Church Service on January 21st, 2018

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Church service on January 21st, 2018 at First Baptist Church of Leominster, MA.

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We trust that you have your Bibles with you and in front of you. We're gonna be looking at some extended passages this morning as we consider this subject.
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Last Lord's Day, we began to address a small series as it were within this greater one that we've been in now since the summer, the
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ABCs of the Christian life, chiefly on how we can follow Jesus Christ rightly.
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That is the basics of the Christian life. And in order to address these basics, certainly we have to address the three great spiritual foes with which we contend.
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And so we began to address these three great enemies with which the Christian engages spiritual warfare in this fallen world.
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And these enemies are of course the fallen world with its values and ways of thinking.
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Secondly, our own sinful flesh which entices us to indulge in the things that God has forbidden us.
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And then thirdly, the devil, that malevolent spirit with his minions that are at times subtly enticing us and at times openly withstanding us.
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But always accusing us before others and accusing us to ourselves too.
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He's the accuser of the brethren. Now last week we introduced this first enemy, the fallen world or rather worldliness we might call it, and the danger it poses to each of us.
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And so last week we pointed out that the term world, the English word world is used in a variety of different ways with different nuances.
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In the holy scriptures. But when we speak of the world as a spiritual enemy of the
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Christian, we're speaking of basically essentially the culture of the world, the fallen world.
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The culture of this fallen world including the ideas, thoughts, thought processes, values and practices that are in opposition to the holy will of God.
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Thinking as the fallen world thinks is natural to us. In fact we would say it's normal, it's the normal way we think.
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We're of the world, so we think as the world. At least that's how we're born. When we're born into this world, we were born as worldlings.
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That's an old English word where the Puritans used but quite apt I think. Worldlings, because we're the world.
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And so worldliness is natural and normal for us. Worldly ways of thinking and valuing and evaluating things, people, events and our own selves seem at first consideration to be right and true and many times even just.
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People often justify themselves and what they think and what they do. Not because the word of God teaches them that to think and do that way, but because this is just to them natural.
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This is the way the world does things. And oftentimes it's completely opposite to what
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God prescribes in his word, isn't it? And so again the world which is the culture with its ideas, values and practice of the world is opposed and contrary to the way and will of the
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Lord. This is set forth in the verse we read last week which is really the passage over, you know connects all of these matters of spiritual warfare together.
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In which John the apostle wrote, do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him.
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Two diametrically ways of thinking, valuing. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not of the father, but is of the world and the world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.
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The doing the will of God is someone who believes on Christ and attempts to conform his thinking and life to Christ.
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The ones who do the will of God, they're not saved because they do the will of God, but they're saved and they show forth they're saved because they do the will of God from the heart.
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God of course has put that desire within them and he enables them by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so before we were
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Christians, we were enemies of God. We might not have known it, but we were on the side of the world and we were opposed to God before becoming
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Christians. And during that time, God was opposed to us. Two enemies,
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God and the fallen world. Even at enmity with God, there's such hostility between the two.
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However, when we were converted, we changed allegiance, didn't we? We're no longer on the world side, we're on the side of God we trust.
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And so we change our allegiance. And so by God's grace, we forsook the world, we joined ourselves to the
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Lord. So when we were converted to Christ, we were brought to side with his kingdom against the course of this world.
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And so now we agree with God. We are for God and we're opposed to the world before we were for the world and opposed to the true
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God. We now love the things we once hated, now we hate the things we once loved.
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I mean, a great transformation took place all due to the grace of God in the soul. Paul wrote of this transference of allegiance that took place by God's grace through our regeneration or new birth, the sovereign work of God in bringing life to sinners by the
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Holy Spirit. And so he wrote in Ephesians two, one through seven, and you he made alive.
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These Christians in the church at Ephesus, they were dead in their sins and trespasses, minding their own business, unconcerned, uncaring, didn't know the true
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God. And God reached down as it were and caused them to come alive spiritually speaking.
