Playing Stupid Games

Let's get started with a word of prayer Lord Jesus again as we open up your word

Send your spirit open our hearts and our minds so that we may rightly understand it Market inwardly digest so that we may know what it is.

We are to believe Confess and do we ask in Jesus name? Amen That's not part of my vocabulary

But if you would like me to add it in we can talk with the church council We'll vote on it

So We have been working our way through first Samuel and the goal here is to help us understand properly

What scripture talks about when it discusses the doctrine of the kingdom of God?

This is where it's going to be necessary for me to just kind of interject kind of three main pillars of what is it that?

Constitutes a kingdom this is gonna seem kind of basic, but this is gonna help us out here at our right understanding of it

Kingdom you must have a king. That's kind of how that works monarch is kind of important You don't have a kingdom if you don't have a monarch

So you have to have a king and a king is somebody who is a sovereign over a people

So you need you need a sovereign? You need citizens, so you need a king and you need two people, but the other important piece of this is you also need land

You'll note that kingdoms are generally geo located that's kind of basic idea here so in this story that we're looking at we're looking at the kingdom now of Israel Last week we saw the anointing of Saul as the king of Israel.

So you've got a king an anointed king You have a people and you have a land now when we talk about the kingdom of God today

We have an issue we have a kingdom we have a king we have a people

We don't got we ain't got no land There's no place you can point to on planet earth and say there it is

There right there. That's the place right there kingdom of God Okay. Now this is a little bit different.

Let's let's talk about this So the church definitely you can see the kingdom shows up every

Sunday Every Sunday the kingdom shows up at least a part of it Well, this land belongs to the territory of the kingdom.

Does that make sense this when we when we come to church? We're now Outside of the

United States. This is an embassy technically that we're in sovereign territory of the King of Kings But if you want to see the kingdom the kingdom doesn't look like Kongsvinger.

Does that make sense? So in a very real way, this is where the Exodus typology really helps us

Because we like the children of Israel We have been set free from slavery to a terrible sovereign the devil

We have been baptized and we are not yet into the promised land, but we are journeying towards it

So we're in our wilderness wanderings, but we are those people whom God has

Chosen for himself and he Christ is our King. So Christ is our

King We are his people and we're still journeying towards our promised land

Which by the way is not a raise at work. The promised land is the new earth

So a lot of people they shoot really low on this promised land thing They think the promised land refers to getting a raise at work finding your purpose or nonsense like this

The promised land is a new earth With Jerusalem as the capital

Christ is King sitting on the throne of David Forever world without end that's it.

That's kind of the ad this or journeying towards that or not there yet So this is that because of this it confuses these concepts in our mind regarding the kingdom

But in these stories that we're now reading last week Saul is anointed as king and God gave them a king that they were looking for he was tall he was handsome and Loaded by the world standards.

He fit all the criteria of what we're looking for in Somebody who would be our leader. We want somebody who's easy on the eyes

Padded in the wallet head and shoulders above the rest so that everyone says. Yep. That's our King Now as Jesus that kind of King by the way, that's right

He had no beauty or form that we should desire him so Jesus is a humble

King and he's not like this at all But we're gonna note here. We're gonna keep moving forward last week

We left off with this concept then that Samuel gives very specific prophecies to Saul Shaul in the

Hebrew gives it to Saul and these prophecies are very specific very detailed unlike today's so -called prophecies that we hear from people who call themselves prophets and We when we ended off I noted that it's gonna say that these things came true.

Well now we're gonna read here So Saul has been anointed. He's been given signs to know that the

Lord is with him He's been given a command from God that once he sees these signs he's to do whatever

You know comes to his mind for his hands to do. That's the idea. He's established as king now

Here's the funny thing God has established him because he's anointed But the people of Israel have not really yet ratified him as king

That's kind of the interesting thing. So there's still kind of a ratification process That's not really a formal process, but you're gonna see it play out in Scripture.

So we're in 1st Samuel chapter 10 Starting at verse 9 after Samuel had given him all the signs

It says when he had turned back to leave Samuel God gave him another heart all these signs came to pass that day

When they came to Gibeah behold a group of prophets met him and the Spirit of God rushed upon him and he prophesied among them and When all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets the people said to one another

What has come over the son of Kish is Shaul also among the prophets and a man of the place answered and Who is and who is their father?

Therefore it became a proverb is Saul also among prophets when he had finished prophesying

He came to the high place and Saul's uncle said to him and to a servant

Where did you go? And he said to seek the donkeys and when we saw that they were not to be found

We went to Samuel and Saul's uncle said please tell me what Samuel said to you and Saul said to his uncle

He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found But about the matter of the kingdom of which

Samuel had spoken he did not tell him kind of fascinating so Saul is the anointed king of Israel.

