Don't Be Like Saul | Pr Alvin Keng

You're listening to a message to go from X Church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

Okay, look at your neighbour and say, don't be like Saul. Okay?

Look at your neighbour and say, don't be like Saul.

And then look at your other neighbour and say, obedience

is better than sacrifice. Okay. So, are you guys okay

we do a little bit of Bible study today? Yeah?

I don't know how many preachers do, but I know

Pastor Matt does it, you know. Yeah. Sometimes I consent

him because every time I will use his name as

reference point one. We're in the same church plant, by

the way. Oh, before I continue, I want to do something. Yeah,

I want to take photo of you guys. Because today, right, XPJ,

we're actually not meeting in our location because our location

is not available. So we are like scattered, right? And

they were all showing me photos of their church plant.

So I just, sorry, I'm a bit formal, okay? So

you'll just need to stay there and smile. And then

we will, I will try my best. Let's see, yeah. Okay, pass. Okay. Sorry,

just amuse me. Okay. Yeah. So, yes. Okay. 1 Samuel 15.

That's the scripture that we are going to do a

little bit of Bible study and reflection on. 1 Samuel 15.

Ask you all to turn there, but then I haven't

even turned there yet.

Okay.

1 Samuel 15. Okay, we're going to read. Okay. We're

going to learn a little bit about this guy named Saul. Okay. Okay.

and just a little bit of reflection how I got

this message was that I was going through a personal... Well,

you know, the thing about God is that He speaks

to you, especially to, you know, I think Pastor Stephen

will understand this. I remember Pastor Kenneth encouraging us to say,

the thing about the message is that it's not the

speaker preparing the message, but the message preparing the speaker.

So this message is like that for me, and I

hope it will be a blessing to you, right? So

let me read, okay? So we're talking about Saul. Okay,

so Samuel... and Samuel is the prophet at that time,

also said to Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint

you king over his people, over Israel. Now, therefore, heed

the voice of the words of the Lord. Okay, we'll

pause here a little bit. Give you a little bit

of backstory. You all like backstories, right? Give you a

little bit of backstory to explain to you how exciting

the Bible is when you read the Bible. Don't really

need to go and watch Korean drama because the Bible

got a lot of drama. Later, we'll just run through

some things. Very dramatic. and I will give you a

bit of homework. This is what I like to do.

I give people homework, meaning I won't tell you everything,

so you go and read yourself, okay? It's a very

interesting one. So, 1 Samuel 15. So, the people of Israel,

they actually came out from Egypt. I'm going very, very

far back. They came out of Egypt to a new land.

And then, of course, God said, I will be your God,

I will be your King, I will be your Lord, right?

And then, What happened? When they went to the new land,

Joshua was there. Moses didn't go into the new land, unfortunately.

Joshua led the people into the new land and then

he divided the land. So wherever they conquered, they divided. Okay,

your tribe, you take this. Your tribe, you take this.

And they were living there. And of course, that land

was not them alone. Do you know that other people

were staying there already? Other people already inhabiting the land.

Then you're thinking to yourself, eh, how come ah? Well,

actually that land that sort of like belonged to them

was also a land where Abraham, I'm going even back further,

Abraham stayed when he said, go to this land where

I'll make it yours, okay? And then of course, after that,

we've got famine, got different things happen. Then they fled

to Egypt, stayed there too long already, overstayed their welcome, right?

And then they came back, okay? And they didn't really

have like a governing system, okay? Oh, now it gets interesting, right?

And the way they governed was judges. They had judges.

And this system was the same system that Moses used.

Right?

Meaning he divided. They had judges. But they didn't really

have a central government. They didn't really have a voting system.

They didn't have a king. So what happened? The people

started checking out Instagram and Facebook. and talking to people

that are not from there, and started observing, wow, that

city got king. His name is King Agag. Wow, that

city got this king. Got this influencer. Looks so great, right? Wow,

we want this. We want this for our land. And

they fought. They actually said, God, we want a king.

And God says, hello, I'm your king. I will speak

through the prophet that I've chosen. And then you continue

doing what you're doing. Right? And he's working out, right?

I'm your king. You don't need another king. If you

have another king, you know what's going to happen? He's

going to be flawed. He's going to make you suffer.

He's going to do all these things, which happened now. Right?

But they say, no. We want what they want. We

want to go to that. We want what they want.

We want what all these other people want because we see,

we like, we want. And God said, okay, Lord. You want,

I give you, Lord. Then don't say I never tell you.

And Saul was the first guy So let's learn a

little bit about him. Okay, let's read on now. So

Samuel gave Saul a job to do. Okay, he gave

Saul a job to do. and hence, you know, all

these things. You know when God does things, he does

it proper? He said, I've called you to do this,

I've called you to do this, I've called you to

do this, right? And then he says, thus says the

Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he

did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way

when he came up from Egypt. So of course, you

know now got some drama lah. When they will come

out of Egypt, they will attack by this group of people, right?

The Amalekites. So Saul, oh sorry, now go and attack

Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and do

not Spare them, but kill both men and women, infant

and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. Wow, quite, quite,

quite ganasah. Clear everyone, clear everything. Okay, that was the instruction, right?

