WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.080 So, this is the second of a series called, miserable as sin, okay? 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:10.960 We're looking at the subject of sin for four weeks, it will not be next week because I'm 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:17.600 not here, but we'll carry on again for the next two weeks after that. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:23.879 And last week we kind of had an introductory sermon which looked at the theme from the 00:00:23.879 --> 00:00:30.439 position of peace, God's shalom, that sin is really the breaking of God's peace, the 00:00:30.439 --> 00:00:36.079 breaking of God's shalom, that relationship with Him. 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:41.120 And I said that we would look at some of the outworking of that over the next few weeks, 00:00:41.120 --> 00:00:44.759 so there's a little bit of overlapping and there'll be a little bit of repetition in 00:00:44.759 --> 00:00:48.759 some ways, but I hope coming at it from different angles. 00:00:48.759 --> 00:00:53.280 And one of the reasons that I decided that we should look at this theme is because I 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:59.640 think for many of us, and I absolutely include myself, sin doesn't matter as much as it 00:00:59.640 --> 00:01:04.280 should to us. 00:01:04.280 --> 00:01:09.120 We've known, many of us have known about all our lives and the word and the concept 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:14.040 trips off our tongues and off our thinking very easily. 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:22.799 But it's to try and get us to that place, not to focus unnecessarily on it, but to be 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:32.479 realistic and recognize the depth of the offense that sin is in God's nostrils. 00:01:32.479 --> 00:01:42.479 How offensive sin is and how wrathful God is against sin because He sees it in all its 00:01:42.479 --> 00:01:45.079 destructiveness. 00:01:45.079 --> 00:01:47.599 He sees the damage it causes. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:55.599 That's why it's so significant to God, it's not some kind of disinterested venom against 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:59.640 sin because He has just declared that sin is wrong. 00:01:59.640 --> 00:02:07.759 It's because He is the God of love and His commandments are commandments of love between 00:02:07.759 --> 00:02:13.519 ourselves and God, and sin is what breaks that command, that love and breaks that shalom. 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:19.400 And He sees the offensiveness and He sees the damage that it causes. 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:27.439 And we ought to be able to see and remind ourselves of the great destructiveness of relationship 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:33.080 that sin brings between ourselves and God and between ourselves as people. 00:02:33.080 --> 00:02:42.160 It causes a cosmic level, family breakdown, division, separation, loneliness, hatred, 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:47.000 estrangement from God, estrangement from God as our Father, and estrangement from 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:49.240 each other as equals. 00:02:49.240 --> 00:02:58.519 So really the theme this evening as a cascade down from shalom is division. 00:02:58.519 --> 00:03:02.319 I mentioned last week that we're not really looking at biblical definitions of sin as 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:05.159 much as descriptions of sin. 00:03:05.159 --> 00:03:11.599 What sin does, because that maybe brings it more into our own living and our own lives. 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:17.479 We're created to live in harmony with God, with heaven and with earth. 00:03:17.479 --> 00:03:20.439 And the reality is that sin divides. 00:03:20.439 --> 00:03:26.000 And that's what Jesus is saying when He speaks about the ridiculous accusation of the Pharisees. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:30.599 He was saying that He belonged to... that Jesus belonged to Satan. 00:03:30.599 --> 00:03:31.759 He said, don't be ridiculous. 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:36.120 A kingdom divided against its division, it can't stand. 00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:38.359 A house divided against it, it can't stand. 00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:41.480 A family divided can't stand. 00:03:41.480 --> 00:03:46.760 A church divided can't stand. 00:03:46.760 --> 00:03:54.080 Because sin brings division and it brings brokenness and anarchy and destruction and 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:58.600 opposition and isolation, and ultimately it brings death, doesn't it? 00:03:58.600 --> 00:04:07.760 And death is the most raw expression of division. 