Thank you very much Fiona and Andy and Alistair as well.
Good evening everyone, really good to see you this evening as we come to continue our studies in 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 11.
In 2002 there was a poll taken to find out who was the greatest ever Britain,
and you may well be aware that the result of the poll was that Winston Churchill was voted as the greatest Britain.
Now if you'd asked someone in the early months of 1940 if Winston Churchill was going to be the greatest Britain ever,
they would undoubtedly have laughed at you, because no one at that stage saw Winston Churchill,
or very few people saw Winston Churchill as the great man that we would today.
The kind of things that were said about him before he became prime minister was that he was overbearing,
he was villainous, he was unreliable, he had no judgment, and he was useless.
Some of these from the press, some of them from his fellow politicians.
Very few people would have seen Winston Churchill as being a natural candidate to be prime minister,
and certainly not as someone who could successfully lead the country through the Second World War.
Let's go forward a few years to when Winston Churchill stepped down as prime minister,
and these are the kind of things that were being said about him.
He was a statesman, he was passionate, he was inspiring, he was courageous, he was a man of action.
A total turnaround in the public perception of a man.
Why did that happen?
Well, lots of reasons I'm sure, but I would suggest that for Winston Churchill, the sequence is something like this.
He was determined that evil shouldn't triumph.
He firmly believed that the war was winnable.
He managed to motivate other people to believe that the war was winnable too,
and he successfully led them through it to victory.
I think there are some obvious parallels then as we come to our passage this evening and look at Saul.
If you were here a couple of weeks ago when Alistair was taking us through the previous few chapters,
you may remember that Saul had been anointed king by Samuel,
and he had been chosen by an apparently random, not really random,
but apparently random process among the tribes and the clans and so on.
The lot in the end fell on Saul as king.
So in one sense he had been crowned and accepted as the king of the Israelites.
But at the end of chapter 10, there are still some people saying,
how can this fellow save us?
What has he done?
He's just a farmer's son from a remote part of the land.
What has he done?
What can he do to save our people?
And it is in chapter 11 that we really see Saul coming to life and demonstrating his credentials.
Very similar to Churchill.
He sees evil and he's determined it won't triumph.
He believes that the victory can be won.
He motivates others to follow him and he leads them through the battle.
And by the end of chapter 11, Saul is universally recognized as being the king and the rightful king.
Now it has to be said, chapter 11 is very much the high point of Saul's life.
It is all downhill from then on.
But chapter 11, he comes out very well as the one who is sent and was used by God and was able to deliver his people.
And he then gets the recognition of the whole nation.
I think it's quite important when we come to a passage like this to see it as much as we can through the eyes of the people who were there at the time
and those who would first have read the words that are recorded in 1 Samuel.
So I want to spend just a few minutes looking at the geography and the history of this situation.
So geography first, there's a map of Israel.
Not sure where you can see it, but hopefully at least you can see that running down the middle is the River Jordan
with the Sea of Galilee at the top and the Dead Sea down the bottom.
The tribes of Israel were split between the two sides of the River Jordan.
We mentioned that last Sunday at our vision evening.
Two and a half tribes were on the west side of the Jordan, rather, and the remaining tribes were on the east side.
So Reuben and Gad and half tribe of Manasseh had chosen that particular land over on the right of your picture there
and the other tribes that settled on the other side.
Now around them on both sides were enemies.
The main enemies of the Israelites at that time were the Philistines.
We've read about them already in 1 Samuel.
And of course, when we come on to the story of David, the Philistines feature very strongly.
They were the ones that posed the greatest threat to Israel as a whole.
But on the east side, where the two and a half tribes were, there was another nation called the Ammonites.
Not as big, not as powerful as the Philistines, but nevertheless capable of coming in battle against the Israelites.
And they were probably depending on the fact that the Philistines were occupying most of the tribes of Israel in defending themselves.
And rather opportunistically, they came and attacked the two and a half tribes that had settled there.
When we read the Bible as we have it in most of our Bibles today, it looks as if they came specifically and attached this town of Jabesh Gilead.
In the Dead Sea Scrolls, the scrolls which were discovered not that many years ago, which had much of the scripture in them.
In these Dead Sea Scrolls, there are some extra verses at the start of chapter 11.
Some of your Bibles may have them as a footnote to chapter 11.
And these scrolls say that what actually happened was that the Ammonites came and they attacked the two and a half tribes.
They defeated them.
They gouged out the right eyes of most of the men there.