Please remember, it's very important. So Saul gathered the people

together and numbered them in Talaim, 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000

men of Judah. That's quite a lot of people. And

Saul came to a city of Amalek and lay in

wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the Kenites, Go, depart,

get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you

with them. For you showed kindness to all the children

of Israel when they came out of Egypt. So the

Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. So this is interesting.

So there were a group of people called the Kenites,

and they were there. But because they were nice to

the Israelites, he said, okay, I'm going to give you

a chance to run away. You better run away now. Right?

And you also read that God didn't say, kill the Kenites.

He said Amalekites only, right? Right? Okay? Then let's see

what happens. Then Saul attacked the Amalekites and Hevelah all

the way to Shur, which is the east of Egypt,

quite far. He also took Agag, king of the Amalekites,

alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge

of the sword. But Saul and the people spat Agag

and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings,

the lambs, and all that was good and were unwilling

to destroy them, but everything despised and worthless, they were

utterly destroyed. Okay, we'll pause here for a moment. Of course,

we might straight away go, oh, he didn't listen. Before that,

let's talk a little bit about Saul. This guy is

quite handsome. This guy was the perfect king. That's why

they all like him. Let me ask you a question.

Just reflection now. Do you think a person that is

not capable can command 210,000 men to battle, to die?

And this is his first job, no? He was able

to gather 210,000. And it was not, thus says the Lord, no. Right?

He was able to gather. Don't you think, as I

think about it, I think like, wow, this guy quite legit, man.

Probably quite charismatic. Probably very convincing. How many of you

understand what I'm trying to say? He has probably certain

leadership skills. Correct or not? That people are willing to

follow him. You know, sometimes I realise, right, when we

read the Bible, we always stick at face value, right? Oh,

because God said, so do lah. No choice, right? No,

actually they had choice, right? Actually, they can decide not

to do one. Actually, they can one. It's not all like,

thus says the Lord, ten commandments, then that's it, no.

It doesn't work that way, no friends. But sometimes when

we read, we tend to just accept it, right? We

just accept, no, I'm sure he has certain qualities, right,

that will make people go, I'm going to follow him. Okay,

it's very important that we think about this because Saul was,

even Samuel was impressed by Saul. He was impressed. Yeah,

if there's any king, this guy is the king. You

think they're going to pick some joker? No, they are not.

They're going to pick the best, right? Like how we

all like to pick the best person, right? And so

that's Saul, right? And he was given a job by God.

Very clear instructions, right? But what did he do? So

he's given specific instructions, right? And not just that, God

affirmed the anointing. He said, hey, I affirm your anointing

and your call. Right? And then he gave him instructions

on what to do with Amalekites. And he also gave

the reason why. So not just go and clear this group. No,

there was a reason why. And if you study, well,

I won't chimpo for you. Okay, let's, sorry, I won't

do spoilers. Okay, let's read on. Okay? And then we'll

understand what happened. So Saul did as he was told

successfully and he won the battle. He did. He cleared

and won the battle and destroyed the Amalekites. Correct? But,

There was a but. But what they saw that was good,

they didn't destroy. But all that they despised, they destroyed.

What they don't like, destroyed. What they saw was good,

was not destroyed. So, ask us a question. Maybe I

give you this perspective. So, Saul is the CEO of

the company. Okay? He's the CEO of the company. He

was given directive by the owner that appointed him. Correct? Right?

CEO means got power one, no? He has power. He

can command 210,000 and he had the power to make decisions.

He decided not to get rid of the Kenites. They left.

Right?

And then he decided to, you know, keep all the

good stuff. Right? How many of you will look at this, right,

and say, that it was a successful battle and it

was a very smart move. Smart mah. He, you know, yeah,

I know God said destroy, but technically he did, right? Technicality. Technically, he,

you know, all the not good meaning, out of all

the meaning, even if there's sheep, right? Of course, there'll

be not nice sheep and nice sheep, right? Keep the

nice one, the not nice one, get rid of lah. Good, right?

Good move, right? Let's read on and let's see what

God thinks. Okay, let's see what God thinks. Now the

word of the Lord came to Samuel. Okay. I greatly regret,

this is verse 11, that I have set up Saul

as king, for he has turned back from following me

and has not performed my commandments, and he grieved Samuel,

and he cried out to the Lord all night. Wah. Wah,

so kua chiong man, God. He did the job, what?

He gathered the 210,000 people, he went, he cleared the place, Right?

He did the job. Why are you so upset, God? Greatly,

greatly regret, no. Not even regret, greatly regret. Okay. So

when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul,

he was told Samuel saying, Saul went to Carmel and

indeed he set up a monument for himself and yet

has gone on around, passed by and gone down to Gilgal. Okay,

this is quite interesting. How come he went and set

up a monument for himself ah? Okay, if you receive

instruction from someone to do a job, wouldn't the next

thing you do be to go back to the person

and review? Correct or not? Go back to the person

and give him instruction. He didn't know. He went and

built a monument first. Right? Okay, let's read on. It's

getting more interesting, right? Think about it. This guy is

quite capable. Everybody likes him. Right? He has the power, charisma.

He has the leadership ability. to lead and clear people, okay?

And some of us probably say, he's also economically smart.

Keep all the good stuff, right? You probably think that way.