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:12.399 Obviously with those that we are incredibly close to. 00:04:12.399 --> 00:04:16.279 So there's a disruption. 00:04:16.279 --> 00:04:23.039 There's a rupture that sin brings into humanity and into our lives that is ultimately self-destructive. 00:04:23.039 --> 00:04:25.360 It destroys us. 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:26.959 It divides us from our God. 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:31.199 It divides us from who we are as created by God. 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:34.199 And it divides us from life. 00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:40.639 So I want just for that little while to look at one biblical example, one story in the 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:42.639 Bible, the story of Saul here. 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:50.719 And I hope that as we do so you'll reflect in your own experience, and I will in mine, 00:04:50.719 --> 00:04:53.000 the damage that sin causes. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:57.039 And we see it first of all in his relationship with God. 00:04:57.039 --> 00:05:02.199 So there was sin caused a real division in the relationship between Saul and God. 00:05:02.199 --> 00:05:05.399 I don't have time to go into the previous chapters. 00:05:05.399 --> 00:05:12.399 If you do have time, then please read the two chapters before chapter 18. 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:17.639 Well, maybe three chapters, 15, 16 and 17. 00:05:17.639 --> 00:05:25.480 But if I go back even further in chapter 13, verse 14, and I hope I've got the right reference 00:05:25.480 --> 00:05:26.599 here. 00:05:26.600 --> 00:05:33.960 He says, but now your kingdom, God says, shall not continue. 00:05:33.960 --> 00:05:38.760 The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be 00:05:38.760 --> 00:05:43.560 prince over his people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:46.680 That's what God says to Saul. 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:51.240 Saul had been clearly, in the previous chapters, he'd been chosen as king. 00:05:51.240 --> 00:05:52.800 He was king of Israel. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:06:01.639 He was God's chosen king, but he defiantly and consistently disobeyed God's commands. 00:06:01.639 --> 00:06:08.120 When God told him to wait for Samuel to come and offer sacrifices after a defeat in battle, 00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:09.120 he couldn't wait. 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:10.759 Saul was, Samuel was late. 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:11.920 He was walking his way. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:12.920 Where's Samuel? 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:15.920 I can't be bothered waiting for Samuel and obeying God's command. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:23.400 I'll just go and offer the sacrifice in stark contrast to what God had commanded. 00:06:23.400 --> 00:06:29.520 And then on another occasion, he didn't obey God's command by destroying the enemy entirely. 00:06:29.520 --> 00:06:34.080 He kept some of the best stuff which he said was going to be offered in sacrifice, but 00:06:34.080 --> 00:06:35.960 he wasn't listening to God. 00:06:35.960 --> 00:06:42.920 He clearly wasn't listening, and he didn't recognize who God was and who he was. 00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:50.520 He didn't grasp the sinful selfishness and darkness of his own heart or his need for 00:06:50.520 --> 00:06:51.920 God. 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:53.160 He went his own way. 00:06:53.160 --> 00:06:54.600 He was the king. 00:06:54.600 --> 00:06:57.319 He didn't really need to obey what God said. 00:06:57.319 --> 00:06:59.280 He could just manipulate it. 00:06:59.280 --> 00:07:00.400 He could change it. 00:07:00.400 --> 00:07:02.879 He didn't really need to look in his own heart. 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:10.200 And the moment he was faced with tough circumstances, with challenges in his life, he grew greatly 00:07:10.199 --> 00:07:14.639 impatient with God, and he said, well, I know better than God. 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:16.319 I'm not going to wait for Samuel. 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:17.319 I'll just do. 00:07:17.319 --> 00:07:18.319 I'll offer the sacrifice. 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:19.719 I don't need the priest to come. 00:07:19.719 --> 00:07:21.439 I'll just do it. 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:24.079 And he guessed what God was wanting. