Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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Well, if you're able, please
remain standing and give your attention to God's
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Word in First Chronicles, chapter ten. First Chronicles tends is God's word.
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Please give your attention to it now. The philistines fought against Israel and the
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men of Israel fled before the Philistines
and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. And
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the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and
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Aminadab and Malchishua, the sons of
Saul. The battle pressed hard against Saul
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and the archers found him and he
was wounded by the archers. Then Saul
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said to his armor bearer, draw
your sword and thrust me through with it,
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lest these uncircumcised come and mistreat me. But his armor bearer would would
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not, for he feared greatly.
Therefore, Saul took his own sword and
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fell upon it. When the armor
bearer saw that Saul was dead, he
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also fell upon his sword and died. Thus Saul died, he and his
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three sons and all his house died
together. And when all the men of
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Israel who were in the valley saw
that the army had fled and that Saul
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and his sons were dead, they
abandoned their cities and fled and the Philistines
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came and lived in them. The
next day, when the Philistines came to
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strip the slain, they found saul
and his sons fallen on Mount Gibola Gilboa,
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and they stripped him and took his
head and his armor and sent messengers
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throughout the land of the Philistines to
carry the good news to their idols and
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to the people, and they put
his armor in the temple of their gods
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and fastened his head and the Temple
of Dagon. But when all Jabesh Gilead
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heard all that the Philistines had done
to Saul, all the valiant men arose
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and took away the body of Saul
and the bodies of his sons and brought
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them to Jabesh and they buried their
bones under the oak and Jabesh and fasted
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seven days. So Saul died for
his breach of faith. He broke faith
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with Jehovah and that he did not
keep the command of Jehovah and also consulted
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a medium seeking guidance. He did
not seek guidance from Jehovah. Therefore Jehovah
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put him to death and turned the
kingdom over to David, the son of
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Jesse. May God bless the reading
of his word. Please be seated.
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What we have here is very dramatic
and also grisly story, a story about
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a troubled king who ultimately takes his
own life, plunging his sword into himself
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to avoid capture, torture, mistreatment
humiliation. We see the death of the
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King of Israel and the victory of
the Philistines not only oversaw but over this
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whole region as they go and they
inhabit the cities that God's people were supposed
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to belong to and live in.
It's a story that reminds us of many
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things. It's a story that reminds
us of the slippery slope of sin.
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It's a story that confirms God's sovereignty
and Justice. It's also a story that's
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sets sets the stage for a new
chapter about a new king, a king
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who will not commit suicide to avoid
humiliation, but who, paradoxically, will
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give his life and be granted exaltation. The story of Saul's death ends in
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chapter ten with an explanation of why
he died. This is an explanation that's
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given as a reminder, and among
those who were first hearing this would have
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been known even from the very beginning, this story, of course, being
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old news. How soil died and
why Saul died. You remember that the
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people that are receiving this book from
the Chronicler are those who have gone into
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exile after a long history of many
kings, some faithful, another's unfaithful.
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It ends with this explanation about why
all these things in chapter ten happen as
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they do, and that explanation focuses
not on the particular events that lead to
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his death, namely he died because
the archers found him, as the text
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says, but it says he died
because God put him to death. So
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Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with Jehovah. The
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Bible gives some specifics of that and
then says therefore Jehovah put him to death
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and turned the kingdom over to David
the son of Jesse immediately. This reminds
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us of the sovereignty of God,
doesn't it? There are archers there who
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are really doing their shooting. Lost
the word all of a sudden archery,
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if they were fighting and they they
buy their wills and buy their strength put,
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I'm Saul, to death. Saul, by his own strength, unable
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to command his armor bearer to put
him to death, a committed suicide himself.
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And yet all over all of this
we see that God was in control
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of these events, ultimately in charge. How God is sovereign over these secondary
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causes? The exact mechanics of how
the world works, I can't tell you,
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and I don't think the Bible says
but it's true. Nevertheless, as
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much as Saul is responsible for murdering
himself, the Bible also points to God
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as the reason why Saul died.