Then why are you wrong? Then Samuel went to Saul

and Saul said to him, blessed are you of the Lord.

I have performed the commandment of the Lord, okay? Samuel

went to Saul and the first thing Saul, hey, blessed

are you. I have done all that you asked me

to do. Very happy, right? Still very happy, right? Still

very good. But Samuel said, what then is this bleating

of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of

the oxen which I hear? Eh? Wah, sarcastic man. Yeah,

I tell you what guys, this is why I like

reading the Bible. You read ah, there are a lot

of lines ah, that is super sarcastic one. It's super,

like when you read like, huh? It's really, even Jesus,

Jesus got some parts, he quite sarcastic one. Yeah, you know,

very interesting, right? let's read on, okay? And Saul said,

they have brought them from the Amalekites for the people

spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to

sacrifice to the Lord your God and the rest we

have utterly destroyed. Okay, let's pause it again. Sound correct?

Sound correct? And you notice he said, the people decided

to not do this so they can bring it to

God to sacrifice. Make sense or not? Make sense? Right?

Make sense, right? Okay, let's read on. Oh, okay. Yeah,

then Samuel quite angry at it. Samuel said, be quiet

and I will tell you what the Lord said to

me last night and he said to him, speak on.

So Samuel said, when you were little in your own eyes,

were you not head of the tribes of Israel and

did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? Oh, wow,

this is very interesting. This line tells you that last

time Saul probably had no confidence or little confidence. although

he was the head. I think if you read on further,

you will read this, that he actually got self-confidence problem

in the beginning. Although he was handsome, he was charismatic,

deep down inside, he probably had that issue. Right? But then,

of course, now, obviously, he doesn't have that issue. Because

after you build, you can build a monument for yourself.

I mean, come on, guys. If a person has a

self-confidence issue, do you think he will have that problem?

Don't know. Don't know. Okay? 17 says, so Samuel said, okay, 18,

Now the Lord sent you on a mission and said,

go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight

against them until they are consumed. Why then? And again,

if you read the first one, he said everything. Livestock, everything.

That's what he told him. Why then did you not

obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop

down on the spoil and do evil in the sight

of the Lord? Then Saul, what is his rebuttal? And

Saul said to Samuel, but I have obeyed the voice

of the Lord and gone on the mission on which

the Lord sent me and brought back Agag king of Amalek.

I've utterly destroyed the Amalekites. Okay. Interesting, huh? So Samuel

giving instruction, say you didn't follow instruction. Saul said, but

I did follow and I did extra. I brought back

the king. Huh? Okay, this tells me that the CEO

misinterpreted the instruction. Correct or not? Misinterpret the instruction or

maybe not clear on the instruction. Right? Although the instruction

was very clear. I don't know. I don't think, I

wonder how many of us will be able to look

at what God said in the beginning and go like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

There is room for interpretation. Right? There's room for interpretation. Right?

Let's read on. Okay. But, The people took the plunder,

sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should

have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice to the Lord your

God and give you. Ooh. I did, Samuel. I did.

And I brought back the king. Huh? Okay. But the people. Imagine,

let's say I'm Samuel. I'm the CEO. And you guys

are the people. And I'm talking to, sorry, I'm Saul.

And I'm talking to Samuel. But I did. I did

everything that you asked me to. And this extra thing

that I brought back, But they all, Samuel, they all

wanted to take the sheep and sacrifice to God. Isn't

that a good thing? We want to honour God. Correct

or not? Good, right? Then this is where the famous

scripture comes into play. So Samuel said, Has the Lord

as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in

obeying the voice of the Lord? Meaning he said, you

think God prefers which one? Sacrifice or you obey Him?

Which one more important? And then, Behold, to obey is

better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams.

Why a ram? Because they use the fat to sacrifice.

They burn the fat. Smells good. Right? Which one? You

think God's happy with obedience or God's happy with what

you give Him? Oh, but God, I gave everything. I

emptied my bank account. I did all for you. Right?

You think God is happy with that? Or just listen

to Him. Just listen to Him. Okay? For what? For

rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is

as iniquity and idolatry. Which one is worse? Right? Because

you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also

has rejected you from being king. Whoa, ouch. Then Saul

said to Samuel, okay, so kua chiong already, right? You

think like, hey, come on, Saul. Time to just own up.

Own up to it. Own up to it, okay? Come on.

You are anointed by God? No. You are a king.

You are the chosen one. Own up to it. Then

what did Saul say? I have sinned. Oh, thank God

you own up. For I have transgressed the commandment of

the Lord, your words, because I feared the people and

obeyed your words. So he recognized his mistake. That's the but.

Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me

that I may worship the Lord. Huh. And then of

course Samuel say, I will not return with you for

you have rejected the word of the Lord and the

Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel. Ouch ah.

No chance already. No chance already. God, give him chance ma.

Give him chance. Why not give him chance? And then

this is the Korean drama scene. And Samuel turned around.

to go away. And Saul seized the edge of his

robe and tore it. Wah, drama, man. Super drama. And

then after that, Samuel poetically said, Samuel said to him,

the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you

today and has given it to a neighbor of yours

who is better than you. And of course, later we

know the neighbor is King David. Okay, we'll talk about

that later. Okay. No need to watch Chinese drama. Just

read Bible, a lot of drama. Okay. So then what was,

what was Saul, okay, so Samuel said, and also the

strength of Israel will not lie nor relent, for he

is not a man that he should relent. Okay, it

also says that although God has rejected you as king,

I will not remove my covering from the people. Right?

