October 16, 2022 - The Truth of the Heart
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
In making our way through 1 Samuel - it’s been fascinating to me - to see the correlation between - THAT TIME period - and New Testament Paul.
Between THAT TIME period - and even now.
Last week we looked at - The WAY of the Heart...
The Way of the Heart
Tastes the Blessings of God
Desires to Rule Itself
Prefers Darkness Over Light
and we saw characteristics of the Heart of Man - that BROUGHT INTO FOCUS - all that was happening in Israel at the time.
Samuel had been judge over Israel - SPEAKING FOR GOD to the people throughout his life...
The People THEREFORE - - HAD TASTED the Blessings of God in their lives.
But we ALSO saw that the Heart of Man DESIRES to RULE ITSELF!
When Samuel had gotten OLD - he appointed his sons to be judges - BUT THEY DIDN’T follow in the ways of Samuel...
3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.
And we SAW - as much as this verse speaks POORLY about the 2 sons of Samuel - it also SPEAKS just as LOUDLY AGAINST the people of ISRAEL...
They BRIBED the judges - they SOUGHT to RULE THEMSELVES!!
Because THAT’S what the HEART DOES!
And because ULTIMATELY the people DIDN’T WANT God to RULE over them - they SOUGHT to have a NEW KING over them!!
GOD - in His mercy WARNS the people of their choice - BUT ultimately gives them OVER TO their choice - because as we saw...
The Way of the Heart is to PREFER Darkness over Light!!
Today - -we’ll continue this theme...
Last week - we saw - THE WAY of the HEART...
This week - based on our SERMON TITLE: We’ll look at - THE TRUTH of the HEART...
SLIDE:
SERMON TITLE
Same as last week - We’ll cover MANY verses today - spanning multiple chapters...
But today - I’d like to pull sections of text out - READ THROUGH ALL OF THOSE SECTIONS…first
And then circle back around…to see what we see.
Last week we ended with the people wanting a new King…let’s see what happens
1 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth.
2 And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.
Here we see the introduction of SAUL...
15 Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel:
16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.”
17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.”
20 Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot.
21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot; and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found.
22 So they inquired again of the Lord, “Is there a man still to come?” and the Lord said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.”
23 Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward.
24 And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
25 Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home.
26 Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched.
27 But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.
In relation to the story, the Ammonites came to attack Israel - and Saul is told what is going on....
Saul RALLIES the men of Israel....and then...
11 And the next day Saul put the people in three companies. And they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. And those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
next verse...
12 Then the people said to Samuel, “Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men, that we may put them to death.”
13 But Saul said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has worked salvation in Israel.”
14 Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom.”
15 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
This is the story…this is where I want us to see TODAY - The Truth of the Heart!
The WAY of the Heart last week was to PREFER DARKNESS over LIGHT...
Today - the TRUTH of the Heart
We just read thru the story - the anointing of Saul as King of Israel
And in this story - we continue to see Characteristics of the Heart of Man...
SLIDE: The Truth of the Heart: Attributes the Works of God to Man
The Truth of the Heart
The Truth of the Heart
Again - the principles we’re pulling out of this old testament passage are meant to CAUSE US to examine ourselves IN LIGHT of these truths
We saw this begin LAST WEEK...
The people - WANTED to RULE themselves...
They began BRIBING Samuel’s sons...
They wanted to DO THEIR OWN THING....outside of God’s JUDGMENT!
And SOOO - when the sons took over - the people POUNCED!
And they CALLED for a KING!
a NEW AUTHORITY over them!
What does God do?
Mercifully - He tells them HOW THAT’S gonna play out for them!
They- Choose it anyway!
Watch today how this plays out in Saul’s anointing as King...
20 Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot.
21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot; and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found.
What does “Taken by lot” mean?
Back in these times - they would CAST LOTS as a way to say - OK - this result is a DIVINE result.
They believed by Casting Lots - they were hearing from God!
And this was the case.
So they cast lots…the Tribe of Benjamin was the answer… (this is where the King would come from)
They cast lots again - The clan of the Matrites was the answer...
They cast lots again - Saul - the son of Kish - was the answer...
And so God here - in SPEAKING to the people by way of the casting of lots - God wasn’t showing his APPROVAL of the people’s REBELLION against Him…in wanting a KING....
I believe God here was saying - YES - THIS is MY JUDGMENT against you…!
God had ALREADY declared His DISapproval of Israel’s choice!!
7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.
But the people didn’t see it this way!
WHY?
Because the Truth of the Heart - Attributes the Works of God - to MAN...
What did the people say RIGHT AFTER they were warned about this choice?