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They were dead. Who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world.
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There you have it. We were once, you know, part of this world, thought as the world, believed as the world, valued things as the world values them.
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And we once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, that would be the devil, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, that would be non -Christians, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, we're no better than they.
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We're certainly different than they, but we're no better than they. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and we're by nature, children of wrath.
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It was in our nature. It was natural to be worldly because we were worldlings.
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But God who is rich in mercy, see, he took action. He took it. He stepped in, but God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us.
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And that's a covenant love from eternity for his people whom he purposed to redeem. And the reason is, is he in eternity before creation, he looked upon the ones that he purposed to save and he saw them as in union with his eternal son.
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And because he loves his eternal son with an everlasting love, he loves those that are in his son by election with an everlasting love.
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And he purposed he would save them. God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us.
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Even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, made us alive together with Christ by grace you saved and raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
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That means we're enthroned with King Jesus. That in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
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Through eternity, we're gonna be learning more and more, appreciating more and more the grace of God through which
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God dealt with us. By the way, in the passage we just read in Ephesians 2, notice he links these three foes together just as John did in 1
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John 2, 15 through 17. Paul wrote of the world, but he also wrote of the flesh and the devil and I put those in italics.
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I didn't embolden the second and third aspects, but all three are there just as we saw in 1 John 2, 15 through 17.
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All in the same context. There's an interaction and cooperation between these three forces opposed to us, the world and the flesh and the devil.
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In fact, we might refer to them as a spiritual axes of power against us with which we are at spiritual war.
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And therefore, there was a time when we sided with the enemy, as it were, but we thank
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God that our allegiance switched to our Lord's side when God in his grace caused us to be born again.
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Everything changed. However, though our hearts allegiance to the world and though it is our resolve no longer to embrace the world in its ways, worldliness still resonates with us, with you and with me to a degree, with every
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Christian. And so with every Christian, there is still present, of course, sinful desires within us.
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Paul could write, it's sin that dwells within me. We're plagued with this sin principle that's still within us.
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And so because we're still influenced by the world when we think, assess matters, make decisions, we're often unwittingly overtaken by the world and we remain conformed to the world.
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Even as Christians, we don't wanna be, but we don't know any better, as it were. Because again, we're born into this world.
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This is the way we naturally think. Makes sense to us. Well, that sounds reasonable.
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We're kind of like Lot living in Sodom. On the one hand, his righteous soul was greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked.
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He was grieved every day by what he saw and heard there on the streets of Sodom. That righteous man lived among them day after day.
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He was tormenting his righteous soul over the lawless deeds that he saw and heard. That resonates, doesn't it?
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Where's Lot? Nevertheless, the values, attitudes and actions within the world of Sodom to which
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Lot was exposed daily influenced his thinking, his desires, his values, his actions, resulting in moral compromise on his part, spiritual insensitivity and great loss to himself and his family.
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And it does it with us, too. And so depending on how well we apprehend what worldliness is to the degree that we've surrendered ourselves to its thinking in ways to the level of our understanding, informed and reinforced by the word of God, we'll continue to be confused and in error in identifying and turning away from worldliness in our lives.
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Because of the great danger the world poses to us and because each of us carries with us in our thinking a measure of worldliness, every one of us, we need constant instruction and reinforcement from the scriptures, continual application of the truth of the word of God to our lives in order to shape and direct our thinking and practice.
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We read the verse last week that addresses this, Romans 12, one and two,
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Paul writing to Christians, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service or ministry.
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And do not be conformed to this world. And the Greek construction is a little unusual here, what he's saying is, stop being conformed to the world.
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He's writing to them, you're already conformed to the world, stop it. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
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And you might recall last week, I advocated that spiritual warfare, contrary to some of these crazies out here who find a demon under every rock, spiritual warfare is primarily in our understanding of truth, truth of the word of God, confronting and correcting error in which we are immersed within this world.
