November 19, 2006

• Spiritual Warfare part 2 by Pastor Don

  We left off beginning to look at Saul’s life.

  Remember, when the Israelites begged God for a king, God warned them what having a king would entail for their lives, but they still wanted to have a king like all the surrounding nations had kings. Of course, God had given them a good system of government, but they wanted to be like the others. Saul was the best choice God had at the time for king for his people.

  1 Samuel 10:6-7 Then the Spirit of the LORD will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. And let it be, when these signs come to you, that you do as the occasion demands; for God is with you.

  Before Jesus Christ died and sent His Holy Spirit for all, the Holy Spirit did not reside in a person, it came to rest upon a person for a period of time and empowered the person situation by situation. When the Holy Spirit came upon Saul, he was a changed man. With the power of the Holy Spirit we are not who we are before we are changed by the Spirit.

  Pastor Don mentioned about marriage. How people tended to love the person, then they wed the person, and seek to change them. That for a marriage to succeed the person has to keep in mind the things that they loved about the person before the wedding and remind the person of their love for them, that it hasn’t changed since when they courted. If all they do is focus on changing the person, the love will feel very conditional.

  God is different, He loves us as we are (He knows our past, present, and future), and when He sends change into our lives, He does not love us any less if we don’t change, or any more if we do change – but He wants the best for us, so He will keep challenging us to change for our own good.

  1 Samuel 10:10 When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied among them. And it happened, when all who knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets, that the people said one to another, “What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

  The difference in Saul when God’s Spirit was on Him is very noticeable. Once God’s Spirit came on Saul, he was turned into a king and a prophet.

  1 Samuel 11:6 Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard this news and his anger was greatly aroused.

  Saul heard of disrespect to the people of Jabesh Gilead, and he burned with righteous anger at the reproachful offer Nahash made to the men. Saul takes an Ox and cuts it into 12 pieces and send one to each tribe of Israel telling them that this is what will happen to the oxen of the tribes that do not go into battle with Saul.

  1 Samuel 11:13 But Saul said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has accomplished salvation in Israel.”

  Here Saul gave proper credit to God for winning the battle.

  1 Samuel 12:20-25 Then Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart and do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing. For the LORD will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you His people. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way. Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

  This speech by the prophet Samuel took place at Saul’s coronation. God picked Israel to be His chosen people, and even through today, God has a special love for Israel. God knows that the people will not always follow Him perfectly, but when they choose what is not of God, they are wasting their time going after empty things. But to love the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all their heart and thanksgiving, will keep the people walking with God. If they choose to do wickedly, they will be swept away and so will their king. (Heather’s note, but God does preserve a remnant in all situations.) We will see this happen over and over in Israel’s history.

  1 Samuel 13:11-12 And Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, “The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD. Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.”

  Samuel had told Saul to wait on him to come down and offer up a sacrifice to God. When Samuel did not show up on Saul’s timetable, Saul decided to do the sacrifice himself, but a king was not to be a priest/prophet/king all three roles until the one who was to come (Jesus) would come to fulfill all those roles. What Saul did was to forget who he was fighting for (God), to forget that it is God who is in control, to trust that God had the situation in hand.

  Whose army was it? God’s? Why was Saul telling God’s personnel (Samuel) what to do? Saul was not the pastor/priest. Saul began to feel self-important, forgetting that his accomplishments and skills came from God. Saul turned the situation to a personal one, I FELT, I SAW, YOU DID NOT COME, PEOPLE SCATTERED FROM ME. Saul should have realized that God was fully in control, even though the circumstances may not seem to agree with God’s truth.

  1 Samuel 13:13-15 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.” Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people present with him, about six hundred men.

  Saul had disobeyed God, and that disobedience cost him dearly. Saul’s kingdom would ultimately pass to David. Saul had choices to make here, he could have repented, asked God’s forgiveness, and accepted what God ordained. Instead we will see Saul nurse his anger against David. Saul could have been a King until his last days and spent his time grooming David for his future kingship. Instead Saul spent year after year, after year seeking to kill David, chasing him around the wilderness, and ignoring the kingly duties he should have been doing.

  Saul did not learn from the previous mistake. He then gets into a battle where his troops are losing mightily. The ark was never meant to be used in battle, without God’s express direction, but Saul orders the ark to be in the battle. The people were trembling, but instead of getting help from God, Saul told the priests to withdraw their hand (Verse 19). Even with that rebelion of Saul, God preserved the people of Israel. It is here that Saul opened up the door for satan to enter in and cause confusion. When we do not seek God’s desires, we are open to the desires of those who seek to harm us, guided by satan.

  1 Samuel 16:14-15 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him. And Saul’s servants said to him, “Surely, a distressing spirit from God is troubling you.”

  We asked Pastor Don about this passage because it sure looks like God is putting the distressing spirit on Saul, but Pastor Don explained that in Hebrew there is no permissive verb. So he gave an illustration using someone in our group. He had someone pretend to pull another person’s hair, and Pastor Don pretended to stop the hand of the hair puller. Then he set up the same scenario, but instead of stopping the person from pulling the hair, Pastor Don pretended to be not involved in the situation, instead looking at his nails.

  In the first scene Pastor Don actively intervened, but in the other, he let the circumstances occur. The person was outside of the hedge of Pastor Don’s protection.

  In Saul’s case, Saul’s disobedience was so severe that Saul removed himself from the covering of God’s protection, and God did not intervene. God let Saul face the repercussions of his disobedience.

  In Hebrew there is no way to express the permissive – it is done by a I did not stop it.

  The reason the image of God looks so radically different in the Old Testament and the New Testament is partly a language factor. In Greek (the New Testament) there are permissive verbs, so the same sentence would read differently if it was in Greek.

  Satan is wandering the Earth looking for opportunities to kill, steal, and destroy. Our job is to prevent him. Satan can’t be everyplace, so we need to be prepared, and do our best to defeat his plans for us.

  When Saul had the Holy Spirit removed from him and lost his kingship authority, Saul had choices. He could have helped David in David’s new role. Instead, Saul chose to nurture his hurt and people around him noticed the difference. Saul killed more ruthlessly, he kept the door open for the demon spirit to oppress him, he was distressed and oppressed.

  Both Cain and Saul could have had different outcomes to their lives if they had repented. Saul kept sinning and disobeying God, culminating with a visit to a witch and divination from some sort of spirit (might have been Samuel, might not), but God prophesied Saul’s death. In 1 Samuel 28:19 “Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also deliver the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.

  (Heather’s note: If you continue to read you will see the major difference between Saul and David was that David kept consulting the Lord. He did not act on His own, and He kept His relationship with God, repenting for sins when committed, and putting God first. God called David a man after His own heart.) It all boils down to choice.

  Hoping you had a great Sunday.
  Heather

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