Saul the Good - 1 Samuel - with James Thackeray

Welcome to the Grace Church Weekly Podcast. We're an international church right

in the heart of Stockholm, Sweden.

Each week, we share a message that's rooted in the faithful teaching of God's

Word and open to the vibrant work of the Holy Spirit among His people.

Here's this week's message.

I'd like to add a warm welcome to everyone and also wish everyone a happy Father's Day.

It's their first ever Father's Day. So yeah, happy Father's Day to everyone.

We carry on looking through 1 Samuel this week.

We've looked at the life of Hannah, of Eli, of Samuel. and also there's a lot of ground to cover.

So we've got 31 chapters to do in two weeks.

Don't worry, not going to go through them word by word, but we're just going

to try and see a few things from the life of Saul.

Saul, it's almost like a Shakespearean tale, the rise and fall of King Saul.

I was thinking about this. I run, as many do, we run races and there's a thing

sometimes people do where they go far too fast at the start.

So you set off and everyone goes flying past you. But then as you get further

on, those people get slower and slower. Sometimes they drop out altogether.

I'm kind of the other way. I'm known as the handbrake. I start very,

very slowly. I don't really speed up that much either.

But Saul was more like this first one. Saul started so well.

And we're going to see today that strong start. that Saul made and what we can

learn about that. And then next week.

So this week is Saul the good, next week is Saul the bad. We're going to look

at what we can learn from Saul's fall.

Before we dive into that, just a little bit of background to the situation that

these chapters are set in.

There's four quick aspects. The sort of political situation then.

Israel was basically a tribal, almost a confederation.

It wasn't really fully unified. You had 12 tribes, sort of to a large extent, doing their own things.

The era of the judges, these kind of charismatic figures raised up,

like Samson, like Deborah, this was kind of coming to an end, it seems.

So there's no kind of central authority. There was no real army.

But there was this desire for a king.

They wanted the monarchy. We saw in that passage, they got what they wished for.

Then in terms of the military situation, it was a nation under great oppression by the Philistines.

And we're very familiar with the Philistines from Judges. The David and Goliath

story is David against the champion of the Philistines.

But it wasn't just the Philistines. There were frequent invasions of the Ammonites,

the Moabites, the Amalekites, all threatening the borders.

And again, Israel wasn't an organized military force at the time.

So they really struggled in this time, both politically, militarily.

And of course, they also had a religious situation.

We saw throughout the time of the judges, there was a phrase that repeated itself.

Everyone did what he wanted.

They turned to idolatry. They neglected this covenant with God where he said,

if you obey me, if you follow me, I will look after you.

We saw a few weeks ago, Phil spoke about Eli's sons, the corruption in the priesthood,

those raised up to spiritually lead the nation were corrupt,

were threatening people, were getting the choice cuts of meat through force.

And we saw a little bit about Samuel. Samuel had acted as a judge and a spiritual leader.

He called the people back to God, but still they insisted on a king.

So you have this real sort of unstable situation, both politically,

spiritually, and militarily.

And Saul comes into this story, this situation in 1 Samuel chapter 8.

1 Samuel 8 · chapter mention

I'm not going to read it all.

Good to flick through maybe afterwards. We basically have this strange dialogue

where Israel say, we want a king.

Everyone else has got a king. We think kings are great.

And God confers with Samuel and says, hear them out, but tell them very openly,

a king will be bad for them.

So Samuel goes back to the people and says, I hear what you're saying, but a king will be bad.

He'll run you down. He'll tax you. He'll lead you away from God.

You'll have your faith in the wrong things.

Samuel, this prophet, this leader, lays it on the line, but they want one anyway.

They want one anyway everyone else has got a king we want

a king we want to be like these nations around us even though

God says very clearly you're not to be like the nations around you they say

we want a king and this isn't an anti-king thing per se somebody from a country

with a king I've nothing against kings but this wasn't about a king this was

about a rejection of God.

They've rejected God and chosen a king.

And this is where Saul comes in. And Saul is a really key person.

He can be a little bit overshadowed.

He's after Samuel. He's before David.

But Saul was one of only three kings who ruled over the sort of united kingdom of Israel.

It wasn't called that, but before it split, they had three kings.

He reigned for over 40 years. And of course, he was the first king that they had.

So Saul was a hugely significant person.