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And so as we shape our thinking by the word of God, which involves not only informing our minds, but also correcting our errant thinking and reasoning, we're better able to see the world from God's perspective, and that's what we desire.
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That's what wisdom is in the scriptures, biblically defined, seeing the world from God's perspective, that's wisdom.
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If there's a difference in the word understanding, wisdom and understanding are often linked together in Proverbs, understanding would be the practical application of that wisdom.
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Wisdom is seeing things from God's perspective, and understanding is knowing how to apply it in your daily life.
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Well, if we do so, we will then by the grace given to us by the Holy Spirit and able to live for God and before God in this world in a better way than we have in the past.
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We began last Lord's Day to address some specific manifestations of worldly thinking and their correctives.
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There are major principles in the Holy Scriptures that tend to run counter to the world, that is sinful worldly thinking, and you can identify these.
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So we set forth in our notes last week, last week two principles of the word of God that run counter to the spirit of the world.
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We didn't really have a lot of time, take a lot of time or effort to, we didn't have the time to delineate these in detail, but they're set pretty forth clearly in the notes from last week.
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But the first principle is that of living under human authority, which is something we don't naturally do.
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You have to train kids to obey, don't you? It doesn't come naturally to them. That's just, again, because we're worldly.
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And so we asserted that it's the will of God that each of us humbly serve and obey human authorities that God has placed over us, whether it be in the family, the workplace, the church, or in the political arena.
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And then the second principle that we just barely addressed was the importance of denying self and personal rights.
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But we addressed this earlier in the series in some detail, and so it's not necessary that we go over that to any degree at this time.
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We've covered that pretty thoroughly in the past. But today let's consider another principle set forth in the word of God that's contrary to the spirit of the fallen world in which we live.
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And this principle is, which ought to be pretty obvious to us who've got any kind of spiritual sense, we're not to give chief regard to the outward appearance of people.
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Rather, we are to value highly godly character and holiness in others. I say that we should understand this, but really, many times, professing
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Christians do not. I have one illustration, personally. I don't like to stand up here and talk about myself, but when we talk about these things, and I've got a few years now under my belt, and I remember things.
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And when we were in Germany, and you people here were looking for a pastor, we were looking for a church.
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And you think it's hard finding a pastor? You try and find a church that you want to go and pastor.
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And there was a large evangelical church in Anchorage, Alaska. And it looked like a nice gig, if I can use that carnal word.
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Ran about 1 ,500, and they were pretty interested in my resume. And I got through the process pretty far.
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They never once asked me one thing I believed about the Holy Scriptures.
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They never had a doctrinal question one. But they wanted a videotape of me and my family to see if we would fit.
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I mean, that so beautifully illustrates this problem of people looking on the outside, rather than the inside.
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They wanted to see how, what kind of presence we would have from the pulpit in their church.
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And apparently we didn't pass the mustard, because that brought an end to it, which I'm happy for. So anyway, here's the principle, that we are not to give chief regard to our appearance of people, but rather we're to value highly godly character and holiness in others.
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We ought to look at one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, and think well of one another, because of the
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Christian life and fellowship that we enjoy in one another.
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Not giving any credence to how a person looks, how old a person is, how young a person is, what their outside interests may be, how rich they are, that's a terrible sin, or how poor they are, but rather we ought to value people because they're rich in faith, and they love
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Christ. And that's how we ought to regard one another. There is an example, of course, in the scriptures that illustrate this spirit of worldliness,
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I think in a very clear way. We live in a world enamored by the image, what appears to be attractive and winsome.
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But whereas man looks on the surface of things, on the outward appearance, God is concerned about the inward spiritual condition of a person.
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And we'll mention 1 Samuel 16, seven, several times. For the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the
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Lord looks at the heart. And he gave that within a context where everybody was looking at the outside appearance.
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And so we could consider any number of places in the scriptures to substantiate this principle, but we've chosen the story in which we read of God's choice for the
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King of Israel to be King David rather than King Saul, who had been the people's choice.
