WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.599 Well, chapter 28 verses 3 to 25, the story that we just read is actually an interjection. 00:00:08.599 --> 00:00:12.320 It's an interruption in the middle of a different story. 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:17.359 And if you have a Bible, you can see in just the first two verses of chapter 28, it's actually 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:23.760 a story about David and the fact that he has become a partner with the Philistines. 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:28.039 And what the writer is doing originally is he's telling the story of how David's going 00:00:28.039 --> 00:00:33.280 to get out of this sticky mess that he's made being in league with the Philistines. 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:36.879 And that picks back up at the beginning of chapter 29. 00:00:36.879 --> 00:00:44.320 And the contents of chapter 29 are actually chronologically before the story we just read. 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:47.719 And so, see, this is chronologically all out of order. 00:00:47.719 --> 00:00:48.920 And there's a reason for that. 00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:50.759 The Bible writers do this all the time. 00:00:50.759 --> 00:00:56.480 The writer is trying to say, let me interrupt this programming for something more important 00:00:56.480 --> 00:00:57.560 or more significant. 00:00:57.560 --> 00:01:02.960 And what's significant here is that David has a problem, and that's that he's in league 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:04.799 with the Philistines. 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:08.159 But the interruption is all about the fact that somebody else has a much bigger problem 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:09.159 than David. 00:01:09.159 --> 00:01:10.159 And that's Saul. 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:14.480 Saul's issues are much more significant here in the story. 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:19.840 And so, there's a persistent compare and contrast between David and Saul throughout all of 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:20.840 First Samuel. 00:01:20.840 --> 00:01:25.439 That's the thread that weaves through the whole book between the current king and the 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:26.960 future king. 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:32.639 And why one of them has been rejected and one of them has been accepted. 00:01:32.639 --> 00:01:37.239 And that's really the big motif, the big storyline of the book of First Samuel. 00:01:37.239 --> 00:01:44.079 And here we've got tonight a difficult story and a sad story, a story that is actually a 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:47.280 warning passage, essentially. 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:55.079 And there's lots to say here, but the real question of this passage is why, why is Saul 00:01:55.079 --> 00:01:57.000 rejected? 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:01.840 Because this is actually the capstone story of Saul's demise, of Saul's doom. 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:05.200 And at the very end, you heard that Samuel says, you know, you and your sons are going 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:06.200 to die. 00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:08.960 That's about, that's going to happen next week. 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:11.079 And this is a sad story. 00:02:11.079 --> 00:02:12.560 It's Saul's doom story. 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:14.240 It's this demise story. 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:18.960 And so, we've got to ask why is it that Saul is rejected? 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:23.879 And there's lots we could say to that question, but the answer from this passage, and I think 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:31.560 from the book of First Samuel, is that Saul is rejected because he is religious. 00:02:31.560 --> 00:02:34.280 And so, let's think about that together. 00:02:34.280 --> 00:02:35.280 And so, we'll see two things. 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:40.800 One, the problem with mere religion, first, and secondly, the mark of true religion. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:43.519 Okay, so first, the problem with mere religion. 00:02:43.519 --> 00:02:48.519 All right, at the very beginning of the passage in verse three and four, the writer gives a 00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:55.920 very clear context in three things that you've got to know to get the picture of this story. 00:02:55.920 --> 00:03:02.160 And the first thing is that Samuel has died, and that's a critical flashback to a few chapters 00:03:02.160 --> 00:03:03.520 before in chapter 25. 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:07.600 So it's just reminding you, don't forget the prophet is dead. 00:03:07.600 --> 00:03:10.320 He is not speaking on behalf of God. 00:03:10.320 --> 00:03:16.120 The second thing is, it says Saul expelled the mediums and the necromancers. 00:03:16.120 --> 00:03:22.400 So Deuteronomy 18 says that anybody who tries to conjure up the dead, that's an abomination 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:23.480 to God. 00:03:23.480 --> 00:03:28.840 And so, we learned very quickly, Saul had actually cast out what people sometimes call 00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:29.840 witches. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:30.840 Technically, that's different. 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:33.840 But the mediums and the necromancers have been pushed out of the land. 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:34.840 That's what Saul did. 00:03:34.840 --> 00:03:37.000 He was actually obedient. 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:39.080 That's the second aspect of the context. 00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:44.120 And then the third thing is the immediate circumstance, which is really bad, and that's 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:49.159 that Philistines, the Philistines are attacking them again. 