THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

The Books Of Samuel: God's Shift Of Israel From Apostasy Under The Judges To David's Reign

I. 1 Samuel: From Samuel To The Death Of Saul

K. Overcoming Futile Thought And Action By Relying On The Holy Spirit

(1 Samuel 10:17-11:15)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

A great need exists for us today to overcome futile thinking patterns and their resulting futile actions:

(1) After announcing that the FBI would not recommend that Hillary Clinton be prosecuted for mishandling her emails when she was Secretary of State, FBI Director James Comey said, "'To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions. But that is not what we are deciding now.'" (latimes.com, "Here's the FBI director's full statement on Hillary Clinton email investigation," July 6, 201) Radio talk show host Brad Davis said Wednesday in reaction that Mr. Comey revealed a double standard -- the rich and powerful live above the law while everyone else is subject to it, and that such thinking sabotages the rule of law in the land.

(2) Last week, the national news was full of stories about apparently unjust shootings of black men by white police officers in various parts of the country followed by the apparent reactionary shootings of several police officers in Dallas. Racial hatred killings make absolutely no sense, for the Apostle Paul in Acts 17:26 claimed that God "made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth," for we all descended from Adam and Eve! Again, futile thinking on race has led to hatred and destructive action with a breakdown in the rule of law.

Need: So we ask, "How can we overcome futile thinking patterns and their resulting futile actions?!"

I. After Samuel had anointed Saul to be king, he called Israel to Mizpeh to make this fact public, 10:1, 17.

II. Saul at this meeting thought and thus acted unwisely, creating a problem in his rule, 1 Samuel 10:18-27:

A. Samuel had told Saul at his anointing that when the Holy Spirit had come on him to make him prophesy, he would be turned into another man, so that what he willed he was to do because God was with him, 10:1, 6-7.

B. However, though the Holy Spirit had come on him to equip him to function well as a king, Saul first utilized the mode of his old self, not relying on the Holy Spirit, so he thought and acted unwisely, 1 Samuel 10:18-22:

1. Samuel reminded Israel at Mizpeh that though God had delivered her from slavery and brought her out of Egypt and delivered her from all her oppressive foes, she had rejected Him, asking for a king, 10:18-19a.

2. Accordingly, Samuel told the people to present themselves before the Lord so by means of divine lot, God might identify for the people of Israel the man who was to be king, 1 Samuel 10:19b.

3. Since God controlled the outcome of lots in the dispensation of the Law (cf. Proverbs 16:33), He indicated by lot that Saul was to be the king, but when the people looked for him, he was missing, 1 Sam. 10:20-21.

4. They asked God for direction on the matter, and He revealed that Saul had meekly hidden himself among the people's baggage,1 Samuel 10:22; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, footnote to 1 Samuel 10:22.

C. When the people ran and fetched him, Saul impressively stood head and shoulders above them all, so Samuel announced Saul as God's choice for king, and the people shouted, "God save the king," 1 Samuel 10:23-24.

D. This matter of the kingdom was recorded by Samuel in a book and deposited in the tabernacle before the Lord, and Samuel dismissed the people, 1 Samuel 10:25.

E. However, though Saul returned to his home in Gibeah followed by valiant men whose hearts the Lord had touched to support him (1 Samuel 10:26), Saul's act of hiding among the baggage had exposed his extreme native meekness apart from the Holy Spirit's power (cf. 1 Samuel 9:20-21 NIV), giving some worthless men who did not respect God's lot selection process the excuse to despise Saul, 1 Samuel 10:27a.

F. Saul showed forbearance in not reacting in vengeance to such a culturally despicable rejection, likely because he was functioning in his "old" self in extreme meekness anyway! (1 Samuel 10:27b)

III. In GRACE, God arranged for a crisis to arise to REVERSE this problem situation through the Holy Spirit's mightily equipping Saul to think and to act in wise resolution to the crisis, 1 Samuel 11:1-13:

A. Since Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin that had benefited from Israel's giving 400 young virgins of Jabesh-Gilead to its men to preserve Benjamin from destruction after a civil war (Jud. 21:12-14), Saul was disposed to be protective of that city due to its strong family ties to many people in his tribe, B. K. C., O. T., p. 442.

B. Thus, God let the Ammonites wage war on Jabesh-Gilead, and to offer them terms of peace if the people of the city surrendered to having each city inhabitant's right eye plucked out by the Ammonites, 1 Samuel 11:1-2.

C. The elders of Jabesh-Gilead obtained seven days' time from the Ammonites to seek help from the rest of Israel, and when all Israel heard of the Ammonite threat, they were very distressed, 1 Samuel 11:3-4.