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And so let's turn to 1 Samuel 16, and we want to read the story there.
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I trust you have your Bibles. 1 Samuel 16, one through 13, and I think
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I'm reading from the New King James Version here, if I recall rightly. 1
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Samuel 16, one through 13. Now the Lord said to Samuel, how long will you mourn for Saul?
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He was the present King, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and go, and I'm sending you to Jesse the
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Bethlehemite, for I have provided myself a king among his sons.
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Samuel said, how can I go? If Saul hears it, he'll kill me. But the Lord said, take a heifer with you and say,
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I've come to sacrifice to the Lord. And then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do, and you shall anoint for me the one
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I named to you, be one of Jesse's sons. So Samuel did what the Lord said, went to Bethlehem, and the elders of the town trembled at his coming.
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And they asked, do you come peaceably? He had some authority, didn't he?
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And he said, peaceably. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Sanctify yourselves, come with me to the sacrifice.
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And then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. So it was when they came, he looked at Eliab.
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This would have been the oldest son. Surely the Lord's anointing is before him. See, he was looking at the outside, wasn't he?
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This is natural for us. This is worldly. Who presents the best image?
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That's basically what we have any longer in the political arena, isn't it? Who has the best image that they can project to persuade any number of voters to vote for them?
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No more substance. You don't hear a whole lot of substance. It's all the image. But the
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Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I refused him. And then here's the verse we quoted earlier.
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For the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
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And so Jesse called Abinadad, made him pass before Samuel. And he said, neither has the
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Lord chosen this one. And Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, neither has the
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Lord chosen this one. And thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, the
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Lord has not chosen these. Samuel said to Jesse, are all the young men here?
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And he said, well, there remains yet the youngest. And there he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, send and bring him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.
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And so he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, that means he was red, with bright eyes and good looking.
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And the Lord said, arise, anoint him, for this is the one. And then Samuel took the horn of oil, anointed him in the midst of his brothers.
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There's an allusion to Christ, right? Being anointed above his brethren when he was made king, declared to be king.
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And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
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And so God told the prophet Samuel that he had rejected Saul as king of Israel. He told
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Samuel that one of the sons of Jesse of Bethlehem would be the new king. Samuel was to go to Bethlehem, anoint the man of God's choosing.
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But after Samuel arrived, he went through the seven sons and assumed immediately that the oldest one, probably, was the one.
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Samuel assumed it would be the oldest, probably the wisest, perhaps, in his estimation. Maybe the largest, it was the oldest son,
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I don't know. But none of the seven sons would become the king of Israel. It was the youngest son, the eighth son,
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David, that God had chosen. And so, he wasn't even there.
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Apparently, his dad didn't even think it necessary to call him. He was the least one, likely one, to arise to this position.
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And we tend to be as Samuel. When he first came into the house of Jesse and his sons, God had to tell
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Samuel, with respect to Jesse's firstborn, look not on his countenance, don't look at his appearance, or the height of his stature, because I have refused him.
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You see, as it was with Samuel, who was a godly man, it is with us. It is natural for us to value the appearance of things above the true nature and character of things.
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This is the way we tend to think. This is the way we go through each day, perhaps, giving favor to things because they appear.
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A shallow and casual and superficial assessment. Yeah, that's right, that's good, obviously.
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But this is worldliness, and we must resist it. This is how
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Israel first brought trouble upon itself with regard to their present condition, reflected, it's reflected in this passage.
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This is how and why they chose King Saul. They looked on the outside, rather than a man of character, to become their king.
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The people of Israel, they rejected God as king. The Bible presents God as king throughout all of history, since the creation,
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God as king over his creation. And he manifested his kingship to Israel, especially and particularly, and he used judges to rule over his people,
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Israel. But they didn't see God. They saw the judges, and some of them were pretty flawed,
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Samson. They wanted a king they could see, rather than God as their king, whom they could not see.
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They wanted a king like the other nations to lead them, and so they demanded of Samuel that he give them such a man.