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:26.079 He ignored God's commands. 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:31.759 And God speaks about that very clearly in chapter 15, verse 22. 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:40.159 He says to Saul, has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in a 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:41.400 obeying the voice of the Lord. 00:07:41.400 --> 00:07:47.400 Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams. 00:07:47.400 --> 00:07:50.080 So he wasn't listening. 00:07:50.080 --> 00:07:55.720 He didn't hear what God said about his own heart, and he didn't hear what God said about 00:07:55.720 --> 00:07:57.040 his own need of a redeemer. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:02.920 He didn't hear what God said about following his commands. 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:04.160 He was going his own way. 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:05.520 And you know what it's like, isn't it? 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:15.079 You know, is there anything worse than somebody telling you what you've intended to do? 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:16.759 Second guessing your intentions. 00:08:16.759 --> 00:08:19.560 That's annoying, especially when they're wrong. 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:22.879 But imagine Saul was doing that to God. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:25.439 He was second guessing God's intentions. 00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:27.719 And he was saying he knew better than God. 00:08:27.719 --> 00:08:32.639 And we see that as we read through these early chapters, or these chapters before chapter 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:39.039 18, that there was this division was growing between God and between Saul. 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:44.759 And really, that's what I want to get across in many ways this evening and in these series 00:08:44.759 --> 00:08:50.360 about what God says about our separation from him. 00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:55.159 Because what happened is made clear in chapter 18. 00:08:55.159 --> 00:09:00.279 It left him vulnerable when he didn't obey, when he didn't recognize what God was saying 00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:06.279 about the seriousness of being independent and being in control and being really on the 00:09:06.279 --> 00:09:09.559 throne of his own life. 00:09:09.559 --> 00:09:11.439 Sin was lurking at the door. 00:09:11.439 --> 00:09:17.159 And it's that great image from Genesis 4 verse 7. 00:09:17.159 --> 00:09:20.279 Cain and Abel, sin is lurking at the door. 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:23.600 It's a really powerful picture. 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:28.079 And what we have in chapter 18 is really the door opening wide. 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:34.800 Sin was lurking at the door, and we see the consequences of Saul not appreciating what 00:09:34.800 --> 00:09:40.759 God said and what God taught about the damage and the disintegration and the division that 00:09:40.759 --> 00:09:43.000 sin caused. 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:48.920 Because a problem arose, a challenge arose in his life, which exposed him. 00:09:48.920 --> 00:09:52.960 He was faced with the popularity of David. 00:09:52.960 --> 00:10:02.000 And in the popularity of David, Saul's heart was exposed tragically because sin was unchecked 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:03.600 and was lurking at the door. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:09.120 It came back to bite him big time because he hasn't dealt with sin in his heart, and 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:15.560 he was disobedient and he was still really rocking on on his own without God in his heart. 00:10:15.559 --> 00:10:24.039 We see the desperate consequences, and I'm going to come back to that. 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:28.119 But I just want to slight aside here, because verse 10 is a difficult verse. 00:10:28.119 --> 00:10:32.519 It says, the next day a harmful spirit came from God and rushed upon Saul and he raved, 00:10:32.519 --> 00:10:35.959 standing there doing music, within his house. 00:10:35.959 --> 00:10:36.959 Okay? 00:10:36.959 --> 00:10:41.719 A harmful spirit came from God. 00:10:41.720 --> 00:10:46.960 Is the Bible therefore saying we're not really responsible for our behavior and for our sin? 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:50.800 Because it's God who brings a harmful spirit. 00:10:50.800 --> 00:10:53.160 We argue that God is sovereign, don't we? 00:10:53.160 --> 00:10:56.320 Does that mean we, how can we be responsible? 