It was the Lord who put him to
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death and with that, transferred the
kingdom to another. This point is very
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important and it's not just a side
note, because it's, in many ways,
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the very point Saul failed to grasp
during his kingship, namely the sovereignty
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of God. Throughout his entire Kingship, Saul failed to grant the this point,
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to accept it, to trust it
and to rule under it. And
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so we'll think about that. Well, think that Saul died not just because
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of some mistakes on the battlefield,
not because he was just afraid at the
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last moment. He died because God
him put him to death, and God
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put him to death because, ultimately, he did not trust and obey God,
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but turned away from him. He
broke faith, he was unfaithful.
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To understand that you it's important to
get a little bit of backstory, and
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I'll explain that now. To understand
Sault sins how we get to this final
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dramatic scene of his life, you
have to understand where things started. And,
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as you'll remember from the old adage, things that don't start well often
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don't end well. That proves to
be true here. In First Samuel Ate,
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we read that God's people, Israel, had made up their minds about
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something. They wanted a king and
they wanted one bad. Samuel, the
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Prophet and judge of that time,
warns them against this. He says this
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is going to cause you trouble,
this will be problematic, and they say
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no, I'll quote, but there
shall be a king over us, Samuel,
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that we also may be like all
the nations, and that our king
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may judge us and go out before
us and fight our battles. They wanted
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a king, they wanted a king
to rule over them, to judge them,
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to go out and fight their battles. They wanted to be like the
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nations. Now, what's so odd
about this is that from the very beginning
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of Israel, beginning of Israel's a
nation, they were a people set apart
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by God himself as their king,
not to be like other nations. They
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were distinct. They were unique and
remarkable in who they were, this nation
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that had laws that had come directly
from God, a nation whose King was
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God himself. They were not like
other nations, and it's such an odd
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and indeed sinful thing that they would
desire to have it some other way.
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God himself, since the days of
Egypt, had fought for them, and
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in amazing ways. What country consider
this? What country wouldn't want the god
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of all creation to fight for them
as their warrior King? Isn't this what
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nations are always claiming? God is
on our side, and yet Israel is
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distancing themselves from the God who has
promised to be on their side? What
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country, what nation of people,
wouldn't want the god of all creation to
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fight for them as their warrior king, a God who could turn water into
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blood, who overnight can put to
death the first born of all the sons
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of their enemies, a God who
could route enemies with earth earthquakes and celestial
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surprises, who could dis put plagues
on people, sudden death and all the
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rest. The Stupidity of Sin in
our hearts should never cease to amaze us.
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To have this God promise to be
your warrior King and say, but
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we want a king like the other
nations, is insane. God points this
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out himself when he says to them, and first Samuel Ate, they have
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rejected me from being king over them. Well, soon after this that Saul
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was appointed king. As King,
Saul was given a specific task to rule
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the people of God as a servant
of God and, in particular, to
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rule according to God's law and to
act in faith, in according to God's
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strength and power. This, in
particular, meant saving his people from their
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enemies. Saul was to be this
warrior king, much like they were asking
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for, much like God had always
been. God grants them the king,
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but demands that this king act under
his name and by his authority. Like
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Joshua before him, this king was
to lead the people in victory over the
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enemies in the land of Canaan,
the Philistines, for example, but throughout
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Saul's Kingship, he continually failed to
do the job. He continually broke faith
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with God. He was unfaithful to
God in this particular commission of war,
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serving as a warrior, king of
rule, of a routing out their enemies.
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If you go back and you read
the accounts, and for Samuel for
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example, you'll see that saul definitely
did some good. But if you tally
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it all up, by the time
we get to the end of his life,
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and particularly this last battle where the
Philistines take over a fair section of
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the land, one commentator points out
that Saul had lost Lord more land of
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the Philistines than he had gained for
them, making a mockery of all the
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original hopes for the monarchy. You
see what he means. They're Israel hads
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had this great thing in mind.
If we could just have a king who
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would rule over US and judge us
and go out like the nations, then
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we'll be powerful, will be strong, will be protected. And just the
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opposite happened. At the end of
the day, saw lost more ground than
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he had gained. And here is
their great and mighty king who, at
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the beginning of his kingship, stood
head, taller than everyone in the land,
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for Samuel tells us, was beautiful
and handsome among all of Israel.
