. He's taking care of himself When he asked, you know comes in from his work.

Why are these people weeping? Why are they wailing? What's going on? And when they tell him to the people of Jabesh Their own covenant partners are willing to make a covenant with the serpent have their eye gouged out

So bring shame on all Israel and the Lord for being unable to protect them

When he hears that then Saul is inspired in verse 6 the

Spirit of God rushed upon Saul it says This is the spirit that empowered him earlier in chapter 10 and he prophesied with the prophets here in verse 6

He's filled with the Holy Spirit. He's empowered to do what God called him to do and The first effect of that what does the

Spirit do to you you think here the first effect of the Spirit on him in this situation the fruit of the

Spirit here Was to make him angry That's strange to you

That the Spirit would make you angry The Spirit would fuel anger. That's what it says the

Spirit of God rushed on him He's filled with the Spirit and his anger burned greatly

But God's Spirit set it afire That's a surprise to people who think that God's Spirit is is always calming always sweet a still whispering voice like to Elijah in the wilderness the

Spirit was calming and refreshing to him then When he needed to rest in the

Lord because that's what he needed but here With the king what the king needs is power

He's power to bring God's kingdom on earth to bring vengeance on the enemy of God's people the serpent

The Spirit of the Lord empowers the king To bring in God's vengeance when we pray your kingdom come we're praying for its spirit to rise up Inspire people to bring

God's rule and that sometimes being his vengeance on earth When the

Lord Jesus first began his ministry in the synagogue and he opened at Isaiah 61 and he read

From Isaiah 61 the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and Opening of the prison to those who are bound to proclaim the year of the

Lord's favor He stopped there Because in his first coming his ministry was all about all those things liberty freedom favor grace the very next line says

Just before Jesus stopped Isaiah continues and the day of vengeance of our

God sometimes The spirit anoints his king to bring vengeance

To loose the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword for Saul That day had come

Saul is inspired He's inspired to be angry because God's people should never have to suffer stipulations of a covenant with the serpent

And so he took his oxen his own I assume his own oxen didn't quite say but he took oxen probably to cut them in pieces

Remember that story back from the Levite did to his concubine cut her in pieces center around he takes his oxen cuts them in pieces sends them out to Israel making a covenant was called cutting a covenant because it involved cutting an animal in half and walking between the pieces and Saying may what happened to this animal happened to me or happen to you and we break this covenant

Israel had a covenant with the Lord and with each other to protect each other Saul is reminding

Israel of this covenant and telling Israel That we made a covenant with the

Lord Said to them by sending these pieces Remember we walk between the pieces we cut a covenant

And so if you don't respond Israel Saul demands it in his

Inspired Anger in verse 7 whoever does not come after Saul in Samuel.

So shall it be done to his oxen He's declaring. We're not going to ignore

Our covenant with the Lord and with each other in the church today through bearing in one another's burdens

Walking in together in Christian love the things we pledge in our church covenant sharing when necessary the church discipline

Says we're not going to let each other be besieged and captured by the world the flesh of the devil

We're we're not just a here. We're not just here. It's a preaching center

It's not just a preaching shop and you go and you're kind of you're just the audience And you're no more attached to each other here than you are to other audience members when you go see a movie

No You're you're the Israel of God. And so you're you're

United attached to each other. So you don't think like you might think about some other person in a movie

Well, I don't know what's going on in his life. I don't think I hope it's fine But if he's in trouble, he's under siege from the serpent.

Well, it's none of my business I'm saying out of trouble. It's too bad for him. I'm sorry for him, but I I'm not doing anything about it

No, that's not our attitude with the church That's not the Lord's community if a member of our holy nation is under siege near to giving up We need to be filled with the

Holy Spirit Inspired maybe even sometimes inspired to be angry and challenge the church to take action

That's what Saul does here in the middle of verse 7 the dread of the Lord fell upon the people

I Mean they feared the Lord they get Saul's warning with the chopped up pieces magic get a package from Saul There's a chunk of ox there and he said

Fear the Lord Rather than Nahash they fear the Lord more than they feared the serpent and so they were inspired to gather together at Bezik This is just west of the