And the ones who were actually there in Jabesh Gilead at the end were those who had escaped from the Ammonites and were taking shelter there.
And they were being besieged and were to suffer the same fate as the others.
Most scholars seem to think that that is a genuine account of things.
It's not in the scripture as we have it.
Probably right that it's not because it's not the focus of this chapter.
But maybe quite interesting background that the people who were there were the survivors possibly of a bigger attack,
which already had claimed many of their compatriots.
So that's the geography.
We have the two and a half tribes.
They're kind of isolated from the rest.
And they have been attacked.
And Jabesh Gilead is being besieged.
And there are the two key towns in this story.
Jabesh Gilead we've talked about and Gebeah, which is where Saul is, which is just a bit north of Jerusalem.
And these two towns are significant because they come up before in our Bibles.
In one of the most unsavory episodes in the history of Israel in Judges 19 to 21,
these towns play a pivotal part.
So let me just very briefly describe and summarize what happened.
It's not very edifying, but it's important that we understand what was going on there.
So there was an attack on the concubine of a Levite at Gebeah.
She was repeatedly raped and eventually died of what had been done to her.
The Israelites then waged war against the tribe of Benjamin,
which refused to release to them the men who had done this.
So there was a big civil war in Israel, which eventually, after a bit of a battle,
the main armies of Israel won against the Benjamites,
almost entirely destroyed the Benjamites,
but then got to the point where they were saying,
well, we don't really want one of the tribes of Israel to disappear completely.
We need to do something about this.
And what they said they would do was they would find a town in Israel
that hadn't sent any soldiers to fight in the war,
and they would take women from that to be wives for the Benjamites.
And they found that Jabesh Gilead was the one place in Israel
which hadn't sent soldiers to the war,
and they went and slaughtered most of the people of that town
and brought some of the women back to be wives for the Benjamites.
As I say, a very unsavory time in the land of Israel.
Horrific that God's people should get involved in these things.
Why is that significant to this chapter,
apart from the thing that there are two towns that are there?
Well, three things I would suggest.
There's probably more we could look at,
but three things I'd suggest that are maybe relevant.
The first is that the people of Jabesh Gilead
and the people of Gebeah may well have been related
because the Benjamite woman had been brought back to populate the land.
So Saul may have been descended from one of the women
who was taken from Jabesh Gilead.
They were kinfolk,
and perhaps that's why the plea went out to Gebeah,
which happened to be Saul's town.
Second thing is I think there's a bit of an irony here,
and I'm sure that irony wouldn't be lost on the people at the time.
Here was the town that had refused to go out and fight for Israel,
and it's pleading for Israel to come and fight for it.
So the town that refused to fight
is asking others to come and to fight for it.
But thirdly, and probably most significantly,
when we look at chapters 19 and 21 of Judges,
chapter 19 begins with the words,
In those days Israel had no king.
Chapter 21 ends with the words,
In those days Israel had no king.
Everyone did as they saw fit.
So people would look back on Judges 19 to 21,
and they would say,
This is what happens when you don't have a king.
You get anarchy, you get wickedness,
you get all sorts of things happening.
And they would say,
Ah, but now we do have a king.
And look what happens when we have a king.
He goes out, and he rescued his people,
and he restores order.
So the events way back in Judges,
I think, have some significance
when we look at 1 Samuel.
For us, though, perhaps not quite as much
as for the Israelites to begin with.
It is history for us.
It's perhaps, for some of us,
at least interesting history.
But it is not, I think,
the main lesson we're going to get
from this chapter.
So let's just walk through it.
And four points I want to make,
and I think the lessons from them
will be fairly obvious.
So we're talking about God's chosen king.
It's all chosen by God.
And the first thing we note about him
is that he is anointed with the Spirit.
That's in verse 6.
So why did I start at verse 6
and not at verse 1?
Well, let me put some up on the screen.
You may not be able to read all of this.
I'm hoping you can read some of it.
But it gives something of the structure
of this passage.
I find more and more,
as I study the Bible,
you come across passages like this
where there's a bit of a symmetry
to what the Bible says.
So in this passage,
in verse 1 of the chapter,
God's people are being attacked.
In verses 12 to 13, they're rescued.
Verse 2, the Ammonites threaten.
Verse 11, they flee.
Verse 3, Jabesh Gilead promises
to surrender to the Ammonites.
Verse 10, it does exactly the same thing.
Verse 4, messengers bring bad news.
Verse 6, messengers bring good news.
Verse 5 is about Paul's question and response.
And verses 7 to 8,
Paul's instruction and the response.