His uncle wants to know what happened. Where'd you go? He says what we were looking for the donkeys.

He tells him all of the details except for one tiny little detail. Oh And by the way,

I was anointed king of Israel. It's a little weird. Don't you think a

Little bit weird. He's not what? You think that's it?

God has made you king of Israel Would it be bragging to say and the weirdest thing happened to me the

Prophet Samuel anointed me king That's not bragging. I mean that that's just kind of you know, it how does this slip one's mind?

maybe he's trying to figure out a you know a Polite way of letting the family understand this.

I mean, I'm sure that would make Christmas dinners a little bit awkward So Samuel called the people together to the

Lord at Mizpah so his uncle's gonna find out and he's gonna find out because there's now going to be a means by which

Everybody gets to know what's going on and he said to the people of Israel thus says Yahweh the God of Israel I brought you up out of Israel out of Egypt I delivered you from the hand of the

Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you But today you have rejected your

God Who saves you from all of your calamities and your distresses and you have said to him said a king over us

Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands a little bit of a note here

You should hear echoes in Samuel's words You should hear echoes that go across the centuries all the way to Jesus's trial

When he's on trial before the people of Israel by Pontius Pilate Who shall

I release to you? Jesus the king of the Jews or Barabbas Barabbas in Aramaic means son of the father kind of interesting give to us

Barabbas But what about your king? Crucify him

You see notices this theme here of rejecting their king rejecting their king

Rejecting God as their king and that rejection goes all the way to Jesus who is the heir of the throne of David and When he's on trial and Pilate is saying shall

I reach released you Jesus the king of the Jews or? Barabbas the weird thing is is that Pilate kind of gets it, right

Even in the inscription that's over Jesus's, you know cross Jesus king of the

Jews and what are the Jews they took issue with this They took issue with this and said no No, it needs to say he claimed to be king and what does

Pilate say? No, I've written what I've written that's I've said what I said And when they when he wants to let him go shall

I crucify your king? They say we have no king but Caesar So you'll notice here that that in these texts you begin to kind of in type and shadow begin to unpack this idea of man's refusal to Receive God as king and here

Samuel is telling these people God gave you what you want Then is wicked of you

Absolutely wicked of you. That's kind of the theme similar thing. So Pilate gave the the crowd what they wanted

They wanted Barabbas released and the king to be crucified God gave him what they wanted.

So you'll notice here Today you've rejected your God who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses and you have said to him

Set a king over us now therefore present yourselves before Yahweh by your tribes by your thousands

Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot

He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clan and the clan of the Matt rights

Was taken by lot not mattresses by the way and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot

But when they sought him he could not be found So they inquired again of Yahweh is there a man still to come and Yahweh said behold.

He's hidden himself among the baggage So then they ran and took him from there

And when he stood among the people he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward Samuel said to the people

Do you see him whom Yahweh has chosen there is none like him among all the people and the people shouted long

Live the king No, Samuel's doing what God told him to do the whole way

You know, he's speaking kindly at this point. There's none like him, but that's by mere appearances

So Samuel told the people the rights the duties of the kingship

And he wrote them in a book and laid it before Yahweh important to note here This is a prophetic book that we do not have access to it does not survive in antiquity

But at the time of the kings of Israel, there was a book written by the Prophet Samuel Where God revealed the duties and responsibilities and limits of the king's power and authority

It's referenced here and we ain't got it Isn't that interesting in a similar way not the pastors are kings.

They're the exact opposite of them God the Holy Spirit has revealed through the Apostles the rights duties

Responsibilities of the pastors and who's qualified and who's not qualified you kind of get the idea So but pastors are the exact opposite of Kings Kings rule pastors are

Slaves their servants they they lead from the bottom whereas Kings lead from the top So he wrote them in a book laid it before the

Yahweh Samuel sent all the people away each one to his home So also went to his home at Gibeah and with him went men of valor whose hearts

God had touched But and this is kind of a fascinating thing here So this is not a unified

Israel at this point, but some worthless fellows. Here we go again with the worthless guys

Worthless fellows Fascinating term that shows up over and again in Scripture people who are fools

People who are worthless because they do not fear God So some worthless fellows said how can this man save us?

