[0:00] Take your Bibles, go me to 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 11. 1 Samuel chapter 11. We'll continue to make our way through the text, just making our way through the Old Testament.
[0:12] And we are at this point in Scripture. You know, there are portions of the Old Testament that are, I don't want to say easier to preach.
[0:24] There are portions of the Old Testament that are easier to apply. When we start getting into the historical works, we really have to labor and strive to get into the text. To understand what it is the Lord is saying to us.
[0:36] Because it's easy to read the text and go, oh, that's a cool story. Or, that's pretty neat. And I see how that happened without realizing that this is the Word of God. And the Word of God has a purpose, right?
[0:48] I mean, it tells us all Scripture is given. You know, and all is profitable for encouragement, for reproof, for correction, for godliness. So, when we come to these points in particular that are historical books, then we need to dig in and to get into that.
[1:06] So, that's where we're at in 1 Samuel chapter 11. Let's open up with prayer and then we'll get right into the Word together. Lord, we thank you so much. We praise you for the day you've given us.
[1:18] Thank you for the opportunity of gathering. We thank you for the great privilege of worship. We thank you for the benefit of fellowship as we are able to encourage one another, to challenge one another, and to move one another.
[1:33] We thank you for your Word, oh God, as you speak to us through it. And as we open the pages of it together, we ask that you would lead us by your Spirit. And that in your leading, we would come to a greater understanding, not just of what has happened and transpired through the history of your people, but who you are, how you move, and the truths that transcend time.
[1:56] God, that they would captivate us, shape us, and mold us. Help us to become who you want us to be. And we ask it all and pray it all in Christ's holy name.
[2:10] Amen. 1 Samuel chapter 11. As we continue to make our way, we will read the entire chapter.
[2:21] You remember, the people of God have rebelled against God because they've asked for a king. It is God's desire and plan that they would have a king.
[2:34] We know that all the way back in the book of Genesis. We know that God had spoken of a time when they would have a king, how he should reign and rule over them. We see that outlined for us in the book of Deuteronomy.
[2:46] But at this time, in this season, following the period of the judges, when there was no king in all of the land and every man did what was right in his own eyes, and you have Samuel, the great bridge between the kings and the judges.
[3:01] He is the final judge, the first in the school of prophets and anoints the first two kings. The people have requested a king. It is not necessarily the request so much that is the sin.
[3:14] It is what led to the request. The Bible tells us that they have rejected God as their king. God declares it himself.
[3:24] They're rejecting me. They're not rejecting you, Samuel. And they want a king so that they can be like everybody else. We want one to rule over us like the other nations. We want one to lead us like the other nations.
[3:36] We want one to go before us like the other nations. And it was God who went before them and ensured their victory. But yet God, in his grace and in his mercy, gave them what they asked for.
[3:47] He gives them a king. We know that king is Saul. Saul did not start out wrong. He became wrong. Saul starts out pretty good. We'll see that this evening.
[3:59] Even though there are traits about him which appeal to the eye, he looks the part, he fits the part, he's of the right genealogy, except for he's from the tribe of Benjamin.
[4:10] He's not from the tribe of Judah. But his grandfather was a man of valor. He had the right stature in that he was head and shoulders above everyone else. He had the right appearance in that he looked like the man.
[4:22] He was the man that they wanted. So God gave them the man they wanted. We have seen some maybe spiritual deficiencies in the person of Saul. But we're not focusing so much on the man right now because we know that God has already brought this.
[4:36] We'll see how God will use Saul even here and Samuel. It is later on that Saul falls. In the 13th chapter, we'll read of it.
[4:48] And it is the pride that begins to creep in and overtakes the man Saul, which really leads to his detriment and final removal. But here in the 11th chapter, we're still on the good side of things, if you will.
[5:00] This is really, he has been publicly declared king. Now he will officially operate as king. But what we see in the 11th chapter is a crisis avoided.
[5:12] So that's the history of it. We'll read it together. We kind of know that's a historical setting. We'll see how that's played out in history. But just to go ahead and give you the application is a number of crises can be avoided in following these things too.
[5:28] So let's read the word together. It says, It says, Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul mildly when he heard these words.
[6:30] And he became very angry. He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, Whoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.