00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:54.960 And if you pay attention and work it all out, the geography, where the Philistines have 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:59.000 come to attack is the dead middle of the land of Israel. 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:03.240 And so what they've done is they've actually cut off the southern half of Israel from the 00:04:03.240 --> 00:04:04.400 north. 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:07.800 And so Saul cannot get to the northern tribes. 00:04:07.800 --> 00:04:11.480 And so he knows he's in big time trouble here. 00:04:11.479 --> 00:04:16.680 And that's why in verse five, it says that he was trembling with fear. 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:21.079 And that he reverbed there is actually that he's literally shaking. 00:04:21.079 --> 00:04:22.759 He is scared to death. 00:04:22.759 --> 00:04:23.759 He is timid. 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:25.000 He is very afraid. 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:27.759 He's afraid like he's facing a monster. 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:33.159 And that's why in verse six, God, he doesn't hear anything from God. 00:04:33.159 --> 00:04:35.680 God gives him no way out of this. 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:40.759 And so what we have is that when God does not speak to him, he goes to the necromancer. 00:04:40.759 --> 00:04:42.399 He goes to the medium. 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:43.639 All right. 00:04:43.639 --> 00:04:46.800 The interpretive key, it's in a different book. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:48.039 It's in 1 Chronicles. 00:04:48.039 --> 00:04:55.000 And in 1 Chronicles chapter 10, verses 13 and 14, there's a question from the writer. 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:58.879 It says, why was Saul rejected by God and were given the answer? 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:00.800 And this is the answer that we're given. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:08.839 It says that Saul died for his treachery because, quote, he did not keep the word of the Lord. 00:05:08.839 --> 00:05:11.879 He consulted a medium. 00:05:11.879 --> 00:05:12.879 So two things. 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:15.439 He did not keep the word of the Lord and he consulted a medium. 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:18.439 And that's why Saul was rejected. 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:22.199 And what this is saying is that this is actually a capstone story. 00:05:22.199 --> 00:05:26.639 There are three instances in the book of 1 Samuel where it says, where Samuel comes to 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:31.159 Saul and says, you've been rejected because you didn't keep the word of the Lord. 00:05:31.159 --> 00:05:32.159 And this is the third one. 00:05:32.159 --> 00:05:35.079 The first two are in 1 Samuel 13. 00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:37.439 He disobeys a direct command. 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:40.319 God, Samuel comes and says, you've been rejected. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:46.680 And then in 1 Samuel 15, he disobeys a direct command and Samuel says, you've been rejected. 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:53.519 And in 1 Samuel 28, he disobeys a direct command by going to this medium at indoor and Samuel 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:56.120 comes up from the ground and says, you've been rejected. 00:05:56.120 --> 00:06:04.319 Now, I hope that you recognize tonight, just like Derek said last week, that this is a 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:07.839 tough text to preach on. 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:13.959 And I listened and looked at the ways different preachers in the past have dealt with this 00:06:13.959 --> 00:06:16.439 text this week. 00:06:16.439 --> 00:06:22.079 And one of the things that's very common that people say is this, that the moral, the message 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:29.600 of 1 Samuel 28 and this very strange story is that if you persistently disobey God's 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:35.640 word over and over again, God will reject you. 00:06:35.640 --> 00:06:41.720 And there is a problem with that problem, with that being the problem. 00:06:41.720 --> 00:06:47.879 And that's that the real issue here is not Saul's outward disobedience. 00:06:47.879 --> 00:06:51.680 Yes, what he did was an abomination. 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:52.680 What he did was wrong. 00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:53.680 He went to the medium at indoor. 00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:54.680 Absolutely. 00:06:54.680 --> 00:06:56.280 But there's something more than that. 00:06:56.279 --> 00:07:02.159 And the real issue across the book of 1 Samuel for why Saul is rejected is not about outward 00:07:02.159 --> 00:07:03.159 disobedience. 00:07:03.159 --> 00:07:04.159 It's more than that. 00:07:04.159 --> 00:07:06.919 It's about something going on on the inside. 00:07:06.919 --> 00:07:07.919 It's about his heart. 00:07:07.919 --> 00:07:10.399 And you know the way that we know that. 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:15.519 The way that we know that is if you were to go through 1 and 2 Samuel and make a list 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:22.159 of all the ways that David directly disobeys a command of the Lord, then the list would 00:07:22.159 --> 00:07:25.599 be just as big as Saul's list. 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:28.520 David does some of the similar things to Saul. 00:07:28.520 --> 00:07:33.760 He rejects the word of the Lord multiple times in the direct command of God multiple times 00:07:33.760 --> 00:07:34.760 throughout the story. 00:07:34.760 --> 00:07:37.120 And yet David is accepted. 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:41.080 And the difference in the story of Saul and the story of David, why Saul rejected and 00:07:41.080 --> 00:07:46.960 David accepted and the issue that the writer is pointing us to is the issue of religion. 