1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:06,000 Going to go ahead and go right to our Bible study here this evening. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:08,160 We're in 1st Samuel, chapter 15. 3 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:18,560 And we started this last week looking at God's command to Saul 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:21,520 to wipe out all of the Amalekites. 5 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:24,880 And we saw that Saul compromised. 6 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:26,800 He did not follow the command of God. 7 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,320 And then with that compromise came condemnation. 8 00:00:30,870 --> 00:00:34,950 And obviously Saul is confronted by Samuel the prophet. 9 00:00:34,950 --> 00:00:38,910 And Samuel comes to Saul and basically says, hey, you didn't do 10 00:00:38,910 --> 00:00:40,910 the job that God called you to do. 11 00:00:40,910 --> 00:00:42,510 And Saul said, yes, I did. 12 00:00:42,510 --> 00:00:44,510 I, I did everything that I was called to do. 13 00:00:44,510 --> 00:00:47,430 He was in many ways self deceived. 14 00:00:47,510 --> 00:00:50,150 Saul thought he did everything that God wanted him to do. 15 00:00:50,550 --> 00:00:53,830 And obviously there's a lot of things that we could look at in our 16 00:00:53,830 --> 00:00:55,230 own lives and say, you know what? 17 00:00:55,230 --> 00:00:55,990 I think I'm okay. 18 00:00:55,990 --> 00:00:58,470 But then if you really match it up to scripture, maybe we're not 19 00:00:58,470 --> 00:00:59,110 so okay. 20 00:00:59,540 --> 00:01:02,260 And so Saul felt good about what he did. 21 00:01:02,260 --> 00:01:05,220 But sometimes it's not about feeling good, because we can lie 22 00:01:05,220 --> 00:01:07,580 to ourselves, we can make ourselves feel good about certain 23 00:01:07,580 --> 00:01:10,460 situations, but when the Bible says it's not about feeling good, 24 00:01:10,460 --> 00:01:12,260 it's about being aligned with the Word. 25 00:01:12,580 --> 00:01:15,260 And for Saul, he wasn't aligned with the Word of God. 26 00:01:15,260 --> 00:01:19,100 He had steered away, though he did partially what God called him 27 00:01:19,100 --> 00:01:22,100 to do, he didn't completely follow in that obedience. 28 00:01:22,420 --> 00:01:25,100 So what happened was that he was called to wipe out all of the 29 00:01:25,100 --> 00:01:25,940 Amalekites. 30 00:01:26,710 --> 00:01:30,950 He wiped out most of them, but we know at least he spared the king 31 00:01:30,950 --> 00:01:33,110 and he spared all the best of their animals. 32 00:01:33,270 --> 00:01:36,430 And he justified it by saying, hey, look, I'm doing something that's 33 00:01:36,430 --> 00:01:37,110 going to help us. 34 00:01:37,350 --> 00:01:40,430 But yet in our own life, sometimes we can think that we're 35 00:01:40,430 --> 00:01:41,270 doing the right thing. 36 00:01:41,350 --> 00:01:44,350 But in fits into disobedience to the Lord, we know that it's not. 37 00:01:44,350 --> 00:01:46,670 So we're in First Samuel, Chapter 15, and we're going to pick 38 00:01:46,670 --> 00:01:50,630 up where we left off in verse number 26, right before this. 39 00:01:51,030 --> 00:01:56,160 Basically, Saul is giving this empty statement of we, we would maybe 40 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:59,280 see it as repentance, even though we know that it's not true. 41 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:01,080 Repentance because of God's response. 42 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:03,280 And we know that God looks upon the heart. 43 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:06,960 We can't really judge Saul's heart, even though we can look at 44 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:09,799 his actions and certainly see that his heart was not in the right 45 00:02:09,799 --> 00:02:10,040 place. 46 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:13,560 But we see him at verse 25, say, now therefore, I pray thee, 47 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:18,520 pardon my sin and turn again with me that I may worship the Lord. 48 00:02:18,920 --> 00:02:21,850 So, so really he's calling out to Samuel saying, samuel, forgive 49 00:02:21,850 --> 00:02:23,530 me Samuel, on my behalf. 50 00:02:23,530 --> 00:02:25,730 Go to the Lord and give me some type of forgiveness. 51 00:02:25,810 --> 00:02:28,010 And we're going to see what happens in verse 26. 52 00:02:28,010 --> 00:02:32,010 We're going to see what God's response to this empty statement 53 00:02:32,010 --> 00:02:32,850 of repentance. 54 00:02:32,850 --> 00:02:35,730 And before we go into verse number 26, I want you to see a New 55 00:02:35,730 --> 00:02:39,130 Testament passage that aligns exactly with what we're talking about 56 00:02:39,130 --> 00:02:39,970 here this evening. 57 00:02:40,370 --> 00:02:42,650 That's found in first Peter, chapter five. 58 00:02:42,650 --> 00:02:44,010 One Peter chapter five. 59 00:02:44,010 --> 00:02:47,170 Now we could turn to a few different passages in the New Testament 60 00:02:47,170 --> 00:02:49,910 that speak to the principle that we're going to be discussing 61 00:02:49,910 --> 00:02:50,630 here this evening. 62 00:02:50,630 --> 00:02:54,710 But I think one Peter, chapter five really lays it out for us in 63 00:02:54,710 --> 00:02:55,630 a clear manner. 64 00:02:56,270 --> 00:02:59,870 Paul has talked about humility in the book of Romans, and we're 65 00:02:59,870 --> 00:03:01,550 going to talk more about that in Romans chapter 12. 66 00:03:01,630 --> 00:03:06,630 Here Peter is talking about humility and coming to one with another 67 00:03:06,630 --> 00:03:08,430 with that care and respect. 68 00:03:08,990 --> 00:03:12,350 And he says in verse number five, he's talking about younger 69 00:03:12,350 --> 00:03:14,230 people submitting themselves to the elder. 70 00:03:14,230 --> 00:03:17,290 And then he says, all of you be subject one to another. 71 00:03:17,530 --> 00:03:20,050 And then he says this statement here, and I love the way 72 00:03:20,050 --> 00:03:23,130 that he states it, he says, and be clothed with humility. 73 00:03:23,770 --> 00:03:26,850 So first Peter, chapter five, verse five says that we are to be 74 00:03:26,850 --> 00:03:27,850 clothed with humility. 75 00:03:27,850 --> 00:03:28,450 What does that mean? 76 00:03:28,450 --> 00:03:31,730 Well, one way that you could see that is that we shouldn't just 77 00:03:31,730 --> 00:03:34,530 have instances of humility in our life, but our life should be 78 00:03:34,530 --> 00:03:35,850 characterized by humility. 79 00:03:36,010 --> 00:03:38,810 We should be covered by humility in every capacity. 80 00:03:38,970 --> 00:03:42,820 Another way that you could look at that as a servant takes his 81 00:03:42,820 --> 00:03:47,380 garment back at this time frame they would have worn long robes. 82 00:03:47,380 --> 00:03:49,980 And when they would have taken a form of a servant, they would have 83 00:03:49,980 --> 00:03:52,900 rolled that robe up to be able to work and they would have tucked 84 00:03:52,900 --> 00:03:56,380 that robe into their belt and got in a form of a servant. 85 00:03:56,380 --> 00:03:59,860 We know that even Jesus did that back In John chapter 13, when 86 00:03:59,860 --> 00:04:01,260 he washed the disciples feet. 87 00:04:01,260 --> 00:04:04,700 And if you remember what Jesus said to his disciples, he said, I'm 88 00:04:04,700 --> 00:04:08,660 doing this for you to show you an example of how you are to serve, 89 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:10,200 how you're to be humble. 90 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:13,280 And I can't help but think that Peter in First Peter Chapter 91 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:16,760 5 is thinking back to when Jesus took that form of a servant, 92 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:18,440 took the clothes of humility. 93 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:21,120 And he says, hey, all of us need to take those clothes of humility 94 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:21,800 in our life. 95 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:24,920 And then he gives the reason why we should be clothed with humility. 96 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:31,320 He says, for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. 97 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:35,120 And so over and over again, we see in Scripture that God resists 98 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:37,870 the prideful, and, and he gives grace to the humble. 99 00:04:38,350 --> 00:04:42,430 And so for the, the people that were in the New Testament church, 100 00:04:42,430 --> 00:04:46,950 Peter and Paul and many of the other New Testament passages teach 101 00:04:46,950 --> 00:04:50,310 of that importance of being so humble in our lives that we don't 102 00:04:50,310 --> 00:04:51,390 live a life of pride. 103 00:04:51,390 --> 00:04:51,710 Why? 104 00:04:51,710 --> 00:04:53,150 Because God resists the prideful. 105 00:04:53,150 --> 00:04:55,910 And then we see that same principle back in First Samuel and 106 00:04:55,910 --> 00:04:59,230 throughout the Old Testament, God resists those that are prideful. 