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And so we read of the people's choice in 1 Samuel 9, one through three. There was a man of Benjamin, whose name was
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Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bekarath, the son of Aphia, a
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Benjamite, a mighty man of power. And he had a choice and handsome son, whose name was
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Saul. And there was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel.
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He was tall, too, for his shoulders were upward. He was taller than any of the people. And now the donkeys of Kish, Saul's father, were lost, and Kish said to his son,
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Saul, please, take one of the servants with you. Arise, go and look for the donkeys. Saul was tall and handsome.
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He was impressive and strong. So the people naturally looked to this man with high regard.
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He would be one who would elicit respect from them. They would follow him.
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The problem is, as they began to follow him, he would fail to lead them rightly.
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He's not the kind of guy that you would want to follow. And so the selection had been by the people rather than by the war.
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They were real excited about the future when they got him as king. But right from the beginning, however, there was something wrong.
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There was something missing in Saul's character. And it came to surface when a crisis arose.
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And this is where it's often discerned and detected. There's something wrong here.
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When a crisis arises, the man or woman of God will arise and show forth himself or herself.
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This is reflected in 1 Samuel 13, five through 10. It tells the story.
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And the Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel, 30 ,000 chariots, 6 ,000 horsemen, and people as the sand, which is on the seashore in multitude.
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That's a crisis. And they came up and encamped in Micmash to the east of Beth -Avon.
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When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger, for the people were distressed, and the people hid in caves and thickets and rocks, in holes and in pits.
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And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. The people were scattering. And this put fear, of course, in King Saul.
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As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him, trembling. And then he waited seven days according to the time set by Samuel.
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But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattered from him. So Saul said, bring the burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.
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And he offered the burnt offering. Now it happened as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering that Samuel came, and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him.
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And so the time came when Israel's enemies gathered, and the people were frightened and distressed.
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They began to run for the hills. God had given instruction to Saul, through Samuel, you wait until Samuel arrives, and then he will sacrifice just before going to battle.
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This would result, of course, in the blessing of God upon Israel's enemies. But Saul did not obey
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God. He took matters into his own hands, as he saw his people fleeing, everybody trembling.
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And so he did something in clear, direct violation of the will of God. He took and assumed the role of a priest.
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He was no priest. He was not from the tribal Levi, and he made sacrifices.
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Samuel was a priest. Saul wasn't. And so he sinned greatly when he did this.
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He took it upon himself. And it was the fear of man that drove him to do this. And no doubt, he justified himself.
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He even tried to justify himself in front of Samuel. It didn't fly, though. And so Saul himself performed the sacrifice, something only priests was to do.
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And this incurred God's judgment upon him, so that God rejected Saul as king. And so we read in verses 11 and 12.
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Samuel said, what have you done? And that's always the question a parent should ask a child, a son or daughter, what have you done?
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Get them to confess it, drag it out of them. And Saul said, when
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I saw the people were scattered from me and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the
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Philistines gathered together at Mikmash, then I said, the Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the
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Lord. Therefore, I felt compelled. I had to do it. Anybody would in my place, and offered a burnt offering.
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And so Saul, although impressive to the people outwardly, was inwardly an unstable coward.
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He was a worldly pragmatist. He was not a man of faith. And so when the pressure was turned up, he would do his will rather than God's will.
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He was a worldly man. He was not a man after God's own heart, the one who would obey
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God regardless of the appearance of things. And the circumstances in which he found himself,
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Saul's religion was one of externals and convenience. He lacked a true inward drive to honor and obey
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God. But because the people also valued most outward appearance, they did not look to the qualifications of his character when they wanted him to be king.
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And we are not to be like them. We are certainly not to be like King Saul. It is the will of God that we resist pretense, but rather, we are to be true, genuine
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Christians, sincerely zealous to believe and obey God in all things at all times. That's what we ought to be looking for in others, and that's what we ought to desire for ourselves.
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Because no matter what comes, we're not compromising.