00:07:46.960 --> 00:07:50.879 So let me say something about that for just a couple minutes. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:55.839 Two things here about Saul's religion that makes it different than what we see in the 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:57.040 life of David. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:01.319 And the first thing is that Saul's religion is mere religion. 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:06.920 And mere religion is mechanical and dead. 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:12.519 Another way to say it is that it is the lowest common denominator of any type of religion. 00:08:12.519 --> 00:08:14.519 That's what Saul's religion is. 00:08:14.519 --> 00:08:20.560 And the Bible has a word for that, the Old Testament, and that word is Baalism. 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:22.800 The worship of Baal. 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:26.800 We also commonly call it paganism, paganism or Baalism. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:29.399 And this is how it works. 00:08:29.399 --> 00:08:32.919 In Baalism, paganism, it starts with a need. 00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:35.039 We as human beings, we have a need. 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:37.639 We have something that we want, something that we desire. 00:08:37.639 --> 00:08:42.039 And that's something that we want and we desire is something in the creaturely realm. 00:08:42.039 --> 00:08:46.159 It's something that we begin to feel like we could not live without if we were to lose 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:47.159 it. 00:08:47.159 --> 00:08:48.159 We want to achieve it. 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:50.120 We don't want to lose it. 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:55.440 So then what happens is we divinize that need and we make it into our own little Baal, our 00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:56.440 own little God. 00:08:56.440 --> 00:09:00.600 Baal is just the generic word in Hebrew for a small G God. 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:05.320 And so across the Old Testament, we see that people have rain bales and crop bales and 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:09.320 gold bales and power bales and money bales and wealth bales. 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:15.680 And you can have a fulfillment bail and a status bail and a family bail and wealth and 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:20.639 anything in the creaturely world that you can take and divinize and make it into your 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:24.399 small G God, that's Baalism. 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:30.679 But what happens in the ancient world is that actually the ancient Near Eastern religions 00:09:30.679 --> 00:09:36.879 posit what they conceive of as a real God behind that thing they worship. 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:43.559 So if they're desperate for crops more than anything, then they turn and believe in a 00:09:43.559 --> 00:09:49.199 deity that provides crops because they need crops and they go to the temple and they do 00:09:49.199 --> 00:09:52.959 mechanical sacrifices and they do whatever they need to do to make sure that that God 00:09:52.959 --> 00:09:54.559 gives them what they need. 00:09:54.559 --> 00:10:01.279 And you see Saul's problem, Saul's problem, if you look carefully at the stories of Saul 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:06.079 throughout is that Saul has a Baal. 00:10:06.079 --> 00:10:07.279 He's religious. 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:08.439 He's basically religious. 00:10:08.440 --> 00:10:18.560 He's ultimately like a pagan and Saul's Baal is victory, dynasty, power and glory. 00:10:18.560 --> 00:10:25.480 Saul is desperate for his lineage to carry on, for his son to be made king, for him to 00:10:25.480 --> 00:10:29.200 be the man that finally defeats the Philistines. 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:33.640 And if you look across the book of 1 Samuel, you'll see that almost every single story 00:10:33.639 --> 00:10:39.840 where Saul messes up, where Saul directly disobeys, it's in the context of him almost 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:42.120 about to lose battle. 00:10:42.120 --> 00:10:49.720 And he's desperate and he's hungry and he has a Baal in his life, a victory in dynasty. 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:56.039 We watched this week at my house with my parents were in and we all sat down one night and 00:10:56.039 --> 00:11:00.639 we watched the live action Aladdin film. 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:05.639 And I don't know if you've seen it, but many of you have probably seen the cartoon Aladdin. 00:11:05.639 --> 00:11:11.279 If you've seen the cartoon, then don't waste your time on the live action. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:13.399 The cartoon is so much better. 00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:18.120 But one of the best character, the best character in Aladdin, everybody knows who it is. 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:22.679 It's of course in both live action or the old one, it's the genie, right? 00:11:22.679 --> 00:11:25.039 You were going to say that, the genie. 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:33.000 And how does a genie work, the genie in Aladdin, you get the lamp and then you, whenever you 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:38.480 need the genie to save you, you need the genie to give you your greatest desires, you rub 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:43.039 the lamp and the genie comes out and you make your prayer, your wish. 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:45.599 And that's religion. 00:11:45.599 --> 00:11:47.559 That's Baalism. 00:11:47.559 --> 00:11:51.799 And that's exactly how Saul thinks of the Lord. 00:11:51.799 --> 00:11:54.559 He saw, to Saul, the Lord is his genie. 