1 Samuel 13

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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October 19, 2022

1 Samuel 14:24-46

00:01: All right, let's open our Bibles to Samuel, 1st Samuel, I'm sorry, chapter 13, and I will read the whole chapter.
00:22: I'm just going to let you know, when I read this, we probably have multiple translational issues here, so if it sounds different, I'm going to, we'll work it out, okay? Anyway, Saul was 30 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for 42 years over Israel.
00:43: Now Saul chose for himself 3,000 men of Israel, which 2,000 were with Saul in Michmash in the hill country of Bethel, while 1,000 were with Jonathan at Gibeah of Benjamin.
00:56: But he sent away the rest of the people, each to his tent, and Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Gibeah.
01:02: And the Philistines heard of it, then Saul blew the trumpet throughout the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.
01:10: And all Israel heard the news that Saul had smitten the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become odious to the Philistines.
01:19: So the people were then summoned to Saul at Gilgal.
01:23: Now the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, some 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and people like sandwiches of the sea, sand which is of the sea, not sandwiches, okay? Sand which is on the seashore in abundance.
01:41: And they came up and encamped at Michmash east of Bethhaven.
01:47: And when the men of Israel saw that they were in the strait, for the people were hard pressed, then the people hid themselves in the caves, the thickets, in cliffs, in cellars, and in the pits.
01:59: Also some of the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead.
02:04: But as for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him, trembling.
02:10: Now he waited seven days according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.
02:19: So Saul said, Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.
02:24: And he offered the burnt offerings there.
02:27: As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came, and Saul went out to meet him and greet him.
02:36: But Samuel said, What have you done? And Saul said, Because I saw the people, and they were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, therefore I said, Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I will not have asked the favor of the Lord.
02:58: So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering, and Samuel said to Saul, You have acted foolishly.
03:05: You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you.
03:10: For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your kingdom shall not endure.
03:17: And the Lord sought out for himself a man after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as a ruler over his people, because you have not kept the Lord's commands.
03:27: Then Samuel arose, and he went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin.
03:31: And Saul numbered the people who were present with him, about six hundred men.
03:35: Now Saul and his son Jonathan and the people who were present with them were staying in Gibeah of Benjamin while the Philistines encamped at Michmash.
03:46: And the raiders came, and the camp of Philistines, and the three companies.
03:49: One company turned to Orpha, and the other to the land of Shual, and the other company towards Beth-haran, and another turned toward the border which overlooked the valley of Zibion towards the wilderness.
04:05: Now no blacksmith could be found in the land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords and spears.
04:13: So all the Israel went down to the Philistines, each one sharpening his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his hoe.
04:23: And the charge was two thirds of a shekel for the plowshares, and the mattocks, and the forks, and the axes, and to fix hoes.
04:30: So it came about that the day of battle that there was neither sword nor spear that was found in the hands of any of the people that were except for Saul and Jonathan.
04:39: And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass at Michmash.
04:45: Okay, I'm going to unplug this so I don't trip.
04:48: He's got the same situation.
04:58: In chapter 11, what did we learn about, just a little recap, what did we learn about Saul in chapter 11? What's that? Yep.
05:14: Main thing, he was the deliverer, right? Deliverer.
05:17: Correct, that was certainly it.
05:19: He was the deliverer.
05:24: Man, this was the pinnacle, this was the pinnacle of his kingship, really.
05:34: We see his attitude and actions towards God, towards God's people, everything.
05:39: That was the greatest part of Saul's, in my opinion, his life.
05:45: Everything from here is a downward spiral, and we're going to learn that today.
05:51: He was established in chapter 12 as the king that was confirmed by the people.
05:58: So now, when we get to chapter 13, it says, Mike, what does yours say? In chapter 13, verse 1.
06:09: Saul reigned one year, and when he reigned two years over Israel.
06:17: Does anybody say anything different? I'm going to try to, go ahead.
06:20: What translation do you have? Okay.
06:22: Okay.
06:30: Okay, anybody else have something different? Anybody else? You? You're saying it's his? You all have the inspired version? You're saying he was 30 years old or something like that? Okay, yeah, it says now, Saul was 30 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 42 years over Israel.
06:49: Here's the situation we have here with the Masoretic text, okay? We have lost, in the manuscripts, okay, even the Masoretic text, we have lost, actually, some translations actually put it this way.
07:08: I think this would have been easier to understand, but it doesn't help.