107 00:04:59,230 --> 00:05:02,230 So with that being in mind, with that verse in mind, let's go 108 00:05:02,230 --> 00:05:06,000 back to First Samuel, Chapter 15, and let's see what God does. 109 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:10,600 Because we know that God gives grace to the humble, but he resists 110 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:11,320 the prideful. 111 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:15,440 So we're going to see God's response, and we're going to see 112 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:17,240 where the heart of Saul really was. 113 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:22,440 Because if Saul was humble and repentant, we know that God would 114 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:23,320 extend grace. 115 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:26,880 We know that God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and 116 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:28,200 cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 117 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:32,550 So when we come to the Lord in humble submission and in repentance, 118 00:05:32,870 --> 00:05:36,710 we know that God will extend that gift of grace and mercy to us. 119 00:05:37,110 --> 00:05:40,270 But we also know that this, the Bible says that God resists the 120 00:05:40,270 --> 00:05:40,870 prideful. 121 00:05:41,190 --> 00:05:45,270 So let's see where Saul was in, in the response of the lord. 122 00:05:45,270 --> 00:05:46,230 So verse 26. 123 00:05:46,230 --> 00:05:49,430 And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with me. 124 00:05:49,990 --> 00:05:54,150 So, so the idea here is that not only does God reject Saul, but 125 00:05:54,150 --> 00:05:55,350 Samuel rejects Saul. 126 00:05:55,510 --> 00:06:00,130 Samuel is making a conscious decision to separate himself from 127 00:06:00,130 --> 00:06:01,130 the sin of Saul. 128 00:06:01,370 --> 00:06:05,210 And there's going to be times in our life that we need to make 129 00:06:05,210 --> 00:06:08,370 those calls, that we need to separate ourselves from that sin 130 00:06:08,370 --> 00:06:09,290 that is around us. 131 00:06:09,370 --> 00:06:12,490 There is a time and a place to minister to those that are in sin 132 00:06:12,650 --> 00:06:15,250 by preaching the word to them, by showing them love, by showing 133 00:06:15,250 --> 00:06:17,690 them compassion, and by showing them the truth. 134 00:06:17,690 --> 00:06:21,170 But also there is a time where we do need to take that step of saying, 135 00:06:21,170 --> 00:06:21,690 you know what? 136 00:06:21,770 --> 00:06:23,810 Your sin is not going to be attached to me. 137 00:06:23,810 --> 00:06:26,450 And so what Samuel says is, no, I'm not going to join in with 138 00:06:26,450 --> 00:06:26,730 you. 139 00:06:27,140 --> 00:06:29,180 I'm not going to partner up with you in this. 140 00:06:29,180 --> 00:06:32,940 Because remember, one of the major reasons why Saul kept those 141 00:06:32,940 --> 00:06:36,420 Amalekite animals was for sacrifice. 142 00:06:36,740 --> 00:06:40,220 He says, no, we can take some of these animals that we were supposed 143 00:06:40,220 --> 00:06:43,420 to slay and use them for sacrifice later on. 144 00:06:43,420 --> 00:06:47,540 So no doubt, basically what Saul is asking Samuel to do is join 145 00:06:47,540 --> 00:06:50,380 in with me with these sacrifices that are not called by 146 00:06:50,380 --> 00:06:50,740 God. 147 00:06:51,380 --> 00:06:55,260 And so Saul is asking Samuel to join in with him on this sin. 148 00:06:55,260 --> 00:06:57,910 And so Samuel says, no, I will not return with thee. 149 00:06:57,910 --> 00:06:59,750 I. I'm not going to join in with what you're doing. 150 00:06:59,750 --> 00:07:04,550 He says, for thou has rejected the word of the Lord. 151 00:07:05,190 --> 00:07:06,470 I think that's important to note. 152 00:07:06,470 --> 00:07:09,910 Remember, Samuel is a mouthpiece for God at that time. 153 00:07:09,910 --> 00:07:10,870 He's the prophet. 154 00:07:10,950 --> 00:07:14,230 And so this isn't just Samuel's opinion, even though I'm 155 00:07:14,230 --> 00:07:16,230 sure this was Samuel's opinion. 156 00:07:16,390 --> 00:07:20,350 But this is also God speaking through Samuel by telling Saul, here's 157 00:07:20,350 --> 00:07:20,950 your problem. 158 00:07:21,750 --> 00:07:25,590 Your problem is that you rejected the Word of the Lord. 159 00:07:26,410 --> 00:07:28,970 And that's what we could say to everybody that's in sin today. 160 00:07:29,290 --> 00:07:32,090 It's not that you're a bad person, because the reality is, is 161 00:07:32,090 --> 00:07:34,810 at the core of everything, we are bad people in our flesh. 162 00:07:35,370 --> 00:07:37,490 So I don't look at someone and says, well, you. 163 00:07:37,490 --> 00:07:40,970 You are rejected by God because you're a bad person. 164 00:07:40,970 --> 00:07:44,370 No, because God extends grace to people who have sin in their lives. 165 00:07:44,370 --> 00:07:48,050 But what he says here is that the reason why God is rejecting him 166 00:07:48,050 --> 00:07:50,650 is because he has rejected the Word of the Lord. 167 00:07:51,460 --> 00:07:54,860 And so the Lord hath rejected thee, as he says at the end of verse 168 00:07:54,860 --> 00:07:59,220 6:26, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over 169 00:07:59,300 --> 00:07:59,940 Israel. 170 00:07:59,940 --> 00:08:05,980 So the consequence to Saul rejecting the word of the Lord is 171 00:08:05,980 --> 00:08:08,940 that he loses the opportunity to be king. 172 00:08:08,940 --> 00:08:11,540 Now, we know that it's not the immediate thing that happens. 173 00:08:11,700 --> 00:08:12,060 We. 174 00:08:12,060 --> 00:08:15,700 We know that Saul continues to be king for quite some time. 175 00:08:15,780 --> 00:08:18,420 But what this is is basically the beginning of the end. 176 00:08:19,130 --> 00:08:23,410 And we know that Saul's family is not going to be able to hold the 177 00:08:23,410 --> 00:08:23,810 throne. 178 00:08:23,810 --> 00:08:26,490 It's going to be passed on to another man, which we'll talk about 179 00:08:26,490 --> 00:08:27,370 here very soon. 180 00:08:28,010 --> 00:08:31,130 But the idea here would be this, Saul, you have sinned. 181 00:08:31,130 --> 00:08:32,690 You have rejected the word of God. 182 00:08:32,690 --> 00:08:34,170 And this is the consequence. 183 00:08:34,170 --> 00:08:38,410 And there's always, always consequences to rejecting the Word 184 00:08:38,410 --> 00:08:39,330 of God in our life. 185 00:08:39,330 --> 00:08:42,170 Now, the beauty is that we live in an age of grace. 186 00:08:42,170 --> 00:08:45,140 And so when we do reject the Word of God, there's always that 187 00:08:45,140 --> 00:08:48,860 opportunity to go back to the Lord in repentance and receive that 188 00:08:48,860 --> 00:08:51,820 gift of grace and have that peace that passeth all understanding 189 00:08:51,820 --> 00:08:53,380 in restoration with the Lord. 190 00:08:53,860 --> 00:08:56,860 But I'm going to tell you, if we continue to live in rejection 191 00:08:56,860 --> 00:08:59,980 to the Word of God, we will face instances in our life where 192 00:08:59,980 --> 00:09:01,420 we don't face the blessings of God. 193 00:09:01,420 --> 00:09:05,300 And we actually see difficulty in our lives because of our rebellion 194 00:09:05,380 --> 00:09:06,060 to the Lord. 195 00:09:06,060 --> 00:09:08,020 And that's exactly what Saul is Seeing here. 196 00:09:08,020 --> 00:09:12,150 So Saul's statement begins with what seemed like a genuine confession. 197 00:09:12,950 --> 00:09:16,070 But we know that it changed because if you go back to verse number 198 00:09:16,070 --> 00:09:20,550 24, it looks like, okay, he says in verse 24, and Saul said unto 199 00:09:20,550 --> 00:09:21,910 Samuel, I have sinned. 200 00:09:21,990 --> 00:09:22,390 Good. 201 00:09:22,390 --> 00:09:23,830 He should have just stopped there. 202 00:09:23,910 --> 00:09:25,390 He should have just said, I've sinned. 203 00:09:25,390 --> 00:09:26,470 It's my fault. 204 00:09:26,710 --> 00:09:28,070 I need God's forgiveness. 205 00:09:28,070 --> 00:09:30,830 But he says, I've sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment 206 00:09:30,830 --> 00:09:32,430 of the Lord and thy words. 207 00:09:32,430 --> 00:09:33,950 Okay, so not bad yet. 208 00:09:33,950 --> 00:09:36,830 But then he says this because I feared the people and obeyed their 209 00:09:36,830 --> 00:09:37,110 voice. 210 00:09:37,110 --> 00:09:39,350 Again, he's blaming other people for his sin. 211 00:09:39,690 --> 00:09:41,850 So at the core of it, he's not taking responsibility. 212 00:09:42,490 --> 00:09:46,810 And, and part of taking a heart of repentance is taking responsibility. 213 00:09:47,690 --> 00:09:50,730 I can't have a complete heart of repentance if I'm blaming other 214 00:09:50,730 --> 00:09:51,570 people for my sin. 215 00:09:51,570 --> 00:09:54,730 In my life recently, I, I, I saw this. 216 00:09:54,730 --> 00:09:55,690 This was a reality. 217 00:09:55,690 --> 00:09:59,050 There was a, I guess he was a pastor or some type of spiritual 218 00:09:59,050 --> 00:09:59,370 leader. 219 00:09:59,450 --> 00:10:01,170 And he was on this live stream. 220 00:10:01,170 --> 00:10:03,530 And some of you know that you get on the live stream and it's live. 221 00:10:03,530 --> 00:10:04,490 You can't get it back. 222 00:10:05,300 --> 00:10:08,100 And he was actually at a restaurant, and he was sitting there 223 00:10:08,580 --> 00:10:11,620 and he was about to get into his Bible study, and this waitress 224 00:10:11,620 --> 00:10:15,700 comes up to him and she's bringing him a glass of water. 