00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:01.160 The text suggests that it's God who brought this terrible harmful spirit. 00:11:01.160 --> 00:11:03.399 Well, it's a difficult verse. 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:04.800 It is a difficult verse. 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:13.699 But I think there's Hebrew language issues there, the way they use language and Hebrew 00:11:13.699 --> 00:11:20.039 colloquialism, and I think it would, it's better understood as being, which would be 00:11:20.039 --> 00:11:28.039 in line with the book of Job, that God permitted, God permitted this to happen. 00:11:28.039 --> 00:11:29.039 Okay? 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:39.839 God allowed evil to chastise evil, and he was using what was an evil reality for his 00:11:39.839 --> 00:11:42.839 own purposes. 00:11:42.839 --> 00:11:48.439 I don't think this is referring to an evil spirit, the spirit in the Old Testament as 00:11:48.439 --> 00:11:49.439 a wide range of meanings. 00:11:49.439 --> 00:11:56.719 It can mean the Holy Spirit, it can mean an evil spirit, or it can mean a personal frame 00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:03.519 of mind, you know, you had a bad spirit, an ugly disposition of mind. 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:09.800 And I think that's what we're being faced with here is that so, God, because so continued 00:12:09.800 --> 00:12:15.519 to be disobedient and continued not to listen, it's as if God permitted that rage and that 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:23.040 bad spirit and that ugly disposition just to blossom, if that's a bad image to use, 00:12:23.040 --> 00:12:25.200 because blossoms are nice kind of image. 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:29.960 And it was, in other words, it was a natural consequence of His own rebellion and sin against 00:12:29.960 --> 00:12:31.720 God in His own heart. 00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:39.560 He's responsible, and at the same time, God is judging Him for what He has done and for 00:12:39.560 --> 00:12:41.560 allowing sin to lurk at the door. 00:12:41.560 --> 00:12:43.759 In other words, He's His own worst enemy here. 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:48.240 There's an old commentator from last century, Jameson, Fossett and Brown. 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:52.080 They summarized the point well, they say, His own gloomy reflections, the consciousness 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:56.320 that He had not acted up on the character of an Israelite king, the loss of His throne, 00:12:56.320 --> 00:13:02.440 the extinction of His royal house, made Him jealous, irritable, vindictive, and subject 00:13:02.440 --> 00:13:05.960 to fits of morbid melancholy. 00:13:05.960 --> 00:13:10.520 It was the result of His own rebellion and His own disobedience. 00:13:10.520 --> 00:13:12.560 He had a divided heart. 00:13:12.560 --> 00:13:18.440 He was faithless, and His fellowship with God was meaningless because He didn't take 00:13:18.440 --> 00:13:28.560 seriously His own heart, became increasingly paranoid and isolated, little joy, and a heap 00:13:28.560 --> 00:13:30.560 full of regret. 00:13:30.560 --> 00:13:34.440 Now, this might be a kind of minister's question. 00:13:34.440 --> 00:13:36.160 I don't know, maybe you're not asking this. 00:13:36.160 --> 00:13:40.560 But some people, I will, we saw a believer, we saw saved. 00:13:40.560 --> 00:13:43.800 Well, I'm not going to answer that. 00:13:43.800 --> 00:13:46.080 You'll be pleased to know. 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:51.080 I don't want you to ask that question, but I want you to ask the question is, what is 00:13:51.080 --> 00:13:56.360 the Bible saying to me about Saul's heart, about my heart? 00:13:56.360 --> 00:13:57.879 What about my heart? 00:13:57.879 --> 00:14:01.160 You know, that's what Jesus always directs us to do. 00:14:01.160 --> 00:14:02.639 We can't answer the question about Saul. 00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:03.840 We'll say, well, no, one day. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:05.160 He stands before God. 00:14:05.160 --> 00:14:07.000 We're not told. 00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:09.200 But the question is, what about our heart? 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:16.120 Because I want the light of the Holy Spirit to shine powerfully and inwardly in our own hearts. 00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:25.840 Do we understand the cross and the solemnity and yet the joy and the beauty of the cross? 00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:33.879 And do we see that our outworking of grace depends on our outworking of examining and 00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:36.480 knowing the darkness of our own hearts? 