07:11: It says, Saul, and then, ellipses.
07:16: That would be easier to understand.
07:19: What is yours? You got the New King James.
07:20: Does yours say the same thing as Mike's? Okay.
07:24: In the Masoretic text and some of the older manuscripts in the Septuagint, all try to make sense that in the manuscripts we have lost the actual time, okay, the actual date.
07:37: One of the Masoretic texts says, and you'll understand why this is confusing, Saul was a son of one year, and he began to reign.
07:46: What does that sound like? Like he was a baby.
07:48: He was a baby.
07:49: And we know that wasn't because he didn't take the throne then.
07:53: But and, if you continue to read, he had a son that was old enough to at least go to war, so he was at least 20, Jonathan.
08:02: So, when it says he was 30 years old when he began to reign, in the New American Standard, and 42 years over Israel, what it has done was backed up, because we have the full revelation of redemptive history because of the Bible.
08:17: Some of them go to Acts chapter 13, and if you can go look, it says he reigned 30 years, okay? So, he reigned 30 years, and one of the Masoretic texts, it does say that there was two years.
08:31: They take the, I'm sorry, 40 years.
08:36: They take the 40, add that with the two.
08:38: That's how they get that he reigned 42 years and that he was 30.
08:41: We believe that when Saul died, he was 72.
08:45: Think about that.
08:47: If he died when he was 72, you remember where he died at? On the battlefield.
08:58: That guy right there was still strong.
09:02: Dude, he was getting it.
09:04: He was getting it.
09:06: Now, if our numbers are correct, based on trying to interpret it kind of backwards, and he fought, even though he was condemned that he was going to die.
09:18: He was told the day he was going to die, and he was still out.
09:21: Was he still not doing what God said he was going to do? He was out doing what his job was, which was being successful as a deliverer, but he was disobedient.
09:33: Now, I personally think it would have been better to leave it with the ellipses, okay? Because it just says, okay, now we're trying to figure out, in people's minds, they go, well, man, how can I find that the Scripture that I have in my hand is accurate? Look, I want you to understand.
09:53: The Bible, Genesis to Revelation, without error in its original autographs, the problem is we don't have the original autographs.
10:02: But we do have enough fragments and pieces that as we begin to put the Scriptures back together, we can have an accurate representation without error in the sense of doctrine and theology, okay, and without error of what the originals look like.
10:19: Everybody get that, okay? I don't want anybody here to say, hey, because there's a textual variant here, which is a major textual variant, I don't want anybody here to be doubting the tenacity nor the veracity of Scriptures.
10:30: We all agree on that, okay? Sure.
10:32: Do I need to answer anything else before we move forward? No? Okay.
10:35: Yeah? No? Okay.
10:40: So Saul, if, I'll even say this, to my understanding of Saul, I'll lean towards the King James.
10:50: They've interpreted it for you.
10:51: Read yours again.
10:53: Saul reigned one year.
10:55: Okay.
10:55: And when he reigned two years over Israel.
10:58: All right.
10:58: He had reigned one year.
11:06: The last thing we know about him was crushing Nahash, the serpent.
11:10: Remember that serpent? So he had one year.
11:15: Reigned one year.
11:16: What did Saul do for one year? No, he actually went back to the farm, then he came and delivered.
11:23: But based on, because they're interpreting it for you, believe it or not, and I do believe that that interpretation is very viable.
11:31: That means Saul didn't do anything for one year delivering his people.
11:35: And how do we know that? Because there's fixed to be a garrison set up in Michmash.
11:41: And then it says, what does it say, Mike? And when he reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose him 3,000 men.
11:50: All right.
11:50: Now it's taken him, he didn't get his entourage yet, remember? He could have been before.
11:57: Now he's delivered them from Nahash.
11:59: He basically, if my understanding is correct, been sitting on his hands for a year, okay, being king.
12:05: They've set up garrisons, and we're fixing to get into that.
12:09: And he doesn't start to get ready to do any fighting for when? Two years.
12:16: Yes, sir.
12:16: What did you say? How many did he choose? Chose him 3,000 men.
12:22: I'm sorry.
12:23: 2,000 were with Saul in Michmash.
12:29: So two years before he actually is really starting to make his conquest.
12:33: So has Saul really done what God has told him to do? Slack.
12:42: He's slacking.
12:43: Yeah, he's slacking.
12:46: Now, yes, ma'am? Can you explain? It is before, it's in between, well, not to be a smart aleck, but Nahash is before this.