Jordan River Across from the cross of Jabesh not far away. They gather under Saul the scoffers aren't stopping anymore and no one asked

Why are we gathering? Because that would be a stupid question

Next the salvation The serpent is threatening

God's people wanting to capture a main part So as to be a disgrace to all

Saul is filled with the Holy Spirit and the people gather with the with the dread of the Lord moving them there were 330 ,000

Soldiers, that's a lot There's enough to defend themselves against any invader

To actually to conquer their whole region and be the power there if they had a leader that they would follow

That's why they wanted a king and now Saul is as much of them He's organized them explaining the attack and they promised him in a

Jabesh in verse 9 tomorrow by the time the Sun is hot You shall have deliverance

Or salvation the word deliverance same word is for salvation so they send this message of salvation to God's people who were under siege by the serpent and when they get the message in Jabesh You know

God's people says in verse 9 they're glad under siege But they're joyful.

They're celebrating the good news the gospel that your deliverance from the enemy is assured brings

Gladness in this world that is in this present evil age We are sometimes under siege

Wondering if we have to make a covenant with the serpent to survive But then

God sends the messengers soon You will be saved That's that's the gospel.

You will be saved no matter what the siege looks like don't surrender Don't give in and you respond with gladness the people of Jabesh Tell Nahash's army camping outside the city

Tomorrow we will give ourselves up to you that you may do whatever seems good to you

Right, that's that's to keep them at ease Keep them unwary so that they'll be surprised by Israel's attack and Early the next day.

It says the morning watch that means they're before big most of the soldiers They've been woken up the crack of dawn

Maybe even before that maybe it's still dark. So I'll divide his army into three groups and attacked right into Nahash's camp.

In other words The Ammonites, Nahash's, the serpents men. They're so arrogant.

They're so lax So certain of victory the Jabesh's are gonna give in but they apparently don't even have sentries out

Warning them guarding their perimeter able to give an alarm that Israel is coming And so Israel struck right into the

Ammonite camp and struck down the Ammonite soldiers from dawn it says to the heat of the day and Those who got away were so scattered that no two of them remain together

Salvation has come Now imagine

You're able to go into Jabesh Just as Saul is finished liberating the city.

It's gotta be a great celebration Don't tell us but you figure there's there's a parade and people are jubilant.

He's riding through the gates of the city People are celebrating him. He's head and shoulders taller than everyone else.

He's hailed for his brilliant leadership His spirit inspired passion for Israel's and the

Lord's honor Everyone is celebrating that they've been spared from the cruelty of the serpent and people are shouting long live the king and then you ask the people of Jabesh How do you know your savior is?

They would look at you like You're weird Just maybe baffled.

I'll be repeat the question and credulously credulously. How do we know our Savior? That's a stupid question

It's obvious who our Savior is He's the one who saved us Imagine you're imagine you're at the lake or a beach

You go swimming But you get cramps you get caught a riptide and you're struggling and you're waving your arms desperately

During the few seconds you able to get your your mouth above water. You yell out help me And just as you're about to go down Out of breath

Nearly blacking out You feel arms around you dragging you up where you can breathe

Carrying you to shore and then patting you on the back getting the water out of your lungs and then or tea a reporter

The TV camera comes running up to you puts a microphone in your face and ask How do you know who your

Savior is? You blink Go, huh? How do

I know? He's the one who saved me It's not because he belonged to the lifeguard company.

He had the right certifications. Maybe he did maybe he didn't you don't care He saved you and so he proved that he is your

Savior I'll put the book of Judges over and over again. Saviors are proven by Saving Israel.

Oh when they were oppressed when Israel was oppressed God raised up a Savior How did they know that Othniel and Gideon and Jephthah and Samson and the rest were saviors?

How do they know they fit a criteria? No, they saved them There wasn't any kind of certification or dynasty or election.

It was only the simple fact that they saved the people now today You know who your

Savior is the same way sure You make a rational case for Christ like some apologists do

Try to answer the scoffers hope to convince them He came from the right dynasty.