So they despised him and brought him no present, but he held his peace Now in the ancient world people like this usually lost their heads

Important to note that Samuel 11 1 so Samuel 11 1 is now going to Address if you would via a set a circumstance that will lead to even the worthless fellows of Israel Recognizing that God has established

Saul as king. So it's kind of like the final ratification You know that you're fully in power when even the worthless in your kingdom recognize it

So that would be like a lot of today's over -the -top liberals finally saying yeah

Trump's president. I'm just saying anyway So then Nahash the

Ammonite went up to besiege Jabesh Gilead and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash Make a treaty with us and we will serve you so This Ammonite by the name of Nahash.

He attacks a town besieges it. It's in Israel and The people there want to make a treaty with him so that they can live

But Nahash the Ammonite said to them on this condition I will make a treaty with you that I gouge out all your right eyes and thus bring disgrace on all of Israel Lovely this fellows just a

Diplomat you got to love the ancient world's version of trash -talking. It's just so fun okay, and Nahash really thinks that he's got the upper hand here

So the elders of Jabesh said to him All right Give us seven days respite that we may send messengers through all the territory of Israel the fact that he let them do this is fascinating because that basically means he doesn't believe that any help is gonna

Help them, you know overcome. So then if there's no one to save us, we will give ourselves up to you

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

Now behold Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen and Saul said what's wrong?

With the people that they are weeping so they told him the news from Jabesh So clearly people weren't sitting there go.

We got to go save them They're weeping because they don't feel like they have any power to stop this. That's what's going on So the

Spirit of God rushed upon Saul When he heard these words and his anger was greatly kindled He took a yoke of oxen cut them in pieces and Sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messenger saying whoever does not come out

After Saul and Samuel so shall it be done to his oxen. So he sends a bunch of steaks out throughout

Israel Everyone's looking at that going. Oh, we got a barbecue that anyway So you're gonna note here

This is gonna be a little bit of piece of data We're gonna add this piece of data into our what kind of fellow is

Saul like Spreadsheet if you would, you know Dwayne like spreadsheets, so this is gonna go into the column of not good

All right, when a ruler or a leader has to rule and reign and motivate via threats of violence

That's not good. All right, that's not good. So this tells us something about the character of Saul that somehow

He believes the only thing that's going to motivate the people of Israel to come and participate in saving these people is if he threatens to kill their oxen and Turn them into steaks if they don't participate

Yeah, right this is the art of the deal right this is this is heavy -handed All right, but the

Lord's gonna kind of work with it as best way I can put it So then the dread of Yahweh fell on the people and they came out as one man when he mustered them at Bezek the people of Israel were 300 ,000 and the men of Judah 30 ,000 isn't it interesting that it the whole people of Israel 300 ,000 little side note those of Judah were 10

Huh Jesus comes from the tribe of Judah It's fascinating that always kind of holds them out and notes that right

They said to the messengers who had come thus shall you say to the men of Jabesh Gilead tomorrow?

By the time the Sun is hot you shall have salvation When the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh they were glad there was much rejoicing in land.

Yay Therefore the men of Jabesh said tomorrow We will give ourselves up to you that you may do to us whatever seems good to you and the next day

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

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

Then the people said to Samuel who is it that said shall Saul? Reign over us bring the men so that we may put them to death

These would be the worthless fellows and watch what Saul does an act of kindness Saul said no, not a man shall be put to death this day for today.

The Lord has worked salvation in Israel remember this verse

Because Saul as he plummets further and further into sin is going to contradict this way of thinking in regards to his own son

But that's a couple chapters down the road. But on this day he wants mercy for the worthless fellows rather than death and The reason is because the

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

So all the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul King before Yahweh in Gilgal So, you know kind of a two -step process here

God makes Saul King He has him anointed has him revealed

But here it says they made Saul King. Isn't that interesting?

Fascinating and part of the reason why that's so fascinating is that they just didn't say to God God we accept who you chose

No, they had to have their say they had to ratify what God did Which tells you who's really in charge here, right?

They've rejected God as king So, thank you God for giving us Saul but what we reserve the right to decide whether or not we're gonna actually make this fellow

King over us and So now it says they made Saul King There they sacrificed peace offerings before Yahweh and there

Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly, oh Let me make the mystery murkier in a couple of chapters

You see you've asked the question. Why did God do this knowing what Saul was gonna do? It's gonna get a little bit murkier because in just a little bit

God's gonna say that he regretted That he made Saul King in the same way that God says he regretted that he made man on the earth in Genesis 6

Right before the flood. He's gonna say he regretted making Saul King That is a weird concept now

God knowing the end from the beginning it's not gonna be surprised by it It's not like God's sitting there going. Oh, I had no idea