13:03: He is established at Gilgal.
13:06: He immediately did that.
13:08: Ma'am? He immediately did Nahash.
13:10: He went home, went to the field.
13:12: There was Nahash had, if Josephus is correct on his, remember I kind of told you there was an extra biblical writing, and actually, didn't want to bring this up at that time, but the New Revised Standard Version has actually put the Dead Sea Scroll, remember I told you there was Qumran, K4, something like that.
13:36: They put that in as verse 1.
13:38: So if you read the New Revised Standard Version, it actually has verse 1 as being Nahash was going about in the land of Gilead, terrorizing the Gadites and the Reubenites.
13:51: It's this long verse.
13:53: That's actually in the New Revised Standard Version.
13:56: I think that gives some good context of what was going on right before he delivers them.
14:03: Do I think it was Holy Scripture? Nah, I don't.
14:07: But I do, and they got brackets in there to say, hey, this was found at a later time.
14:12: So that's why I didn't bring it up then.
14:15: But I do think it's accurate in that it's giving you context of what's happened.
14:19: Remember, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the intertestamental Apocrypha, like the Maccabees, Esdras, the Book of Enoch, those intertestamental times are actually very good historical books to go what was going on and how the Israelites or the Jewish people, the Hebrews at the time, knew what was going on historically.
14:42: No, sir.
14:44: No, sir.
14:45: I mean, if you want to know about Antiochus Epiphanes, you're not going to know about him through redemptive revelation in Daniel.
14:54: You're going to have to go to the Maccabees where you can see in history that that was fulfilled.
14:59: All right.
15:00: So he commissioned his king, anointed king.
15:05: He goes back to the field.
15:08: He gets the message from the people from Jabesh-Gilead that Nahash is wanting to poke out their eye.
15:16: You remember what happens when he heard that? He's coming in with the oxen.
15:20: What empowered him to be angry? The Holy Spirit.
15:24: The Holy Spirit came on him.
15:27: Remember, there's only three times that people that came on in that way.
15:30: It was Latishula.
15:30: It came on in such a way that he was fixing to deliver someone.
15:34: So he said, let's go.
15:37: So he goes after the deliverance, he goes to Gilgal, renew of the kingdom.
15:44: Remember that? Last week, renew of the kingdom.
15:46: He's actually set up as the monarch of the now reestablished renewed covenant.
15:52: That now brings us to 13 where Saul, they're telling us time frame that Saul has been sitting on his hands for two years.
16:03: Okay? Am I making sense? Okay.
16:08: If you remember last week, I did tell you that 13 and 14 should be as one unit.
16:13: The separation between chapters break is not an inspired break.
16:19: It's us trying to understand.
16:20: And also to continue the how 13 and 14 are working together and to follow the rest of the kings, how they were introduced through kings, the book of kings and first and second kings, is they say so-and-so was this old when he began to reign and he reigned this.
16:40: So you see why they did what they did in the New American Standard.
16:43: He was 30.
16:45: So they were trying to keep the same pattern as how all the other kings had been introduced.
16:53: Why? Because, dude, he was the first monarch.
16:56: Okay? Regardless of all his failures and his success, though, as a deliverer, they wanted to keep him just like all the other kings.
17:06: All right.
17:06: Anything? Any other questions? Successful but not faithful.
17:09: Too successful.
17:10: We've got to remember that.
17:11: If I don't remember anything before we get into this, remember, success does not mean faithfulness.
17:18: He was a successful deliverer.
17:20: Why? Because God was faithful to his people and he was faithful to his word that, hey, I'm going to raise you up a deliverer.
17:26: And that's exactly what he did.
17:27: He raised up a deliverer.
17:29: And he continued to do that.
17:30: And if we go, you get the two bookends.
17:33: So let's say when he began to reign here, here's the bookend.
17:36: You get to 14, it says basically Saul slayed all the enemies.
17:44: So here's the bookend.
17:45: Saul started here, and here's the bookend at the end of his reign.
17:49: He slayed his enemies as long as he could, as long as he was alive until he To the day he died.
17:54: To the day he died.
17:55: He died on the battlefield just like God said he was going to.
17:59: Okay.
18:01: Now, Saul chose for himself 3,000 men of Israel, which 2,000 were with Saul, in Michmash.
18:08: I don't have the map.
18:09: It's over there.
18:10: Michmash is just north of Gibeah near Migron.
