The King Proclaimed

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a an honor to share the Word of God with the saints of Durbin Memorial Baptist Church this morning.

That greeting, “Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Has been something I’ve said at the beginning of each sermon for well over a year now, and it came from seeing a consistent pattern in the beginning of the Pauline letters to the churches in the New Testament. And what a wonderful greeting it is!

But as I was preparing for our Bible Study at the park this past week and we were getting into the book of Ephesians, something in the study guide I was looking at, really helped me appreciate this greeting even more. The idea behind, “Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” Is that Grace is the gift of God through Jesus Christ, and Peace is the outcome!

We receive grace, unmerited favor, and the outcome is peace, reconciliation with the Holy God! What a greeting that is in deed!

So when the sermon begins, “grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” It is a reminder of God’s Grace that gives peace, as well as a expression of my desire for you to know that grace and peace.

You see, the opposite of grace and peace is judgement and wrath.

All throughout Scripture we see God’s Holy and Just expressions of Grace and Judgment. One place we get a clear picture of both is in Ephesians 2.

Ephesians 2:12–16 ESV

remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

There is a whole lot we could get into right here, but for our purposes this morning we need to note that there are people separated from Christ, alienated from God. Verse 16 tells us these people are hostile towards God. Now by Grace, The Father sent Jesus to make all of us who were once far off, near. Christ is the peace. Christ demolishes the hostility between believers and God created by sin. In Christ there is peace.

But without Christ in your life, there is not peace. There is Judgment. It is appointed for all of us to die once and after that comes Judgment. When we stand before the Holy God in judgment, if there is not peace by the blood of Jesus, there will be Holy and Righteous Wrath.

The thought of Wrath causes us to cringe! It makes us uncomfortable! As it should, for wrath is not something to be enjoyed!

Even before the experience of wrath, even just facing Judgment is a thought that makes us squeamish!

Do you remember when you were a kid and your parents called you into the room with that tone to where you just knew you were in trouble?

I had two older sisters. I remember that we knew we were in trouble when we were made to sit on the wall in the kitchen. Our dad would tell us all to sit there so we would and before we even knew what he was going to say, we’d start whispering to each other, “okay who did it?” We didn’t even know what “it” was, but we knew one of us did it! My older sisters would always be like, “Bradley, whatever it is, say you did it! You’re the youngest. Dad wont be as harsh on you.” We’d go back and forth squeamish at the thought of the impending judgment!

The thought of judgment rightly shakes us to our core. You may not have had the same experience with your sisters, but I am certain that all of us can relate to the feeling you get when the hammer is about to drop on you. When it comes to the judgment of God, it must be known that His Judgment is always justly administered and deserved by the recipient.

Today in our text, we will see Man’s reaction to God’s Sovereignty, Judgment, and grace.

Turn with me now to 1 Samuel 10, if you have not already. Today we are picking up in the middle of chapter 10. When we finished of in verse 16 we were able to see how God works all things together to accomplish HIs will, even mundane things. Saul has now been anointed to be king over God’s people, Israel. But the public doesn’t know that. In fact, the rest of the nation is just confused. They saw Saul acting very differently with a band of prophets, but couldn’t figure out why he was doing that. Saul doesn’t mention anything to anyone about his anointing to be king, nor does he assume his kingly duties to take on the Philistines in battle. He kinda just goes home. In many ways a very anticlimactic ending to Saul’s anointing.

This morning we are picking up in verse 17 and we see that some time has passed. It could have been a week, maybe a month, we aren’t given a specific timeframe. We just know that Saul has gone home and has not made any moves as king. So, something has to happen. Let’s look at verse 17.

1 Samuel 10:17 ESV

Now Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah.

I mentioned this last week, but this is another one of those verses that seem relatively mundane on the surface, but when you dive deeper into Bible study you see just how much is going on in a seemingly simple verse about a location.

Mizpah just sounds like another place to us when we read it. But to those who were involved in what follows, Mizpah had significant meaning.

Have you ever dreaded walking in somewhere because the last time you were there things didn’t go well for you?

The last time in Scripture that Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah, he took them to task. This is back in chapter 7 of 1 Samuel. It was rightly deserved, but he called them out! And ever since that occasion roughly 30 years or so prior to where we are today, Mizpah was a place where Samuel went to judge Israel. When Samuel called all of Israel together in 1 Samuel 7:5, he then took them to task over their wickedness. He called them to repentance. He exposed the apostasy in Israel. That story, which you can read on you own later has a magnificent and joyous outcome, but it began with national sorrow.