I will not remove. Their strength will not relent. Because

God is not that type of person. He promised, it,

promised it. So you might be a messed up person

in charge, but I will not. He might punish them,

but he will not remove. That's what he said. Then

let's read on. He said, then that's where Saul responds.

Saul said, I have sinned. Okay, admit again. And then

the true words of his heart come out. Yet, honour

me now, please. before the elders of my people and

before Israel and return with me that I may worship

the Lord, your God. Interesting. Okay, if you were sensitive

enough to read the scripture before that, every time Saul

referred to God, it was not my God. It was

your God. Your God. Your God. Your God. Your God.

Honor me. Come follow me. Come with me to the elders.

He knows he messed up already. He still, what is

he trying to salvage? It's quite obvious, right? Later, now

as you read the scripture, what is he trying to salvage?

He's trying to salvage his reputation. He's trying to salvage

his positioning. That's what was important to Saul. He was

not obeying God, no. The position was more important. I

tell you, one of the hardest things to hear this

is that if you're a church leader or you're a

leader of any kind And you know God put you there.

And then things happen how? Admit mistake or protect position.

Something to think about. So Samuel turned back after Saul

and Saul worshipped the Lord. So I don't know. You

can say, oh yeah, but he worshipped him anyway. Sure.

I don't know whether God will receive that worship. Because

I remember reading in the scripture that says, worship him

in spirit and truth. Means we need to be honest.

You know? Yeah. So Samuel turned back after Saul. Saul

worshipped God. Samuel said, Bring Agag, king of the Amalekites,

here to me. Agag came cautiously and Agag said, Surely

the bitterness of death is past. I can tell you

what this, to me, because I do theatre, this to

me looks like a comedy scene. You know? All they fight, fight, fight.

Then KK says, I'm sure you all will let me go, right? Right?

And then after that, what happened? Quite, quite, quite, quite

brutal lah. As your sword has made women and children childless,

so shall your mother be childless among women. And of course,

he hacked Agag in pieces. Samuel quite hardcore as a prophet, okay?

Now it feels like, right, he asked Saul to do,

Saul never do, now I have to clean your mess.

Sorry or not? Leaders, you all feel like that sometimes, right? Okay,

don't want to see me look at anybody. Tell me,

don't listen, do, now I have to clean up, ma.

And then you cannot say, I told you so or no. Okay.

Then Samuel went to Ramah and Saul went up to

his house or at Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel went

no more to see Saul until the day of his death.

Let me tell you the thing that's quite sad. Okay.

So Samuel didn't see him. Super Chinese drama. Never see

him until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned

for Saul and the Lord regretted that he had made

Saul king over Israel. First king already. So much drama.

First king, so much drama. Gave the people what they want.

They got what they want, but then this guy wasn't...

Let me ask you a question. If you were the people,

like just now when I was giving you that example,

if I was King Saul and I said, my people,

my people is the one that messed up, do you

all respect me as the leader after that? This is

the kind of leader that they want to follow, no?

First chance, throw people under the bus, no? You like

that kind of leadership? None of us would like that

kind of leadership. Wah, this guy who's charismatic, everything outside,

okay ah. The moment got trouble, throw everyone under the bus.

Blame them, the people. Do you know that the people

never knew that he blamed them? Because this was all

done in secret. Do you know that after this, so

some of you might think, okay lah, after this Saul

confirmed gone already, God will definitely clear right? No, no, no, no.

Saul became king for a long, long time somehow, no.

He was still king, it's just that he didn't He

didn't hear from Samuel. Later on, you will hear that

he was so desperate to hear from God that he

decided to do the unspeakable thing to consult a medium.

So he digged his hole deeper and deeper and deeper.

But the thing that was moving in his heart was what? Pride.

As we read here, it's very obvious. It was never

about the obedience. It was all about the pride. It

was all about my faith. Who would do that? First

thing to do is build monuments. Interesting. Right? And the

thing is, Samuel didn't even say why you build monument.

He said why you didn't obey God. So think about it.

If he did all that he did, if he obeyed

God and did all that, do you think God would

have an issue? I don't think God would have an issue.

I don't think God would have an issue with him

if he built his monument if he obeyed God to

the T. That's my observation. I also don't think that

God was so strict that He would say, no, must

follow A, B, C, D, E, F, G, because He

made a judgment call with the Kenites, but there was

no issue with that. But what was the issue? The

issue was, no, it didn't follow exactly what God told him.

The instructions that is within that didn't follow exactly. Let

me give you another awareness because like I mentioned just now,

if he's a CEO and he made the judgment call,

if he's the king and made judgment call, yeah, yeah, yeah,

because the fat of the lamb, good, we get the

spores of war. Let me give you this perspective about

understanding God. You're talking to a God that led the

people of Israel with a pillar of cloud and fire.

This tells you about our perspective. You were talking about

a God that when the people said they were hungry,

literally bread dropped from the sky. And when they were

sick of bread, literally after that, right, there were, you know,

the chicken, is it? Quails, oh my goodness. The quail

of the, the chicken of the desert. Quails, easy to catch,

you know. Right? That God provided. When they were thirsty,

gave them water. Sweet water, some more water. Everything they needed, give.