I think there's a lot we can learn from him today.

I want to look at a couple of aspects from this kind of this rise period of Saul.

And it starts off in chapter 10. As we read, there's been this whole kind of

good communication here.

The Lord tells Saul what's going to happen.

He tells him that you're going to see Samuel. There's going to be people prophesying

and you're going to join them.

And then Samuel comes to see Saul and tells him exactly the same thing.

And then, of course, it happens.

Saul becomes a prophet. He starts prophesying.

There's no doubt in his mind that this call is from God.

Meanwhile, the Lord has told Samuel to pull everybody together in this big kind

of clan meeting we read about in verse 20.

And just before that, Samuel reminds them once more, it's not going to go well for you.

You can have a king if you want, but it's not going to go well.

He doesn't say it probably won't work out. He doesn't go, yeah,

it's not the best option. He says it's not going to go well.

You have now rejected your God who saves you.

But it just goes straight through them. They just carry on. They want a king.

They want a king over them.

So we have this kind of clan, tribe by tribe, clan by clan, family by family.

And of course, it falls to Saul.

This has been predicted. This has been prophesied. Saul is the chosen one.

And yet despite all of this really clear

guiding from the Lord despite this clear guiding from Samuel in this dramatic

moment when Israel finally chooses a king we have this kind of like slightly

comedy moment they go great it's Saul Saul's going to be our king.

And they go, wait a minute, where's Saul? Where is our king that we've just chosen?

And they need to get Samuel to ask God, where is Saul?

Saul's hiding in the baggage.

Saul's got cold feet and he's hiding in the baggage. So I'd love to see that scene.

I don't know if they drag him out, or they move a couple of bags,

and there's Saul kind of peeping out, thinking, I don't want to be king. Then he pops out.

He's a head taller than everybody else, and they're delighted.

They shout, long live the king. Long live the king.

There's a couple of dissenting voices at the end. It says, some of them say,

how can this fellow save us?

But most of them, most of Israel are happy.

Long live the king.

Surely this is the start of a golden era.

And maybe this would have been, they'd have been more convinced that this was

a golden time when we read on what happened next.

One moment, sorry.

Because in chapter 11, we probably see Saul at his very best.

He's kind of got over his whole hiding in the baggage thing.

And chapter 11 is one of these distressingly Old Testament stories.

There's this town called Jabesh Gilead in the east, and they're besieged by

Ammonites, one of the regular enemies of the Israelites.

And the men in Jebush Gilead, they say, look, make a treaty.

Don't destroy us. We'll be subject to you.

They seem to have no thought of any salvation. They just want to make a treaty.

But then the Ammonites say, yeah, we will make a treaty with you just on one

condition, that we gouge out the right eye of every one of you.

At this point, everyone's kind of going, oh, that is rather unpleasant.

And it's probably a good job we've sent the kids out.

But this little town, surrounded by enemies...

They're told the only way you can have peace is if we gouge everybody's eyes out.

Now, we probably shouldn't be

surprised. The Ammonites were famous for worshipping a god called Molech.

Molech demanded child sacrifice. They were not nice people.

They were very unpleasant. They were completely anti-God's people.

So we shouldn't be surprised that a prerequisite of peace with them was to gouge the eyes out.

The leaders of Jabesh say, give us a week.

We need time to think about this. We need time to get somebody to rescue us. Just give us a week.

And if nothing happens, we will give in to your demands. We'll become subject

to you. We'll let you gouge our eyes out.

Saul hears about this. Apparently he's 50 or 60 miles away, 100 kilometers away.

Saul hears about this in the town of Gibeah.

Saul is the king, but he's not really the king yet. He's kind of the king in name only.

He's still out in the field. He's still plowing behind his oxen.

And he comes out. He hears everybody weeping.

And they tell him about this terrible situation that the men and women of Jebosh Gilead are in.

So the rest of chapter 11, we see Saul really taken up with the power of God.

It says, the spirit of God came upon him in power and he burned with anger.

And he slightly threatens the rest of Israel. He says, guys,

we need to come together. If we don't come together, you're in trouble.

People are inspired by this. People are terrified by this. Somehow Saul pulls

together 330,000 people.

He unites the Israelites. They go down to Jabesh Gilead.

They destroy the Ammonites and they rescue the people of Israel.