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:43.639 And when we are faced in our lives with tough circumstances or with the popularity of somebody 00:14:43.639 --> 00:14:51.080 else or with their beauty or with their gifts, how do we respond to sin lurking at the door? 00:14:51.080 --> 00:14:55.159 It desires to have us, to master us. 00:14:55.159 --> 00:15:01.960 And so when trouble comes and difficulty comes, it's often where we find and understand what 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:08.800 is at the root of our souls, where grace is placed. 00:15:08.800 --> 00:15:12.120 When the heat comes, where is the root of our lives? 00:15:12.120 --> 00:15:17.280 Is it fixed and focused on Jesus Christ and His grace? 00:15:17.280 --> 00:15:19.160 If sin doesn't matter, can I say it again? 00:15:19.160 --> 00:15:26.320 As I said it last week, I don't think grace matters terribly much and God doesn't matter 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:34.560 as God came to expose and to speak about the seriousness of what sin does. 00:15:34.560 --> 00:15:38.960 It breaks His shalom and it divides us. 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:40.640 So we see that in His relationship with God. 00:15:40.640 --> 00:15:43.680 We also see it in His relationship with others. 00:15:43.680 --> 00:15:47.000 And Saul's story is a really sad story. 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:51.000 And we should listen to the story that God gives us in His Word because His life was 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:59.840 one of brokenness and division with those closest to Him, His people, His nation, His 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:11.799 family, Jonathan, and here spectacularly with David, none of whom were His enemies. 00:16:11.799 --> 00:16:21.559 How did this unrepentant sinful heart bring about separation from others? 00:16:21.559 --> 00:16:24.519 How did sin reveal itself in that divided way? 00:16:24.519 --> 00:16:29.719 Let's look at it for a little minute what happened with Him and with David. 00:16:29.719 --> 00:16:34.199 He had that identity crisis, didn't he? 00:16:34.199 --> 00:16:39.959 His sense of worth, his sense of importance was all based on his position. 00:16:39.960 --> 00:16:44.560 I'm the king of Israel, I'm the chosen one. 00:16:44.560 --> 00:16:50.920 On his popularity with the people and his privileged position, that's where his identity 00:16:50.920 --> 00:16:55.480 lay, that's where he found his sense of importance. 00:16:55.480 --> 00:17:03.080 Wasn't in God's grace and God's forgiveness and God's choice of Him in a humbling way, 00:17:03.080 --> 00:17:05.640 it was rather than his identity as the king. 00:17:05.640 --> 00:17:15.000 So any threat to that opposed his sinful, selfish heart and it brought that division. 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:20.560 He compared his life with others rather than listening to God. 00:17:20.560 --> 00:17:26.000 And as we see in the earlier chapters, he kept resisting and ignoring and disobeying 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:31.000 the living God and it led to division. 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:34.000 Sin leads to division. 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:40.519 And this division was triggered by a song. 00:17:40.519 --> 00:17:46.640 Sin was looking at the door and when the song started, the door opened. 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:52.200 Saul has struck down his thousands, David, his 10,000s. 00:17:52.200 --> 00:17:56.200 And we are given his response. 00:17:56.200 --> 00:17:58.240 Saul was angry. 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:00.720 He was really angry. 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:01.720 He was jealous. 00:18:01.720 --> 00:18:05.480 Verse 9, he kept an eye on David from that day. 00:18:05.480 --> 00:18:15.440 He had a jealous eye for what David was doing and it led to uncontrollable rage, fear, hatred, 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:17.720 conspiracy to murder. 00:18:17.720 --> 00:18:20.600 And that's what sin does. 00:18:20.600 --> 00:18:30.839 It's a snowballing effect if we don't deal with it by falling on our knees at the cross. 00:18:30.839 --> 00:18:37.399 Sin is devastating and God says it's divisive and this is a very clear illustration of that. 00:18:37.399 --> 00:18:45.319 And just for a moment, I want to focus on one of these tumbling consequences of not 00:18:45.319 --> 00:18:46.599 dealing with sin in his heart. 00:18:46.599 --> 00:18:49.879 And that was anger. 00:18:49.879 --> 00:18:56.359 We're told that Saul was very angry and anger almost inevitably causes division between 00:18:56.359 --> 00:19:00.279 ourselves and God and between ourselves as people. 