Do you think a bunch of fat cow and sheep

taken from people who don't know what they do with

the cow or sheep, do you think that was important

to God? No.

Not.

Let me ask you another question. Don't you think that

if the people later needed fat sheep and cow, God

could have easily provided for them? So was it about

the sports or what? It was never about the sports

or what. Friends, I am sharing this to you because

we have to have this kind of perspective. If he

knew God as God the Father, I don't think he

would think about much of this because it's not important.

Because he knows God can provide for them. But unfortunately,

he didn't. I don't know who else had a bright idea.

Maybe not him. Maybe someone else had a bright idea. Hey, King,

look at all these beautiful things. We should take back

for God, right? Got to be very careful, you know,

when we say we want to do things for God,

you know. Because are we doing things for God with

our own barometer or are we really obeying God? Very

important thing about that. Right? Because God is the owner

of a cattle of a thousand hills. When I read that,

I'm like, what was the issue? Sounds correct, ma? Sounds correct.

Macam yes tapi bukan. Okay, very Malaysian way of saying.

Sounds like yes but it's definitely not the case. Right?

Let me read on. Are you guys okay? Okay. Unfortunately,

Saul decided to trade God for what was good. Remember

I said this message speaking to me? I preached this

message like three times today. Really speaking to me. Not

just that Saul was so proud of his achievements that

he set up a monument for himself, he also justified

his actions. How many times do we justify our actions? Right? Disobedience.

And he said it was sacrificed to the Lord. The

thing is, God told Samuel to rebuke Saul for his actions.

He reminded Saul on his past and his calling. See,

I remind you of your past. Who are you? No one.

I put you here. Hey, don't forget. Now, a lot

of times, it kind of tells me also that a

lot of times, we can have a tendency to forget

where we came from. Now, I have to remind myself

constantly because the thing about being in a position of

authority is you got power to do things, you know.

And if you're not careful, right, you might do things

that doesn't honour the Lord or doesn't obey God just

because it's convenient. That's the thing that I'm reminded of myself.

Because it's true. When you're at a certain position in

life later on, I mean, some of you here, you're

still young, right? I was once sitting where you're sitting.

You know, not much disposable income, maybe no maturity to

navigate things, maybe not leading things. But do you know

that the older you get, the more power you have?

Do you know that the older you get, nobody can

fight you? You don't want to come to church, want

to come to church, want to do whatever you want.

You know nobody's going to argue with you. Do you

know that? Do you know that? But when you're young,

you just follow me. Okay, my leader say I do. Okay,

I just do this. But then once you have a

certain position in life, even in the workplace, do you

know that a lot of people cannot say a lot

of things? Because you can easily say, yep, it's okay.

I don't need this. It's true, you know. That's the reality.

Even myself, I can choose. I can choose to migrate

if I want to migrate. I can choose to go wherever,

do whatever if I want to do. I'm not bounded

by anything. That's the danger. That's the danger. Will we

forget where we came from? Will we forget what the

Lord has asked us to do? Because we have the

power now to make decisions that will benefit us. And

benefiting you is not a wrong thing. But what is

more beneficial? The God thing or the good thing? A

lot of times, people choose the good thing, unfortunately, because

the good thing is there. Because the God thing will

take longer. Because the God thing will cause us to, God, how?

Pray for patience, now I have to be patient. But

I don't want to deal with this. I've been dealing

with this for so many years already. Right? Samuel had

to point out it was pure disobedience. Unfortunately, Saul still

defended himself. You know, if you're thinking like, ah, you know,

but this is the first strike one only. Hey, God

gave Saul chances. No, Samuel gave Saul chances to the

point until have to push you to the edge only.

You admit. Before that, not my fault, not my fault,

not my fault.

Right?

Is God like that? Is God cruel? No, I don't

think he's cruel. He gave him enough chance. I think

if Saul, maybe from the first or second, came clean fully,

because as you can read, he didn't, even until the end,

he didn't come clean fully. He was more concerned about

his reputation. Means he didn't learn his lesson. Very obvious.

So drama, tear rope, also never learn lesson. Right? Say

the right words. Say all the right words. Ah, I've sinned. Ah,

and did all the right things. Worship God. did all

the right things, say all the right things, but the

heart never changed. Right? And of course, like I said,

as a leader, he threw his people under the bus. Wah,

that to me is like, man, this kind of leader. So,

can I give you a word of caution? Just because

the person in authority is charismatic, just because they are likeable,

doesn't mean they have character. Can I give you an encouragement?

I mean, ask just for 21 years already. I'm very

thankful that our leaders have character. That we will not

do things that will go against our values and we

will not bend unnecessarily just because someone is not happy.

That's why I really respect the leaders in our church.

Not just our pastors and leaders but also the leaders,

the younger leaders that have paid the price and obeyed

God to do the tough things in life. Not just

because it's convenient but because God told them to. Don't

you want to follow these kind of leaders? Or you

prefer leaders that will go with the convenience? Or follow

the trend? What would you prefer? You prefer people follow trend?