00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:58.239 And whenever he needs him, in the moments where the Philistines are at his doorstep, 00:11:58.239 --> 00:12:03.239 he rubs the lamp in whatever way he needs to do it in order to get the thing that he 00:12:03.239 --> 00:12:05.359 desires more than anything else. 00:12:05.359 --> 00:12:12.199 And that's victory and glory and a great name on a long dynasty. 00:12:12.199 --> 00:12:13.199 And that's Saul's bill. 00:12:13.199 --> 00:12:18.879 Now remember, I mentioned earlier that Saul was rejected because of three big moments, 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:20.279 three big events. 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:24.159 First Samuel 13, first Samuel 15, first Samuel 28. 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:27.399 And let me just tell you about each of those very quickly. 00:12:27.399 --> 00:12:28.439 And you can see this. 00:12:28.439 --> 00:12:32.839 You can see Saul's religion in each of these instances. 00:12:32.839 --> 00:12:40.079 And first Samuel 13, Saul is losing to the Philistines and his army has actually left 00:12:40.079 --> 00:12:42.240 him and scattered. 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:49.319 And God says, Samuel says, go to Gilgal, wait seven days and I will come and I will make 00:12:49.319 --> 00:12:50.319 a sacrifice to the Lord. 00:12:50.319 --> 00:12:54.120 And the Lord has said it, if you wait seven days and you make the sacrifice, I will say, 00:12:54.120 --> 00:12:56.639 I will speak through Samuel and tell you what to do. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:13:02.240 And what happens, Saul waits till the seventh morning and Samuel's not there. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:05.639 And so he gets up and he makes the sacrifice himself. 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:09.519 And he acts as a priest. 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:15.879 And this time, underneath the Lord's command, a priest and a king cannot mix offices. 00:13:15.879 --> 00:13:18.680 The king cannot be the priest and the priest cannot be the king. 00:13:18.680 --> 00:13:22.519 And that's because unlike every other religion, every other people group in the ancient Near 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:28.159 East where the king was also the priest, the king was the closest one to God. 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:33.439 In the Israelite religion, under God, the king needed a mediator just like everybody 00:13:33.439 --> 00:13:34.919 else needs a mediator. 00:13:34.919 --> 00:13:37.759 The king was a sinner just like everybody else is a sinner. 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:40.079 And so he violates that command. 00:13:40.079 --> 00:13:42.199 Why? 00:13:42.199 --> 00:13:43.720 Because he needs an answer. 00:13:43.720 --> 00:13:51.240 He needs to put the inputs of grain down, pull the lever, rub the lamp and get the God 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:54.080 that he worships to give him what he really wants. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:55.080 And that's victory. 00:13:55.080 --> 00:13:56.080 That's a way out. 00:13:56.080 --> 00:13:57.360 He doesn't care about the rules. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:03.279 All he cares about is the religious practices he needs to do to get the outcome he ultimately 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:04.279 desires. 00:14:04.279 --> 00:14:07.799 All right, if you jump to 1 Samuel 15, it's similar. 00:14:07.799 --> 00:14:10.279 It's the story of Amalek, the amelokites. 00:14:10.279 --> 00:14:16.480 And he's told to go and to destroy the amelokites because they rejected God outright. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:22.320 And there's a lot to talk about there in relationship to holy war and conquest and all those difficult 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:23.680 topics. 00:14:23.680 --> 00:14:28.039 But what happens in the passage is that Saul does not do what God says and he actually 00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:33.039 takes the king of the amelokites into his own household and he keeps all of the goods 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:34.720 of the amelokites. 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:35.720 And you see what he's doing. 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:39.639 He's saying, look, the word of the Lord is not important to me. 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:45.279 What I need is anything that's going to strengthen my position because his God, remember, is 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:46.279 victory. 00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:47.279 His God is power. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:49.399 His God is his dynasty. 00:14:49.399 --> 00:14:51.600 And so he'll do whatever it takes to strengthen his position. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:56.120 And then the third instance is the one that we're reading about tonight. 00:14:56.120 --> 00:15:04.000 Now he goes to indoor in 1 Samuel 28 and his back is against the wall. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:07.360 He knows he cannot defeat the Philistines. 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:13.720 And you can see in verse seven here that when he turns to his servant, he says, we need 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:18.560 to go see a medium, his servant immediately says, well, I know where there is one. 00:15:18.560 --> 00:15:22.920 And so he had commanded all the mediums and necromancers have to leave the country. 00:15:22.920 --> 00:15:27.279 But immediately his own administration knows exactly where they are. 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:33.200 And you get the sense that this was never serious, that it's been a two-faced command 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:34.200 all along. 00:15:34.200 --> 00:15:39.639 His administration has kept hold of some necromancers, some mediums, some witches, as some people 00:15:39.639 --> 00:15:40.639 call them. 