And then in the middle,
you have verse 6.
And when you see this kind of structure,
and there's a single verse
or a single passage in the middle,
that is one that is good to focus on
because that is probably the key part
of the passage.
And the key bit in this passage
is that the Spirit of God
comes powerfully upon Saul.
The ESV says,
and I think it's a good translation,
the Spirit rushes on Saul.
This description of the coming of the Spirit
is only used of two people
in the Old Testament.
One is Saul,
and the other is Samson.
We all know Samson
and his great feats
and what happened
when the Spirit came on him.
And again,
for the readers of this passage,
I'm sure they were supposed
to think back to Samson
and say,
here's another man
who's like Samson.
And when the Spirit comes powerfully on him,
he does great things.
But the important thing is
as God's anointed,
God had sent the Spirit
to be with Saul.
Now the Spirit had come on Saul
in chapter 10,
but that appears to have been
quite temporary.
It appears now
that the Spirit comes on Saul
and remains there
until David is anointed king
a few chapters ahead.
God's man has been prepared
for his work
by having the Spirit
of God coming on him.
Now we're going to be looking forward
in quite a few places this evening
to the Lord Jesus,
and this is one of them.
At the Lord's baptism,
you'll remember
the Holy Spirit descended on him
in the form of a dove.
And he then goes out
and he preaches in the synagogue
and he starts by saying
the Spirit of the Lord
had come upon him.
And he then preached good news
and so on,
the rest of it,
in Luke chapter 4.
The Spirit came down
as vindication,
as validation
of the Lord's calling
and his person.
And throughout his life,
he walked in tune
with the Spirit.
He did what was right.
We also have the Spirit.
The description of the Spirit
rushing on Saul
in some ways
might be reminiscent
of what happened
the day of Pentecost
when there were the tongues of fires
the Spirit came down
upon the first believers.
We haven't had the same experience
that they did,
but as those who have trusted
the Lord Jesus
and those who are following him,
we also have the Spirit.
We have the Spirit within us
as our counselor,
as our guide,
as our empowerer.
And I think it's interesting
to note what happens
in verse 6
when the Spirit comes on Saul.
Then he says,
when Saul heard their words,
the Spirit of God
came powerfully upon him
and he burned with anger.
When we think of the Spirit
and what this work of the Spirit
is in our lives,
we quite often think of the Spirit
as teaching us the truth,
as leading us into all truth,
as being the one
who produces fruit in our lives,
as being the one
who gives us gifts
to serve the church.
Perhaps we don't think
quite so often
of the Spirit
as being the one
who can make us
burn with anger.
But should that not be the case?
Remember,
in John's Gospel,
the Lord Jesus says
that the Spirit
will convict the power
of the world of sin
and righteousness
and judgment.
Talking about the world there
equally applies,
I think, to us.
The Spirit convicts us
of sin,
of righteousness
and of judgment.
And so the Spirit
in our lives
has brought us
to the point
of trusting in Jesus
and seeking to live for him.
But does he not also show us
the injustice
and the evil
that there is
in the world around us?
Does he not show us
how the world is oppressed
by someone
who is utterly evil
and utterly against
God's people
as these Ammonites were
in the days of Saul?
And when he does that,
should that rouse us
into action?
Can we be left indifferent
as we see injustice,
as we see suffering,
as we see evil
apparently triumphing
in our world?
If we have the passion
that comes from the Spirit,
that God's name
may be glorified,
that his justice
may be upheld,
that right may be done
in our world.
That is the first point
at which the Spirit
then moves us
and empowers us
to go out
and to do something
about it.
Because of course,
Saul didn't stop
with just burning with anger.
He went
and he managed
to get all the people
of Israel behind him
and he went out
to the battle
and he was triumphant.
And as we see injustice
around us in the world,
as we see the grip
of the evil one,
we should be filled
with the burning desire
that God's name
should be glorified
and that we should be those
who are able
to help doing it.
At one level,
that might be
in seeking to bring about
social justice.
Probably not on a national,
international scale
for most of us,
but where we are,
just recognizing
where there are things
that are wrong
and seeking to put them right.
It should also mean
that we have a real passion
for those who are
under the control
of the evil one,
for those who are
in mortal danger
if they don't put their trust
in the Lord Jesus.
It should be something
that makes us
all the more determined
to go out
and to witness
and to tell others
about him
and to see them
brought to know
the Saviour.
We too should be filled
with the Spirit
and that should affect
first our attitudes
to things round about us
and then our actions
as the Lord teaches us,
leads us
and empowers us
to go out
and to serve him.