[6:45] Then the dread of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out as one man. He numbered them at Bezek. And the sons of Israel were 300,000, and the men of Judah 30,000.
[6:56] They said to the messengers who had come, Thus you shall say to the men of Jabesh-Galit, Tomorrow by the time the sun is hot, you will have deliverance. So the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh, and they were glad.
[7:10] Then the men of Jabesh said, Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good to you. The next morning Saul put the people in three companies, and they came into the midst of the camp at the morning watch, and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day.
[7:25] Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together. Then the people said to Samuel, Who is he that says, Shall Saul reign over us? Bring the men, that we may put them to death.
[7:37] But Saul said, Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has accomplished deliverance in Israel. Then Samuel said to the people, Come, let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there.
[7:50] So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal, and there they offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
[8:05] 1 Samuel chapter 11. A crisis avoided. The men of Jabesh-Galid were at a crisis point in their history. They were about to be degraded among all men.
[8:20] One of their own kinfolk, if you will, Nahash is of the descendants of Lot. So he has some kin to them, because that's Abraham's nephew. He has come against them.
[8:33] Doesn't want to have a long, drawn-out battle. Abraham would rather have a quick covenant. And he has decided that he would cut a covenant, literally is what it means.
[8:43] If you remember, to make a covenant means to cut a covenant, and that has implication and application as to how we interpret the word. And they would do that by cutting animals in half and walk between them.
[8:56] Your mind should go back to the firing furnace furnace that went back and forth between the animals that Abraham had cut in half when God cut a covenant with Abraham. Abraham was asleep, and he woke up and saw the fiery furnace going back and forth, which is to mean the covenant was God's doing, not Abraham's doing.
[9:11] It was before his name was changed to Abraham. So Nahash said, I'll cut a covenant with you, but this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to gouge out your right eyes. That would make you a reproach and a disgrace to all of Israel, and it would also render you useless in battle.
[9:26] Some have said when they held the shield, it would blind their left eye, and if they had no right eye, they couldn't go into battle. Couldn't shoot without the right eye. Most of them were right-handed, except for that one tribe, the tribe of Benjamin.
[9:37] There were a lot of left-handed people there. Remember that? These being primarily right-handed, it would have rendered them useless in warfare, and it would have humiliated them. So there's a crisis, because someone stronger and superior to them now has kind of got them between a rock and a hard place, if you will, and the only option seems to be to be defamed, disgraced, and discouraged.
[10:03] There's a crisis that is facing some of the people of God, the people of Jabesh-Galib. Now, you need to understand that these things happen on the eastern side of the Jordan River.
[10:13] Jabesh-Galib is on the eastern side. It's on the other side of the Jordan River. So the men of Jabesh-Galib were isolated from the majority. Now, I know there's two and a half tribes over there, but from the majority of the people of God, they are isolated.
[10:31] Remember how when we looked at the... I'm showing it wrong to you. It would be like this if you're looking at the map. Remember how when we looked at the distribution of the land, there's danger of being on the other side of the Jordan River. There's danger of being on the eastern side.
[10:43] Those were the tribes that fell first. Those were the ones that were taken captive because they were not around the people of God. They were not gathered together with the majority of the people of God.
[10:54] It was harder for them to worship God. They were not in the land or in the same locale where God manifested His presence. And yet, here's some people on the fringe, if you will, that are facing a crisis because that's also where Nahash lived on that side.
[11:11] And the crisis often happens, we can put it here, when the people of God hang out around the people of the world and they subject themselves by isolation to greater temptation.
[11:21] It is when they live on the fringes of their faith that crisis seemed to come. Because when you hang out around the Ammonites long enough, before you know it, the Ammonites are going to knock on your door.
[11:37] And that's exactly what Nahash was doing. And when you go to the 12th chapter, 1 Samuel chapter 12, we will be there Wednesday if the Lord allows us to. In the 12th verse of the 12th chapter, Samuel says that Nahash is the real reason why the people of God asked for a king.
[11:56] That they knew this day was coming. That they saw in advance. There's an Ammonite king who seems to be getting bolder and bolder. And because of the fear of Nahash, we need someone to go before us.
[12:10] He is the primary reason. But yet the people of Jabesh-Galib are hanging out in his land. You say, well, that was their home.