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:43.879 And so they needed him and so Saul goes because he needs him. 00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:48.199 And then verse six, just before that he says, you know, I can't get the word of the Lord 00:15:48.199 --> 00:15:54.159 I need from a dream, from Umim, from Samuel. 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:55.439 Samuel's dead. 00:15:55.439 --> 00:15:57.639 God won't speak to me in a dream. 00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:03.919 And the Umim was a way that God would speak through one of the priests by saying yes or 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:04.919 no. 00:16:04.919 --> 00:16:10.439 And the reason that Saul cannot get a word from that is because he killed all the priests, 00:16:10.440 --> 00:16:13.120 just a couple of chapters ago. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:14.240 And why? 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:18.720 Because he didn't like the answers that they had given to him about an impending war. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:20.640 And you see what's happening here. 00:16:20.640 --> 00:16:23.200 If he doesn't like the message of the priest, he'll dance. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:26.360 If he doesn't like what happens in the dance, he'll do magic. 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:30.520 If he doesn't like the magic, he'll go to see the sorceress at indoor. 00:16:30.520 --> 00:16:36.280 Whatever it takes, whatever religious practice he needs to do to get the outcome of victory 00:16:36.280 --> 00:16:37.960 that he desires, he will do. 00:16:37.960 --> 00:16:45.440 He even in verse 10 swears to her in the name of the Lord that he will not hurt her for 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:49.200 calling up Samuel for practicing witchcraft. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:55.639 In other words, he has no regard for the covenant name of God at all. 00:16:55.639 --> 00:17:01.320 He swears to this necromancer in the name of the Lord, his Lord, that he will do her 00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:05.840 no harm by the name of the God who forbids the very thing he's doing. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:13.240 You see, God is nothing to Saul but his puppet and his genie. 00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:15.199 And he practices religion. 00:17:15.199 --> 00:17:18.799 He knows nothing about gospel. 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:26.240 And that means, secondly, that in mere religion, in mere religion, if you talk about what is 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:31.599 the relationship with God when we practice basic religion, our relationship with God 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:34.679 in basic religion is one of mere appeasement. 00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:36.799 It's mechanical, it's mathematical. 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:42.759 It's simply this, if I give God what he requires of me, then I expect to get the inputs I seek, 00:17:42.759 --> 00:17:44.680 the outputs I seek. 00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:51.480 It's pulling a lever, it's rubbing the lamp, it's a get out of jail free card type of relationship. 00:17:51.480 --> 00:17:54.400 And that means that he treats the Lord like an idol. 00:17:54.400 --> 00:18:01.039 Now, as we wrap up this first point and go to a much briefer second point, one of the 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:04.160 great examples of this is in 1 Kings 18. 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:10.920 In 1 Kings 18, it's the famous battle between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on the mountain. 00:18:10.920 --> 00:18:16.840 And the battle is about how do you get your God to come down and answer by fire and speak 00:18:16.840 --> 00:18:18.759 by fire. 00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:22.480 And what do the prophets of Baal do when they're on the mountain? 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:30.200 First, they shout and cry out magical incantations and their gods do not come. 00:18:30.200 --> 00:18:35.519 And so when their gods won't respond and give them what they desire, they begin to dance 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:37.240 and their gods do not come. 00:18:37.240 --> 00:18:41.840 And when they dance and their gods do not come, they begin to cut themselves and then 00:18:41.840 --> 00:18:43.440 their gods do not come. 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:48.920 And Elijah says exactly what Saul needs to hear. 00:18:48.920 --> 00:18:55.000 He says this, that the real God does what he wants. 00:18:55.000 --> 00:19:00.920 The real God cannot be appeased, the real God, the Lord cannot be controlled by saying 00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:05.599 the right words, by going to the right worship service just enough times, by pulling the 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:09.920 right levers, by going to the confessional booth. 00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:13.240 He cannot be controlled by religious practices. 00:19:13.240 --> 00:19:17.480 And that's exactly what Baalism doesn't understand is that the Lord is free. 00:19:17.480 --> 00:19:18.480 He's all powerful. 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:19.720 He can't be appeased. 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:21.880 And he can't be pacified. 00:19:21.880 --> 00:19:27.600 The true God wants relationship, not religion. 00:19:27.600 --> 00:19:31.440 The true God wants relationship and not religion. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:37.080 Now the outflow of this is three possibilities. 00:19:37.080 --> 00:19:46.160 And tonight, every single one of us, we have to examine ourselves here because three possibilities 00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:50.040 come from living a life of mere religion. 00:19:50.040 --> 00:19:51.240 And the first one is this. 00:19:51.240 --> 00:19:58.359 Right here in the text, mere religion will produce a life of fearfulness. 00:19:58.359 --> 00:20:03.519 Fear is the most common description that is given to Saul throughout this book. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:04.519 It's all over the place. 00:20:04.519 --> 00:20:06.680 It says multiple times throughout the book. 00:20:06.680 --> 00:20:07.680 Saul was afraid. 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:08.680 He was afraid. 00:20:08.680 --> 00:20:09.680 He was afraid. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:12.120 He was deathly afraid of Goliath. 00:20:12.120 --> 00:20:15.120 He's deathly afraid before the Philistines. 00:20:15.120 --> 00:20:19.240 And in verse five, he's literally shaking in fear. 00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:24.079 And the reason for that is because religion always produces fearfulness, a life of fearfulness. 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:29.640 And that is not the fearfulness of all in reverence, the fear of the Lord. 00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:32.440 It's scared timidity. 00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:35.880 It's the type of fear that we experience when we're in utter darkness. 00:20:35.880 --> 00:20:37.880 Religion produces fearfulness. 00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:38.880 And this is why. 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:41.120 This is why. 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:49.439 Because when you're a God, you're a bale, is your own name, your own success, a certain 00:20:49.439 --> 00:20:55.079 relationship, your own dynasty, your wealth, your beauty, your family, your health, your 00:20:55.079 --> 00:21:01.759 power, you know that you can lose it at any time. 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:06.179 You know, if you're if you're a God is your own health, then you know that ultimately one 00:21:06.179 --> 00:21:08.719 day your God will fail you. 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:14.319 And if you've built your entire religious scheme around that ultimate idea, then you 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:16.600 live a life in constant fear. 00:21:16.600 --> 00:21:21.039 And because Saul's God is his own name and his own status and his own dynasty, he lives 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:25.799 a life of constant fearfulness, knowing that he can lose it at any time. 00:21:25.799 --> 00:21:32.720 You see, your future can actually only be as sure as the surety of the God you truly 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:34.839 worship. 00:21:34.839 --> 00:21:40.039 If the God that you really worship is not ultimate and sure and absolute and unchanging, 00:21:40.039 --> 00:21:43.000 then you can only live a life of fearfulness. 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:47.079 Because the God that you truly serve can always leave you at any time. 00:21:47.079 --> 00:21:51.720 And so it produces a life of timidity and scaredness and constant fear. 00:21:51.720 --> 00:21:58.959 The second outcome of baleism is this, that mere religion always produces consumerism. 00:21:58.959 --> 00:22:03.720 Or we could say it the other way, consumerism produces mere religion. 00:22:03.720 --> 00:22:08.160 And it's very simple, we've already said it multiple times and it's simply this. 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:14.200 Consumerist religion is when we conceive of our relationship with God as mechanical. 00:22:14.200 --> 00:22:19.759 And so when we have a bad circumstance, the way we think about God is that we throw up 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:25.120 a prayer in order that God would get us out of that bad circumstance. 00:22:25.120 --> 00:22:27.319 And that's baleism. 00:22:27.319 --> 00:22:29.640 That's consumerist religion. 00:22:29.640 --> 00:22:35.120 You see, God wants relationship, not appeasement. 00:22:35.120 --> 00:22:42.160 And the third outcome is this, a more Christian form, a more Christian form. 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:47.240 And that's mere religion basically ends in nothing but works righteousness. 00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:51.680 If I'm religious at the right times and in the right ways, then God will accept me. 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:55.680 I'll be accepted because of my religious practice. 00:22:55.680 --> 00:23:04.279 Religion, whether it's worshiping a bale in your life and divinizing some idol that you 00:23:04.279 --> 00:23:08.759 know is really deeply burning at the altar of your heart down below. 00:23:08.759 --> 00:23:14.000 Or whether it's consumerist religion or whether it's living a life of works righteousness, 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:18.360 trying to be accepted by God by the things you do. 00:23:18.360 --> 00:23:25.060 All of us, all of us are prone to being mere religionists. 00:23:25.059 --> 00:23:27.480 We are religious by instinct. 00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:32.359 We are born in relationship with God no matter what we think about God. 00:23:32.359 --> 00:23:35.279 And therefore, we're religious to the core. 00:23:35.279 --> 00:23:39.679 And because of our broken hearts and our disposition and our original sin, we're born into this 00:23:39.679 --> 00:23:46.839 world as religious people, merely religious as bale worshipers, as pagans. 00:23:46.839 --> 00:23:53.240 As Calvin said, we produce idols where our heart is nothing but a factory of idols. 00:23:53.240 --> 00:23:55.960 This is our natural disposition as human beings. 00:23:55.960 --> 00:23:59.400 And Saul is the great testament to it. 00:23:59.400 --> 00:24:03.160 It says ultimately this, I do not exist for God. 00:24:03.160 --> 00:24:04.160 God exists for me. 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:12.000 Now, briefly, secondly, the mark of true religion. 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:14.039 Let's sum it up like this. 00:24:14.039 --> 00:24:19.359 Saul is rejected because he never gave God his heart. 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:23.439 And David sinned as big a Saul did. 00:24:23.439 --> 00:24:26.719 If you made a list of David sins, it's as big a Saul, but there's a difference. 00:24:26.719 --> 00:24:30.559 And the difference comes in 1 Samuel 1524. 