God's chosen king
is filled with
the Spirit.
The second thing
we learn about
God's chosen king,
Saul, in this case,
is that he rescues
his people.
Three times
in this passage
it talks about
the people being rescued
or being delivered.
Verse 3,
the people of Jabesh,
they're being surrounded
by the Ammonites
and they say
if no one comes
to rescue us,
we will surrender
to you.
So the need for rescue
is recognized
right at the start
of the chapter.
Down in verse 9,
Saul has gathered
the troops together,
the armies of Israel
are marching out
and they say
to the men of Gilead,
by this time
the sun is hot tomorrow,
you will be rescued.
So the need for rescue
has been identified,
the rescue
has been promised
and then in verse 13,
Saul says,
no one will be put
to death today
for this day
the Lord
has rescued Israel.
The need's identified,
rescue is promised
and the rescue
is then brought about.
And that is what
establishes Saul
as the king
in Israel.
Again,
very clear application
as we think
about the Lord Jesus.
There was a terrible need
for rescue
for mankind.
As sin has got
into our world,
as all of us
are under the penalty
of sin
without the Lord Jesus,
we needed to be rescued.
That rescue comes to us,
is promised to us
throughout the Old Testament
of the Bible.
Right through
from Genesis chapter 3 onwards,
we see the promise
of the Messiah,
the Redeemer,
the one who would come
and rescue
his people.
And then of course
in the Gospels
and the New Testament,
we see how that rescue happens.
It happens through
the Lord Jesus.
And as Saul says,
not taking the credit
for himself,
the Lord has rescued Israel.
So we can say,
the Lord has rescued me,
the Lord has rescued all of us
from the terrible fate
that awaited us
if we remained
in our sins.
God promises
to rescue his people
and he fulfills
that promise
and for us
he fulfills it
particularly
through the Lord Jesus.
God's chosen king
is filled with the Spirit
and he rescues
his people.
Third thing we noticed
from this passage
is that God's chosen king
shows mercy
to the undeserving.
Now we noted
at the end of chapter 10,
we had these people
who were saying,
we don't want Saul
to be our king.
What good is this man
to us?
He's not going to be able
to do anything
to rescue us.
And so in chapter 11,
the people of Saul
had his victory.
They were saying
to Samuel,
well let's bring
these people out
and let's put them
to death
because they are traitors.
They wouldn't accept
God's chosen king.
They deserve nothing
less than death.
Interesting,
it was said to Samuel,
but it was Saul
who pronounced
the words of forgiveness.
No one will be put
to death today
for this day
the Lord
has rescued Israel.
I think the acclaim
that Saul received
after this
was at least partly
because of what he did
at this point.
Yes,
it was because of
the great victory
that he won
and the way he had
led his army
into battle.
But he also showed
the qualities
which are necessary
in God's king.
That quality of mercy
and of forgiveness
and of being willing
to give people
another chance.
Now again,
as we read through
the account of Saul
later on,
we don't see this
in evidence quite so much
but in this chapter
I think we do.
There is a real mercy
there for those
who don't deserve it.
And of course,
as we look forward
to the Lord Jesus,
what do we see?
We see mercy
for those who are
undeserving.
As the Lord Jesus
hangs on the cross,
he prays for the forgiveness
of those who have
crucified him.
As Saul is on
the Damascus road
going out to persecute
and to kill
the Christians,
the Lord appears
to him
and shows mercy
to him
as Paul would
describe himself
the chief of sinners.
And all of us
undeserving as we are,
sinful as we are.
If we have put our trust
in the Lord Jesus,
then he has shown
mercy to us
despite the fact
that we never
deserved it.
So also
mercy
to the undeserving
is evidence
of being
God's
chosen
king.
And then finally,
God's chosen king
is filled with the spirit.
He rescued his people.
He shows mercy
to the undeserving
and at the end
he's acclaimed
as king.
So in verse 14,
Samuel says to the people,
come let us go to Gilgal
and renew our kingship.
They'll go up to Gilgal
and they make Saul king
in the presence
of the Lord
and they make sacrifices
and have a great celebration.
Paul is established
as the king
in Israel.
But I think there's more
to these verses
than that.
This isn't just about
Saul being recognized
as king.
Because what Samuel says
is let's go to Gilgal
and there
renew
the kingship.
Gilgal is significant
because it's the place
the Israelites came to
when they crossed over
the Jordan
on their way
to Jericho
and where they received
God's assurance
and God's blessing
as they went
to the promised land.