18:15: Maybe on the map, two inches.
18:22: So about this far.
18:24: All right.
18:25: Michmash in the hill country of Bethel.
18:27: So if you remember where Bethel was at, it's right in that area just north of it.
18:31: So while 1,000 were with Jonathan.
18:35: Now, this is the first time we see this man introduced.
18:54: H-O-N or just O-N? All right.
19:05: Who's Jonathan? Saul's son.
19:10: And you see right here it says, but he sent away the rest of the, oh, I'm sorry, let me back up.
19:18: While 1,000 were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin, Benjamin being the tribal area of Gibeah.
19:27: While he sent the rest of them, of the people, each to his own tent.
19:31: Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines.
19:35: That was at Gibeah.
19:36: So remember, Saul hadn't done anything for a year or two, right? How did the garrison get into Gibeah? Because Saul wasn't doing his job.
19:52: Yeah, Saul wasn't doing his job.
19:54: So they come in.
19:55: He's enjoying being, remember, he's probably, certainly the most important person being a monarch.
20:01: He's got a, because of what he did here, dude, he's fanfare.
20:06: I mean, he's probably having people come see him, telling him what a great guy he is.
20:11: That's why he hated David.
20:12: Whenever they started singing their songs, Saul killed his father.
20:15: Correct.
20:16: Correct.
20:16: Oh, let me just back, because I just thought about something.
20:19: Just to remember, this is a great deliverance for him.
20:22: As you get to the end of the book and Saul is killed 40 years later, you know who goes and gets his body from off the wall? The people from Jabesh Gilead.
20:34: 40 years later, they remembered what Saul had done for him in saving them from Nahash, and they travel all night to get Jonathan's body and the rest of them and to get Saul's body off the, because they had beheaded him and nailed him, so we'll get to all that in a few weeks or so, by Christmas, hopefully.
20:56: Anyway, I just thought that was here.
20:57: Forty years later, those people had not forgotten that this guy came and saved our whole city from being overrun and having our eyes poked out and our children enslaved.
21:08: And they said, you know what, we can't let him be dishonored, and they went and got his body.
21:11: All right, so it says that Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines.
21:18: What's Jonathan doing what Saul should have done? Who should have went and smote the garrison? Who was to be the deliverer? Saul.
21:29: Now, could he have led the army? He sure could have.
21:32: But Jonathan goes, hey, I'm going to go take care of this.
21:36: That was in Gibeah, and the Philistines heard of it.
21:38: Okay, so the Philistines hear that the Israelites or the Hebrews had smashed the garrison in Gibeah, and look who blows the horn.
21:50: Saul then blows the trumpet throughout the land saying, let all the Hebrews hear, all of Israel heard.
21:57: Who smote the garrison? Saul did not smite the garrison.
22:04: It was Jonathan.
22:07: And the Philistines, and also that the people had become odious to the Philistines, and the people were then summoned to Saul back, well, it doesn't say back at Gilgal.
22:18: Interesting, again, they go back to the place where his monarch was established, where the covenant was basically renewed, and the kingdom was renewed.
22:27: They go back to Gilgal.
22:28: The people had become a, basically the Hebrews had become a thorn in the flesh.
22:38: Yeah, had become a thorn in the flesh to the Philistines.
22:44: Now the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel some 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and the people like the sand, which is of the sea, not sandwiches, of the seashore, in abundance.
23:00: And they came and they encamped at Mikmash east of Bethhaven, and when the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait for the people of hard press, then the people hid themselves in caves and thickets and cliffs and cellars and in pits.
23:14: Hey, look, they really didn't even get to the point to where, hey, when the fight gets bad, flee and we'll fight another day.
23:24: They didn't even start fighting.
23:26: Them jokers said, we're out.
23:28: We're just going to go hide.
23:30: So they go and they hide, and then it says in verse 7, also some of the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead.
23:40: Interesting that they crossed the Jordan and they go to the land of Gilead.
23:45: Why was the land of Gilead even a place of safety? Because of what Saul did, what, two years earlier? By running Nahash and killing all the encampments where they had sieged the city of Jabesh-Gilead.
24:02: But as for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
24:09: Interesting that here it is, their deliverer is leading them into battle, and every one of them says that they're terrified.
24:19: Look, they should have, hey, this guy here is the one that's going to lead us into battle.
24:24: He's the one that delivered us from our fellow brethren from Nahash.