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We're gonna do what's right and true. And that's what each of us are called to do. So what was primarily motivating
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Saul's decisions and actions? Well, the answer is Saul was more concerned about what the people thought of him than what
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God thought about him. The fear of man drove him. We may deal with an entire portion of a message on the fear of man and the fear of God.
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I don't know, we'll consider it. First Samuel 15 tells the account.
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Now, this is a longer account, but I think it's very valuable that we read the word of God as it plays out before us.
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The narrative of Scripture, the way the Scriptures tell the story is just absolutely amazing, marvelous.
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Samuel also said to Saul, we're in 1 Samuel 15, 1. The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people over Israel.
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Now, therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt.
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So now go and attack Amalek, utterly destroy all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child.
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These are hard words. Ox and sheep, camel and donkey. So Saul gathered his people together, numbered them in Talaim, 200 ,000 foot soldiers, 10 ,000 men of Judah.
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Saul came to a city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. And then Saul said to the
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Canaanites, go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites lest I destroy you with them. They had a previous treaty with the
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Canaanites. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt. So the Canaanites departed from among the
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Amalekites. And Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt.
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He also took Agag, king of the Amalekites, alive, utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
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But Saul and the people spared Agag, that would be the king, and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them, but everything despised and worthless that they utterly destroyed.
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They didn't have trouble killing people, but they didn't want to kill the animals. They wanted them for themselves.
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Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel saying, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.
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And it grieved Samuel. He cried out to the Lord all night. So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet
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Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul went to Carmel. And indeed, he set up a monument for himself.
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And he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal. And then Samuel went to Saul.
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Saul said to him, blessed are you of the Lord. I perform the commandment of the Lord. So Saul's boasting of his obedience.
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I love this statement of Samuel. What then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen
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I hear? He obeyed the Lord, what's this I hear? Saul says they have brought them from the
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Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God. The rest we have utterly destroyed.
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He justifies himself. Samuel said to Saul, be quiet, and I'll tell you what the
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Lord said to me last night. He said to him, speak on. So Samuel said, when you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel?
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Did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? And now the Lord sent you on a mission and said, go utterly destroy the sinners, the
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Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed. Why then did you not obey the voice of the
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Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord? Saul said to Samuel, but I have obeyed the voice of the
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Lord and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. Brought back Agag, king of Amalek, and I've utterly destroyed the
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Amalekites. But the people took the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice to the
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Lord your God in Gilgal. It wasn't my fault, it was the people that did it. So the time had arrived that God determined to judge the nation of Amalek for their sins, and God would use
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Israel as his instrument of judgment. Now, again, we read those passages and we kind of cringe when we do, understandably.
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And yet it was the manifestation of the judgment of God in history. But you think that's bad, wait till Jesus returns.
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Then it's gonna be really, really something to behold, right? God's judgment is true.
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And so King Saul initiated his command, but he obeyed God only in a measure, only to a degree, really according to his own determination rather than God's will.
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And so God, through Samuel, informed him of the consequences. God told
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Samuel, go confront Saul, and he did. And yet Saul claimed that he was obedient.
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I followed the Lord. What then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears? The loyalty of oxen
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I hear. The people did it. Can't help but think of, you know, in the
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Garden of Eden, you know, Adam, what have you done? It was that woman you gave me. She's the one who led me to do it.
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And then the woman, it's that serpent over there that deceived me. You know, the result of sin is we don't take responsibility, do we?
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But we've always got, you know, some situation, some reason to justify our own failure.
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And so did Saul. And so his response didn't pass the smell test with Samuel.
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Samuel responded, why didn't you obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop on the spoil and do what is evil in the sight of the
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Lord? And yet Saul continued to justify himself. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord.
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I've gone on the mission which you sent me. It was the people who took the spoil. Samuel said, basically nonsense.
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That's not gonna fly. And so Samuel said, has the Lord, as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices and as in obeying the voice of the
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Lord, behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. Classic statement. You know, embolden that, underline that.