A lot of people following trend now. It is not

in trend to wear what I'm wearing right now for Sunday.

I don't know whether I'm touching some very sensitive things,

you know. Right? He still didn't admit his wrongdoing. He

still justified. The worst thing is he blamed the people.

And then, of course, the famous verse, obedience is better

than sacrifice. I used to not understand this verse. What

do you mean by obedience? But we sacrifice also what? Okay,

can I give you another thought? Well, obeying God is

also sacrifice. It is. Worship also is sacrifice, guys. You

cannot run away from sacrifice, right? But better sacrifice obeying

God rather than sacrifice with God not in the picture. Seriously.

Because there are people I know might have sacrificed more.

God asks you to do God didn't ask you to

do everything. Just ask you to do this part, but

you did everything. You get me or not? So we

got to have wisdom. Right? So am I saying no sacrifice?

No.

Obedience does require sacrifice. Right? But better to obey than

to just sacrifice. Okay? So he didn't take full responsibility

of actions. That's sad. And it was clear that position

status was with him. Okay, so... Let's go to the

next thing. So what can we learn from this scripture?

I just put down some points. You can write it

down if you want to. Obedience is, of course, better

than sacrifice. When God gives clear instructions, we should follow

it and obey it without misinterpretation. Okay? Something for us

to take note of. That's why I said just now,

although siawi say, if you like kids, but I don't

like kids, but then somehow I feel the energy to

do ex-kids, then you better obey God and do it.

Because it's not about whether you like or you don't like. Oh,

I don't like. So, sorry, there are a lot of

things in my life that I don't like, that I'm doing,

that I'm, thank God I do it right now. Okay? Really,

there are a lot of things I don't like. Okay?

I know I'm sort of a gym nut now. Okay?

I like it, but I also don't like it. Love-hate relationship. Okay?

But we spur each other on. Number two, the Kenites

were sped for what they did. You know, I mentioned

that just now already. They were sped. So it was

not about, oh, must follow exactly. No, no, no. There

is room for, well, I guess there is empowerment to

also be wise to make decisions. As long as it

doesn't go against what God said, right? God gave Saul

chances to admit his wrongdoing, but unfortunately, he did not.

And then, of course, now we know he's not a

good leader, sad, right? But do you know that we

can still come back to God if we make a

mistake and He gives us chances to change? Do you

know that? Let me tell you another story. 2 Samuel 11.

I'm not going to read it, but I'm just going

to give you a bridge version. Are you guys okay

with that? So 2 Samuel 11 is the account of

how King David... No kids, so I can use strong words.

You're all adults here, right? King David, he watched porn

because he was on the roof. Like how we roof

and then he looked down and then he saw someone bathing.

Not just that, he committed adultery, you know. Wah, this guy,

nonsense guy. Not just that, he tried to cover it up. Right,

he tried to cover it up. He got the girl pregnant.

Chinese drama, Chinese drama. You never hear it explained this

way before. Go and read 2 Samuel 11. Verify what

I'm telling you, okay? He got the girl pregnant. Pregnant already?

Oh no, how? Then, the girl is married, husband is

in war. He's like lounging at home, right? And then

got pregnant, they want to cover up. How cover up? Now,

want to cover up a lot of nonsense thing he

can do, but last time, you can't do much. So

he called the husband back so that he can lie

with the wife to cover up. That's what he asked

him to do. But I tell you, the people serving

under King David are people of quality. Because the guy

named Uriah came in and said, cannot. My brothers are

out there fighting. I need to be there. And I

don't know whether you know this, but I think there's

a very practical practice where, I've heard this somewhere before,

where before a big game, like those professional footballers, do

you know that they have time with the wife, but

they cannot consume it before a big game? Do you

know that there's such a thing? And I know some

places probably they have this practice. Why? So they need

to be in their peak performance. So a lot of times,

men of war, they abstain one. So that they can

do well in war. They abstain. It's like work time.

So he didn't. He didn't lie with the wife. Instead,

he slept outside the door. Better not be tempted. Just

sleep outside the door. And then, King Nibet Aya asked

you to come and cover up my problem. Cannot. Then

what did he do? He go and kill the guy.

He didn't kill. He very smart. He tell his commander,

this guy Uriah, put him in the front of the battlefield.

Confirm die one. Die lor. Die already? Then the wife

become widow? Oh, poor thing, poor thing. Let me marry

you now. Okay, let me ask you a question. In

terms of severity, Saul more worse or David more worse?

I think David more worse. You like King David? I

don't like King David. With this story, like this guy

is a nonsense. And then what happened? Look at the

difference of reaction. Because in the scriptures, God still say, David,

is a man after my heart. Why? See, we are

not saying that King David was justified while he did. No, no, no.

He had to suffer the consequences later. Okay? 2 Samuel 12, 13,

14 is what happened. So Nathan, okay, Nathan, Nathan Chang

from XPJ, no, no, no. He was Prophet Samuel's, you know, disciple, right?

Every king time got a man of God that listened

to God, okay? Um, And then, of course, he went

to King David, after all these things had happened, went

to King David and told him a story. Didn't even direct,

you know. Tell him a story about a rich man, right?