And this seems a final confirmation for people. Saul is the one.

They were right after all. They needed a king.

They needed a king to enter this golden era.

And right at the end of Samuel chapter 11, we even have this nice moment where

people, they go, ah, do you remember? there were those people who said Saul

wasn't the right person.

Let's deal with them. Let's put them to death. Saul shows mercy.

Saul shows some grace.

He says, no, no one shall be put to death today. For this day,

the Lord has rescued Israel.

It's a promising start, isn't it? He shows great leadership. He shows mercy.

He shows God's grace. He recognises it's the Lord that has rescued Israel.

In one stroke, Saul leads and unites the tribes.

That's it. The golden era is here.

Sadly, as you read through Samuel, and as we'll go through it in the coming

weeks and months, this wasn't the start of a golden era.

Rather, it was the high point in a kingship riddled with pride,

riddled with rebellion from God, and ultimately a kingship that shattered the

kingdom of Israel, shattered the nation of Israel, turned them further and further away from God.

But it's a good start. It's a good start. We'll read it next week. It didn't last.

But what can we learn from this for us today?

Perhaps there's something in your life right now. You've got really good advice.

You've heard from the Lord. You've read in the Word of God. You know exactly what you should do.

But you're knowingly, you're willingly rejecting God.

I wonder if that's you today. Are you rejecting God today? Knowingly and willingly.

But then the second thing we can maybe learn from this passage,

maybe we're not hang on rejecting God.

Maybe we're instead of a sort of avoiding his clear command for us.

Maybe we're a bit like Saul, hiding in the knacket.

See, Saul had a really clear call from the Lord. Couldn't have been clearer.

But he's, oh, I'm not sure this is for me. I'm not sure I can do this.

I'm going to hide I'm going to hide in the baggage,

maybe it's something the Lord's put on your heart today and when you first heard

it you were resolved to do it it's like Saul was resolved to be king but when the crunch comes,

she can't quite do it we're hiding in the baggage maybe you heard the announcement

about street evangelism And I thought, yes, that's for me. I want to share the gospel.

I want to go out into the streets. I want to tell something,

tell people something of the Lord.

At the last minute, we're hiding in the baggage.

And please don't let me wrong. I appreciate there are many reasons why we might

be able to help next week.

But if you do feel convicted, if right now you're feeling resolved,

don't hide in the baggage next Sunday.

Maybe you've prayed. You've got a friend at work or at college or at school.

Somebody you know, and you're resolved, you're determined to share something of the gospel with them.

And you pray for opportunities, and that opportunity comes.

And you are made in the baggage.

I'm assuming most of you have done this. I know I've done it.

Because it's so much easier to hide in an edge. It's kind of not a certain baggage.

If you've got a clear call, if you hear the Lord telling you to do something,

to serve, to give, to witness, if you're resolved to do it, then do it.

Resist that urge to hide in the baggage.

Just 13 very quickly. and then the quotes.

Of course, there is a lot to commend about Saul in these passages.

He shows decisive, grace-filled leadership.

Maybe this is something to aspire to, something to aim for.

I think there's a reason that the Bible doesn't say, fix your eyes on Saul.

Fix your eyes on Saul, the first bit.

Not the end bit fix your eyes on Saul apart from the bit where he's hiding in

the bag the Bible doesn't tell

us to fix our eyes on Saul does it it tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus,

you see Jesus ticked all these bottles Jesus never regenerated God,

and actually Jesus is the only way those who have regenerated God can be right with God.

Jesus had the toughest of all tasks. Jesus came to earth. He was fully God.

He came to earth fully man.

He lived a perfect life, a sinless life, that he could go to the cross.

If anyone had an excuse, he was denied in the baggage.

When Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood,

saying, if there's a way, take this away from me, he knew what he was going to.

He knew it was going to a vicious lonely painful death that we might do right

with God he did that willingly he didn't hide in the baggage did he,

he was the perfect leader the perfect and merciful gracious leader I'm not saying

these are easy things to do,

Christian life is tough there are many other things that take our time that can lead us away,

there is grace for those who hide in the baggage there's encouragement as well,

there's encouragement to follow Jesus' example to fix your eyes on him.

We hope that this sermon has encouraged you if you'd like to learn more about

us visit us online at gracechurch.se.

Thanks for listening.