So when Samuel calls all of Israel back here again in 10:17, it is intentionally similar in form. The people would have had the expectation that their Judge is going to be calling them out. We can draw parallels to the apostasy in chapter 7 with Israel’s desire for a king that we’ve been looking at in recent weeks.

When Israel gathers there at Mizpah, the expectation is realized. Samuel indeed calls them out. Let’s look at the three parts of his speech.

1 Samuel 10:18 ESV

And he said to the people of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’

The first part of Samuel’s speech to the nation of Israel is a Reminder.

This reminder comes in three parts:

First, Samuel begins his speech with “Thus says the Lord.” This is a reminder that Samuel, as it is with all true Prophets, speaks the word of the Lord to Israel. He has not gone rogue. The following admonishment was not something cooked up in the elder man’s head. No, this is the very Word of God being delivered to His people.

The second reminder is what God did for His people in Egypt. The Exodus account is a remarkable display of God’s power and providence. He brought them up out of the house of slavery and in doing so God showed the utter impotence of the false Egyptian gods. He brought the plagues, He split the sea, He led by a pillar of smoke and fire, He provided Israel with their form of governance and took them to the promised Land.

The third reminder is similar. He delivered them “from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing” the Israelites. God continued to fight for and deliver His people even when they were opposed by larger nations and people groups in the promised Land. Even the story I alluded to from 1 Samuel 7 is God afflicting the Philistines that sought to do harm by the Israelites.

Just as a point of practical understanding for us all here:

GOD DELIVERS HIS PEOPLE FROM THE POWERS THAT WOULD DO THEM HARM. (PTW)

God delivers His people from the powers that would do them harm. For the Israelites that happened in the form of national protection against other powers in the World. For believers today, you can take it to the bank that God delivers His people from the powers and principalities, the present darkness, OUR OWN SIN, and our Accuser, SATAN! God is mighty to save and mighty to deliver His people from the powers that would do them Harm.

That is the reminder that is given to the nation of Israel at Mizpah. After this we read:

1 Samuel 10:19 ESV

But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”

So in verse 18, Samuel gives a reminder. In the beginning of verse 19 He lays out the second part of his speech, the current situation.

You know, sometimes we become so familiar with a situation that we don’t even notice that something is off. Have you ever heard the phrase nose blind? The term "nose blind" refers to a phenomenon where a person becomes accustomed to a particular smell, and over time, they no longer notice it. This can happen to people who are exposed to a particular odor regularly, such as the smell of their own home, pets, or workplace. Because they have become desensitized to the smell, they may not be aware of it as much as they used to be, or they may not even be able to detect it at all.

Well, we, and Israel in our story this morning, often become sin blind! We become so accustom to whatever it is that were doing that we don’t see it as anything wrong. We don’t even notice that it’s there! We need others who love us and care about us to point out the things in our lives that are harmful but we have grown accustomed to.

In our story, Samuel tells Israel “you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘set a king over us.’”

Doesn’t seem so wild to us that verse 19 could follow verse 18? God delivers His people time and time again, and yet here they are still rejecting Him. Wanting to be saved by an earthly king rather than the Sovereign of the Universe?? We look at this and it makes no sense at all. Yet how many today should be able to so clearly see the worthiness of following the Lord and yet still not serve Him?

Now that Israel has been reminded of God’s power and shown their current situation, some in the crowd would have likely feared what was to come next. They assuredly would have been expecting judgment, some form of punishment to come.

Well the end of verse 19 shows the resolution to this event. He says,

“Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribe and by your thousands.”

The people have no clue what is about to happen, but they almost certainly don’t think it is going to be good.

Israel had been told to line up like this before. Very soon after Israel entered the promised Land, the nation was threatened with punishment because of Achan’s disobedience. Each of the tribes were gathered together and then something very similar to what we see happen next here in 1 Samuel, happened years before in Joshua as well.

If any of the folks gathered there at Mizpah were familiar with what happened with Israel and Achan they would have been shaking in their boots! Achan ended up being stoned for his disobedience! What a terrible fate!

The group in 1 Samuel 10 are given no indication of Samuel’s endgame at this moment, they must surely be expecting punishment. Let’s see how things unfold from here:

1 Samuel 10:20–23 ESV

Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. 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. 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.” 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.

We’ll pause right here for a moment.