And a poor man. And then the rich man got

many sheep. And the poor man got one sheep. And

the poor man loved the sheep. And then the rich

man had a guest come to the house. And then

the rich man wanted to sacrifice the sheep. And then

the rich man decided to take the poor man's sheep

to sacrifice to let the rich man eat, you know,

the sheep. Although he had many sheep. And then after that,

the rich man poor. And then Nathan went and asked,

King David, so who is the bad person? Wow, without stopping,

King David said, of course the rich man. How can

you do such a thing? Nonsense. And then they say,

you are the rich man. And King David admitted his

sin immediately. Immediately he admitted. Immediately he repented. And the

consequences of sin was told by Nathan. Because Nathan later,

later if you read on, the baby had to die. Right?

The baby had to die. Now, of course, I'm sure

David loved the baby. Loved. And to be honest, King

David got a lot of wives, friends. You go and read.

He got a lot of wives. Okay. So I realised that, oh,

the sheep was not a metaphor. It was a, you know,

a symbolism of how many wives he had. Anyway. But, yeah.

But even with this happening, you can say that his

relationship and trust with God was strong. Because you look

at what happened after. When he found out that God said,

the consequence of your sin is, this baby have to die. Right?

Let me go to the scripture. Give you a bit

of perspective. Are you guys okay? Okay ah? I hope

I'm telling the story good enough. So, what did he

do immediately? He immediately went and fast and prayed for

a week. Because the baby was sick. He immediately fast

and prayed for a week to try to see if

God can change his mind. Right? Because he feels bad.

You mean a baby has to die because of my sin?

How many of you will feel awesome with that? I'll

feel horrible. I'll remember it for life. Because of what

I did, an innocent baby needs to die. So he tried.

He fasted. And people didn't really understand what he did.

They didn't get it. Of course, he's a king. He

got many subjects, many people there. And he didn't want

to eat. He just prayed. He just stayed. And then,

of course, on the seventh day, the baby died. And

his subjects were so worried, like, oh no, how can

I tell him? He's really a madman, not seeing. If

you tell him that the baby died, he will go crazy.

He will kill himself. He will do all kinds of

funny things. So they thought. Then he overheard and said,

is the baby dead? Yes. He stood up. He went

and washed himself, cleaned up, and he asked for food

and he ate. How can he be so heartless as

a man? No. He understood and accepted the punishment that

God gave him and he has to live with it.

You look at his relationship with God and you compare

your God, your God versus this guy who understand God's heart.

And it doesn't matter what everyone else say, you know.

It didn't matter. And of course, King David, of course,

he did a lot of things. I mean, you will think, oh,

God is unfair. You know, King David did so much

but he didn't get punished. No, he did. He had

a very messed up family life after that. Because he,

you know, unfortunately didn't do good things when it comes

to it. But he was still a king that, he

couldn't build God's temple, but it was built through his son.

From the same marriage with Bathsheba, Solomon. Not just that,

do you know that Jesus was credited to be King

David's genealogy? Meaning, think about it now. Although he's so

messed up and all, right? But because he was a

man after God's own heart, right? God still honoured him.

God still allowed him to have a legacy, you know, friends.

Although this guy is like, I would argue, worse than Solomon.

At least in the misbehavior section.

Right?

Worse than Solomon. Let's read 2 Samuel 12, 20. Right? Oh, no, sorry.

Let's read 13, 14 first. So it says, So David

said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And

Nathan said to David, The Lord also has put away

your sin. You shall not die. However, because by this deed,

you have given great occasion to the enemies of the

Lord to blaspheme, the child also is born of you

shall surely die. Then Nathan departed out of his house. See,

the child passing away also was strategic. Think about it.

If the child was born out of it, and then

he was allowed to leave, you get the part where

it says that you allowed the enemies of God to blaspheme? Okay,

let me give you another perspective. Maybe because I'm a leader,

I get this, okay? We are Christians, believers, ambassadors of Christ. Correct?

Your life will give people good things to say or

bad things to say about Jesus. Not about you, you know.

About Jesus. When I read this, I was like, wow,

so heavy suddenly. The pressure of like, oh no, to perform,

you know, in a way. But the cool thing about

our God, and I'm going to read 20. David rose

from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes.

He went into the house of the Lord and worshipped.

Then he went to his own house, and when he requested,

they set food before him, and he ate. Let's read on.

Then his servants said to him, What is that that

you have done? You fasted and wept for the child

while he was alive, but when the child died, you

rose and ate food. So see, they don't get it.

Do you know that a lot of people in your

life will not understand the things you do? They will

call you dumb, they will call you foolish, they will

call you nonsense, because they don't understand your relationship with God.

They don't understand the things that you are doing.

Right?

Everybody is, you know, not helping. Why are you helping?

Everybody is so stressed out. Why are you smiling? They

will not get it. And then David said, while the

child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said,

who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to

me that the child may live? He still, see, he

knows God's heart now. But now he is dead, why

should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I

shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

He understood. This was a man after God's own heart. Okay. See,

when we read the Bible, we go back to the

Bible study mode. When we read the Bible, see, this

thing all happened already. What does this teach us for today?

What's the relevance of reading about Saul and David today?

It's so that we can apply... and, you know, apply

and learn from their mistakes and their lessons, and we

also can see the graciousness of God. Because when I

read this, friends, although I tell a lot of drama,

you know, humans, sometimes we will see cause and effect.