24:30: Why should they be trembling? Now, verse 8, now he waited seven days according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.
24:49: Now, if we go back to, remember when we did the signs, the signs, the empowerment and instructions? Do you remember what he was told to do? You're going to go to Gilgal and you're going to wait seven days.
25:07: I think it's in chapter 9, verse 30.
25:08: Is that it? I don't have 30 verses.
25:16: 13? Where are we at? I'm lost.
25:26: He said you're going to go to Gilgal and you're going to wait for seven days.
25:32: You're going to wait for me there, and when you get those instructions, that's what you're going to do.
25:36: This is it right here.
25:38: He says he has gone to Gilgal.
25:40: He has been there seven days.
25:42: He's waiting for Samuel to come.
25:46: Listen to what happens.
25:47: He says, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people...
25:52: Remember, this is seven days he's waiting.
25:54: Samuel has not showed up yet.
25:56: But Samuel had not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.
26:01: So Saul said, bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offering.
26:16: Who was responsible for giving that? The priest.
26:22: In this case, it would have been Samuel.
26:24: Samuel says, you go wait.
26:26: I'm going to come, and when I come, this is what I'm going to do.
26:29: Your instructions is to go and wait.
26:31: His instructions were not to offer up any type of burnt offering.
26:35: That was not his job.
26:36: His job was to go and to wait.
26:39: He says, now Saul said, bring to me the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, and he offered up the burnt offering.
26:48: And here it is.
26:49: As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came.
26:55: Now, we should understand this as this is the seventh day.
27:01: Samuel had not...
27:02: I'll just say this.
27:03: He woke up on the morning of the seventh day and said, man, we've been waiting six days, and Samuel ain't here.
27:09: This is the seventh day.
27:11: And what did it say the people were doing? They were leaving.
27:15: Yeah, so the people were like, look, man.
27:19: It don't look like Samuel's coming, so they're going to start leaving.
27:21: So what does he do in fear of the people not staying and fighting? He offers it up himself.
27:28: He didn't wait.
27:29: Dude, just hours.
27:32: Hours away.
27:34: So close, yet so far away from being faithful and obedient.
27:39: And what does he do? He offers up the burnt offering, and here's who comes walking in.
27:45: The one who should have offered up the burnt and peace offering.
27:51: It says as soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came in, and Saul went out to meet him, and Samuel...
27:59: It's interesting.
28:00: He doesn't even go say, hey, buddy, how are you? He just, Samuel, immediately says, and remember, this is going to be another time.
28:06: This is just the first time this happens.
28:11: He says, what have you done? What have you done? And Saul said, because I saw that the people were scattering from me and that you had not come within the appointed days, that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash.
28:30: Therefore, I said, now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked favor of the Lord.
28:40: So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.
28:45: What was Saul trusting in? Yes, but superstitious religiosity.
28:57: He offered this and this for what? Thinking he was going to somehow appease and get the favor because he says it? I'm sorry.
29:09: Sure, that would be good, yeah.
29:12: This was going to be his lucky charm.
29:14: So he says, look, and we'll see another time.
29:17: He calls in for the umam and the thuram, and he's got a guy that really ain't a priest anymore, and he wants to call in the ephod and the ark and all that.
29:24: He does the same thing again.
29:25: This kind of superstition that, hey, if I do this, God is obligated now to have favor over me as I go into battle.
29:41: Sure, whether it's fear of men, fear of losing, that still falls under fear of men, yeah.
29:47: It still falls into some line of fear.
29:50: Instead of being faithful and being obedient and fearing the Lord, he did, he feared men.
29:59: Now, we could go back, you know, when he was hiding, we'd say, you know, there was the seeds of him being fearful of men.
30:04: I can say this.
30:05: We know this right here at this particular time.
30:08: He was concerned that his people were leaving, and he did what he did.
30:13: One, not only to, like you said, partially to save his own neck, but because he wanted, hey, he thought, if these people are leaving, I've got half, let's just say he had half of the men that were going to go to battle.
30:23: He goes, I offer up this burnt peace offering.
30:25: God's now obligated to give me the win.
30:31: Man, man, he knew what he was doing was wrong.
30:40: Yeah, he knew what he was doing was wrong.
30:43: I'm sure Saul didn't just snatch his own arm behind his back and force himself to the rock.
30:50: He went, you know what, I know what I'm fixing to do is wrong.
30:53: I was supposed to wait for Samuel for seven days.
30:57: It's the morning of the seventh.