00:19:00.279 --> 00:19:02.879 It's one of the great marks, I think, of our society today. 00:19:02.879 --> 00:19:03.879 I've mentioned that before. 00:19:03.879 --> 00:19:08.160 There's a huge amount of rage in our society. 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:14.160 We talk about love and about acceptance of belonging, but actually you'll find just lurking 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:21.160 under the surface a huge amount of anger, angst and rage. 00:19:21.160 --> 00:19:28.519 And so the question is, what are we doing with our anger and with our rage? 00:19:28.519 --> 00:19:34.000 Because it might not evidence itself in the same way that Saul did. 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:36.319 I certainly hope not. 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:42.119 But it's a very real emotion that we are faced with every day in our lives. 00:19:42.119 --> 00:19:43.119 Because it will... 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:49.839 And this is very much where I want the point of the series to be. 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:57.039 I want it to be a self-reflection of where our hearts are with God, where my heart is 00:19:57.039 --> 00:20:00.519 with God and where your heart is with God. 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:04.920 So the question is in our understanding, how do we respond? 00:20:04.920 --> 00:20:12.680 For example, when circumstances are tough, but they became tough here for Saul. 00:20:12.680 --> 00:20:13.680 When... 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:19.879 How do you respond when things don't go your way and maybe haven't gone your way this week? 00:20:19.879 --> 00:20:25.159 When you're looking at God and saying, God doesn't answer my prayers and He's not answering 00:20:25.160 --> 00:20:27.500 my prayers the way I want. 00:20:27.500 --> 00:20:33.800 Or when we think we're doing our very best as Christians and yet we just seem to be struggling 00:20:33.800 --> 00:20:34.800 at every point. 00:20:34.800 --> 00:20:36.759 Our prayers aren't been answered. 00:20:36.759 --> 00:20:45.840 We're not as popular, as influential, as significant as other people in our workplace, in our university, 00:20:45.840 --> 00:20:48.400 in our church, in our homes. 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:55.600 What do we do when other people fail us, when there's tensions in our marriage with our 00:20:55.600 --> 00:21:05.040 children, when our kids are ugly and they stretch us to the very end of our tether, when our 00:21:05.040 --> 00:21:11.080 wives or husbands annoy us, when we're tired, when we're in pain, when a project at work 00:21:11.080 --> 00:21:14.600 fails miserably? 00:21:14.599 --> 00:21:21.879 And we haven't the control over our circumstances when they are difficult and troubling. 00:21:21.879 --> 00:21:26.159 How do we respond? 00:21:26.159 --> 00:21:34.279 Do we respond with great anger, with raging, with shouting, festering, playing, probably 00:21:34.279 --> 00:21:37.679 most significantly, the blame game? 00:21:37.679 --> 00:21:44.159 Blaming God and blaming others, it's always somebody else's fault. 00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:46.360 It's always somebody else's fault. 00:21:46.360 --> 00:21:52.960 And that immediately brings division, just as Saul questioned, in many ways, God's intentions 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:57.320 and God's motives and overruled them. 00:21:57.320 --> 00:22:05.320 So also, we find ourselves divided from God and divided from one another when we don't 00:22:05.320 --> 00:22:14.080 allow or when we allow sin to crouch at the door of our hearts and we don't deal with 00:22:14.079 --> 00:22:16.439 our own hearts. 00:22:16.439 --> 00:22:25.720 Because sin's bedfellows, or division's bedfellows are jealousy, fear and hate, and we see it 00:22:25.720 --> 00:22:29.720 all in this particular chapter. 00:22:29.720 --> 00:22:34.720 And the result is division. 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:46.960 The result is separation, unhealthy division, horribleness, isolation, Saul from his God, 00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:54.319 from his family, from his David, from his kingdom, none of whom, as I said, were his 00:22:54.319 --> 00:22:55.319 enemies. 00:22:55.319 --> 00:23:03.200 And we need to sometimes, I think in our lives, look at the consequences for not dealing 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:07.240 with sin in our hearts. 00:23:07.240 --> 00:23:12.480 Not someone else dealing with sin in their hearts, but us in ours. 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:18.640 Because we see that if we don't deal with it, the consequences are often anger, jealousy, 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:25.519 envy, insecurity, fear and hatred, which divides us from people. 