We'll see, oh, like that now, means it will be a,

you know, oh, I can misbehave like that because David's

so bad, I can be that, and then God... See,

if you think that way, it means you're thinking a

wrong thing. You're thinking like Saul.

Right?

The pureness of David's relationship with God tells me that, friends,

even if you messed up, even if you said something

wrong yesterday, even if for 10 times you said, oh,

I'm not going to do it, but you did it anyway,

even if you know you did something so horrible, you

are still God's child. Must you deal with the consequences? Yes.

I don't know anybody teach this or not. No, there

will still be consequences, friends. Do you know? Do you

know whether you do good or bad, there will still

be consequences? Yes. It will still be, let's not be ignorant.

Sometimes I think we're ignorant. Oh, God will save me,

everything is clean. Yeah, it is clean, but you still

have to deal with the consequences of your actions. Because

God is just. Cannot run away one, friends. But He

will give you the strength to go through it. Y'all

catch that or not? Y'all catch that or not? If

you're a parent, you'll understand. God, I'm a parent, I understand.

I would love to shield my kids over from everything,

but I can't. Some lessons they just need to learn

because if I shield them from anything, it's not real

and they will suffer more because they think that get

out of jail free, then it will get worse. Do

you know that God is not cruel to you? So

there's grace, friends. This is what we mean by grace.

That no matter how bad things are, like the prodigal son,

no matter how you ask the father, you know, literally

when he say, I want half my inheritance, it's almost

like asking the dad to go and die, you know.

The dad still receives him in open arms. My encouragement

for you is this. No matter how far you go,

no matter how messed up you are, you can come

back to God. It's not about getting everything right. He

still loves you. He still cares for you. That's very

important to know. Yeah, you might say something wrong. Learn

from it. Grow from it. Move forward. No matter how

bad things are, don't run away from God. He'll always

be there. Yes, we mess up. King David messed up.

But God still honoured him. I've messed up so much

in my life. I try my best not to. I

still do. but I know I can go to God. Amen?

And I know we can grow. Look at your neighbor

and say, don't be like Saul. Look at your other

neighbor and say, I want to be more like David,

I think. At least in the part we've got lah.

Not the other things. And of course, the other wonderful

thing about David, he has King Solomon as his son

after that, right? But of course, I think in the

David family, right, they really never learned this thing about

being womanizers lah. Because King Solomon had a lot of

wives after that, you know. And although he started well,

his ending can be better. Okay, can be better. Yeah.

Maybe extreme can come up already. So a few questions

for us to ponder as we think about the scripture.

Right?

First question I will ask is, what is important to

us today? There are a lot of things you can

draw from this scripture. Is following other people important? Is,

you know, following what is up there important? Right? Is

our obedience and our relationship with God important? Or do

we sacrifice and we push forward our desires and ambitions?

Which do you think will bring yourself greater joy or

fulfillment in life? Think about it. Remember I mentioned this

scripture is something that God spoke to me? Well, because, yeah,

I'm at a place in my life where I can decide.

I have a place in my life where I don't

have to follow people already. You know? In a way,

still follow Jesus, but you give me a nod. I'm

a place in my life where I have a certain

amount of authority, a certain amount of capability. But the

question is, am I going to, very funnily, in a

weird way, go rogue? rogue is not a nice word

to use maybe you use the word as chase after

my dreams now that I can or pursue what I

want or am I still obedient to God and the

call that he has for me that's a question that

I have to ask myself it's not really midlife crisis

I think in a way Midlife crisis with God maybe?

I don't know. Because I have to ask myself the question, hey,

which will actually bring me greater joy or fulfillment? Is

it chasing after new things or do I already have

all that I want? A good family, my kids, you know,

something you have to reflect, you know. Or do I

still work hard and pursue stuff and, you know, buy

a bigger house and, you know, you got to ask

yourself that question, right? But more importantly, which things will

bring God glory and which will help me Fulfill my destiny.

Is a life full of things more worth it? Or

is a life full of purpose more worth it? These

are questions I have to ask myself. Because human beings,

we pursue a lot of things. We pursue, when we

are young, we pursue finances. We pursue capability. We pursue

all these things that will help us. Right? What are

you pursuing in life, friends? What do you want? Something

to think about. Amen? Amen. But can I give you, well,

the encouragement? Don't think about it yourself. God in the picture.

Because as our Father in heaven, He will help us.

And of course, in the multitude of believers and the

multitude of witnesses, we encourage each other, we spur each

other on. That's why being in a church is quite awesome,

you know. It's really awesome because you have different people

who may be going through the same journey as you.

Some may have already gone through that journey. They can

learn from them. So I really, really appreciate the advice

from my elders and my leaders. When I'm going through

some things, right? There's this temptation to like, maybe I

shouldn't tell. There's always a temptation. I don't need ma.

I'm not doing anything bad and wrong, right? But I've

also learned this. If you're not careful, right? You can

actually derail yourself from where God wants you to be fully.

Because of your ambitions. And sometimes getting that alignment again helps.

Sometimes just asking for advice helps. And then you remind,

oh yeah, actually, why am I feeling this way? Why

am I thinking this way? That's why discipleship is good. Amen.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

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God bless.