225 00:10:15,700 --> 00:10:18,580 And he turns around and he starts yelling at this waitress about 226 00:10:18,580 --> 00:10:20,140 this tiny glass of water. 227 00:10:20,140 --> 00:10:22,180 He goes, why couldn't you bring me a real size? 228 00:10:22,180 --> 00:10:25,780 And he was calling her names and belittling her. 229 00:10:25,860 --> 00:10:27,820 And then he goes, oh, just cut that out. 230 00:10:27,820 --> 00:10:28,300 Cut that out. 231 00:10:28,300 --> 00:10:29,740 And the person goes, no, it's live stream. 232 00:10:29,740 --> 00:10:32,990 And he said, well, guys, that's an example of how someone 233 00:10:32,990 --> 00:10:35,230 can be a stumbling block to you and make you sin. 234 00:10:35,470 --> 00:10:37,310 I said, that's a terrible excuse, right? 235 00:10:37,470 --> 00:10:40,350 We can't blame anybody else for the sin that we commit. 236 00:10:40,350 --> 00:10:42,350 Now people can sin against us, though. 237 00:10:42,430 --> 00:10:45,390 Bringing someone a smaller cup than they should have was not a sin, 238 00:10:45,470 --> 00:10:47,030 but someone could even sin against us. 239 00:10:47,030 --> 00:10:50,270 But even if someone sins against us, we cannot blame that 240 00:10:50,270 --> 00:10:51,750 person for the sin that we commit. 241 00:10:51,750 --> 00:10:53,150 The book of James tells us that. 242 00:10:53,230 --> 00:10:55,750 The book of James tells us that we can blame nobody else other 243 00:10:55,750 --> 00:10:57,870 than ourselves when we fall into sin. 244 00:10:58,410 --> 00:10:59,610 We can't look at a friend. 245 00:10:59,770 --> 00:11:01,210 We can't look at a spouse. 246 00:11:01,210 --> 00:11:03,850 We can't look at even an enemy and say it's their fault. 247 00:11:03,850 --> 00:11:06,290 We can't even blame the devil for the sin that we commit. 248 00:11:06,290 --> 00:11:08,650 He says, no, there's a personal Responsibility. 249 00:11:08,730 --> 00:11:11,370 And so Saul did not take that personal responsibility. 250 00:11:11,930 --> 00:11:13,210 He says, I feared the people. 251 00:11:14,410 --> 00:11:15,930 The fear of man is a snare. 252 00:11:16,010 --> 00:11:20,250 And so Saul was so caught up with the fear of man that he was 253 00:11:20,250 --> 00:11:21,530 willing to disobey God. 254 00:11:21,530 --> 00:11:23,610 He obeyed man rather than God. 255 00:11:24,450 --> 00:11:29,290 And So in verse 26, we see that Samuel is reminding Saul that 256 00:11:29,290 --> 00:11:30,210 there's nothing more to say. 257 00:11:30,210 --> 00:11:31,410 He says, you've made your decision. 258 00:11:32,690 --> 00:11:34,450 And what Saul wanted to do is he. 259 00:11:34,450 --> 00:11:36,410 He wanted just Samuel to overlook it. 260 00:11:36,410 --> 00:11:36,610 Just. 261 00:11:36,610 --> 00:11:38,170 Just worship with me. 262 00:11:38,170 --> 00:11:39,170 Just forget about it. 263 00:11:39,730 --> 00:11:43,050 And we know that Samuel wasn't going to forget about it, and God 264 00:11:43,050 --> 00:11:44,050 wasn't going to forget about it. 265 00:11:44,050 --> 00:11:45,490 And so Saul is desperate here. 266 00:11:46,130 --> 00:11:49,730 And we see that he wants to hold on to something. 267 00:11:50,060 --> 00:11:53,700 He wants to have the approval of Samuel so that he can kind of 268 00:11:53,700 --> 00:11:56,780 just feel free, wash his hands of the situation and just move on 269 00:11:57,020 --> 00:11:58,940 without the proper way of repentance. 270 00:11:59,100 --> 00:12:01,460 He's just trying to sweep it under the rug and let's see what 271 00:12:01,460 --> 00:12:01,980 happens. 272 00:12:02,460 --> 00:12:06,940 And as Samuel turned about to go away, so Samuel's like, I'm separating 273 00:12:06,940 --> 00:12:07,740 myself from you. 274 00:12:08,140 --> 00:12:08,940 I'm leaving. 275 00:12:09,740 --> 00:12:11,100 I'm not going to be a part of this. 276 00:12:11,100 --> 00:12:13,660 God has rejected you because of your pride. 277 00:12:13,980 --> 00:12:18,650 What happens, he says here in verse 27, and he laid hold upon the 278 00:12:18,650 --> 00:12:20,490 skirt of his mantle and rent it. 279 00:12:20,490 --> 00:12:24,650 So basically, Saul not only spiritually is trying to cling on 280 00:12:24,650 --> 00:12:28,450 to Samuel, but he physically grabs Samuel and Samuel pulls away. 281 00:12:28,610 --> 00:12:32,610 And basically what's in the hand of Saul is this little small 282 00:12:32,690 --> 00:12:33,570 piece of garment. 283 00:12:34,530 --> 00:12:39,490 And so in this process of Saul's desperate action to hold on 284 00:12:39,490 --> 00:12:43,330 to his kingdom that God did give him, but God is taking away, 285 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:48,560 we see that this piece of torn robe in his hand now shows that that's 286 00:12:48,560 --> 00:12:49,360 his leadership. 287 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:51,120 His leadership is no longer the full garment. 288 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:52,480 He only gets a piece. 289 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:56,240 He only has a small piece that he's going to lose very, very soon. 290 00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:00,680 And so Saul grasps so tightly to the things of this world, and 291 00:13:00,680 --> 00:13:04,160 now he's grasping tightly to this piece of Samuel's garment. 292 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:09,040 But ultimately it's a picture and I think an object lesson to the 293 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:12,000 futility of materialism that's only going to bring you what you 294 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:14,560 can grab in your hand, but it's not going to be sustaining forever. 295 00:13:15,420 --> 00:13:18,620 And so ultimately, what we see here is that this is a picture of 296 00:13:18,940 --> 00:13:22,100 Samuel walking away and Saul trying to hold on to it. 297 00:13:22,100 --> 00:13:25,180 And it only is holding just a little piece in his hand. 298 00:13:25,260 --> 00:13:25,940 Verse 28. 299 00:13:25,940 --> 00:13:30,260 And Samuel said unto him, the Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel 300 00:13:30,260 --> 00:13:31,500 from thee this day. 301 00:13:32,860 --> 00:13:35,980 And so what we see here is that Samuel is prophetically telling 302 00:13:35,980 --> 00:13:37,460 him what God is doing in his life. 303 00:13:37,460 --> 00:13:39,980 And he says, it is God who is pulling this away from you. 304 00:13:39,980 --> 00:13:40,620 It's not me. 305 00:13:40,620 --> 00:13:45,650 It's God says it is the Lord who has pulled away the kingdom of 306 00:13:45,650 --> 00:13:49,210 Israel from you this day and have given it to a neighbor of thine 307 00:13:49,690 --> 00:13:51,130 that is better than thou. 308 00:13:52,010 --> 00:13:53,130 These are some strong words. 309 00:13:53,130 --> 00:13:56,610 But basically he says, God is giving this to someone who is more 310 00:13:56,610 --> 00:14:01,690 deserving, someone who is going to desire a relationship with 311 00:14:01,770 --> 00:14:02,170 me. 312 00:14:02,170 --> 00:14:04,650 And that's, we know, ultimately is going to be coming 313 00:14:04,650 --> 00:14:05,690 here very, very soon. 314 00:14:06,090 --> 00:14:06,970 Verse 29. 315 00:14:07,620 --> 00:14:12,540 And also, the strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for 316 00:14:12,540 --> 00:14:14,980 he is not a man that he should repent. 317 00:14:15,460 --> 00:14:18,380 So here we actually see very interesting title of the Lord. 318 00:14:18,380 --> 00:14:19,780 It's used here. 319 00:14:19,860 --> 00:14:21,860 It says the strength of Israel. 320 00:14:22,260 --> 00:14:24,460 And Samuel uses the title for the Lord. 321 00:14:24,460 --> 00:14:28,060 And this is actually the one place where this is found in all 322 00:14:28,060 --> 00:14:28,540 of scripture. 323 00:14:28,540 --> 00:14:31,580 And I love that title of the Lord, the strength of Israel, and 324 00:14:31,580 --> 00:14:35,440 basically says, the Lord will not lie nor repent, meaning God's 325 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:36,640 not going to change his mind on this. 326 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:38,080 God is secure in this. 327 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:39,640 He's not going to lie to you. 328 00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:42,160 He's not going to pull back and change his mind, for he is not 329 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:44,160 a man that he should repent. 330 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:49,680 And so obviously this speaks to God's perfect nature, his holiness, 331 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:53,720 the fact that he's unchanging, and the fact that God doesn't make 332 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:54,160 mistakes. 333 00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:56,440 And that's a whole other lesson for another day. 334 00:14:56,440 --> 00:15:00,120 But we know that God, in his decision to pull Saul away from the 335 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:02,840 throne and ultimately his family from the throne, is not a 336 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:03,160 mistake. 337 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:05,770 It's actually the greatest decision that he could make because 338 00:15:05,770 --> 00:15:08,290 God makes every decision in a perfect manner. 