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God would have us obey rather than somehow try and make up for it after the fact, justifying ourself, thinking that somehow we're paying off God by some sacrifice.
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And then he states, for rebellion is the sin of witchcraft. It's that evil. And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
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When you're stubborn, son or daughter, when you're stubborn toward your parents, when you or I are stubborn toward, you know, the authorities
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God has placed over us, we are committing a sin of iniquity and idolatry is what the scriptures say.
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Because you've rejected the word of the Lord, he's rejected you from being king. And so finally, after it was too late and Saul knew his fate, he regretted the consequences of actions, but his true heart comes forward.
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We won't take the time to read, but basically he says to Samuel, before you leave, won't you commend me in the eyes of the people so that I'll be respected by them, appreciated by them?
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He was concerned about the people and how they valued him rather than his concern being for God and how
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God, whether or not God approved of him. Saul would have been a king governed by poles in today's world if they were available.
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He would cast himself into whatever role the moment seemed to dictate in order to impress the people and secure their approval.
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He would be religious perhaps if that's what would gain the approval of the people. And he would allow the people to sin without rebuking them.
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If that's what they wanted, he wouldn't stop them. He was no leader, but rather he would encourage them in their rebellion.
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To Saul, the image was dominant. For the people of Israel, the image was dominant, how he looked, how he appeared.
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His personality was winsome and engaging and people looked at him with regard.
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I can't help but think of Hollywood today. Many times sports figures are elevated in a very unhealthy manner because man tends to look at those things, right?
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They don't look at character. But in times of crises, true character will be revealed.
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God looks on the inward heart of a person, value in his devotion and his resolve to obey. In contrast to the world's way of assessing people,
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God looks on the inward heart condition. And this is why God chose
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David as king. Even though he was the youngest, the least likely to assume the role of king, the least likely perhaps in the minds of the people,
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God said, this is a man who is after my own heart. In other words, he knew that David would rule over Israel according to the will of God.
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David would not rule the people according to his own will, but he would see his position as king as a responsibility to govern the people as God's will would have him do.
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Saul was not that way. David was. And so the Lord chose David to be king over Israel.
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And of course, he brought great blessing to the people and blessing to the Lord. And then of course, blessing to himself.
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Let's drop down to page eight. We just have to close in just a couple of minutes here. But I wanna point out certainly the example of the
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Lord Jesus, because David of course is a type of the Lord Jesus. Jesus is the anti -type.
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The Old Testament type is Jesus. We certainly have the example of the Lord Jesus as one to admire and emulate.
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In contrast to King Saul, the Lord Jesus sought to avoid outward show and personal fame.
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He never sought it, did he? In fact, when they wanted to make him king at the end of John chapter six, he thought,
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I can't have this. And so he began to preach them the doctrine of election and sovereign grace, and that scattered the crowd.
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He only had his 12 disciples left and they were tempted to leave him. He would not seek personal fame or credit.
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The Lord Jesus refused the devil's temptation in the wilderness. When the devil offered him, I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world if you just bow down and worship me, he refused to do it.
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The prophets foretold this aspect of our Lord's holy nature in Isaiah 53. He had no form or comeliness that we should look at him.
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Probably a reference to his appearance on the cross, but maybe it describes our
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Lord's physical appearance. If you looked at him, he wouldn't necessarily stand out as a very significant or important person.
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That's what he said, what he did, on how he looked. He was no beauty that we should desire him.
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He was despised, rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was a spy.
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We esteemed him not, is what the prophet says. And this is how the
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Jews, of course, the majority of Jews, did not esteem Jesus. The Lord spoke the truth in whatever place or whatever situation he encountered, and even his enemies acknowledged this.
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By the way, for the record, if you ever wanna put a verse on my headstone, I found it. It was said of John the
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Baptist, John did no sign, but everything he said of him was true. I thought, that's good.
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John did no miracle. The Lord Jesus was never self -serving.