But as it's playing out in time and space The whole ordeal really grieves

God to his soul. He got sin is not something in the abstract of God Sin, if that sin tears him up every bit as it every bit as much as it tears us up So, I don't have an answer to the why

I just thought I'd add some more fog I know see here's the thing the wonderful thing about being a pastor is

I Don't have all the answers if it's not in the book. I don't know why I Just I can't give you a why without speculating and my speculations are worthless it's clear what

God is up to in this sense that he's given them exactly what they wanted and I over and again we see that that's never that never works out

When God gives you what you want, that's Judgment, just like with the parables, you know,

Jesus begins preaching in parables because people are rejecting him and rejecting his word So he says fine. I'm gonna keep preaching to you, but you're not gonna understand a word

I say Have it your way. You don't want to hear my word. You don't have to fascinating chapter 12

Samuel said to all of Israel behold I have obeyed your voice in all that you have said to me and have made a king over you

Now behold the king walks before you And I'm old and gray and behold.

My sons are with you I have walked before you from my youth until this day here I am testify against me before Yahweh and before his anointed whose ox have

I taken or whose donkey have I taken or Whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or from whose hand have

I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me and I will restore it to you

They said you've not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand

And he said to them that Yahweh is witness against you and his anointed is witness this day

Fascinating and there the word Mashiach is present is anointed Referring to the anointed

King But it makes me wonder if that's a double entendre there Just saying that's somehow sometimes that's how that works

His anointed is witness this day that you have not found anything in my hand and they said he is witness

Samuel said to the people The Lord is witness who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt now

Therefore stand still that I may plead with you before Yahweh Concerning all the righteous deeds of Yahweh that he performed for you and for your fathers

Now what's going to follow next is a pattern that you will see if you read your Bible from cover to cover

You're gonna see a pattern like this happen multiple times. Not only in the Old Testament, but also in the new and Literally, it is a summary recounting of the works of God in the history of Israel Two times that are of note that this shows up in the

New Testament are When Stephen the first Christian martyr is being martyred he gives a summary of the works of God similar to this as his last discourse before he dies and The Apostle Paul when he is on his missionary journeys, we know that we he would go into the synagogues

He would also give a similar summary similar to this So you're gonna see here that over and again when you read your

Bible you're gonna see these little summaries that take all of the things that God has done up to that point and kind of Remind everybody of what he's done and that's kind of an important thing

It's this being familiar with the narratives in these ways are very important when

Jacob went into Egypt The Egyptians oppressed them when your fathers cried out to Yahweh and Yahweh sent

Moses and Aaron who brought your fathers out of Egypt Who made them dwell in this place? But they forgot Yahweh their

God and he sold him in the hand of Sisera the commander of the army of Hazor now He's recounting recent history from the book of Judges and into the hands of the

Philistines and in the hands of the king of Moab and they fought Against them and they cried out to Yahweh and said we have sinned because we have forsaken

Yahweh and have served the balls and the Ashtoreth but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies that we may serve you and Yahweh sent

Jeroboam and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side and you lived in Safety some of these men are actually recounted in the great hall of faith passage in Hebrews 11 important to note that So you're gonna see a recurring theme.

That's kind of the theme of the book of Judges Israel sins God sells them into slavery

God raises up a judge who then works salvation for us Wash rinse repeat they sin they go into slavery

God sends a judge you kind of see the recurring pattern You can't miss it

So he's reminding of them of that pattern So when you saw that Nahash the king of the

Ammonites came against you you said to me No but a king shall reign over us when

Yahweh your God was your king and Now behold the king whom you have chosen

For whom you have asked behold Yahweh has set a king over you if you will fear

Yahweh and serve him and obey his voice and Not rebel against the commandment of Yahweh If both you and the king who reigns over you will follow

Yahweh your God it will be well So notice he's saying you guys sinned in doing this but God who is merciful

Even now it'll all work out well for you if you listen to his voice

But if you will not obey the voice of Yahweh, but rebel against the commandment of Yahweh Then the hand of Yahweh will be against you and your king now therefore stand still

See this great thing that Yahweh will do before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest today?

I will call upon Yahweh that he may send thunder and rain and you shall know and see that your wickedness is great

Which you have done in the sight of Yahweh in Asking for yourselves a king

We've got to get that right. It's wicked and evil that you ask for a king

This is a vital part of Kingdom theology The people of Israel at Jesus's crucifixion rejected their king so Samuel called upon the

Lord Yahweh sent thunder and rain that day and All the people greatly feared

Yahweh and Samuel that must have been one Dozer of a storm and all the people said to Samuel pray for your servants to Yahweh your

God that we may not die For we have added to all of our sins this evil to ask for ourselves a king

Huh? So is it a good thing or a bad thing when people set up human leaders over themselves rather than God?