339 00:15:08,290 --> 00:15:11,050 So that's what that's all about there, verse 30. 340 00:15:11,290 --> 00:15:13,370 Then he said, I have sinned. 341 00:15:13,370 --> 00:15:17,490 So, so now we see a desperate Saul basically trying to cling to 342 00:15:17,490 --> 00:15:18,090 his kingdom. 343 00:15:18,570 --> 00:15:20,490 And again we see a statement of his sin. 344 00:15:20,490 --> 00:15:21,530 He says, I have sinned. 345 00:15:22,410 --> 00:15:23,610 And I find this interesting. 346 00:15:23,610 --> 00:15:26,770 He's again desperate to try to hold on to something. 347 00:15:26,770 --> 00:15:30,810 But again, as he begins to talk, and as he continues to talk, 348 00:15:31,150 --> 00:15:32,910 we further see where his heart is. 349 00:15:33,470 --> 00:15:36,270 He says, I have sinned, yet honor me. 350 00:15:36,510 --> 00:15:40,350 Now you see that again, it's always about him. 351 00:15:40,670 --> 00:15:45,230 He says, honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people 352 00:15:45,230 --> 00:15:49,510 and before Israel, and turn again with me that I may worship 353 00:15:49,510 --> 00:15:50,670 the Lord thy God. 354 00:15:50,750 --> 00:15:53,470 So if you didn't catch it there, what we basically see is this. 355 00:15:53,550 --> 00:15:58,870 He's not as concerned about his separation from God as he's concerned 356 00:15:58,870 --> 00:16:01,310 about his image before the people of Israel. 357 00:16:01,870 --> 00:16:05,630 He knows that him being pulled away from being a king is going to 358 00:16:05,630 --> 00:16:06,430 be embarrassing. 359 00:16:06,510 --> 00:16:08,230 He knows that people are going to talk. 360 00:16:08,230 --> 00:16:13,150 He knows that this is going to mar his legacy, his record, his praise. 361 00:16:13,150 --> 00:16:15,910 And so instead of saying, lord, I don't want to be separated 362 00:16:15,910 --> 00:16:19,270 from you, he says, restore me so that I can be restored in front 363 00:16:19,270 --> 00:16:20,670 of the people, he says. 364 00:16:20,830 --> 00:16:24,510 He says, they're before the elders of my people and before Israel, 365 00:16:25,090 --> 00:16:27,290 and turn again with me that I may worship the Lord. 366 00:16:27,290 --> 00:16:30,050 And so Samuel understands Saul's heart. 367 00:16:30,050 --> 00:16:34,050 God, even more so, understands Saul's heart. 368 00:16:34,050 --> 00:16:38,090 And Saul knows that he just doesn't want to be rejected here. 369 00:16:38,090 --> 00:16:42,290 So Samuel didn't, didn't come to him and say, well, you know what? 370 00:16:42,690 --> 00:16:46,410 Maybe, just maybe, if you get your heart right, God will give it 371 00:16:46,410 --> 00:16:46,570 back. 372 00:16:46,570 --> 00:16:48,130 Even though we know that God could do that. 373 00:16:48,290 --> 00:16:51,330 But we know that God has spoken through Samuel by basically 374 00:16:51,330 --> 00:16:52,650 saying, saul has turned away from you. 375 00:16:52,650 --> 00:16:54,050 His heart is completely wicked. 376 00:16:55,350 --> 00:16:58,910 And so ultimately here God is going to reject. 377 00:16:58,910 --> 00:16:59,990 And so verse 31. 378 00:16:59,990 --> 00:17:03,750 So Samuel turned again after Sam, after Saul, and Saul worshiped 379 00:17:03,750 --> 00:17:04,230 the Lord. 380 00:17:05,350 --> 00:17:08,710 And so what we see here at the very end is so Samuel did not. 381 00:17:10,069 --> 00:17:13,110 He did not lead an immediate rebellion against Saul because God 382 00:17:13,110 --> 00:17:15,470 had not raised up Saul's replacement yet. 383 00:17:15,470 --> 00:17:18,670 We know that David is on the way, but we know that there's going 384 00:17:18,670 --> 00:17:20,230 to be some time that is to come. 385 00:17:20,230 --> 00:17:24,310 And ultimately we see that there is this what we would call 386 00:17:24,310 --> 00:17:26,990 like a semi quasi restoration. 387 00:17:27,630 --> 00:17:30,470 But we do know that later on we're going to see that Samuel and 388 00:17:30,470 --> 00:17:32,430 Saul never come back again together. 389 00:17:33,230 --> 00:17:34,670 And so we'll move on here. 390 00:17:34,670 --> 00:17:35,470 Verse 32. 391 00:17:35,630 --> 00:17:37,630 Then said Samuel, and. 392 00:17:37,630 --> 00:17:40,910 And I think that this is a very interesting portion of scripture. 393 00:17:41,230 --> 00:17:43,950 I do know that there's a lot of people that struggle with this 394 00:17:43,950 --> 00:17:44,710 passage of Scripture. 395 00:17:44,710 --> 00:17:49,000 But again, I did mention last time that, remember that we're not 396 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:51,440 working under the same dispensation. 397 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:53,640 This is an Old Testament way of thinking. 398 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:56,960 Now we live in the New Covenant and the grace of our Lord 399 00:17:56,960 --> 00:17:57,520 Jesus Christ. 400 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:01,680 And so certainly in the Old Testament, God used individuals for 401 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:04,200 his judgment, upon them for their sin. 402 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:07,440 And so we're going to see that actually happen now with Samuel and 403 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:09,160 the king of the Amalekites, Agag. 404 00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:14,920 And so Saul has demonstrated pride, but still Agag is evil because 405 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:16,680 of all the sin of the Amalekites. 406 00:18:16,910 --> 00:18:19,990 Uh, they have slain people from the nation of Israel for so 407 00:18:19,990 --> 00:18:23,390 long at this point, they had killed People in cold blood. 408 00:18:23,390 --> 00:18:26,030 And therefore God is judging them for their sin. 409 00:18:26,510 --> 00:18:31,910 And so we do know that Saul did in some way humble himself here. 410 00:18:31,910 --> 00:18:33,390 But he's still not making it right. 411 00:18:33,550 --> 00:18:38,510 For Saul to make this right, he would do what God called him to 412 00:18:38,510 --> 00:18:38,750 do. 413 00:18:38,990 --> 00:18:42,030 But now what happens is Samuel comes in, and Samuel is going to 414 00:18:42,030 --> 00:18:42,790 make all things right. 415 00:18:42,790 --> 00:18:44,190 So look at verse number 32. 416 00:18:44,460 --> 00:18:48,020 Then said Samuel, bring ye hither to me, Agag, the king of the 417 00:18:48,020 --> 00:18:48,860 Amalekites. 418 00:18:50,300 --> 00:18:53,900 So what Samuel is going to do is he's going to carry out what Saul 419 00:18:53,900 --> 00:18:54,540 should have done. 420 00:18:54,540 --> 00:18:56,060 He's going to do God's will. 421 00:18:56,780 --> 00:18:59,420 And Agag came unto him delicately. 422 00:19:00,139 --> 00:19:04,380 And I. I certainly think that if I was Agag, I'd be kind of confused. 423 00:19:04,380 --> 00:19:05,940 I'd say, wait, I thought, you're going to kill me now. 424 00:19:05,940 --> 00:19:06,660 You're not going to kill me. 425 00:19:06,660 --> 00:19:07,420 What's going on? 426 00:19:07,660 --> 00:19:11,500 He comes up, and Agag said, surely the bitterness of death is 427 00:19:11,500 --> 00:19:11,820 past. 428 00:19:12,650 --> 00:19:16,890 This is a good tactic from Agag, basically is, guys, you guys 429 00:19:16,890 --> 00:19:17,770 have been fighting long enough. 430 00:19:17,770 --> 00:19:19,170 Surely it's over, right? 431 00:19:19,170 --> 00:19:19,410 The. 432 00:19:19,410 --> 00:19:19,570 The. 433 00:19:19,570 --> 00:19:20,370 You can let me go. 434 00:19:20,370 --> 00:19:23,170 Like, killing me is not in the equation anymore, right? 435 00:19:23,170 --> 00:19:24,250 Like everything's okay. 436 00:19:24,250 --> 00:19:25,970 And that's basically what he's saying there. 437 00:19:25,970 --> 00:19:28,130 He's thinking, I think the storm's blown over. 438 00:19:28,130 --> 00:19:30,170 I think we all understand our lessons that we've learned. 439 00:19:30,170 --> 00:19:30,730 Let's go. 440 00:19:31,210 --> 00:19:32,930 But we know that God has a. 441 00:19:32,930 --> 00:19:35,290 Has a plan, and God's plan is going to come to pass. 442 00:19:35,610 --> 00:19:36,450 Verse 33. 443 00:19:36,450 --> 00:19:41,760 And Samuel said, as thy sword hath made women childless, so obviously 444 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,960 this is pointing out the sin of Aag, so shall thy mother be childless 445 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:46,560 among women. 446 00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:51,600 And Samuel hewed aag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. 447 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:53,760 So again, it's pretty graphic. 448 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:58,080 But what we do know is that Samuel does what God called them 449 00:19:58,080 --> 00:19:58,560 to do. 450 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:03,280 And we know that God did judge the Canaanites and the pagans for 451 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:03,760 their sin. 452 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:07,120 And there's a lot of holdups from a lot of people about that. 453 00:20:07,120 --> 00:20:11,760 And we could at another time study deeper into why God enacted 454 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:12,080 that way. 455 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,240 But ultimately, at the end of the day, we don't know the heart 456 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:14,760 of God. 457 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,480 All we can do is trust that God is holy and just and that he's 458 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:19,880 righteously judging these people for their rebellion. 