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:38.599 In 1 Samuel 1524, whenever Saul had sinned and not done what God had commanded him to 00:24:38.599 --> 00:24:43.000 do in the case of the Amilokites, Samuel comes to him. 00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:45.359 And Derek mentioned this last week. 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:47.759 And Saul says, look, I know I've done wrong. 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:50.160 Don't reject me, Lord. 00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:52.400 And he says, you know, I'm sorry for what I did. 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:55.480 I'm sorry for what it's produced. 00:24:55.480 --> 00:25:00.279 And in the very next story, he turns around and disobeys in a very similar way. 00:25:00.279 --> 00:25:06.480 And multiple times, time and time again, across the book of Samuel, Saul sins. 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:07.480 And he says, I'm sorry. 00:25:07.480 --> 00:25:08.839 And he turns around in the next story. 00:25:08.839 --> 00:25:14.559 And the writer even reorders the chronology to show you this, that it never was repentance. 00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:16.480 It was only regret. 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:18.200 He only regretted his circumstances. 00:25:18.200 --> 00:25:20.200 He never repented. 00:25:20.200 --> 00:25:21.880 In other words, he never gave God his heart. 00:25:21.880 --> 00:25:27.000 You see, the difference in David and Saul is not sin. 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:31.400 David was a huge sinner, like every single one of us. 00:25:31.400 --> 00:25:37.319 And the issue was that when God came to Saul and said, I've condescended to you to show 00:25:37.319 --> 00:25:40.960 you mercy, Saul never said, Lord, I need mercy. 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:43.720 He never cried out for mercy. 00:25:43.720 --> 00:25:46.400 And look, this is very important. 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:53.240 It is not the gravity of your sin that will keep you away from the kingdom of God. 00:25:53.240 --> 00:25:58.160 It's not the gravity of your sin that will keep you away from the kingdom of God. 00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:01.000 Sin, sin, don't hear me wrong. 00:26:01.000 --> 00:26:05.280 Sin is so bad, but it is not the gravity of your sin that will keep you away from the 00:26:05.280 --> 00:26:06.280 kingdom of God. 00:26:06.280 --> 00:26:11.480 It is when God comes to you in the gospel message and he says, I've come to show you 00:26:11.480 --> 00:26:12.480 mercy. 00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:16.400 It's when you don't give your heart to the Lord and cry out for mercy that will keep 00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:18.720 you away from the kingdom of God. 00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:24.519 So every single person has rejected God, but God came in the middle of history to show 00:26:24.519 --> 00:26:29.039 radical mercy from top to bottom of us in a way that we can't even possibly understand 00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:30.880 its love. 00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:35.079 And that means that it is, it's not sin that will keep you out. 00:26:35.079 --> 00:26:37.599 It's rejecting God's condescension. 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:41.480 It's rejecting God coming to you and saying, I'm here to give you mercy. 00:26:41.480 --> 00:26:45.880 I'm here to show you peace. 00:26:45.880 --> 00:26:52.440 This passage is a warning passage and let me sum it up in this way as we close. 00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:57.079 Saul has all religion and no gospel and at the very end of this story, it becomes really 00:26:57.079 --> 00:26:58.079 clear. 00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:05.720 If you were reading along with me earlier, you would have seen this very strange ending 00:27:05.720 --> 00:27:08.240 to this story. 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:13.640 At the very end of the story, he is rejected, he hears the word of Samuel that he's going 00:27:13.640 --> 00:27:17.200 to die because he's been rejected. 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:25.039 And in verse 20, it says that he actually falls down, he passes out in fear and then 00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:30.519 he gets up and he eats a meal with the necromancer at indoor. 00:27:30.519 --> 00:27:32.720 And it's a very strange ending. 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:35.960 And why, why is it here? 00:27:35.960 --> 00:27:39.920 All collapses and total condemnation and fear and then there's a meal. 00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:47.160 Now listen, the medium, the witch as some have called her, she is a conjurer of the 00:27:47.160 --> 00:27:49.640 dead. 00:27:49.640 --> 00:27:58.440 And she says to Saul, I've done what you've commanded, now listen and do what I've commanded. 00:27:58.440 --> 00:28:02.799 And you see all across the Old Testament, this role, this abdivination of necromancy 00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:08.440 of mediums is a representative symbol of evil. 00:28:08.440 --> 00:28:15.279 She stands here like the serpent himself. 00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:21.319 And she says to Saul, now you're my servant. 00:28:21.319 --> 00:28:27.399 And she says, take and eat and I will give you life. 00:28:27.399 --> 00:28:31.879 And you see Saul in the midst of his condom, he's been told you are about to go to your 00:28:31.880 --> 00:28:34.280 death. 00:28:34.280 --> 00:28:40.640 And he hears this representative evil, this table of demons as one commentator put it, 00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:43.840 set before him and say, take and eat. 00:28:43.840 --> 00:28:46.920 This is bread that will give you life. 00:28:46.920 --> 00:28:55.640 And at first we're told in the text, he tries to resist and then he gives in. 00:28:55.640 --> 00:28:57.200 You see what's happening here? 00:28:57.200 --> 00:29:02.360 You know, David, David, we say, we've said this from the very beginning of the series, 00:29:02.360 --> 00:29:08.559 David is the great type of the true king, Jesus Christ. 