Samuel had just warned them about how this KING would play out...
And they say this:
19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us,
20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
NOW - God (through Samuel) KEEPS ASKING THEM -
DO YOU NOT REMEMBER what God has DONE FOR YOU?
Have you FORGOTTEN Egypt?
Have you FORGOTTEN the Red Sea?
Have you FORGOTTEN the Wilderness (Manna from heaven)?
Have you FORGOTTEN our VICTORY over the Philistines????
Did they FORGET?
NO - they just seemed to look at those events as - THEIR effort - and NOW - they’re saying - We simply want to have a KING to JUDGE us and - - What?
“Go out before us and fight our battles!”
WE’VE been fighting these battles - WE WANT SOMEONE to FIGHT FOR US!! - That’s what they SAID!!
The Truth of the Heart - (which is deceitful above all things) ATTRIBUTES the Works of God to MAN...
God HAD fought their battles.
God HAD brought their fathers out of Egypt
God HAD conquered their enemies!
BUT THEY attributed ALL of that - TO THEMSELVES!
And we see an example of THIS TRUTH of the heart - in Daniel 4
29 At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon,
30 and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”
This is MAN - attributing the work of God - TO MAN
And we do this today don’t we? This Truth of the Heart at times will CREEP it’s way into our speech...
“I beat cancer”
“I won the race”
“I overcame homelessness”
“I took 1st place”
“I survived 9/11”
This is the TRUTH of the Heart… attributing TO MAN _ the works of God
And look at how this truth plays itself out - in the anointing of Saul… back to the casting of lots...
20 Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot.
21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot; and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence - that when the people - carrying out their rebellion against God - finally have the REVEAL party - to see who will rule over them...
They look around - and can’t find their CHOSEN - King.
And in this moment - THEIR HUMANITY - reveals the weight of the IRONY of the situation.
The people - BEING PEOPLE - BEING finite creatures - NEED to ask....
22 So they inquired again of the Lord, “Is there a man still to come?” and the Lord said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.”
REMEMBER what the people said earlier?
They said - NO we WANT A KING who will GO OUT BEFORE US - and FIGHT OUR BATTLES!
Where is he?
HIDING among the baggage!
What’s the baggage refer to? - When these people would travel they would use carriages and different supplies…and so when MANY people gathered - they would put their “BAGGAGE” (carriages and what-not) all together to help create a DEFENSE for the group...
Saul was hiding among the baggage...
So the people hear this - and they RUN to grab him and bring him before the people!
23 Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward.
24 And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
And in this we see...
SLIDE: The Truth of the Heart: Elevates the Physical World Over Spiritual Realities
The Truth of the Heart
The Truth of the Heart
This same exact truth plays itself out EVERY year in the NFL Draft.
The same year that Baker Mayfield was drafted - there was another QB drafted as well
If you know Baker Mayfield - you know he’s MAYBE 6 feet tall...
…probably 5’11” - - Can barely see over the offensive lineman in front of him...
Well - this OTHER QB that was in that same draft was your PROTOTYPICAL QB...
He was 6’5” - 240 lbs...
Can throw the ball about 80 yards in the air
NOW - the Browns - obviously, passed on the guy that LOOKED the part.
The Browns took the “David” and passed on the “Goliath” - - if you will
But the “Goliath” - today (his name is Josh Allen) - is a VERY good Quarterback!
But every year - there are guys drafted in the NFL that didn’t necessarily PLAY WELL in college -
BUT THEY LOOK the part. (HE MUST be AWESOME - He’s GOTTA be the ANSWER - but it’s ALL based on - the PHYSICAL)
In our text - we see that the people of Israel - SEE SAUL...
And they REJOICE - because he just LOOKED like a King!
He was taller than any of the people.
He looked the part.
AND THEY were EXCITED about that!
24 And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
We (as humans) are SOOO limited aren’t we?
Think of how often we misjudge people...
In athletics - we base it on their physical profile
In politics - we base it on their oratorical abilities
Popularity is often based on - looks
Competence is often based on - credentials alone
We OFTEN - miss the boat on people…And the Bible speaks to this...
We’ll revisit this when we get their…but
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
*I know we all can think of times where we “got it wrong”.
Maybe we got it wrong - in a positive way (we thought this was the WRONG person - and they ended up being the RIGHT person) <- David
OR - maybe we got it wrong - in a bad way (we THOUGHT this was the RIGHT person - but they turned out to be the WRONG person)
Well - God DOESN’T get it wrong...
Which is why we need to TRUST Him!