459 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:23,679 And we know that God did not want the people of Israel to mingle 460 00:20:23,679 --> 00:20:27,400 with this idolatrous nation and follow their practices. 461 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:31,280 And so, in so doing, God called the Israelites to wipe them 462 00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:31,560 out. 463 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:32,960 Saul wouldn't do it. 464 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:35,030 Samuel did so. 465 00:20:35,030 --> 00:20:35,670 Verse 34. 466 00:20:35,670 --> 00:20:39,990 Then Samuel went To Rama and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah 467 00:20:39,990 --> 00:20:45,590 of Saul and Samuel no more, came no more to see Saul until the 468 00:20:45,590 --> 00:20:46,430 day of his death. 469 00:20:46,990 --> 00:20:50,950 Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul and the Lord repented that 470 00:20:50,950 --> 00:20:53,310 he had ever made Saul king over Israel. 471 00:20:53,950 --> 00:20:58,350 Now in this passage, there is some difficulty here of understanding 472 00:20:58,350 --> 00:21:00,510 exactly what this is trying to tell us. 473 00:21:00,510 --> 00:21:03,790 But what I will say is this one, one thing to note is that Samuel 474 00:21:03,790 --> 00:21:06,710 and Saul never come back together again, which I find very 475 00:21:06,710 --> 00:21:07,110 interesting. 476 00:21:07,110 --> 00:21:10,790 It's a split of what we saw as a partnership for a very long time. 477 00:21:10,790 --> 00:21:14,910 Samuel knew that God did not want him to see Saul because of Saul's 478 00:21:14,910 --> 00:21:16,230 heart of rebellion. 479 00:21:16,230 --> 00:21:19,590 If Saul was in a heart of repentance, certainly Samuel would 480 00:21:19,590 --> 00:21:23,510 have felt comfortable coming back to a relationship with Saul. 481 00:21:23,510 --> 00:21:24,870 But God separated them. 482 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:28,320 And interestingly enough, Rama and Gibeah were less than 10 miles 483 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:28,800 apart. 484 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:31,560 So it wasn't like they were moving across the country from each 485 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:34,280 other, even though 10 miles was a lot longer then than it is 486 00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:34,640 now. 487 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:38,240 We know that they weren't across the world from each other, 488 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:42,880 but yet God did allow for this wedge to be driven because of a sin 489 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:44,000 in the life of Saul. 490 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:48,880 And we know that Saul wanted to see Samuel, but Saul was not willing 491 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:52,480 to get things right with God to have that type of restoration. 492 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:57,200 And so at the end we do see that Samuel mourns the loss of Saul. 493 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,280 So it's not like Samuel's hard hearted against Saul. 494 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:02,800 You know, I think a lot of times if someone sins against us 495 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:05,440 and we separate from them, we hold bitterness and say, well, you 496 00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:05,800 know what? 497 00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:07,560 I wish ill will upon them. 498 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:09,640 Well, that's something the Bible calls malice. 499 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:10,960 And we don't want to have malice. 500 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,720 We don't want to have anger that wishes evil upon someone or 501 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:15,080 harm upon somebody. 502 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:18,960 So even though Saul and Samuel had to separate because of Saul's 503 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:24,110 sin, Samuel still had a heart of compassion for Samuel, still had 504 00:22:24,110 --> 00:22:25,590 a heart of compassion for Saul. 505 00:22:25,750 --> 00:22:27,350 And so Samuel mourned for Saul. 506 00:22:27,350 --> 00:22:28,870 He was brokenhearted over him. 507 00:22:28,870 --> 00:22:32,910 And I think this is a great example of how we should be dealing 508 00:22:32,910 --> 00:22:35,190 with people who are an unrepentant sin. 509 00:22:35,509 --> 00:22:38,070 And even if we have to separate from them, there is a time 510 00:22:38,070 --> 00:22:41,270 and a place to separate from people that are in unrepentant sin. 511 00:22:41,430 --> 00:22:43,190 And the Bible does speak about that. 512 00:22:43,590 --> 00:22:46,150 But at the same time, the Bible also tells us the type of, 513 00:22:46,300 --> 00:22:48,300 of relationship that we have with them. 514 00:22:48,300 --> 00:22:49,900 Even in that type of separation. 515 00:22:49,900 --> 00:22:51,100 We're always praying for them. 516 00:22:51,500 --> 00:22:52,940 We're wishing for restoration. 517 00:22:52,940 --> 00:22:56,340 Galatians Chapter six, I believe, talks about praying that 518 00:22:56,340 --> 00:22:57,500 a brother is restored. 519 00:22:57,900 --> 00:23:00,620 And so at the same time, I do believe that Samuel's heart being 520 00:23:00,620 --> 00:23:05,020 broken was for the fact that he wanted Saul to come back in repentance. 521 00:23:05,260 --> 00:23:09,820 And the desire was for him to be restored to the Lord. 522 00:23:09,820 --> 00:23:14,540 And so Samuel was not cold or dispass, dispassionate when it comes 523 00:23:14,540 --> 00:23:17,800 to his relationship with, with Saul. 524 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:22,480 He hurt for Saul and we, we know that he hurt because of the 525 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:23,520 hardness of Saul's heart. 526 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:25,320 And I think some of us understand that type of pain. 527 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:29,720 Maybe somebody that we love and care for has hardened their hearts 528 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:33,200 against the Lord and instead of hating them, we should pray for 529 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:35,600 them and have a humble compassion upon them. 530 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:40,040 But at the same time, we can't always join in with their lifestyle 531 00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:42,640 when it comes to their rebellion to the Lord. 532 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:43,780 So we see all that. 533 00:23:43,780 --> 00:23:46,060 Then we see at the very end of verse 35 something interesting. 534 00:23:46,060 --> 00:23:49,780 It says, and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel. 535 00:23:49,780 --> 00:23:53,860 Now this is hard to think about because we just saw that the 536 00:23:53,860 --> 00:23:56,140 strength of Israel, God does not lie or repent. 537 00:23:56,140 --> 00:23:57,820 And then it says that God repented. 538 00:23:58,220 --> 00:24:02,700 Obviously we know that in, in this case there's two different thoughts 539 00:24:02,700 --> 00:24:04,060 that are being given here. 540 00:24:04,140 --> 00:24:07,460 The first repent that's mentioned in verse 29 is about God 541 00:24:07,460 --> 00:24:10,900 basically take turning away and knowing that he's done something 542 00:24:10,900 --> 00:24:11,260 wrong. 543 00:24:11,260 --> 00:24:11,900 Okay, okay. 544 00:24:11,900 --> 00:24:13,940 And then we know that God has never done anything wrong. 545 00:24:13,940 --> 00:24:17,060 So God doesn't make a wrong decision and have to change in that. 546 00:24:17,620 --> 00:24:20,780 So when we get down to verse number 35 and we see that God repented 547 00:24:20,780 --> 00:24:24,340 that he had made Saul king over Israel, we understand that God 548 00:24:24,340 --> 00:24:27,340 works in different ways and he thinks in different ways and his 549 00:24:27,340 --> 00:24:28,620 thoughts are beyond our thoughts. 550 00:24:28,620 --> 00:24:31,940 The book of, well, we just saw that in the book of Romans that His 551 00:24:31,940 --> 00:24:33,380 thoughts are beyond our thoughts. 552 00:24:33,860 --> 00:24:35,540 So, so what we would say is this. 553 00:24:35,780 --> 00:24:39,900 God is describing to us in his word the best way that we as humans 554 00:24:39,900 --> 00:24:43,820 can understand his emotions in this scenario with Saul. 555 00:24:44,940 --> 00:24:46,260 So does God make mistakes? 556 00:24:46,260 --> 00:24:46,620 No. 557 00:24:46,700 --> 00:24:49,020 Did God know that Saul was going to rebel? 