You see what I'm saying? Kingdom theology here. God is King. So Samuel said to the people do not be afraid you've done all this evil yet Do not turn aside from following Yahweh serve

Yahweh with all your heart and do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or Deliver you for they are empty talking about idols for Yahweh will not forsake his people

For his great namesake because it is pleased Yahweh to make you a people for himself

So note here, even though they have rejected God is King.

God has not rejected them as his people He still recognizes himself as king over them and that's a mercy to them even in the midst of their sin and rebellion

Moreover as for me far be it for me that I should sin against Yahweh by ceasing to pray for you

Yeah, that's right. He ever thought to think that maybe it's a sin when you stop praying for people Interesting.

I will instruct you in the good in the right way Only fear Yahweh serve him faithfully with all your heart for consider what great things he has done for you

But if you still do wickedly you shall be swept away both you and your king

So this is a key key chapter in understanding Kingdom Christ is still

King hmm 13

Saul lived for one year and then he became king and When he had reigned for two years over Israel Saul chose three thousand men of Israel 2 ,000 were with Saul at in Mi 'kmash and the hill country of Bethel and A thousand were with Johnny Jonathan at Gibeah of Benjamin the rest of the people.

He sent home every man to his tent Jonathan defeated the garrison of the

Philistines that was at Geba and the Philistines heard of it and Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land saying let the

Hebrews hear and all Israel heard it say it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the

Philistines and also that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines and the people were called out to join

Saul at Gilgal and the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel 30 ,000 chariots 6 ,000 horsemen and troops like the sand of the seashore in multitude

They came up and encamped in Mi 'kmash To the east of Beth Avon when the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble for the people were hard -pressed the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns and Some Hebrews crossed the fords of the

Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead Saul was still at Gilgal and all the people followed him trembling

So the hiding in the rocks and the holes and the cisterns that sounds a lot like even the story of Gideon this was the state of Israel regarding the

Midianites at the time of Gideon and so This sounds like well, the stories turned dark here.

They've got these 30 ,000 chariots 6 ,000 horsemen and Philistine troops.

They've invaded and What are they going to do? So the start of this is not so good

So it says he waited seven days the time appointed by Samuel. So Samuel told

Saul Don't do anything for seven days after seven days.

I'm going to show up We're gonna offer a sacrifice. We're gonna seek

God's forgiveness We're gonna pray and then we're going to deal with the

Philistines. God will deal with them through us, right? That's what's supposed to happen So he waited seven days the time appointed by Saul But Samuel did not come to Gilgal and the people were scattering from him

They're looking at their watches going. He should have been here by now. We're all gonna die. We're all gonna die.

Where's Samuel? So they're freaking out and some of them are scattering so Saul said

Bring the burnt offering here to me and the peace offerings and he offered the burnt offering full stop for a second

Book of Isaiah has these words in the year that King Uzziah died

I saw the Lord high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple.

All right, you familiar with this King Uzziah What do you know about him? Scripture tells us that King Uzziah started well

That he was taught by one of the prophets and he followed the word of the Lord and obeyed him

But as God gave him success He also became prideful so prideful that King Uzziah took it upon himself

To go into the temple in order to perform priestly duties

Are the kings of Israel in the vocation of performing priestly duties?

No No, not at all Priests do the priest things kings do the king things and the priests opposed

Uzziah for the thing that he was doing was wicked and evil and God acted and while he was in the temple, he became leprous and They rushed him out of there and he spent the last days of his life as a leper as a result of his sin

Does the scripture say? Levites only perform priestly duties unless Levites are not available

Nope There's no fine print in this case So the king has overstepped his his bounds and is performing duties that are not given to him to do

How do you think? He and God are beginning gonna be getting along here Not so good.

So Saul said bring the burnt offering here to me and peace offering He offered the burnt offering and as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering

No sooner has it done behold Samuel came Saul went out to meet him and agreed him

Samuel said what have you done? let the buck start being passed and when what have you done it's all said when

I saw that the people were scattering from me and That you did not come within the days appointed and that the

Philistines had mustered at Michmash I said now the Philistines will come down against me at Gagol and I have not sought the favor of the

Lord so I forced myself and offered the burnt offering Is that a confession of sins?

That's blaming others. He blamed Samuel. He blamed the people and he made himself look like He total innocent victim.