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This great, glorious, handsome man
is here on the battlefield, plunging a
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sword into his belly. There's so
many ways, both big and small,
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that Saul broke faith with God.
Throughout his kingship, we see saul constantly
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afraid of his enemies, refusing to
fight with the confidence of God in his
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heart, refusing to seek God in
times of trouble. Let me give you
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a few examples. I'm some wellknown
examples, hopefully you'll remember. One example
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is the wellknown story of David and
Goliath. The very fact that we don't
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call it the story of Saul and
Goliath should tell you something. Saul refused
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to lead his ARN, any armies, against this enemy. He refused to
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face the giant himself, and ultimately
God would use David to do the work
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instead, foreshadowing, of course,
the things to come that we see here
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in first chronicles ten. Or take
the store of Jonathan and his armor bearer,
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perhaps a little less wellknown. Or
Saul and his men are hiding.
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They're hiding in caves, afraid of
the Philistines and Jonathan says to his armor
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bear, enough of this. Our
job is to fight these people, our
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job is to route them out,
and he decides to do that. He
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takes his armor bearer and they climb
up these rocky crags, these rocky cliffs,
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straight up. This isn't a surprise
attack. The PHILISTINES are on top,
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jeering at them the whole time.
Come on up, you dog,
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see what you can do. There's
Jonathan and his armor bear crawling up the
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hill, these rocky crags, I
believe they're called. They get to the
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top and you know what happens?
These two men, who I think have
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one sword between them, slay all
of them. There's a big earthquake and
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they all die and a lot of
people go running scared. This is the
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way that God fights battles in Israel, and this is the way Saul refuses
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to fight. David, shepherd boy
and his kingdom has to do it.
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Jonathan, his son, and his
armor bearer have to do it, while
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Saul and his priests and his socalled
mighty men are hiding. This happens over
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and over again. One of the
worst instances, instances of Saul's unfaithfulness is
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the example of the one mentioned.
He Year we're Saul, instead of repenting
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and waiting on the Lord, goes
to a witch instead a medium. The
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Stories in First Samuel Twenty eight,
the basic outline goes like this. Once
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again, the Philistines had come against
come up against him. They were encamping
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against him. Once again, Saul
is afraid. His reaction is one of
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faithlessness in God. We read he
was afraid in his heart trembled greatly.
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It's a good point to just pause
here and remember that being afraid is sometimes
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a sin. I'll Saul was afraid
and he does inquire of God, of
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what to do. But God is
silent, and he silent for a very
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particular reason, because Saul had failed
to do what he had been commanded before
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to do with the amalekites. God
is silent in judgment. He's silent because
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he is turned away from Saul,
because of his sins. Well, let
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me put a question to you.
When God has commanded you to do something
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and you haven't done it, and
then you are facing a task where you
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have to do something again and he
is silent, what do you do?
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What is the proper reaction? What
should Saul have done on the Lord didn't
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speak to him. I think the
proper action was enduring the judgment of God
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and repenting of his sins. We
see many times in scripture where God relents
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of the judgment that he is bringing
or is about to bring because people turn
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in repentance to him. One example
of this is the king and Nineveh.
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The Jonah goes to and warns and
the King and all the city repent and
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God holds back judgment. Saul doesn't
do that, however. He doesn't repent,
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he doesn't sit contently under the discipline
of God or take his discipline,
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well we might put it. Instead, salt chooses to go consult a which,
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instead of obedience, Salt Chooses Mor
sin instead of obeying God's directions.
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Saw The sides. A Better option
is to disobey God's directions by consulting this
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medium in end or someone who could
call people from the dead. Now,
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this was no accident. It wasn't
as though Saul wasn't aware of this.
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In fact, earlier in that chapter
we read that Saul had banished all the
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mediums because they were bad and they're
not supposed to be in Israel. He
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had banished them out of Israel.