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He always sought to do his Father's will. No temptation could persuade him to take another course, to compromise his convictions or principles.
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Our Lord illustrated, demonstrated every quality of holy character in all that he said and did.
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And it was all internal, wasn't it? It came out in the way he treated people, regarded people, and the
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Lord blessed him. But the Lord not only demonstrated those qualities in his own life, he asserted these qualities must be in you and me as Christians.
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The Lord said, you know, to those, he said to the
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Pharisees who pretended to be religious or thought themselves religious or partially obedient,
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I say to you that unless your righteousness, he's talking to his disciples, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
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You cannot have salvation unless you have righteousness that surpasses the righteousness of the
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Pharisees and scribes. Now, that used to trouble me. And commonly people think, how can my righteousness exceed the righteousness of the
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Pharisees? That must be righteousness imputed to me through faith alone. Now, he's talking about practical righteousness here.
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Unless your lives characterized by righteousness that exceeds the
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Pharisees and scribes, you're not going to heaven. What do you mean by that? Well, the problem with the
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Pharisees and scribes is that it was only outward, external, a show. It wasn't inward.
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Inwardly, they were self -righteous. They were arrogant, judgmental, condemning.
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If your righteousness doesn't exceed that, you don't have salvation. God is concerned about inward righteousness, a humble humility before the
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Lord. We're to be as children. We're to recognize our ignorance and our need for instruction and guidance and our dependence upon the
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Lord. These are inward qualities, not outward show. Anybody can put on an outward show and appear to most people to be a pretty good
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Christian. Again, I could go into stories, but we don't have time, we need to close.
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Lastly, bottom page nine, just a few practical responses that we may have toward this principle. First, let us avoid the worldliness of being impressed by the appearance of people.
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Again, think of the commercials on TV. And Hollywood.
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And all that's presented is all outward, isn't it? All appearance, all physical, as it were.
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Talent, wealth, education, position of power. People are enamored by it.
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They roll out the red carpet for them. Second, let us be busy developing our inner lives and let us manifest that true inner life in outward action, for God is looking upon our hearts.
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He cares about our attitudes. And our thought processes. Because one day he's gonna judge us, every one of us.
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Paul writes in Romans about he's gonna judge us according to the secret things of the heart. It's all gonna be exposed one day.
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It'll either validate the fact that we're true believers or it will invalidate our claim. Mere hypocrites.
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Scriptures tell us this. Third, let us not be pretentious. Don't put on a show of religion.
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And do not be impressed by a show from others. Look for what is real in others.
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A little humility, tenderness, a heart for God. An appreciation for the things of God.
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For the truth of God's word. Fourth, let us always be mindful that again one day the truth of our heart's condition will be made known.
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Just as Saul's character came to be known at a time of crisis, each one of us will face a crisis, won't we?
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And our true character will show forth. Fifth, let us value and emulate people for their character.
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For their love for God and his glory. And last, let us not use worldly means in an effort to further the cause of Christ in the world.
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We all know what we could do to gather a crowd. But then what do you have? You got a crowd.
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But we want reality, don't we? Lord Jesus said, he came to sift the people like a farmer sifts his wheat, separating the grain from the chaff.
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And there's some people think that they've done a great work for God when they've got the whole heaps and piles of the stuff on the threshing floor.
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But the Lord is concerned about that which is true, and refined, and real.
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And so he uses the threshing floor. Difficulty and hardship comes into the life of individual life of the church.
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And in this way, he shakes out the true from the false. And that which remains will be there because the grace of God have been operative in them.
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Amen? And may that be true of each of us, both as individual Christians, and also may that be true of us as a church.
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Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Help us, our Lord, not to be worldly, but help us,
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Lord, to think according to your word. For we know, Lord, that this will guide us rightly in the way we should go.
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Forgive us of our sin, our Lord. Forgive us of our superficial ways, our spirit of worldliness.
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Help us, our Lord, to conform ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. In his name we pray, amen.