Samuel brings all the tribes near. 12 tribes in total. The tribe of Benjamin is chosen by lot. Now, that phrase, “by lot” could mean a number of different specific actions but all of them from our perspective would seemingly be what we call chance. So like drawing straws is a form of casting lots. Rolling the dice is a form of casting lots. We don’t have to get caught up in figuring out the exact method because its likely that this expression covers many different methods with the same result.

But seeing this play out like this should allow us to see something that the people there didn’t see right away. You see, we know that this whole selection process is leading to Saul being publically declared king because we read that earlier.

Now doesn’t it seem crazy to leave something so important like that up to chance!? And didn’t Samuel already anoint Saul to be the king? What’s the deal with this casting lots! “Among the Jews lots were used with the expectation that God would so control them as to give a right direction to them.” God was at work throughout every aspect of this situation. God is always in control.

So to chase a rabbit here of practical application, does this mean that we should start making all of our decisions based on the roll of a dice? Or further, does this mean that we should start gambling? By no means! I can assure that God is in control of that dice roll and you just may well experience God’s temporal judgment through the outcomes. God has graced our generation with the full testament of His Word. Start there for your guidance in making decisions.

But back to our story. The tribe of Benjamin is selected. The clan of the Matrites. Then Saul the son of Kish. Everyone starts looking for Saul but he’s no where to be found. Why? Because he’s hiding! This may be because Saul was familiar with the story of Achan and it seemed like things were shaping up the same way. Its possible he felt guilty that he did not deal with the Philistines earlier on in this chapter we are looking at today. Whatever the reason, Saul did not want to be found, but just as in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sought to hide from the Lord, it was of no use. He’s caught hiding among the baggage.

He’s now found and placed front and center to all of the nation of Israel.

Remember that Saul comes from the tribe of Benjamin. He was a farmer. He was not at this point well known by the rest of the country. But here he stands, taller than any of the people from shoulders upward. Literally a head above the crowd.

It seems at this point that the thought of impending judgement fades from Israel’s mind.

Samuel addresses the people once more in verse 24

1 Samuel 10:24 ESV

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!”

At the sight of Saul the fear of judgment changes to exciting approval. The people wanted a king who looked like something. Specifically they wanted a king who would go out before us and fight our battles. Saul is the obvious choice. God’s choice for a leader would coincide with the people’s choice of a king.

In that moment Israel is elated. They thought they were experiencing judgment, but they got what they wanted! They can be like all the rest of the nations now!

Israel would come to find later on that the Lord giving them what they wanted would be a judgment in itself, but we’ll save that point for another day.

Let’s look at three events that happen after Saul’s recognition as king:

1.

1 Samuel 10:25 ESV

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.

The first event is that Samuel writes out what a God honoring king does in the position. He’s describing what the king ought to do and how he should behave toward his subjects. Samuels writings here have not been preserved for us today but it seems highly likely that he wrote out what is described in Deuteronomy 17. There the king is told not to rule greedily. Not to acquire many horses, wives, silver, or gold. The king is to study God’s law, to write it, to read it, to keep it, and to fear the LORD.

To give you a point of practical application here, we should all realize that every position from bondservant to master, from poverty to king, no matter your position in life, you should be in submission to the Lord! If the king of Israel is not above serving the Lord, than neither are we!

We should also at this point note that it is good to desire good leaders. God honoring leaders. While at the same time, remembering that our God is above our leaders! Sometimes like here in the case of Saul God is judging the land through the appointment of a leader. Other times like in the prosperity of David’s kingdom, God blesses a land with a leader who is set after God’s own heart. But in all situations God is in control! We should desire godly leadership without forgetting God’s got this!

There are a lot of wicked and crazy things going on in this world. We see them every night on the news. There are a lot of people who say they have answers. If you vote for them you’ll have peace! We should steward our votes well and seek to honor God in what we do, while never forgetting that peace, real peace, reconciliation with the Holy God, doesn’t come from an earthly leader, but from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the RULE OF THE KINGS ON EARTH. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen!

So Samuel here in verse 25 reminds us that leadership should be dedicated to the Lord. Then he sends everyone home and this happens in verse 26:

1 Samuel 10:26 ESV

Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched.

What’s interesting here is that Saul’s first act as King is to obey the Prophet. Israel may now have it’s earthly king, but don’t get it twisted, God is still in charge.