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:28.759 Pride divides us from people. 00:23:28.759 --> 00:23:35.960 And we're called to be united and we're called to be one with God and with each other. 00:23:35.960 --> 00:23:42.359 So if we underestimate sin, and if you underestimate sin, and if I underestimate sin in my own 00:23:42.359 --> 00:23:50.200 heart, I guarantee, I guarantee that we have a problem with sinful divide in this, in your 00:23:50.200 --> 00:23:55.519 relationships, either with God or with one another. 00:23:55.519 --> 00:24:01.680 And we're vulnerable to the attacks of the evil one. 00:24:01.680 --> 00:24:06.720 It's simply too easy to accept division as the norm. 00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:13.599 It's too easy in the church context to accept division as just, well, that's just what life 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:14.599 is. 00:24:14.599 --> 00:24:21.799 It's too easy to be separated from people by misrepresenting them or judging their motives 00:24:21.799 --> 00:24:29.919 or being envious or jealous or bitter or whatever it might be about them. 00:24:29.919 --> 00:24:39.319 And it's easy to question God when things go wrong because it's a cheap shot to do. 00:24:39.319 --> 00:24:43.720 But there is, and I finish with this, a glorious alternative, isn't there? 00:24:43.720 --> 00:24:48.599 And we must make this significant reality of who we are. 00:24:48.599 --> 00:24:54.000 The glorious alternative is Jesus Christ and the matter of the cross, because the cross 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:55.480 matters. 00:24:55.480 --> 00:24:59.799 And it's significant and central to us, because what is the cross all about? 00:24:59.799 --> 00:25:03.039 The cross is all about reconciliation. 00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:09.359 It's about reconciling us to God and reconciling us to one another at the fruit of the cross. 00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:10.359 Sin separates. 00:25:10.359 --> 00:25:13.000 It's not a vague sentiment. 00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:21.160 Sin separates us between our father and between our brothers and sisters. 00:25:21.160 --> 00:25:26.279 The cross is what enables us, as we understand who we are and are forgiven and accept His 00:25:26.279 --> 00:25:33.920 grace, that it brings reconciliation now, not just some ethereal time in the future. 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:40.319 It brings reconciliation now, and we are to work through that reconciliation with one another 00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:41.319 also. 00:25:41.319 --> 00:25:49.319 The science is judgment of our death, the ultimate separation to open the way of unity 00:25:49.319 --> 00:25:51.559 and love through His resurrection power. 00:25:51.559 --> 00:25:52.559 So what am I saying? 00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:53.559 What am I saying? 00:25:53.559 --> 00:25:56.960 I'm saying our business is with God. 00:25:56.960 --> 00:26:00.200 Your business is with God. 00:26:00.200 --> 00:26:04.200 Your business is with God, the glorious King of Love. 00:26:04.200 --> 00:26:06.439 That's where you must go. 00:26:06.439 --> 00:26:11.119 That's who you must wrestle with when you're faced with all the temptations to be divided 00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:12.119 and separated. 00:26:12.119 --> 00:26:16.879 When sin is looking at the door, that's where you must go. 00:26:16.879 --> 00:26:20.359 That's where the Sammists went. 00:26:20.359 --> 00:26:25.919 He went with all his struggles and battles and sense of injustice. 00:26:25.919 --> 00:26:28.519 He didn't believe in revenge. 00:26:28.519 --> 00:26:31.399 He said, vengeance is God's mind. 00:26:31.399 --> 00:26:35.519 He brought all of these things as we were singing to the living God when we're tempted 00:26:35.519 --> 00:26:40.439 to anger, jealousy, silence, blame, hatred, division, gossip. 00:26:40.440 --> 00:26:43.720 Go to the living God. 00:26:43.720 --> 00:26:45.680 He needs to change your heart. 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:51.920 This is not just something that is a ritualistic way of living. 00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:55.519 We can confidently do the impossible when we take it to the living God because He is 00:26:55.519 --> 00:26:58.039 there to transform us. 00:26:58.039 --> 00:27:02.440 Let's get out of our rut if it might be something in our heart of easy divide in this because 00:27:02.440 --> 00:27:08.720 we're new people and we are people who are to recognize that we are His children. 00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:14.600 And that's why He tells us beautifully in Ephesians 6 about the armor of God. 00:27:14.600 --> 00:27:18.240 The protection from sin lurking at the door is the armor of God. 