I forced myself. I didn't want to do it I didn't want to do it, but it needed to be done

So I did the only thing that was reasonable. I Offered the sacrifice taking no blame

That's Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden Uh -huh Have you eaten of the tree of which

I told you not to eat the woman that you gave me God the snake

The snakes left holding the bag right passing the buck

When David was confronted with his sin by the Prophet Nathan regarding Bathsheba and The murder of Uriah the

Hittite David also had his major fall right when he was confronted with his sin.

Did David say it's all her fault She seduced me

She was bathing naked it right where I could see her from my balcony

So clearly she had the hots for me Though the reason why she got pregnant is because she's the one who had it in mind to seduce me

Not at all When David sinned he said I have sinned against the

Lord and he blames no one but himself

You'll note that Saul blames everyone but himself This is self

Justification this is unbelief This is a refusal to say the truth about yourself, which means he's not penitent at all true repentance says the truth about itself

I Am a sinner. I'm sinful and unclean. I've sinned against God and thought word and deed

Doesn't go. Yeah, but he yeah, but she I mean you had kids when they were small, right? And they would fight and argue with each other

You're going what is going on and you go into the room to investigate the clamming clangor and the emotions and the tears and the screaming and the yelling and all you want is to take a nap and you

Walk into the room What is going on? And there are the two children pointing at each other

He did it. She did it and you are going to pull your hair out

At this point because Isn't Both of you go to your rooms.

I'm not speaking from experience. My children were born sinless. So So here's

Saul I forced myself and I offered the burnt offering Samuel said you've done foolishly

You've not kept the command of Yahweh your God with which he commanded you

For then Yahweh would have established your kingdom over Israel forever Wow That's a scary thought, isn't it?

You know, you're gonna note here How many Adams are there in Scripture Theologically how many

Adams are there to the first Adam and The second

Adam how many Kings are there of real note in the book of 1st

Samuel to The first who is a lot like the first Adam and the other who's a lot like Christ You kind of see it kind of working in those same motifs

You would have been established he would have established your kingdom over Israel forever if Adam had not sinned

Humanity would be sinless as well to this day And Adam would be like the head of all of the earth forever, right?

But it's the second Adam who's going to be but now your kingdom shall not continue the Lord Yahweh has sought out a man after his own heart

Yahweh has commanded him to be Prince over his people because you have not kept what Yahweh commanded and Samuel rose and went up from Gilgal the rest of the people went up after Saul to meet the army and They went up from Gilgal to give you a

Benjamin Saul numbered the people who were present with him about 600 men

Saul and Jonathan his son and the people who were present with them stayed in Geba of Benjamin But the

Philistines encamped at Michmash and the Raiders came out of the camp of the Philistines and three companies one company turned toward Orpah to the land of Shaul Another company turned toward Beth Horan another company turned toward the border that looks down on the valley of Zeboiim Toward the wilderness now

There was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel for the Philistines said lest the

Hebrews make themselves swords or spears but every one of the Israelites went down to the

Philistines to sharpen his plowshare his Maddox his axe or a sickle and The charge was two -thirds of a shekel

For the plowshares and for the Maddox in a third of a shekel for the sharpening the axes and for setting the goads so on the day of the battle there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people was

Saul and Jonathan but Saul and Jonathan his son had them and the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash Now this is kind of an important thing when two armies collide if one is armed in the other isn't

How do you think that's gonna go? Not that's a good. Yeah, generally those with arms and you defeat those without arms.

That's just kind of how it works So what are they gonna fight with? I don't know But so you can see the setup here the setup is this is technically a no -win situation for Israel They don't have the resources.

They don't have the swords The people who are in their army are farmers

What are gonna fight with plowshares? You kind of get the idea So they're grabbing anything they can rocks slings

They don't have a professional army at this point and they're not armed and God does usually pretty well in Circumstances circumstances like this and the reason

I say that is Because in the Mosaic Covenant there are promises that the

Lord God Himself would fight the battles for Israel And if you've ever heard that famous saying one man can put a thousand to flight

All right, that's straight out of the promises of the Mosaic Covenant and so what's gonna come next here is

Jonathan the son of Saul who is a man of faith This is very clear as Jonathan's story develops.

He's a man of faith that Jonathan is fully aware of the promises of God But you're gonna note something here that's different about Jonathan than his father

Saul is That Jonathan does not act presumptuously and we're gonna see in just a little bit that Rebellion against God and Presumptuousness are two great things.