30:58: The dusk has not come yet, so the day hadn't ended.
31:02: All he had to do, just a few more hours, just a few more hours.
31:06: And we're going to see it again shortly, not just a few more chapters, almost the same wording when he's supposed to go slay all the Amalekites, and he goes in there, and I mean, it's a great delivery.
31:21: I mean, he does, but he doesn't do it to its obedience.
31:26: From a human standpoint, what he did was great.
31:32: But from God's standpoint, he was unfaithful.
31:35: That's why we have to remember success and unfaithfulness.
31:39: So just because someone's successful does not mean they're faithful.
31:42: In this case, he was very unfaithful.
31:46: He thought he was going to make himself a success by offering up this burnt offering and this peace offering, somehow manipulating God to give him the battle or the win.
31:59: So now you get to verse 13.
32:01: Samuel said to Saul, You have acted foolishly.
32:04: You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you.
32:10: For now the Lord your God would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
32:21: I'm going to try to get into 14.
32:26: All right.
32:29: When we read that, we should, in our mind, we should go, Wait a minute.
32:34: How is his kingdom going to be established forever? Who was supposed to have the kingdom forever? Judah.
32:41: Saul's Benjamin.
32:43: So we should have some understanding, go, Man, something don't sound too right here.
32:48: You know, what's going on here? And when it says forever, the word olam in Hebrew, okay, there is no word in the Hebrew language that means eternal.
33:00: Okay, I just want you to understand, does not.
33:03: Anytime you look at, this will be an everlasting, perpetual covenant, whether it be circumcision or the Mosaic legislation, the word olam in Hebrew just means for a long period, extended time.
33:15: There is no word, like I said, no word means eternal.
33:19: Now, when we look at the word olam that's used a lot of times in the Psalms, speaking of God being everlasting or he is forever, well, we interpret that word olam then in light of the subject which it's talking about.
33:38: Look, we know that God's eternal, correct? Right? So when we read this and we go, Hey, I would have established your, if you had just done what I told you to do.
33:47: Well, basically, as a mouthpiece of God, if you had done what God told you to do through my mouth, your kingdom would have been established forever for a long period of time.
33:58: Hey, I really do believe, and we can talk about maybe for four minutes, I do believe we may have been talking about Saulite dynasty.
34:15: I mean, that's what it says, does it not? There would have been, there could have very well have been, had Saul had been obedient, we could have had a dynasty for however long that would have been of the tribe of Benjamin that eventually would have been passed down to the tribe of Judah and go on.
34:36: But he was disobedient.
34:38: Now, you say, well, how can you say that? Well, because God knows all things.
34:43: And does God know not all possibilities? Does God not know contingencies? Does he? Yeah.
34:51: I mean, we have other times in scripture where that same thing happens.
34:55: I can't remember the prophet, if anybody can remember who it was, but he said, hey, if you go out there and you beat on the ground three times with your spear, or it was his arrow, he said, go beat on the ground and it'll run your enemies away.
35:07: He beats on it three times on the ground and the prophet comes and says, no, if you'd have beat it six times, they'd have ran away.
35:14: Then you have other times where like when David, as we get to the end, he entreats the Lord.
35:24: He says, hey, if I stay here, what's going to happen? God says, if you stay here, they're going to kill you.
35:29: And so what does he do? He leaves.
35:31: That's contingent knowledge.
35:32: God's saying, look, if you do stay, they're going to kill you.
35:36: You even have Jesus do it in the New Testament.
35:38: Remember, this is some that I've had many questions on.
35:43: And Jesus says, had the word that was preached to you here today would have been preached in Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have repented.
35:52: So there is what's called contingent knowledge.
35:55: Now, does this mean that Saul was not, although this was under the decree of God, does this mean that Saul's decisions were not his own guilt? No.
36:11: Just because God decreed it, he's guilty.
36:14: And why did Saul do what he did? Because he had a nature of disobedience.
36:20: He didn't care about honoring the Lord.
36:22: He did what he did out of his own volition, out of his own desire to serve himself.
36:26: Now, is there, we have, and we talked about this just briefly yesterday, Dan, we do have right here divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
36:39: We have it.
36:40: They're not in conflict.
36:42: Look, I've heard it said before, and I've said this to you yesterday, a guy said, you know, I don't know how anybody can reconcile divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
36:50: Well, you don't have to reconcile those which work together.
36:53: God works out his decree through human will.