But now, knowing his sin, he
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chooses to disguise himself and trick the
woman about his identity and break the law
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of God. You see why the
chronicler points out sauls transgressions by saying he
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broke faith with God. Point after
point in Saul's Kingship, Saul chooses to
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trust or be afraid of man instead
of trusting and fearing God, to trust
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in evil spirituality rather than in the
Holy Spirit. Over and over and over
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again, Saul broke faith. But
just as much as first chronicles tells us
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about the faithlessness of Saul, it
also tells us about the faithfulness of God.
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Unlike so many political leaders and kings
and judges people in Charge, God
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does not wink at sin. God
is just. He May forbear sin for
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a time because of his mercy and
his kindness, he may forgive sin because
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of his grace, but he never
ignores sin, he never winks at it,
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he never sort of sweeps it under
the what rug and he certainly never
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condones it, agrees to it,
participates in it or praises it. Saul
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had a job to do, which
he failed, but God had a job
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as well to be the great and
holy King and judge that he is.
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It's not a job that was assigned
to him, but a one that belongs
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to him eternally because of who he
is. In addition to this, God
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has had assigned himself the particular task
of caring for his people. Saul had
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failed to do that, and if
God was to be faithful to his people,
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he needed to remove Saul. To
allow a faithful, a faithless ruler
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to continue ruling over them would be
to destroy his people, and so God
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eventually removes the king that perhaps they
even deserved. Well, let's pause for
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a moment right here and reflect on
this powerful activity of God. This story
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gives us an opportunity to see things
not from the sinful, scared human perspective
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that we often see them, but
from the sovereign and powerful perspective that God
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sees and knows things. To Saul, the Philistines were an unstoppable force,
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going back to the example of Jonathan
and the armor bearer and hit a Jonathan
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and his armor bearer. The text
says there, I believe it's in First
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Samuel Fourteen, and text says that
they were scared because they didn't have any
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sorts because the Philistines had this monopoly
on sword. I believe it's sharpening.
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Forgive me if I'm not remembering that
right, but there's this kind of economic
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and supply problem and even in terms
of weapons, you might be afraid to
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if you were Saul. There are
in some ways legitimate reasons in which Paul
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look, or Saul looks at his
situation and says this isn't good, I
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should be afraid. But again he's
seeing things in a human centered way.
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To Saul the Philistines seemed like an
unstoppable force, but to God, what
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are they? Ants on the grounds
and on the shore. Nothing. God
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Can do is he pleases, and
he does it here with Saul. He
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does it throughout the entire kingship of
Saul. He's does it in all times
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and in all places. To Saul, his kingship was all that he had
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and it was his point to put
all of his pride and power in it.
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To God, Saul's Kingship was an
office in which Saul was to exercise
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as a servant, no matter what
the outcome was, no matter what happened
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with the Philistines or his people.
Saul was to do his job, and
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faithfulness to the Lord. Saul,
who is constantly worried about the honor and
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protection of him and his house,
ultimately lost both. This is a lesson
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we must learn. Whenever we forget
God and turn to other sources of strength,
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other hopes, other fears, other
plans, we step onto a treacherous
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path, a trap, a path
that is a trap, a path that
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walks away from the Lord, from
his power, from his strength, and
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walks in our own ways. Even
great servants of God, much better than
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Saul, found their deaths as well
for doing the same things. If you
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are wise, you will hear this. You will beware and remember that Strang
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from the Lord brings nothing but disaster. But there is another lesson to be
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learned here as well. God is
King Not only to execute justice but,
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as I hinted at earlier, to
also bring about salvation. Those who fight
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against God will die by his hand, but those who trust God find salvation
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in him instead, and here,
in this chapter, you see this,
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mostly in the way that the story
doesn't end. Saul is put to death
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so that another king can take his
place, a King Saul was unwilling to
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give his kingship over to but whom
the Lord had chosen, in His grace
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and in his wisdom, to rule
over his people. God wanted his people
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to have victory over others through a
king, but not like the other nations.