558 00:24:49,180 --> 00:24:49,580 Sure. 559 00:24:49,580 --> 00:24:53,660 But God is still brokenhearted over his children who rebel against 560 00:24:53,660 --> 00:24:53,980 Him. 561 00:24:54,540 --> 00:24:59,180 God is not cold hearted as some people paint the picture that 562 00:24:59,180 --> 00:25:01,060 he knows who's going to sin. 563 00:25:01,060 --> 00:25:04,420 And not only does he know who's going to sin, but he also forces 564 00:25:04,420 --> 00:25:06,220 those people to sin and determinism. 565 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:09,280 And I don't believe that God forces us to sin as we talked about 566 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:09,600 earlier. 567 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:13,520 So therefore when God sees us, he knows what we will do. 568 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:17,320 But at the same time he is brokenhearted over those that turn 569 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:18,560 and rebel from him. 570 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:21,800 And so the best way that we could rectify this in the context 571 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:27,120 of scripture, in verse 35 is that God is brokenhearted over Saul's 572 00:25:27,120 --> 00:25:32,000 rebellion of being king and his relationship with, with the Lord, 573 00:25:32,670 --> 00:25:36,270 but also as taking care of his people, the nation of Israel. 574 00:25:37,150 --> 00:25:40,110 And so God has a better plan by bringing in David. 575 00:25:40,590 --> 00:25:45,830 God has a better plan by removing Saul from the equation and 576 00:25:45,830 --> 00:25:47,070 his family from the equation. 577 00:25:47,550 --> 00:25:50,790 But we still know that even though God always does the right 578 00:25:50,790 --> 00:25:52,790 thing there, there's still God. 579 00:25:52,790 --> 00:25:53,790 God has emotions. 580 00:25:53,790 --> 00:25:55,310 I do believe that that is the case. 581 00:25:55,310 --> 00:25:56,270 He's not a robot. 582 00:25:56,750 --> 00:26:01,980 He is not just detached from the people that he's ministering 583 00:26:01,980 --> 00:26:02,180 to. 584 00:26:02,180 --> 00:26:04,540 Even though he is separate from us, he's not bound by space 585 00:26:04,540 --> 00:26:05,140 and time. 586 00:26:05,220 --> 00:26:07,620 We also know that God is a personal God. 587 00:26:07,780 --> 00:26:09,780 And we see God a brokenhearted. 588 00:26:09,780 --> 00:26:13,300 And we even see the person of Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, 589 00:26:13,380 --> 00:26:14,180 a weeping. 590 00:26:14,260 --> 00:26:15,860 And so we do know that there's emotions. 591 00:26:15,860 --> 00:26:19,620 And so I do believe that God is brokenhearted over Saul's repentance 592 00:26:19,780 --> 00:26:22,660 or, excuse me, Saul's lack of repentance and his rebellion. 593 00:26:22,740 --> 00:26:25,700 And so that's really the summary of First Samuel. 594 00:26:25,700 --> 00:26:27,040 First, First Samuel, chapter 15. 595 00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:30,960 But what we're going to see next time when we come back is that 596 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:34,320 David comes on the scene and, and really what we're going to see 597 00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:37,600 is that not an immediate transition of power, even though 598 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:41,640 God promises David to be the next king, there is going to be some 599 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:42,000 waiting. 600 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:44,240 And that's a whole other test for David. 601 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:47,400 Certainly we know that it would be a lot easier for David and 602 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,520 for everybody in the equation if God just said, hey, David, you're 603 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:51,040 king today. 604 00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:52,240 Saul, you're out. 605 00:26:52,580 --> 00:26:56,140 But we know that there's this really muddied up situation when 606 00:26:56,140 --> 00:26:59,620 it comes to David being friends with Saul and David being 607 00:26:59,620 --> 00:27:02,540 even better friends with Jonathan, and then David playing 608 00:27:02,540 --> 00:27:05,820 in the courts with Saul and then ultimately the. 609 00:27:05,820 --> 00:27:09,820 A classic story of David and Goliath and then of course, David's 610 00:27:09,820 --> 00:27:10,340 victories. 611 00:27:10,420 --> 00:27:13,460 And so we're going to really dive deep into that relationship 612 00:27:13,460 --> 00:27:18,580 of God and David, David and Saul, David and Jonathan and all 613 00:27:18,580 --> 00:27:21,530 the other things that come along with that story. 614 00:27:21,530 --> 00:27:25,330 And so I hope that this is a study that we can continue on with 615 00:27:25,330 --> 00:27:27,050 and, and see more lessons from. 616 00:27:27,050 --> 00:27:29,650 So what, so what have we learned from Saul here? 617 00:27:29,890 --> 00:27:32,530 Or what have we learned to not follow in the life of Saul? 618 00:27:32,530 --> 00:27:36,210 Because remember, we have passages of scripture that are prescriptive, 619 00:27:36,530 --> 00:27:38,610 meaning these are examples for us to follow. 620 00:27:38,850 --> 00:27:41,490 And then we also have descriptive passages which basically 621 00:27:41,490 --> 00:27:44,570 just describe something and tell us these are things that we 622 00:27:44,570 --> 00:27:45,170 shouldn't follow. 623 00:27:45,740 --> 00:27:48,660 And certainly with the life of Saul, we saw that he started out 624 00:27:48,660 --> 00:27:49,740 with a lot of potential. 625 00:27:49,820 --> 00:27:52,900 I think one of the major words that I think of when I think of the 626 00:27:52,900 --> 00:27:55,980 life of Saul is a man with a lot of potential. 627 00:27:56,700 --> 00:27:59,020 But with that potential sometimes comes danger. 628 00:27:59,020 --> 00:28:02,019 Because just because someone has potential to do great things, 629 00:28:02,019 --> 00:28:05,380 particularly for the Lord, it doesn't automatically mean that that 630 00:28:05,380 --> 00:28:06,620 person will do those things. 631 00:28:07,180 --> 00:28:11,920 God gave Saul every single thing that he needed to be the king 632 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:13,080 that he wanted him to be. 633 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:17,400 God gave Saul all the opportunities, all the strength, 634 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:18,920 all the resources. 635 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:22,360 And if you remember, at the very beginning, God reminded Saul, 636 00:28:22,360 --> 00:28:24,040 hey, Saul, this is not your nation. 637 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:25,480 This is my nation. 638 00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:28,840 I'm giving you the opportunity to steward my nation as king. 639 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:33,320 And at the very beginning, Saul was humble to some degree. 640 00:28:34,360 --> 00:28:40,130 But as we saw the power coming into Saul's life, he misappropriated 641 00:28:40,130 --> 00:28:42,890 the blessings of God and thought that those were blessings 642 00:28:42,890 --> 00:28:43,930 that he brought himself. 643 00:28:43,930 --> 00:28:48,690 And therefore, his ego began to grow, his pride began to grow, 644 00:28:48,690 --> 00:28:50,850 and his humility began to shrink. 645 00:28:51,410 --> 00:28:55,730 And in that process of his pride growing, he led himself to 646 00:28:55,730 --> 00:28:58,610 a place where he thought he could handle it himself. 647 00:28:58,610 --> 00:29:00,050 He thought he had a better plan. 648 00:29:00,290 --> 00:29:02,770 He thought that he could obey God on his terms. 649 00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:07,240 And I do believe that there are many people today that live in 650 00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:11,520 this world that truly believe that they can worship God on their 651 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:12,080 own terms. 652 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,280 Not on God's terms, but on their own terms. 653 00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:16,240 We. 654 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:19,960 We know that even in the New Testament, that it tells us that 655 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,960 there will be a day when people are lovers of themselves. 