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:20.600 It's the Holy Spirit. 00:27:20.600 --> 00:27:28.640 The Word of God is prayer, is knowing His promises, is being in His company. 00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:32.400 And we wear that armor and that keeps us united. 00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:34.160 And so we rest. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:35.400 We rest in Him. 00:27:35.400 --> 00:27:39.160 And as we do so, we're resting in a different truth. 00:27:39.160 --> 00:27:45.120 And the different truth is that there is a right division. 00:27:45.120 --> 00:27:47.519 There is even a right anger. 00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:53.519 There's a just division between evil and good. 00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:55.280 And we know that. 00:27:55.280 --> 00:27:58.600 But it's not for us to take revenge. 00:27:58.600 --> 00:28:00.800 It's not for us to meet out justice. 00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:09.039 We will be wronged, but we trust in the God who will right all wrongs and who will one 00:28:09.039 --> 00:28:17.839 day remind us of a just division, a just accountability, a separation between heaven 00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:24.200 and hell, between those who are His children and those who are strangers. 00:28:24.200 --> 00:28:33.759 So we live reconciled now, and as we live reconciled now, the door is opened to people 00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:42.799 questioning why we are different and why we live like this and why division is such an 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:49.559 anathema to us and why we are united to God and united to one another. 00:28:49.559 --> 00:28:51.720 That is how His kingdom comes. 00:28:51.720 --> 00:28:53.960 And that is our responsibility. 00:28:53.960 --> 00:29:00.319 So as we look at our lives, we need to consider our relationship with God. 00:29:00.319 --> 00:29:01.319 Are we united to Him? 00:29:01.319 --> 00:29:04.720 Are we reconciled or are we separate? 00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:16.160 And to one another, as a mark and as a recognition of how much we are allowing God, the light 00:29:16.160 --> 00:29:21.279 of God, into the darkness of our hearts to transform it and to renew it and to change 00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:25.160 it so that we are not conforming but we are being transformed. 00:29:25.160 --> 00:29:27.519 Amen, let's pray. 00:29:27.519 --> 00:29:35.480 Father God, we ask and pray that You would help us to recognize that at the very heart 00:29:35.480 --> 00:29:41.680 of all the brutality and the division and the war and the hatred and the abuse and the 00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:49.879 gossip and the vitriol and the anger and the blasphemy and the misery that is so often 00:29:49.880 --> 00:29:58.440 in this world, the insecurity of walking down the street, knife culture, gun culture, all 00:29:58.440 --> 00:30:03.400 of these things that just bring such division and such fear and such hatred. 00:30:03.400 --> 00:30:11.480 May we recognize and see it maybe in a microwave in our own hearts rather than simply tutting 00:30:11.480 --> 00:30:15.000 at the macro reality of a world outside us. 00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:22.720 But may we see how often we are divided from You, how often we blame You and how often 00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:28.079 we go our own way and tell You that we really know better than You. 00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:34.440 Forgive us when we don't obey even with what we think are good motives and help us rather 00:30:34.440 --> 00:30:41.240 to be in Your presence and in Your company crying out to You when we don't have the answers 00:30:41.240 --> 00:30:48.680 relating to You in prayer, pleading with You in our lives and seeing the impossible 00:30:48.680 --> 00:30:58.960 happen, seeing that forgiveness and that grace and that joy and that spiritual reality uniting 00:30:58.960 --> 00:31:02.880 us with God and with one another. 00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:04.519 Help us, we pray. 00:31:04.519 --> 00:31:09.960 And may this place, may this community, we have people who are so fused together in the 00:31:09.960 --> 00:31:16.920 love of Christ that it speaks powerfully to a world of where there is so much insecurity 00:31:16.920 --> 00:31:19.840 and hatred and sadness and division. 00:31:19.840 --> 00:31:28.680 And may we see with God's eyes the hurt and the pain that sin causes. 00:31:28.680 --> 00:31:29.680 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:31:29.680 --> 00:31:39.680 Amen.