00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:11.840 And there's a thread that runs all throughout the book of 1 Samuel. 00:29:11.840 --> 00:29:13.559 Why, why not Saul? 00:29:13.559 --> 00:29:14.559 Why David? 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:22.840 And you see here, this moment tells you why this, this is the anti-pass over. 00:29:22.839 --> 00:29:30.399 Three times in this text it says, and it was night, and it was night, and it was night. 00:29:30.399 --> 00:29:36.919 And in the gospels, another king is going to sit and break bread. 00:29:36.919 --> 00:29:43.199 And then John tells us as soon as he got up from the table, and it was night. 00:29:43.199 --> 00:29:47.039 You see, Jesus would face similar temptation. 00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:51.759 Satan would stand before him in the wilderness and say, take and eat. 00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:56.039 You can have bread, you don't have to do this in the Garden of Gethsemane. 00:29:56.039 --> 00:29:57.359 You don't have to do this. 00:29:57.359 --> 00:29:58.799 You can give this up. 00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:00.440 And you see, this is the anti-pass over. 00:30:00.440 --> 00:30:06.879 Saul is going to his death and he is giving his soul away to ultimate death. 00:30:06.879 --> 00:30:08.839 And it's a warning, you see. 00:30:08.839 --> 00:30:15.039 And what it's doing is it's saying, God has come in the middle of history. 00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:20.640 You see what it's doing is it's saying that there is another, Saul is like anti-Christ, 00:30:20.640 --> 00:30:27.560 not in some end times way, but in this way, that he is the king that would never give 00:30:27.560 --> 00:30:30.600 himself for the people. 00:30:30.600 --> 00:30:35.800 He is the king that when he had a chance to show mercy, he never showed mercy. 00:30:35.800 --> 00:30:40.759 He is the king that on the night before his death would not break bread and say, here is 00:30:40.759 --> 00:30:43.600 my body broken for you. 00:30:43.600 --> 00:30:48.920 He's the king who ultimately said, I lived my entire life, entirely for me. 00:30:48.920 --> 00:30:50.480 And I would do whatever it's take. 00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:54.519 I would swear in the name of the Lord to whoever I needed to, to get victory, to get the thing 00:30:54.519 --> 00:30:56.559 I worshiped most. 00:30:56.559 --> 00:31:01.279 And here at the end of his life, he is the ultimate symbol of what it means to be anti 00:31:01.279 --> 00:31:04.720 the true king. 00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:05.720 That's religion. 00:31:05.720 --> 00:31:07.279 This is gospel. 00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:08.279 This is gospel. 00:31:08.279 --> 00:31:12.839 On the night that he was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it. 00:31:12.839 --> 00:31:17.160 And he said, this is my body that is to be broken for you. 00:31:17.160 --> 00:31:26.040 You see, you cannot know what kind of depths of love are hidden in the midst of that statement. 00:31:26.040 --> 00:31:30.519 And that's why Jesus is the great David, David's greater son. 00:31:30.519 --> 00:31:34.160 And that's why Saul is a warning to us tonight. 00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:43.040 You see, what this text says, and this is the last thing, what this text says is that 00:31:43.040 --> 00:31:45.920 that God has come to you in great love in the middle of history. 00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:49.279 Don't refuse your heart to him like Saul did. 00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:54.560 And if you do refuse your heart to him, the warning is that God will administer justice, 00:31:54.560 --> 00:31:57.039 the justice that we deserve. 00:31:57.039 --> 00:32:04.320 But Jesus Christ has come and broken his own body for you in great depths of love. 00:32:04.320 --> 00:32:05.880 And he has come and he's shown you mercy. 00:32:05.880 --> 00:32:14.039 And so we need tonight, every single one of us needs gospel, not religion, not mere religion. 00:32:14.039 --> 00:32:21.960 And that means that whether it's the first time tonight or once again, after you've been 00:32:21.960 --> 00:32:28.440 following this gospel for 50, 75 years, once again, every single day, every single week, 00:32:28.440 --> 00:32:31.960 don't just give your religious practices to the Lord. 00:32:31.960 --> 00:32:36.519 Give your heart to the Lord tonight. 00:32:36.519 --> 00:32:44.759 To the true king, forsake the folly of Saul and look to David's greater son, the gospel. 00:32:44.759 --> 00:32:45.759 Let's pray. 00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:49.559 Father, we give thanks. 00:32:49.559 --> 00:32:53.680 We give thanks that even in hard passages like this, warning passages like this, you 00:32:53.680 --> 00:33:00.920 point us to our great need, our great hope, the fact that in the midst of our sin, you 00:33:00.920 --> 00:33:02.480 did not leave us to die. 00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:03.839 You came for us. 00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:07.799 You didn't throw us away, Lord. 00:33:07.799 --> 00:33:12.000 We know that it's not just our sin that keeps us out of the kingdom, but our rejection of 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:13.959 your mercy. 00:33:13.959 --> 00:33:21.159 And so we come tonight asking that you would rend our hearts, that we wouldn't reject you, 00:33:21.159 --> 00:33:25.720 that we would seek you, that we would long for you, that you would open us to you, Lord. 00:33:25.720 --> 00:33:31.799 And so I pray for anybody tonight here that's exploring the hope of the gospel, the fact 00:33:31.799 --> 00:33:37.480 that Jesus Christ has come to save sinners in the middle of history and ask for them 00:33:37.480 --> 00:33:40.879 and for every single one of us that you would open our hearts to you, that we would seek 00:33:40.879 --> 00:33:42.639 your face tonight. 00:33:42.639 --> 00:33:46.599 And so send us out this week as Monday starts with love for Jesus. 00:33:46.599 --> 00:33:47.919 We pray this in Christ's name. 00:33:47.920 --> 00:34:04.960 Amen.