*Funeral Service (celebrated the life) of Barbara Schurdell (NOW - if you were to look at Barbara - you see an 85 year old woman - fragile (a GOLIATH for Christ)
The People of Israel showed MORE EXCITEMENT for Saul - their TALL - self-appointed King...
…than for God’s chosen judge - Samuel!
But this is the TRUTH of the heart!
It elevates the physical world over Spiritual realities!
It’s why some churches are meeting today in a stadium (jam packed) - to hear about how God JUST WANTS THEM TO BE HEALTHY…and WEALTHY…and PROSPEROUS!
The TRUTH of the Heart believes that THESE things are ultimate!
And because this is true - we see this all throughout Scripture!
18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,
19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!
Here we have Simon the Magician - trying to BUY the ability to bring the Spirit by the laying on of hands!
Elevating the Physical - over Spiritual realities!
1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property,
2 and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?
4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”
5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it.
Elevating the Physical - over Spiritual realities!
This is a Truth of the Heart
But it actually GOES even deeper than this...
Not only does the Truth of the Heart...
SLIDE:
The Truth of the Heart
Attribute the Works of God to Man
Elevate the Physical World over Spiritual Realities
but...
SLIDE: The Truth of the Heart: Justifies That Which Brings the Judgment of God
The Truth of the Heart
The Truth of the Heart
So not ONLY does the Heart elevate the Physical World over Spiritual Realities -
But it ALSO - justifies DOING SO!
And we see this play out - and really come to a climax in v12 of chapter 11...
- But let’s set it up first...
- When Samuel was first ANNOUNCED before the people as King...
we remember that he hid amongst the baggage...
And I think this rubbed some of the people the wrong way...
How did some respond?
27 But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.
These men here - QUESTION whether Saul can ACTUALLY save them!
And so they’re DOUBTING the whole thing!
Well - later on - Saul ends up defeating the Ammonites...
Do you remember how the Philistines handled defeating Israel - and what they did with the Ark when they won?
Listen to the response of the people of Israel - after they defeat the Ammonites! - With Saul leading them!
12 Then the people said to Samuel, “Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men, that we may put them to death.”
Do you hear the PRIDE now?
The PEOPLE - coming out of a VICTORY...
Now say - WHO DOUBTED if Saul should REIGN OVER US??
BRING them to us so we can KILL THEM!!
WE KNEW ALL ALONG this should happen!!!
Remember - Who was the FIRST to “REFUTE” Saul as King?
Answer? - God!
He condemned it!
And the People - when they SAY THIS (point to screen) KNEW that God was AGAINST Saul as King!
So WHAT are the people doing here?
They WIN a battle - and in doing so - they...
SLIDE: The Truth of the Heart: Justifies That Which Brings the Judgment of God
The Truth of the Heart
The Truth of the Heart
The people - look around - see that they WON - and think - SEE, we SHOULD have had a KING ALL ALONG!!
Wow - what arrogance!
Using their circumstances to justify their sin!
Mistaking God’s MERCY (the victory) for His judgment...
And what a CORRELATION we see today...
Remember this from Romans 1?
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
NOW - pretty clear right?
God here - sees that the people did not HONOR Him as God - but instead…did what they WANTED TO DO...
The Bible says they did what ought NOT TO BE DONE...
SO - what does God do? read verse 28 again (screen)
He did exactly what He told Samuel to do - GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT!
God GAVE THEM OVER to a debased mind! The men got together with men!
And how did the people RESPOND to this?
We see this same response TODAY...
32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
They JUSTIFY that which brings the Judgment of God!!
We see this - EVEN TODAY!!
*In what area of your life are you JUSTIFYING your sin?
What kind of things do we USE to justify our sin?
Just like the Israelites - maybe we use our circumstances to justify our sin.
Our belief in Jesus (sometimes we’ll think - well, I believe in Jesus - He’s ALREADY forgiven me - soooo i’ll just do it)
Sometimes we use our SERVICE to God as justification for sin (church attendance, ministry work, etc.)
In what areas are you doing this?
May we bring these things to the Lord today!
SUMMARY
Today - we’ve seen - The Truth of the Heart
SLIDE:
Attributes the Works of God to Man
Elevates the Physical World Over Spiritual Realities
Justifies That Which Brings the Judgment of God
After explanation -
Close - We know the Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life...
And yet - the heart of man has it’s own way, it’s own truth, and it’s own version of life...
MAY we lay ourselves down - examine ourselves in light of these truths - and embrace Jesus Christ as THE way, THE truth, and THE Life...
May we embrace Jesus Christ - the son of the Living God!!
Let’s pray...