D. When Saul heard of the threat, the Spirit of God came mightily upon him, making him very angry opposite his innate meekness that had been expressed when he hid in the baggage in 1 Samuel 10:22 (1 Samuel 11:5-6).

E. In an act that recalled the Levite's infuriated reaction to the mistreatment of his mistress back in Judges 19:29, Saul then hewed a yoke of oxen to pieces and sent the parts throughout Israel, warning that if any man did not follow him in war against Ammon, the same destruction would occur to his oxen! (1 Samuel 11:7a).

F. This act coupled with the Lord's causing Israel's men to fear Saul led them to join him against Ammon (1 Sam. 11:7b-8), and Saul sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-Gilead that by the time the sun was hot the next day, they would be delivered, 1 Sam. 11:9. The men of Jabesh-Gileadite thus told the Ammonites they would come out to them the next, but they trusted Saul to rescue them from the Ammonite siege, 1 Sam. 11:10.

G. Saul and Israel's men the next day launched an early morning attack on the Ammonites, routing them in a great victory so that no two Ammonite soldiers were left even fleeing together, 1 Samuel 11:11.

H. Due to this great victory, Israel's men asked who the worthless men had been who had derided Saul, for they wanted to put them to death, 1 Samuel 11:12. Saul stopped this effort, claiming the Lord had wrought salvation for the nation, 1 Samuel 11:13. Saul He knew the Holy Spirit had equipped him to have the right thinking so as to lead Israel to war, so no one was to be executed due to the Lord's goodness to all.

IV. Samuel then called the nation to Gilgal, its first camp in the Promised Land, to renew the appointment of Saul as king, 1 Samuel 11:14 with Joshua 1-8. God at Gilgal had initially "rolled away" the "taunts leveled by the Egyptians at the Israelites for their failure to gain their promised land" (Joshua 5:9; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Joshua 5:9), so Samuel thought it fitting to overcome the past taunts leveled by the worthless men against Saul in renewing the kingdom at that very location, 1 Samuel 11:14.

V. Thus, all the people went to Gilgal and made Saul king again before the Lord, sacrificing and greatly rejoicing in solidarity behind Saul in the nation's new monarchy, 1 Samuel 11:15.

Lesson: Though Saul had been equipped by the Holy Spirit to lead as king, when he failed to rely on the Holy Spirit to function courageously before the people, his natural great meekness gave an excuse for worthless men to despise him, complicating his rule. God thus graciously let a crisis occur to thrust Saul by the Holy Spirit's work to adopt the right thought pattern that he needed to function effectively as king, resulting in great blessing.

Application: If facing futile thinking patterns, may we (1) trust in Christ to be saved and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, John 3:16; Rom. 8:9b. (2) Then, may we rely on the Spirit (Gal. 5:16) for the will and power (Phil. 2:12-13) (3) to think aright (2 Tim. 1:13-14) so as (4) to act aright in God's will (Gal. 5:16) that we fulfill His assignments for us!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)

In our introduction, we noted a lapse in the rule of law today, so we apply this sermon as a solution as follows:

First, reliance on the Holy Spirit leads us to obey Scripture (2 Timothy 1:13-14), and that leads us to handle the lapse in the rule of law that was taught last week by FBI Director James Comey regarding the Hillary Clinton email case, and the lapse in the rule of law that was reflected in the lawless racial killings in our nation last week.

Specifically, the Holy Spirit at 1 Peter 2:13 calls us to obey every ordinance of man's government, and Proverbs 22:28 calls us not to remove the ancient boundaries set by the forefathers. We thus recall that our Pilgrim forefathers, upon reaching Cape Cod in 1620, found themselves in a land that lacked government law and order. They thus formed the Mayflower Compact to provide for "a civill body politick for our better ordering & preservation & furtherance" of the "advancements of ye Christian faith." (Compton's Encyclopedia, 1973, v. 13, p. 183) In that document, they affirmed allegiance to "our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by ye grace of God," and each adult man signed it to show his "all due submission and obedience" to the rule of law under the British crown, Ibid.

So, in light of the lapse in the rule of law today, we apply our forefathers' example to affirm our subjection to the rule of the Constitution of the United States of America, to the Constitution of the State of Connecticut and to the Constitution of the Town of New Hartford, with the exception that we practice civil disobedience only if God's Word directs that we do so on a specific issue, Acts 5:29. Though others around us may not submit to the rule of law, may we like our forefathers submit to the rule of law by the grace of God as subjects of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Of necessity, such action includes treating all other people with civility and respect instead of any form of hatred, racial or otherwise, for God in Romans 13:8 calls us to owe no many anything but to love one another.

May we trust in Christ as Savior, and may we rely upon the Holy Spirit to think and to live in wisdom.