And they go back there
and Samuel says
we're going to renew
the kingship
and what is significant
about their kingship
compared with every other
kingship in the world
at that time,
what was significant
is that it was
in the presence
of the Lord
and it was recognizing
that the ultimate king
is not Saul,
it is the Lord God.
And so they have
this ceremony
where yes,
Saul is made king
but he's made king
in the presence
of the Lord
with suitable oaths
and then they make
sacrifices to the Lord
and recognize
that actually
the great king
is not just Saul,
it is the great God
of heaven,
he is the Lord God,
he is the king
over all.
And we come today
and we recognize
one who is acclaimed
as king.
One who died
once for our sins,
was gloriously
raised to life
and now is seated
at God's right hand
and is king of kings
and lord of lords.
And we look at him
and we say
he is the one
to whom we owe allegiance,
whom we should be following
and obeying
and living for.
He is the king
of kings.
Coronation of our queen
was in 1953,
65 years ago
the coronation
this year.
I was looking this week
through the kind of script
or the order of service
for the coronation
and I was struck
that nine times
during that service
it was stated
that God
or the Lord Jesus
is the eternal king.
Several other times
he referred to as king
as well.
This was the coronation
of the queen
of our land
and yet at that coronation
it was recognized
there is one
who is much greater
than her.
There is one
under whom
she sits.
You probably see
in the queen's left hand
there
there is what's called
the orb.
The orb is like
a small globe
with a cross
on the top
and it's a very
significant part
of the service.
As the Archbishop
of Canterbury
presented it to the queen
this is what he said.
Receive this orb
set under the cross
and remember
that the whole world
is subject
to the power
and empire
of Christ
our redeemer.
The whole world
is subject
to the power
and empire
of Christ
our redeemer.
And I have to say
to all appearances
our queen
has remembered that
and has sought
to live for God
and to live
as a Christian
even as she reigns
over this land.
And the question
then I suppose
for all of us
is that's how
we live.
Do we remember
every day
that we are subject
to the power
and empire
of Christ
our redeemer?
Is our desire
to obey him
in every way
we can
to live for him
and to serve him
and to see his name
honoured
and glorified
that others too
may recognise
that he is
our king
and that he is
the king of kings
and lord
of lords.
That is what
he demands of us
that is what
he deserves
from us
as the one
who has saved us
has rescued us
from the grip
of sin
and of the evil one.
It is for us
to owe
allegiance to him
and to be
faithful servants
and subjects
of his
and to recognise
that he is
indeed
the one
who is worthy
of all our praise
and of all
the glory.
So God's chosen king
he's filled
with the spirit
he rescues
his people
he shows mercy
to the undeserving
and he's acclaimed
as king.
We can give thanks
that at least
for one chapter
that was true
of Saul.
We can give thanks
so much more
that that is
eternally true
of our Lord Jesus.
That he came to earth
that he was full
of the spirit
and that he
lived by the spirit
he did what was needed
to rescue us
from our sins
and to give us
hope for the future.
He showed us mercy
when we deserve
nothing
but judgement
from God
and then it is
for all of us
to acclaim him
as king
and to serve him
and to live
for him.
And my voice
is going
so let's leave it
at that point
and let's pray together.
Our Father
we thank you
for our Lord Jesus.
We thank you
that he is a king
who is so much
greater than Saul
or any other monarch
who has ever ruled
on this earth.
And we thank you
that we can look back
and we can see
in Saul
and in others
a very pale shadow
in some of the things
they did
of the greatness
of the Lord Jesus.
And we want to say
that we love him
and that we want
to serve him
and to live for him.
And we pray
that you will truly
fill us with the spirit
that we may
have that great passion
to go out
and in our world
to see Christ
as proclaimed
as king
and to
work against
the works
of the evil one
and to help
others
to escape
from his grip
and from the
inevitable punishment
of those
who reject
the Lord Jesus.
Thank you
for being with us
as we've studied
together.
We again pray
for Derek
and for other members
of his family.
We pray that you
will be a real comfort
to them
over the coming days.
We thank you again
for Elma.
We thank you
for her life
of faithful service,
for the hospitality
she offered
for many years,
for her great concern,
for the underprivileged,
for her generosity
and for her desire
to serve the Lord
and to be with his people.
We thank you
that for her
it is now much better
and we pray
that may be
a great comfort
to the family
over the coming days.
So we give you
thanks for this time together.
We commit ourselves
to you now
in the name
of the Lord Jesus.
Amen.