They usually go right together with each other presumption and rebellion

Jonathan he knows the promises of God and as a man of faith. He is not presumptuous

You'll see that as the story develops. Okay work with the theme. So one day

Jonathan the son of Saul Said to the young man who carried his armor come let us go over to the

Philistine garrison on the other side But he did not tell his father Saul was staying in the outskirts outskirts of Gibeah in the pomegranate cave at Migran The people who were with him were about 600 men including

Ahijah the son of Ahitub Ichabod's brother son of Phinehas son of Eli the priest of Yahweh and Shiloh wearing an ephod and the people did not know

That Jonathan had gone Within the passes by which Jonathan sought to go over to the

Philistine garrison. There was a rocky crag on The one side and a rocky crag on the other

The name of the one was Bozes. The name of the other was Senna. This is hilarious

I actually have a friend of mine years and years ago when he read this passage out, you know

This is a fellow who lifts weights and he would say yes, I've named this bicep Bozes.

This one's Senna, you know Just manly this is just dripping with testosterone, right?

Yeah so anyway So the one crag rose on the north in the front of Michmash the other on the south in the front of Geba Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor come.

Let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised it may be that Yahweh will work for us

For nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few and so you'll note here

What a great statement of faith. He's quoting scripture He knows the scripture says that nothing is going to prevent

God from saving either by many or by few and he knows the promises Of the Mosaic Covenant that God would fight for Israel and that one man

Can put a thousand to flight But note, although he has faith.

He's not presumptuous Keep going with that theme. So he says maybe the

Lord will do this So he's not going to just jump into this whole hog without consulting God So his armor -bearer said to him do all that is in your heart do as you wish behold.

I am with you heart and Soul, what a faithful Armor -bearer, it's just me and you

Jonathan. We're gonna take on the whole Me of the Philistines. I'm not gonna wet my pants.

I'm just gonna go for it. So Jonathan said behold Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna cross over to the men and we're gonna show ourselves to them if They say to us

Wait until we come to you Then we will stand still in our place and we will not go up to them.

But if they say come up to us Then we will go up for Yahweh has given them into our hand and this shall be the sign to us

So here they've kind of set it up Lord if you want to save us if you want us to have this victory

We're gonna go do this. We don't know if you're gonna give us a victory or not. We just don't know We're not gonna act presumptuously.

So if the Philistines say this one thing we know that you're not with us But if they say this other then we know that you've given the victory to us and we're gonna attack

Sounds good. This is similar to what Gideon did remember the whole fleece thing, but Gideon Oh Lord, how do

I know this is you? Are you sure you want me to do this? I'm gonna lay a fleece out So if the ground is wet, but the fleece is dry then

I know you're talking to me So the ground was wet and the fleece was dry. I think getting goes. Oh, forgive me

Lord. Oh Help my unbelief. Okay, let's do this again this time If the fleece is wet, but the ground is dry then

I know you're talking right and it turns out exactly so it knows to God You know when in Gideon's case was very kind and merciful and even helped him through his unbelief and here

Jonathan doesn't want to act presumptuously. He's not gonna just step out and just assume that God's gonna come to his rescue

He's still a humble servant of God. He knows the promises. So if it goes this way, we're good if it goes this way

We're not good. So that's the way it sets up. So then the story continues

So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines now I know the text doesn't say this but I'm pretty sure it went something like this

So they climbed up this rocky crag and they popped out of a hole, right? And there's

Jonathan going. Hey Philistines Yeah, yeah, you just know that's going on okay, it just had to be that so the

Philistines said Look Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they've hidden themselves and the men of the garrison hailed

Jonathan and his armor -bearer. Why'd she come on up to us? We're gonna show you a thing or two.

Yeah, I bet you would yeah So John said to his armor -bearer come up after me for Yahweh has given them into the hand of Israel Wow, so then

Jonathan climbed up on his hands and his feet and his armor -bearer after him and they fell before Jonathan and his armor -bearer killed them after him.

So they fell before Jonathan his armor -bearer did the killing afterwards So they're fighting tink tink tink this guy goes down his armor -bearer comes up behind him stabs him in the neck and he's dead

Yeah, there's blood and guts everywhere, right? Just awesome stuff. Sorry So that first strike was

Jonathan and his armor -bearer made killed about 20 men within as it were of half furrows length of an eight in an acre of land and There was a panic in the camp in the field among all the people the garrison

Even the Raiders trembled the earth quaked and it became a very great panic

Who's really doing the fighting here? God is and so there you have 30 ,000 plus Philistines all of them in a complete chaotic panic

And of course what set this off was Jonathan's faith It was his faith.