Alas, Saul heads home to Gibeah. This place has an interesting connection with the history of Israel. Gibeah is the location for the last scene in the book of Judges. One of the most gruesome, despicable scenes in all of Scripture takes place in chapter 19. Chapters 20 and 21 recap how the rest of Israel was so disgusted by the actions of the Benjaminites in Gibeah that they almost wiped out the whole tribe. It’s a very dark ending to a very dark book. The last verse in book of Judges reads, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

It is amazing then, that some years later after such darkness in the land, that Israel’s first king would come from the place and tribe that acted so egregiously. It’s incredible to see how God reverses things. How He brings down and raises up, makes poor and rich, brings low and exalts. I’ll just note that no matter how dark your history has been, that does not mean God will not do a work in you.

So, Saul returns home and has a group of valiant men with him. These are men whom God has prepared for battle. It’s likely that Saul is to fight off the Philistine garrison that is still in the area. God provided the Constitution for the new monarchy in verse 25 and here He provides the military needed to protect it. We see God is working indeed.

But there is one more happening we must note before we conclude, verse 27.

1 Samuel 10:27 ESV

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.

Now when we read this with the advantage of being 3000 years later in history, we may be tempted to think that these guys knew what we know now. We may think that they are even righteous in their rejection because we know that Saul turns out to be a pretty bad king. But that would be reading our ideas into the text where the author did not intend for us to do so.

What’s happening here is that these “worthless fellows” are rejecting the Lord’s appointee for Israel. Now verse 24 told us that all the people cheered and said, “Long live the King!” When Saul was publically appointed, so either these worthless fellows weren’t there, or they had already turned on their new king! It’s possible they didn’t like the God honoring guidance that Samuel had written for the king. Their rejection here should not be seen so much as directed toward to Saul and it should be seen as directed towards the Lord! One commentary notes, “Saul’s presence and authority stir up their innate sinful rebelliousness, just as the presence of Jesus as the Lord’s anointed will later stimulate the antagonism of the Jews. Fallen humanity refuses to recognize that ANY should rule over it.”

If you remember back to the beginning of the Sermon this morning, I talked about how without Christ we are hostile toward God. When we are hostile toward God we do want Him to be rule over anything in our lives much less everything. Without Christ, we are like the Worthless fellows. Despising the Lord’s anointed.

In our sin fallen state, we are worthless. Much like Israel we long for a king, but in our sin fallen state we don’t see that God is the King we need.

When Samuel gave his speech to the whole nation there were three parts to his message.

The Reminder, The Current Situation, and the Resolution.

I’d like to follow the same pattern for our conclusion this morning:

I want to remind you that God created the heavens and the earth. That God is all mighty and all holy. That He is perfection perfected. He is above all things and working through all things. He is Love. He give life abundant. He saves! He sent Jesus to pay for the sins of all those who believe in Him. As the old hymn says, God is so good, He’s so good to me.

Now let me set the current situation. We are living in a sin-filled world. Our flesh desires sins. Our sin separates us from the Holy God. Our sin leads us to more sin. To more pain. To more suffering. A never ending cycle of sin and consequence. Our flesh rejects God. Though He is mighty and good, our flesh longs for the darkness. And in this current situation we are hostile toward the Holy God.

So allow me to present you with the resolution: God, in His great Love, sent Jesus to die for our sins, while we were still sinners, while we were still hostile to Him. By God’s grace He sent Jesus to Provide Peace. Though God has every right to justly administer His judgment, out of His own unmerited favor He extends forgiveness to all those who truly have Jesus as Lord. To those who have Jesus as the true King of their lives. If you turn from your sin and confess Jesus as Lord, you will be saved.

2 Corinthians 4:5 “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”

You know you have Jesus Christ as Lord when you see He is worthy to be served and desired to do so.

The worthless fellows in our text this morning did not see the worth of following God’s appointed one, nor did they desire to do so. May that not be us this morning!

If you have known Jesus as Lord for some time, then use this morning as a reminder of that positional reality and serve Him with zeal! Seek His Word! Apply it for His glory!

Maybe you have never seen Him as worthy to actually be served, maybe you’ve never desired to do so. I have to tell you that that is a worthless position to have. You remain hostile to the Sovereign of Creation! That will not end well for you! But maybe today you are beginning to see the worthiness of Christ to be served, maybe you desire to do so but don’t know how! That is what this church and this word is for! I would love to talk with you more about that today, reach out in this hymn of response. See the worthiness of Christ, feel the grace of God, serve Him today!

Let’s pray.

Covenantal Promises:

We have:

receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord

We promise to:

to exemplify Christ in our daily lives