656 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,200 There will be a day when there's people that are heaping to 657 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:28,800 themselves, teachers having itching ears. 658 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:32,100 Basically, people are going to want to have people teaching them 659 00:29:32,100 --> 00:29:34,100 that are telling them what they want to hear. 660 00:29:35,140 --> 00:29:36,660 And so what that means is this. 661 00:29:36,740 --> 00:29:42,500 If I am at the center of my theology and if I am absorbed in 662 00:29:42,500 --> 00:29:46,420 pride, I want people to tell me what makes me feel good. 663 00:29:46,900 --> 00:29:51,060 And I'm only going to listen to people and agree with people that 664 00:29:51,060 --> 00:29:52,660 tell me what I want to hear. 665 00:29:52,740 --> 00:29:56,570 And that's one of the major downfalls within the church in this 666 00:29:56,570 --> 00:29:59,250 world today, and it always has been since the very beginning of 667 00:29:59,250 --> 00:30:03,730 the church, is that the churches that want to bring in the 668 00:30:03,810 --> 00:30:09,090 word of God in their way and worship their way and worship God 669 00:30:09,090 --> 00:30:11,409 within the church and in their communities, their way. 670 00:30:11,410 --> 00:30:15,130 And then what we would see is that they would bring in the culture 671 00:30:15,130 --> 00:30:18,370 into the church instead of bringing the church into the culture. 672 00:30:18,770 --> 00:30:20,690 So if you think back at First Corinthians. 673 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:23,800 First Corinthians tells us that there was this church in Corinth, 674 00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:28,600 and they started out to the same gospel that we all have. 675 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:34,760 But what eventually happened is, is that they were allowing the 676 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:39,560 worship of the Goddess Diana to seep into their church. 677 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:42,760 And basically what happened is, is they thought they could worship 678 00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:46,560 God the way that the other pagans were worshiping God and do 679 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:49,640 the same thing and basically think that God was going to love 680 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:51,400 that, bless that, and encourage that. 681 00:30:51,860 --> 00:30:54,540 And Paul reminds them, no, that is not the way to do it. 682 00:30:54,540 --> 00:30:58,220 And there needed to be some serious house cleaning and discipline 683 00:30:58,220 --> 00:30:59,140 within that church. 684 00:30:59,540 --> 00:31:02,260 We see over and over again, there's instances in scripture where 685 00:31:02,260 --> 00:31:05,460 people thought that they could bring the culture into the church. 686 00:31:05,540 --> 00:31:08,740 And we see that even happening today, that we see that. 687 00:31:08,740 --> 00:31:09,300 You know what? 688 00:31:09,300 --> 00:31:12,860 Well, these people over here, though, historically speaking and 689 00:31:12,860 --> 00:31:16,100 biblically speaking, this has never been accepted within the church. 690 00:31:16,100 --> 00:31:16,900 But you know what? 691 00:31:16,980 --> 00:31:20,750 Since we want to adapt to culture, we need to overlook what 692 00:31:20,750 --> 00:31:22,070 scripture clearly teaches. 693 00:31:22,150 --> 00:31:25,430 And so what I would tell you is, is that, yes, there are times 694 00:31:25,430 --> 00:31:29,110 and places within the church that we must understand that we. 695 00:31:29,110 --> 00:31:30,950 We do have to adapt to some degree. 696 00:31:31,350 --> 00:31:32,270 You know, I. I'm. 697 00:31:32,270 --> 00:31:35,430 I'm thankful for, you know, central air and heat. 698 00:31:35,510 --> 00:31:35,910 I'm. 699 00:31:35,910 --> 00:31:39,870 I'm thankful for the fact that we can meet and sit in padded pews. 700 00:31:39,870 --> 00:31:42,390 You know, the church I grew up in, we, you know, we didn't have 701 00:31:42,390 --> 00:31:43,070 padded pews. 702 00:31:43,070 --> 00:31:43,750 I mean, so that. 703 00:31:43,830 --> 00:31:48,030 I'm all for technology, I'm all for adaptation to the culture 704 00:31:48,030 --> 00:31:48,710 around us. 705 00:31:48,870 --> 00:31:53,070 But when we're talking about things that then contradict the word 706 00:31:53,070 --> 00:31:56,350 of God, that's where we have to draw the line. 707 00:31:56,350 --> 00:31:57,750 That's where we have to say, no. 708 00:31:57,910 --> 00:32:01,510 That type of compromise cannot happen within the church. 709 00:32:01,670 --> 00:32:03,910 So we hear the word compromise, and we have to think 710 00:32:03,910 --> 00:32:05,110 about that word compromise. 711 00:32:05,270 --> 00:32:09,230 Because we saw that Saul compromised, right? 712 00:32:09,230 --> 00:32:11,270 He said, okay, God, do you know that? 713 00:32:12,470 --> 00:32:16,340 Or I know that you want me to wipe out the Amalekites, but I'm 714 00:32:16,340 --> 00:32:19,060 going to do it my way to the degree that I want to do it. 715 00:32:19,060 --> 00:32:21,460 And I'm going to feel good about it, and I'm going to actually 716 00:32:21,460 --> 00:32:25,060 celebrate it, and I'm going to say things to people, but how good 717 00:32:25,060 --> 00:32:26,060 you are through this. 718 00:32:26,620 --> 00:32:28,540 But at the same time, we know that he compromised. 719 00:32:28,540 --> 00:32:31,740 Now, if we were to sit here, and I'm trying to use an analogy 720 00:32:31,740 --> 00:32:35,660 that we all probably could not feel oppressed on and nervous about, 721 00:32:35,660 --> 00:32:38,180 but let's say again, we were going to change the color of the 722 00:32:38,180 --> 00:32:38,860 carpet, right? 723 00:32:38,860 --> 00:32:41,740 And we had, you know, one segment of the church that wanted 724 00:32:41,740 --> 00:32:44,060 red carpet and the other church wanted blue carpet. 725 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:46,880 And, you know, we compromised and we said, okay, we're going to 726 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:49,320 do purple carpet now, probably won't be doing that. 727 00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:50,640 But you guys get the point. 728 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:54,000 If there's that type of compromise within the church, that's 729 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:55,240 not spiritual compromise. 730 00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:57,160 That's like, hey, you know, there's a little bit of give and 731 00:32:57,160 --> 00:32:57,680 take here. 732 00:32:57,760 --> 00:32:59,920 You know, I don't have to have it always my way. 733 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:02,280 That's a blessing, and that's church unity. 734 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:04,880 That's kind of what we want to see within the church. 735 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:08,840 But at the same time, spiritual compromise is not where 736 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:09,600 we want to be. 737 00:33:10,330 --> 00:33:13,930 And so in our world today, just as Saul spiritually compromised, 738 00:33:14,010 --> 00:33:16,730 we see many people spiritually compromised. 739 00:33:16,730 --> 00:33:21,650 And if we don't be on guard and put on the armor of God, we could 740 00:33:21,650 --> 00:33:25,290 easily, whether we know it or not, slip into that type of spiritual 741 00:33:25,290 --> 00:33:25,889 compromise. 742 00:33:25,889 --> 00:33:29,450 Because we don't usually compromise on things that we don't 743 00:33:29,450 --> 00:33:30,810 struggle with, right? 744 00:33:31,210 --> 00:33:34,770 We usually compromise on the things that we personally struggle 745 00:33:34,770 --> 00:33:35,530 with in our life. 746 00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:39,200 And we often only justify those types of sins into our life 747 00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:43,920 and say, well, I understand why I would do that, because that's 748 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:44,880 the way I feel about this. 749 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,720 But someone else who sins over, there, of course they're wrong. 750 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:51,320 And so what we have to do is we have to take a viewpoint from 751 00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:53,240 the perspective of it's the Word of God. 752 00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:55,120 And if you go back to what. 753 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:55,480 What did. 754 00:33:55,480 --> 00:34:00,600 What did Samuel tell him very, very beginning here in verse 26, 755 00:34:02,290 --> 00:34:05,970 he said, your problem, your issue, the reason why you're not 756 00:34:05,970 --> 00:34:09,290 finding that restoration, the reason why you're not being reunited 757 00:34:09,290 --> 00:34:12,850 with the Lord and God's blessing you and forgiving you is 758 00:34:12,850 --> 00:34:17,250 because he says, thou has rejected the word of the Lord. 759 00:34:17,810 --> 00:34:20,130 And that's the message that we could preach to the world today. 760 00:34:20,450 --> 00:34:22,610 And you want to know why you have all of those issues? 761 00:34:23,570 --> 00:34:26,370 Well, first check, are you rejecting the Word of the Lord? 762 00:34:27,099 --> 00:34:30,259 Now, not all issues are predicated upon rejection of the 763 00:34:30,259 --> 00:34:30,859 Word of God. 764 00:34:31,499 --> 00:34:34,099 There are some issues in our life that we deal with because we 765 00:34:34,099 --> 00:34:36,459 live in a marred, sin, cursed world. 766 00:34:37,419 --> 00:34:39,899 But what I will say is that there's many people in the world 767 00:34:39,899 --> 00:34:43,019 that are struggling because there's a rejection to the Word of 768 00:34:43,019 --> 00:34:43,339 God. 769 00:34:43,819 --> 00:34:45,859 And then they look at their life and say, why do I have this 770 00:34:45,859 --> 00:34:47,099 problem, this problem, this problem? 