[12:23] Well, God brought them out of Egypt in order to bring them into the promised land. He didn't bring them out of Egypt to get them close to the promised land. He didn't bring them out of Egypt to let them see the promised land.
[12:33] He brought them out of Egypt to bring them into the promised land. And they decided to stop short. So you're hanging out on the fringes. Now you need to also understand this.
[12:44] This is kind of, we can call it, biblical irony. According to the last chapter in the book of Judges, Judges chapter 21, when the nation of Israel faced a civil war against the tribe of Benjamin, it almost wiped out the whole tribe of Benjamin.
[13:02] And it was because of the wickedness that was taking place. Remember, that's also where something else was cut up into pieces and sent out. But it wasn't an oxen. And it's because some people ended up being where they shouldn't be and there was this great civil war.
[13:17] But there was wickedness in this town. And that town was a town of the Benjamites. And the Benjamites would not give over the men who had done this wicked thing. So the nation of Israel rose up and fought against their own kind.
[13:28] There was this civil war. After the battle was over, there were 600 men of the tribe of Benjamin who need a wife. And so the people of Israel get together and they ask the question, they say, who among us sent nobody to make the covenant with us?
[13:45] Who in all of the land of Israel were the only ones who didn't come to fight against the evil? You know who that was? Jabesh Galit. Huh.
[13:59] Those who did not want to help when everybody else needed help all of a sudden stand in need of help. There's a crisis. When the nation of Israel was calling out, let's remove this wickedness, let's purge the wickedness from among us, Jabesh Galit said, we over here, what's that got to do with us?
[14:20] But when Nahash was knocking on their door, they said, hey, we over here, we need you to help us. It's a crisis. So we can see application there really quickly.
[14:33] Let us be careful in not helping our brothers and sisters in Christ for we do not know yet very soon we will stand and help. We see here now there's a crisis that has come.
[14:48] This crisis is broken down in the way it's avoided, broken down in four great truths. The first one, because of a result of this crisis, there was a desperate call.
[15:00] There was a desperate call. Nothing breeds desperation like a crisis. When wickedness seemed to be reigning in the land of Israel, the men of Jabesh Galit weren't concerned.
[15:17] When the tribe of Benjamin would not handle rightly the sin within their own camp, the men of Jabesh Galit were not concerned. When their brothers throughout the rest of the land called them to come make a covenant and agreement with them to push out the evil among them, the men of Jabesh Galit were not concerned.
[15:39] But when the crisis came to them, they became concerned. And all of a sudden, they're the ones in need.
[15:51] So now, the fellow Jewish people matter. They didn't want anything to do with them back then, but they sure want them right now.
[16:05] A crisis has a way of doing that, of refocusing our commitment, refocusing our priorities, and refocusing our vision. And here we say that when Nahash the Ammonite came up and besieged Jabesh Galit, he offered them a covenant and they said, well, just give us seven days.
[16:25] Now, what was he concerned? Because he didn't think to take and raise the support. There was no king in all of Israel, remember? What king did they have? So he said, I'll give you seven days.
[16:37] And notice what they said. Give us seven days and we'll make this decree and we'll let it ring out throughout the whole territory of Israel. And here's the sad thing.
[16:49] And if there's no one to help, then we'll come out to you. This is a desperate call. Can you imagine the humility that must have taken place when they understood that they knew they did not go when the nation needed them, but they reached out to the nation when they stood in need.
[17:12] There's humility in that. There's desperation in that. And so they send the messengers out from among them to go out through the land and see if there would be anyone who would come help us.
[17:23] Now, they did not have such great hope in that because they did state that after seven days if no one shows up, we'll come out and we'll let you gouge our eyes out. Because they knew in the face of the battle they were facing, they and themselves were not strong enough to oppose Nahash.
[17:38] They knew that the enemy that was in front of them was greater than them and the only hope that they may have would be if the people of God stood up with them. Friend, listen to me. You face an enemy every now and then.
[17:48] You face an enemy just about every day who in and of yourself is stronger than you. But greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. We understand that. But he that is in us manifests his presence among us when we gather together with one another.
[18:03] We also understand that. And we also understand that the enemy we face quite often is because we're hanging out too close to his territory and we're on the eastern side. And when we hang around him long enough we should not be amazed when he begins to besiege us and attack us and try to cut a covenant with us.