36:59: Does God decree the sinful acts of men? He does.
37:05: He does.
37:06: Is he guilty of those sinful acts? No, because the sinful acts come out of our own desires.
37:13: We'll just take, for instance, was it a sinful act for Jesus to be betrayed, to be given over to the Jews, then the Jews hand him over to the Romans to be crucified.
37:28: Were those not sinful acts? Yeah.
37:32: But it was a predetermined will of God.
37:33: It was a predetermined will.
37:34: But why did Judas betray Jesus? Because he was a money grubber.
37:42: He was a money grubber.
37:43: Why did the Jews want to kill Jesus? Pilate knew.
37:47: He even said it.
37:48: Because they're envious and they don't like him.
37:50: Because he's going to have people follow him more than them, so they want to kill him.
37:54: Why did Pilate kill him? Because he was a coward.
38:00: And he did want to save his own neck.
38:02: So, though, you see how in God's decree, he used the sinful inclinations of men.
38:08: Every one of them wound up in some form of fear.
38:10: So in their own hearts and minds, they were doing this because they wanted to for a particular reason.
38:19: But it was God commanding it.
38:21: Look, man, every act of disobedience, every act of sin falls on the sinner.
38:27: Every act of benevolence and good falls on the gracious and sovereign act of God restraining His people.
38:36: Yes, sir.
38:38: Oh, I thought you were going, power! Yes, sir.
39:10: Sure, and we would all agree that puppets don't have wills.
39:16: Robots don't have wills.
39:18: And they don't have emotions which drive their decisions.
39:21: Look, our problem, man's problem is not that he has choices.
39:24: The man's problem is the choices that he makes.
39:27: Look at Saul.
39:29: It's not the problem that he had the opportunity to make a choice to obey or disobey.
39:34: The problem is the fact that he chose to disobey.
39:37: Is that not the common denominator among all men? I mean, think about it.
39:41: Every time we've disobeyed God, did we do it willfully? Our will is determined by our sin nature.
39:48: Sure, that's what Andy was just saying.
39:49: If you're here, this is man, okay, and this is his nature.
39:58: Outside of his nature is godliness.
40:05: Can you ever choose that outside of your nature? Can you ever come outside of this and choose this? Not apart from the regenerating power of the Spirit.
40:18: And the only way that happens is because then you are no longer bound, like Andy said, to your depravity.
40:24: Now you have been now partakers of the heavenly or divine nature.
40:30: Don't make you divine, but it makes you then, oh, wow, I've been liberated.
40:35: You had an owl.
40:37: You can get out of here.
40:39: So now you can choose to do good.
40:42: The problem is we don't always do that.
40:44: We still have the ability to say no to sin.
40:46: We're no longer bound to our sinful nature.
40:49: No longer.
40:50: We're no longer slaves to sin.
40:51: I think you said it yesterday in Romans 6.
40:53: I'm sorry.
40:54: I heard Bode Bauckham say one time that does a cow have the will to eat meat? It does, but it's not his nature to do so.
41:04: A cow doesn't eat meat.
41:05: No, he eats grass.
41:06: He eats grass.
41:07: Does he have the will to eat meat? Yeah.
41:09: He does.
41:09: Okay.
41:10: But it's not in his nature to do so.
41:13: Just like a fish.
41:14: A fish is free to go all over and say there's a fish bowl.
41:17: A fish can go wherever he wants in that fish bowl, can't he? Wherever he wants.
41:22: But he can't go outside the fish bowl.
41:24: Why? He can't breathe.
41:27: He can't be.
41:27: Dude, he can't suck air.
41:29: He breathes oxygen that goes across his gills that come from water.
41:35: So, all right.
41:38: We will pick up at 14 next week.
41:54: Mr.
41:54: Mike, would you pray us out of here? You don't mind, do you? You want to do it for me? Yes, sir.
42:04: Father, we thank you for this time together.
42:07: We thank you, Brother Mike, because he's brought your word.
42:11: And our desire would be to do those things which are right in your eyes because we love you.
42:19: We thank you for this time together, and we pray, Lord, that as we go into service, we pray that you would bless Brother Mike as he has prepared, that you would empty him of himself and fill him with fresh and anew with your spirit.
42:35: Use him to bring forth your word with boldness and clarity.
42:40: We pray that you give us ears to hear and that your people would be strengthened in their faith and that the lost would be saved.
42:48: In Christ's name we pray.
42:49: Amen.