He fulfilled the right prophecies He rose from the dead even his enemies weren't able to produce his body to debunk claims of his resurrection

He we can provide reasons that people should believe that Jesus is the

Savior But no one will really believe until Jesus saved them then the answer to the question

How do you know Jesus is your Savior? then It's obvious Finally Is the coronation at the end of chapter 10 worthless fellows scoffed

How can this man save us? They couldn't leave Israel to save Jabesh You know, none of those scoffers could lead

Israel in that triumph they weren't capable of it The Spirit of God would not inspire them

They wouldn't feel holy anger at the idea of God's people and so God's name being disgraced

They didn't really care but they scoffed at the idea that Saul would do it worthless people are worthless

Because they refuse to recognize what greater people are worth

You get that worthless people are worthless because they refuse to recognize what greater people are worth

After Saul was selected before he proved himself the worthless fellows mocked the idea that Saul would would rule shall

Saul reign over us They asked sarcastically Discoverers, they couldn't rule over Israel.

They think they couldn't gather together the forces necessary for defending Israel They weren't capable of that.

They couldn't rule an army organize it They couldn't even rule their own tongue and keep from scoffing the new king like the worthless fellows of Gibeah They couldn't even rule over themselves

They couldn't control themselves Worthless people are worthless because they can't rule themselves and they recoil at the idea

They hate the idea of someone else ruling them So some people said to slap

Samuel Who makes his only appearance in this chapter? They tell Samuel let's put them to death

Let's execute those worthless fellows and Saul responds like a statesman magnanimously

He doesn't respond out of ego out of paranoia You know, this is a good opportunity take advantage of the opportunity of the celebration of the triumph of my brilliant victory

To eliminate my enemies. He doesn't think that way. He says not a man shall be put to death this day like Jesus in the synagogue

You know here after the victory after the vengeance on the serpent from now on this is a day of favor of grace

Because he says in verse 13 the Lord has worked salvation in Israel Notice he gives glory to the

Lord It's not as though you know, he's saying not as though I did it all myself

The Lord worked it. And so, you know these These critics of mine.

They can be excused for not believing in me. I can understand that I don't believe in me either, but the

Lord did it. That's what Saul is saying and then Samuel speaks up It's now these the old prophet.

He's the old Judge fading away now says come let us go to Gilgal not far away and there renew the kingdom in other words, let's have a

Coronation, let's recognize the King Saul was selected before like a president is selected on election day but here

Saul the end of chapter 11 is coronated like a president is inaugurated a

Coronation like an inauguration is the investing of authority in the selected person

It is the official way of answering the question Who gets to rule?

How do you know who your king is? Well the coronation says this one

The worthless fellow scoffed earlier at the selection show this man rule over us to them the coronation says

Yes This man Here in verse 14, they have the coronation.

They renew the kingdom They made it official giving to this elected King the authority to rule so in verse 15

They go to Gilgal and they're officially endowed Saul with the authority of the government the the government rests on His shoulders now

They did it nurses before the Lord. I was in his sight for his glory

They also sacrifice peace offerings So, you know you sacrifice the fat the blood to the

Lord, but the rest you get to eat so this is a big barbecue They're celebrating their feasting before the Lord. And so Saul and all the people it says at the end they rejoiced

Greatly You know who your king is by whether authority has been invested in him

Jesus demonstrated his rule by rising from the dead Overcoming the last enemy and then announcing with his coronation at his resurrection

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me How do you know who your king is?

He's been coronated risen from the dead invested with all authority

How do you know who your Savior is Arguments of apologetics Can only inform you that he can

Save you no matter how good the arguments are how ironclad the reasoning is scoffers will still reject it until They are saved you can't reason someone into faith, even though that we have plenty of reasons for our faith

They'll still reject the reasons until God touches their heart But what about for you

Hopefully, I'm pretty sure here you're not a scoffer. I don't think there's any worthless fellows here

You know who is your Savior? But how did you come to know that?

Really? There's only one way The answer is obvious But of course, it's it's not a stupid answer.

It's a great one. How do you know who your Savior is? You know

By him saving you and when he does You rejoice greatly