[18:20] But before you cut a covenant with the enemy why don't you send out a messenger throughout the land? Why don't you come to a point of desperation where you issue a call?
[18:32] See one of the saddest realities among believers in our land today is that the call to prayer is quite often one not taken very serious and one not given great priority.
[18:48] Many, many years ago a man named Leonard Ravenhill! wrote a book called While Revival Tarries. Leonard Ravenhill will convict you and make you mad and step on your toes and kick you in the shins and when I had a pastor friend give that to me he said every time I read it I have to read it on my knees and I thought oh yeah that's yeah every time I read it I have to read it on my knees.
[19:15] Leonard Ravenhill said their prayer meeting has become the handmaiden of the church. We don't notice her we don't give her any attention and we don't honor her.
[19:27] because not too many people show up with a desperate call. We come with a carefree attitude but it's when we're in the crisis that a desperation comes and the call is issued and here we see the humility that came upon them they know that everybody knows they weren't there but they don't care what everybody thinks right now they need a help.
[19:51] So the moments of pride have passed now is a time of desperation. Praise God for moments of desperation because when we come to desperation we don't care what everybody else thinks then we'll call out to whoever will help us and we'll call out and we don't care what everybody knows we don't care who knows what or who thinks what and in our desperation we can call out and then by the help and hope of God the crisis can be avoided.
[20:19] So there's a call of desperation. The second thing we notice there's spirit-led conviction. Spirit-led conviction.
[20:31] These messengers leave Jabesh and they go throughout all the land of Israel and they're declaring what has taken place in Jabesh-Galib. They're speaking of what's going to happen in seven days and they get to the city of Gebeah which is the home of Saul.
[20:43] Saul has been publicly declared king but then Saul went back to farming. You notice that, right? He's with his oxen. Now he's been made king but he's not operating as king. He's still operating as the son of Kish the farmer.
[20:55] He was looking for donkeys and now he's walking behind oxen. But God had a purpose for him. God had a plan. He's not operating that way yet and that's okay because God's got a way of stirring his heart and stirring his mind.
[21:07] And so the messengers come in and they tell the city and the city is crying. One commentator said I believe it was Warren Wiersbe said the Jewish people are renowned for their loud wailing and crying. They were known for their loud display of grief.
[21:20] They have professional mourners in the time of Christ. Remember when Jesus went to the home that the young girl had died. He walked in and there were mourners present wailing loudly. Those are people that the family would pay to come in and make a scene.
[21:34] And they laughed at Jesus' corner. He said she's not dead she's just asleep. They said oh we know she's dead. He said she's just asleep. Y'all be quiet. And then when Jesus is walking down the Via Della Rosa bearing his cross he encounters the women.
[21:45] Remember that? Making a loud scene and beating the breast and crying out. Those are professional mourners. And he said don't weep for me weep for yourself. You know I don't need anyone to make a scene over me.
[21:58] The Jewish people are known for that. So they're crying out when Saul comes in he's been out in the field he's got his oxen in front of him. He said why all this ruckus? Why all this noise? And they tell Saul the same thing. Now notice the difference.
[22:10] When the majority of people heard it they wept over it. Saul hears it and he does something. It's not enough to weep over the sins and crisis of another.
[22:21] It'll only be enough when we allow the spirit to lead us to take an active involvement role in it. Everybody else was bemoaning the reality Saul is going to be led to do something about the reality.
[22:37] We can weep over the darkness that is overcoming believers. We can weep and we can mourn and we should weep and mourn and we should be upset and wail and make a loud cry before the throne of heaven.
[22:51] But may we also see this it says and then the spirit of God overcame him. Notice it didn't come in him it overcame him. Old testament not from the inside out from the outside over it overcame him and the spirit of God overcame him and I like I just be honest with you I like this next part I just like it.
[23:11] Okay I like this. The spirit of God overcame him and Saul became very angry. you know why I like that. Because there are some things that God by the presence of his Holy Spirit has a right to make us angry about.
[23:29] We call that righteous anger. The Bible says be angry and sin not. It doesn't say don't be angry. There are some things that the people of God should be angry about.
[23:46] Because God is angry about them. And when the enemy was trying to deface the people of God it made Saul angry through the spirit of God.