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The Nation's apart from God, rely
on human things, weapons, chariots,
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manpower, self confidence. God wanted
victory for his people, but not
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through these means. God wanted peep
the victory through his people, through a
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king who relied on God and on
God alone, a king who would trust
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God and turn to him, whether
he had a man, a band of
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mighty men with him or a sack
full of stones. And that's who David
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was, and that's why David was
victorious. Not because David was extra clever,
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extra willing or extra courageous, but
because David trusted in the Lord.
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Solomon was like this too, and
under them, as we will see in
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the coming chapters, God made Israel
to flourish. The PHILISTINES, though they
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would face, Israel, would continue
to face them, and other enemies as
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well, wouldn't pose the nearly the
problem that they did under Saul, and
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it was because of the weight means
would of which these men exercised their kingship.
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They were kings who, though not
perfect by any means, trusted in
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the Lord, their God, to
be the king, not like the other
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nations, and to do his work
according to his will. And because of
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this, God promised to establish them
and this kind of kingdom, and he
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did. But God promised something even
more than that, and even greater than
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that. He promised them that he
would establish a kingdom, holy kingdom,
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a righteous kingdom, a kingdom that
was free of enemies and without fear,
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a kingdom that was established on God's
own strength, a kingdom that would last
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forever, a kingdom that wouldn't depend
on the monarchy going up and down,
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up and down, as men were
faithful and faithless and faithful and faithless,
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but a kingdom that would last forever, established on the righteousness of a perfect
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king. And this God has done
in David's greater son, namely Jesus.
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You remember that at the beginning of
Jesus's ministry, he says the Kingdom of
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God is at hand. He means
nothing less than this kingdom that had been
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promised to David, a great and
mighty people that had been promised to Abraham,
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Jesus isn't explicitly mentioned in first chronicles
ten, but he is the one
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who belongs to the House of David
and who would one day do all that
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God had atten had intended for his
people, including defeating their enemies. You
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see, Jesus is power in stark
contrast to Saul's all throughout his ministry.
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When Jesus faces demonic powers, does
he go and consult them? Does he
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seek them out for their wisdom?
No, he goes to them and casts
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them out of people putting a flag
in the ground, naming victory for God
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the king. When Jesus faces enemies
and people that would seek to harm the
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people of God, what does he
do? Does he cow or is he
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afraid? Know? He condemns them, he calls them from what they are,
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even those who would call themselves leaders
in Israel, the people pill that
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we're supposed to be leading Israel,
Israel's elders and priests and scribes, Jesus
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condemns them for their faithlessness. Jesus
is not afraid. In fact, Jesus
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is so not afraid and so trusting
in God that he willingly goes to the
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cross. Jesus doesn't commit suicide,
but he gives himself over to murderers,
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to the enemies of God, knowing
and trusting in the power of God that
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he will ultimately not be humiliated and
defeated, but that he will be victorious.
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That's the great strength of Jesus,
that's the great king that we trust
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in when we put our faith in
him and in his victory. Jesus goes
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to the cross not wanting to protect
himself, but in order to gain victory
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over all of his and our enemies, and that includes not just political groups
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of people that might rise up and
try to harm him or his saints,
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but that includes the devil himself,
demons, Sin, the power of the
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law, guilt, shame. When
we put our trust in Jesus, then
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we are putting our trust in the
one who saul in many ways points to,
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but as a bad contrast, we
point to the one in whom God
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transfer the kingship to, away from
Saul, away from the sinful desires of
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his people, to one king that
would truly save them. Saul Clung to
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victory in order to avoid humiliation,
and he found death and desecration as a
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result. Jesus, however, freely
gives himself over to the evils of men
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and humiliation and was glorified as a
result. And so we have in Jesus
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a good king, a greater king, and we also have in him all
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the confirmation of the promises of God
that he will rule over his people and
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will save them from their enemies.
So let us put our trust in him.
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When we, in our own lives, face various decisions about what to
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do, about how to act,
about how to live, let's steer clear
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of the example of Saul and instead
put our faith in God, fearing him,
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trusting him, knowing what he has
already done for us. Even in
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Jesus Christ, let us pray and
ask that God would grant these things to
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us.