771 00:34:47,419 --> 00:34:49,739 And sometimes as a pastor, I look and say, well, you did this, 772 00:34:49,739 --> 00:34:50,379 this and this. 773 00:34:50,619 --> 00:34:53,829 And sometimes it's easy to see on paper, but we as humans don't 774 00:34:53,829 --> 00:34:55,909 see it actually unfolding before our eyes. 775 00:34:55,989 --> 00:34:57,789 It's kind of like the frog and the. 776 00:34:57,789 --> 00:34:59,109 The hot water scenario. 777 00:34:59,109 --> 00:35:02,549 Like, if you burned it up, hot, boiling, right away, that frog's 778 00:35:02,549 --> 00:35:03,509 going to jump out of that water. 779 00:35:03,509 --> 00:35:06,989 But you go very slowly, and slowly but surely it would stay in 780 00:35:06,989 --> 00:35:07,189 there. 781 00:35:07,189 --> 00:35:07,989 You know, I heard a. 782 00:35:08,229 --> 00:35:09,228 A story one time. 783 00:35:09,228 --> 00:35:10,509 There was a pastor of the church. 784 00:35:10,509 --> 00:35:10,869 He. 785 00:35:11,109 --> 00:35:12,069 He wanted to. 786 00:35:13,509 --> 00:35:13,829 The. 787 00:35:13,829 --> 00:35:14,589 The piano was. 788 00:35:14,589 --> 00:35:17,349 Let's say the piano was on the right side of the church, and he 789 00:35:17,349 --> 00:35:19,149 wanted the piano on the left side of the church. 790 00:35:19,149 --> 00:35:20,789 He was like, I really want on the left side. 791 00:35:21,530 --> 00:35:25,290 And people said, no, Pastor, if you move that piano to the other 792 00:35:25,290 --> 00:35:27,050 side of the church, you're out, you're done. 793 00:35:27,130 --> 00:35:28,410 That we're not compromising. 794 00:35:28,410 --> 00:35:29,450 That piano is on the. 795 00:35:29,530 --> 00:35:31,050 On the right side of our church. 796 00:35:31,610 --> 00:35:33,930 And so he ended up leaving and going to another church. 797 00:35:34,010 --> 00:35:38,810 And new pastor came in, and a few years later, he. 798 00:35:38,890 --> 00:35:43,210 The older pastor came back and he said he comes into the church 799 00:35:43,210 --> 00:35:45,410 service and he wanted to see, say hi to everybody. 800 00:35:45,410 --> 00:35:47,540 He looks up on the stage and would you believe it? 801 00:35:47,540 --> 00:35:48,980 The piano was on the left side of the church. 802 00:35:48,980 --> 00:35:51,100 He said, how did he get them to do that? 803 00:35:51,340 --> 00:35:52,620 How did he get them to do that? 804 00:35:52,620 --> 00:35:54,620 And he goes up and asks the pastor, how did you get them to move 805 00:35:54,620 --> 00:35:55,620 the piano across the church? 806 00:35:55,620 --> 00:35:59,340 And he said it was one inch every Sunday, and just. 807 00:35:59,420 --> 00:36:01,740 He got all the way across and they didn't notice it. 808 00:36:01,900 --> 00:36:03,180 But the idea would be this. 809 00:36:04,620 --> 00:36:07,820 Sometimes sin creeps in that way in our life. 810 00:36:09,260 --> 00:36:12,350 Sometimes the enemy doesn't come right out and say, you know, 811 00:36:12,350 --> 00:36:15,110 Middletown Baptist Church is now going to be affirming these types 812 00:36:15,110 --> 00:36:16,550 of sins starting next Sunday. 813 00:36:17,270 --> 00:36:20,230 Some churches have done that way, and that has been shocking. 814 00:36:20,390 --> 00:36:23,830 But other times, what we see is that it's a slow burn that happens 815 00:36:23,830 --> 00:36:27,310 over a long period of time where sin just gets, you know, kind 816 00:36:27,310 --> 00:36:31,430 of put on the back burner and then eventually tolerated, then eventually 817 00:36:31,430 --> 00:36:34,870 accepted, then eventually celebrated, and then eventually participated 818 00:36:34,870 --> 00:36:35,190 in. 819 00:36:35,670 --> 00:36:39,340 And so what we have to be very careful of is drawing that line between 820 00:36:39,740 --> 00:36:42,580 compromise within the church that's completely healthy and part 821 00:36:42,580 --> 00:36:45,780 of the body of Christ, and then that type of spiritual compromise 822 00:36:45,780 --> 00:36:49,140 and sin compromise that is not part of the body of Christ. 823 00:36:49,140 --> 00:36:52,780 And therefore, as we saw in the New Testament, God resists the 824 00:36:52,780 --> 00:36:54,380 proud, but give grace to the humble. 825 00:36:54,620 --> 00:36:57,620 So those churches that are rejecting the word of God clearly 826 00:36:57,620 --> 00:36:59,300 and openly are those. 827 00:36:59,300 --> 00:37:02,300 They are in pride, basically saying, we know better than the Bible. 828 00:37:02,300 --> 00:37:05,350 We know better than what the Lord has to say, and. 829 00:37:05,420 --> 00:37:08,380 And ultimately we know what happens when it comes to that. 830 00:37:08,380 --> 00:37:16,900 So Saul is a story, I believe, of pride, a story of potential, but 831 00:37:16,900 --> 00:37:20,700 of wasted potential and his rebellion to the Lord. 832 00:37:20,780 --> 00:37:22,180 And then we also see it's. 833 00:37:22,180 --> 00:37:25,340 It's a story of being resolute with Samuel. 834 00:37:25,340 --> 00:37:28,660 Samuel stayed true to what God had to say, and at the end of the 835 00:37:28,660 --> 00:37:30,860 story, he did what Saul couldn't do. 836 00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:33,640 And I think that's beautiful as well. 837 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:34,560 I think that even. 838 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:38,680 Even that picture of Samuel stepping up in that scenario shows 839 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:41,160 that there's always someone who could stand up for the truth, 840 00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:43,360 even if nobody else is standing up for the truth. 841 00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:44,840 That's hard for me to do. 842 00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:45,840 I'm just going to tell you. 843 00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:48,920 Personally, in my life, I struggle when everybody around me 844 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:51,760 is celebrating Jesus and we're all on fire for the Lord. 845 00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:53,920 It's so easy for me to be bold for my faith. 846 00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:56,840 You know, we could go out and we could march and we could preach 847 00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:57,440 the word of God. 848 00:37:57,670 --> 00:38:00,870 You know what's really hard for me and where I struggle is when 849 00:38:00,870 --> 00:38:03,830 everybody around me is against the word of God and that I'm the 850 00:38:03,830 --> 00:38:05,830 only person that has that same viewpoint. 851 00:38:05,830 --> 00:38:08,150 I'm a lot more timid in those scenarios. 852 00:38:08,310 --> 00:38:11,550 When it comes to those opportunities to stand up for the 853 00:38:11,550 --> 00:38:13,310 faith now doesn't mean that we don't stand up. 854 00:38:13,310 --> 00:38:16,150 It just means that in our human nature, sometimes there's a 855 00:38:16,230 --> 00:38:19,430 challenge with being the one that stands up and does what God 856 00:38:19,430 --> 00:38:20,310 calls us to do. 857 00:38:20,470 --> 00:38:23,310 But I would encourage us, just as Samuel did, is to stand up, no 858 00:38:23,310 --> 00:38:26,010 matter what, who's involved, and say, you know, we need to do 859 00:38:26,010 --> 00:38:27,210 this and we need to make this right. 860 00:38:27,610 --> 00:38:31,730 And so that's the culmination, not the full culmination of Saul. 861 00:38:31,730 --> 00:38:34,410 Certainly we know Saul is going to be mentioned over and over 862 00:38:34,410 --> 00:38:38,490 again in the next few books of the Bible here. 863 00:38:38,730 --> 00:38:41,770 But we do know that this is kind of like the end of the story 864 00:38:41,770 --> 00:38:44,810 for him as king, even though he's not done being king. 865 00:38:44,810 --> 00:38:46,650 It's the beginning of the end. 866 00:38:46,810 --> 00:38:50,500 And David comes on the scene, and then we just see Saul's pride 867 00:38:50,500 --> 00:38:56,660 and his rebellion just magnify through the persistence of David 868 00:38:56,660 --> 00:38:58,100 having all the blessings of God. 869 00:38:58,340 --> 00:39:01,020 And so we will get into that study as we go along. 870 00:39:01,020 --> 00:39:04,340 So I hope that you come back for First Samuel, chapter 16. 871 00:39:04,900 --> 00:39:06,860 We'll see a new guy coming on the scene. 872 00:39:06,860 --> 00:39:07,180 David. 873 00:39:07,180 --> 00:39:09,300 He's already been mentioned as a man after God's own heart, but 874 00:39:09,300 --> 00:39:13,940 he hasn't been given his he hasn't been named yet, and we're 875 00:39:13,940 --> 00:39:16,260 going to see him named here in First Samuel, Chapter 16. 876 00:39:17,540 --> 00:39:19,620 So I encourage you to come back. 877 00:39:19,620 --> 00:39:21,460 We've been in First Samuel for quite some time. 878 00:39:21,940 --> 00:39:25,340 We're going to do First Samuel and Second Samuel, okay? 879 00:39:25,340 --> 00:39:27,380 So in this study, we're going to try to do it all together. 880 00:39:27,620 --> 00:39:33,420 First Samuel, Second Samuel, and then we'll see where we go from 881 00:39:33,420 --> 00:39:33,620 there. 882 00:39:33,620 --> 00:39:35,060 That's going to be some time in the future.