[24:03] We ought to get upset when other believers are being held captive to sin. we ought to get upset to the point of spirit righteous anger when the enemy is attacking our brothers and sisters in Christ.
[24:18] We ought to get so upset we got to do something about it. We ought to get so mad that we say Lord well then what can I do as opposed to just saying well Lord help them well the Lord is revealing it to us to help them.
[24:34] It says the spirit of God overcame him and he got angry and he got so angry he killed the oxen he was walking behind. So you know what he did there right? He gave up what he was doing.
[24:47] His work depended upon the oxen so he killed the yoke of oxen. Here this is a spirit led conviction. He didn't just hear it and acknowledge it he heard it and was led to do something about it.
[25:02] You say well he's the king well yes he's the king but it was the spirit who led him to do it. We understand the reality that there will be brothers and sisters in Christ and there will even be non believers that we know who have lived so long on the fringes that the enemy begins to encamp at their door and they are in a moment of crisis.
[25:28] And when we hear it may it not just cause us to go oh that's a pity. May the prayer be Lord by the presence of your Holy Spirit would you create in me a conviction to do something about it.
[25:45] You know when Jesus establishes the church in Matthew 16 very first mentioning of the church the law of first mentioning upon this I will build my church Peter's confession probably the confession of the entire group of believers that are of the apostles that law of first mentioning in scripture which means however it is mentioned first is what it will be throughout the rest of history.
[26:15] This is why we can say that marriage is between a man and a woman. We have the law first mentioned God created Adam and then he formed and fashioned Eve and he brought them together in the garden and he said and so shall a man leave his father and mother and be joined together with his wife and the two shall never be departed.
[26:32] From the very beginning the first time marriage is ever mentioned God mentioned it first. He has a right to ordain and to determine what it should look like. We have no shame in that.
[26:44] We do not back down from that. No matter how else it's portrayed in the rest of scripture no matter how else it's put in wrong and no matter what else man's faults and failures make it look like when it was mentioned first when God declared it when he came up with it when he established it that's what it is and that's what it shall be throughout all of history.
[27:05] Same with the church. Jesus says and for this reason the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Gates are not offensive measures they are defensive preventions.
[27:19] You put up a gate to keep people out or to lock something in. You don't put up a gate to go attack. I have a gate at the end of my driveway.
[27:29] It stays open all the time. That gate does nothing. Now if I shut the gate theoretically it will keep you out. But if I have my gate shut and you're driving down the road it's not like my gate is going to jump out and attack your car.
[27:44] It's a defensive measure. What Jesus is saying is the church is going to be on the offensive and what hell sets up to stop the church is not going to be able to hold it. It can't prevent it.
[27:57] So the implication is that the church is going to be on the offensive. That the church will be so led by the spirit that there would be matters which the church heard about. The people of God heard about and the spirit convicted them of that they would say that is so wrong we got to do something about it.
[28:14] And they would stand up in spirit led conviction and try to avoid the crisis. That was coming. The third thing we see is a motivating challenge.
[28:28] The spirit has a way of moving people to motivate others. The spirit led Saul to kill his oxen and send them throughout the land of Israel. Now Saul does not threaten other people's lives but he tells them this is going to happen to your oxen if you don't come join me.
[28:47] Which means unlike what happened with Jebesh Galid. If you don't do anything in activity is going to cost you something. If you just choose I'm not going to concern myself with that then Saul said you're going to be alive but I'm going to come cut your oxen in half.
[29:03] Now that's equivalent to me saying if you're a farmer I'm going to come take your tractor or I'm going to come take your car. I'm going to take whatever you're depending upon for your daily activities I'm just going to cut it in half.
[29:14] If you don't want to do anything that's fine but it's going to cost you not to do anything. You can't just do nothing and not cost you anything. He says I've given up what I'm relying in to go do what God's leading me to do and I'm going to call you to do the same thing.
[29:30] That's a holy challenge. That's a motivating challenge right? So it's going to cost me if I do something. It may cost me if I do something but I know for a fact it's going to cost me if I do nothing.
[29:40] That's motivating because I believe it is when we realize as people of God that inactivity or doing nothing actually costs us more than doing something.