Let's take a look at a cross -reference real quick here Hebrews 11 in the great hall of faith passage

We read about all the people who had faith in the Old Testament. It's a great litany talking about Abraham and Moses and In verse 29 is where I'll pick up just because I think it's it's this is where we'll get a little bit of the context

Listen to this by faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land The Egyptians when they attempted to do the same they were drowned by faith

The walls of Jericho fell down after they had been circled for seven days by faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because they had given a friendly welcome to the spies and What more shall

I say for time would fail me to tell you of Gideon of Barak?

Samson Jephthah of David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms and forced justice

Obtained promises stopped the mouths of the Lions quenched the powers of fire

Escaped the edge of the sword were made strong out of weakness became mighty in war putting foreign armies to flight

So this is an example of God literally working and He's working through the faith of humans

Where was where was Saul in all this? pomegranate cave, right His son

Jonathan's going this is ridiculous God promises that he'll give us victory one man can put a thousand to flight.

He gets to it It doesn't matter how many people are fighting against the Philistines if God is fighting for you.

Nothing's gonna stop them Stop him from giving victory. So Jonathan does what he does by faith great so Philistines are in a great panic and And so if this was a movie

There's you would see Jonathan and his armor -bearer guys lying dead blood flying up in the air

It's just gory and beautiful and then all of a sudden cut to another scene and there's

Saul in Gibeah Benjamin Along with the watchmen and there they are and they're looking

They see that the the armies of the Philistines are dispersing and they're scratching their heads going what what's going on?

so then Saul said to the people who were with him count and see who is gone from us and When they had counted behold

Jonathan his armor -bearer were not there So Saul said to a hijab bring the Ark of God here for the

Ark of God went at that time But the people of Israel now while Saul was talking to the priest the tumult in the camp of the

Philistines increased more and more Why are you not rallying the troops?

Quick call the Ark, you know Send in reinforcements, would you so?

So the Philistines the tumult increased more and more Saul said to the priest withdraw your hand and Saul and all the people who were with him rallied finally and went into the battle and behold

Every Philistine sword was against his fellow and there was great confusion

So they literally they arrive on the scene at this point and it's not Jonathan and his armor -bearer versus the

Philistines It's Philistine versus Philistine Things have gotten so crazy.

They're fighting each other God is the one who sends that type of confusion

So likewise when all the men of Israel who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim Heard that the

Philistines were fleeing they too followed hard after them in the battle So and here's your important verse

So Yahweh saved Israel that day and the battle passed beyond Beth Avon Who be doing the saving?

God did clearly this is his hand so the men of Israel had been hard -pressed that day and Here comes just the stupidest

Thing ever we'll kind of leave with the stupid command But have you ever worked for a boss who would just make really rash decisions?

Oh Man It is miserable. It's absolutely miserable when working for anybody like this, you know

You just don't know what dumb thing they're gonna say next. This is an example of a completely rash impetuous presumptuous thing that That Saul is said so so there they are there, you know, they're pursuing the

Philistines and Saul laid an oath on the people saying cursed be the man who eats food

Until it's evening and I'm avenged on my enemies Okay. Now I've never been in an ancient army.

Yeah, just saying but I'm pretty sure that in the days before jeeps and cars and things like that that being a foot soldier having to wear armor of some kind right and Then pursuing your enemy on hand and then engaging in hand -to -hand combat that I'm gonna say is probably as rigorous of an event as like maybe say playing tennis or Going on a jog

Things of this nature and I don't know about you but when I engage in Physical activity of this type and as you can tell it's been a while.

I Could do this Sustain it for what? 45 minutes an hour and what happens after 45 minutes or an hour

You need water. You need to replenish your electrolytes You need some more.

You need some carbs and all this kind of stuff. So this doesn't make any sense and Although they don't have

Gatorade back then this is this is just ridiculous What is to be gained by basically telling your foot soldiers who are exerting themselves?

Like you wouldn't believe in this battle that now God is the one giving you victory and you're gonna say on to them

You're cursed if you stop and you open up your rations and have something to eat

By the time you get to evening What's gonna be the state of your army

They're gonna be exhausted and those with low blood sugar are gonna be like shaking like this

Some of these guys are gonna be exhausted and faint This is this this this is just awful leadership

So clearly Saul does not have the best of his army Involved in his mind as he's making a decision of this nature.

Who's he looking out for probably himself. I King I make decisions.

I've made this decision. This is the way it's gonna be cursed as anyone who eats anything before evening Lovely now, we'll stop there just kind of hang that out there and let it float around like a cloud for a week

By the way, I've worked for people who made decisions like this and it's crazy -making