[29:55] That there's a price to be paid for not taking action when something is wrong. There's a cost. And this challenges the people.
[30:10] It would have been real easy to say well that's over there in Jabeshkali. What does that have to do with me? Saul brought that matter home. Right? He made it personal.
[30:21] Because now what's going on over there is going to directly impact what happens to your oxen. No wonder 330,000 people show up. Now they only had seven days.
[30:35] That's a pretty big army. I love how the fact that I love the fact that the Bible separates the men of Judah. 300,000 people from all of Israel showed up and then there were 30,000 people from the land of Judah.
[30:50] The reason I love that is because God has a way of always distinguishing Judah. Of reminding us of Judah's prominence. You know why I like it? It's because we're constantly getting our eyes and our attention drawn to Judah.
[31:05] Because there's something that's going to happen in Judah that we need to know about. Judah keeps coming to the forefront. Every time the people are mentioned, Judah seems to be singled out. Something is happening.
[31:15] Our hope is not in Israel. Our hope is the one coming from Israel. He's coming from Judah. And I'm reminded that every time that there's something special about to happen.
[31:28] David will come from Judah, but there's a greater one than David that comes from Judah, Jesus Christ. The King of kings and Lord of lords alive from the tribe of Judah. We see this and we're reminded of this.
[31:39] This challenge is accepted. The people are motivated and they go. Saul might have paid attention to the history. We don't know, but we know that he takes a little bit of lessons learned in the past and he divides his people up and he attacks when it's still dark.
[31:58] He comes early, sends the messengers back to help us coming. So in the morning, watch, sometime between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., he divides his company up.
[32:11] He divides the 330,000 people up into three companies and he attacks the camp and it says that God gives them a great victory. He scatters the people so much it says no two Ammonite soldiers were left together.
[32:27] Everybody, the ones that left, they left on their own. He delivers the men of Jabesh Gilead that there's a crisis avoided because the people of God let the Spirit of God lead them and were motivated by the man of God because Saul says join me and Samuel as we go to do this.
[32:46] So they're led by at this time the men of God who are being provoked by the Spirit of God to do the work of God. they stand up and they do something about it.
[33:01] That brings us to the final part of this passage where there's a renewed commitment. Saul has been anointed privately.
[33:12] He has been declared publicly and now he's going to be appointed officially because if you remember in his public declaration there were some people who said shall Saul be king over us?
[33:27] I don't know about that man Saul. Something a little fishy about that man Saul. So after the great battle some people said well go get those people who asked that question and let's kill them and Saul very wisely again avoids another civil war.
[33:40] He says no nobody's dying today and Saul at this time is still right. He says for the Lord has given us a great victory today. The Lord gives the credit where it should. And Samuel says well let's go to Gilgal.
[33:53] So they go to Gilgal. Now Gilgal is a very instrumental place in the nation of Israel. It's also going to be the place where Saul falters and fails and has the throne removed from him spiritually at least not physically yet but it'll be where he fails.
[34:10] But at this point God is still moving his people so Samuel said let's go to the town of Gilgal. and renew the kingdom there it says in verse 15. So all the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul the king before the Lord.
[34:24] So now it's not just a public matter now it's a spiritual matter. They're renewing their commitment. They're bringing the thing of God there's this revival if you will.
[34:37] Reminder that the Lord is using this person. And there they also offer sacrifices of peace offerings. The peace offerings are the ones that I think us southern baptists would have loved the most.
[34:48] Peace offerings if you remember was where they brought the animal in and they offered the animal up. They skinned the animal out and they put it on the altar. We call that a barbecue at our place.
[35:00] And then they took it off and they ate it with one another. They had a fellowship meal. It wasn't a whole burnt offering completely consumed by fire. It was laid on the altar and cooked and then the people of God gathered together and they ate it.
[35:15] That's what a peace offering was. That was God we can fellowship with you and commune with one another. See that renewal? Now what has been laid on the altar of God is being consumed by the people of God.
[35:29] That got real loud for a minute. Sorry about that. What was laid on the altar of God is now being consumed by the people of God in the presence of God and all of a sudden their communion is with one another and their communion is before the Lord God Almighty.
[35:44] Now they're refocused and then we notice here it says and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
[35:56] This is a time of worship and celebration because a crisis has been avoided. The enemy of the people of God had encamped among his people the enemy had got them in focus.
[36:14] The enemy was about to ridicule and embarrass some of them but God moved his people to stand up and take notice and to help a brother out literally.
[36:27] They came alongside one another. They're united and in their unity now they're worshiping and they're rejoicing. This is not the work of Saul.
[36:38] God just uses Saul to do it. God is drawing his people back together. Friend the application to this passage is a little easier than other historical works.
[36:49] There are times and moments throughout history there are times and moments throughout our lives in which either we will encounter a crisis or someone we know will be in the midst of one. And God has called us as his people not to just acknowledge the crisis but to respond to the crisis.
[37:05] And our response to the crisis should be spirit led and we should operate by conviction to the point that we're willing even if they have failed us in the past we need to stand beside them in the presence. So then we could stand next to them in fellowship and worship and rejoicing.
[37:24] Crisis is avoided. A greater crisis is going to come because the one who is going before them that is Saul will fail them. But here for a moment the crisis is avoided.
[37:39] In 1 Samuel chapter 11 it is the spirit's leading, man's pleading, and God's working and laboring through his people for his glory.
[37:51] May we be those people that when the crisis comes that we offer a desperate call to others. Out of desperation. Saying we need someone else to come beside us.
[38:05] May we be those people who hear that call, let the spirit convict us to do something about it instead of just, oh, that's so sad. As Erwin Lutzer said, Satan's not bothered by our good intentions.
[38:19] May our good intentions be transferred into good application. May we be those ones who are challenged when somebody else is standing up for the good and say, I'll go with you.
[38:32] I'll go with you. Maybe you go with them in prayer. Maybe you go with them in support. Maybe you go with them in, I mean, I'm talking about genuine prayer and genuine support where you're behind them praying for them.
[38:44] Maybe you can't be the front line person but you can be the back room warrior. Maybe your life circumstances and your life situations may hinder you. You say, well, I know there's all this evil going on but I don't think I need to be the one barging in there.
[38:58] Maybe not, but maybe you can be the one praying over and covering over with a shield of prayer and being the support and the encouragement for those who are. Everybody on the front line needs somebody behind them saying you're doing a good job.
[39:13] Everybody. It doesn't take very much to write a note, to write a card, to send a message. Hey, I know front line work is hard.
[39:24] You're doing a good job. You're on my heart. You're on my mind. It doesn't take much. And may we renew our commitment before the Lord as we do that.
[39:36] And a number of crises may be avoided as the people of God come together for the glory of God and worship the true Lord God in their midst.
[39:47] Let's pray and then we will be dismissed. Lord, I thank you. I thank you that you are a good, gracious God.
[40:04] You are a God who knows our every challenge, our every care, and our every concern. Lord, even in this room, I realize that there may be struggles, crises, challenges, even hindrances to individuals' walks.
[40:28] Lord, we pray that as we come before you and cry out in desperation that you would humble us and move us to call out to other brothers and sisters in Christ.
[40:40] And if we are those that someone calls out to, may we, in a spirit of humility, come beside them. May we be spirit-led to walk with them, not with an attitude of judgment, but with an attitude of anger at the sin and the enemy who's attacking and defending our brother or sister in Christ.
[41:04] May we walk alongside other brothers and sisters. May we encourage those who are fighting the battles of frontline spiritual warfare. And may we celebrate with one another around the throne of glory, sure, in all of eternity, but even in this earth.
[41:27] Lord, it's a great thing to be in desperate moments, because God, we know you do your greatest works there. Lord Jesus, we thank you for the price you paid for our redemption.
[41:43] We thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit. We ask that you reign and rule over our lives, and that we would live them according to your glory.
[41:55] Have your way now as we prepare to leave. We've had a great day of worship. We've heard your word, been challenged by your word. Lord, may we not neglect nor forget it, but may we be moved and changed by it in the days ahead.
[42:11] Because, oh God, we realize that some of them have said, the greatest display of truth is what happens on Monday, not what we hear on Sunday. So, Lord, may our Monday look different because of what we've done today.
[42:26] And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, guys. Thank you, folks.
[42:45] Thank you, folks. Thank you.
[43:15] Thank you.
[43:45] Thank you.