I'll have the final word
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1 Samuel 31:1 – 6
1 Samuel 31:1 – 6
Introduction: As we begin
This evening
Let me ask you
Have you heard someone say
I will have
The final word?
We’ve no doubt
Heard someone say that
We might’ve even said it
Ourselves
And sometimes
In a discussion
With someone
We might have
The final word
But not always
But
Be that
As it may
A day is coming
For all of us
Where we will speak
Our final words
And that they came
For Saul
The king of Israel
Turn in your Bibles
To 1 Samuel 31
1 Samuel 31
The Bible says
Beginning in verse 1
(1 Samuel 31:1–6 “Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, Saul’s sons. And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers. Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him. So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together.”
Let’s go to the Lord
In a word of prayer
(Pray)
I. The background
Declaration
Now them
As we read
This passage of Scripture
It becomes clear
To all of us
That these words
Were king Saul’s
Final words
Listen to them again
In
Verse 4
We are told here
That
(1 Samuel 31:4 “Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.”
These were Saul’s
Final words
To those
With whom he served
And the armies of Israel
What
Sad words
They were
“ Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me.”
Now
Final words
Are Often
Very impactful
And these words
That
Saul spake
By the way
Do make an impact
But final words
Are more often than not
Very meaningful
And impactful
That’s true
see
last words
offer us
a glimpse
into the minds
Of those who speak them
ranging from defiant
and witty
to profound
and deeply human.
And sometimes
Quite frankly
They
are foolish words
As we’ve just seen
From King Saul
“ Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me.”
But see
One’s final words
Are often meaningful
And impactful
Sometimes witty
And profound
or even foolish
For
Example
Steve Jobs
Said
"Oh wow.
Oh wow.
Oh wow."
Sir Winston Churchill
Said
"I'm bored
with it all."
Then
Bob Marley’s
Final words
Were
that
"Money
can't buy life"
What an important truth
One needs to learn
Likewise
Leonardo da Vinci’s
Final words were
"I have offended God
and mankind
because my work
did not reach the quality
it should have."
What sad words
And
Some rather foolish
Final words
Were uttered
By Humphrey Bogart
Who said
"I should have never switched
from Scotch
to Martinis."
Frank Sinatra’s
Final words
Were
"I'm losing."
Ludwig van Beethoven
said
"Pity, pity, too late!"
and
]Archimedes
Who was
A famous Greek mathematician
Physicist
Engineer
And inventor
Said
"Do not disturb
my circles!"
And those words
Were
addressed
to a Roman soldier
who invaded
his workspace)
And Voltaire
Who was
An 18th-century
French writer
And philosopher
And a leading figure
Of the Enlightenment
Said
when asked
by a priest
to
renounce Satan
But he said
"Now is not the time
To make new enemies”
What a foolish, foolish man
Voltaire was
And what a foolish
Final word
He left
To mankind
And
Even in the Bible
We find final words
From important people
In fact
Consider
The Lord Jesus Christ
And by the way
He was blessed
To
Be able
To offer two statements
As final words
In fact
As our Savior
Was being crucified
And as He was
about to die
The
Bible says
(Luke 23:46 “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.”
And then
After His resurrection
And only moments
Before our Lord’s ascension
And heaven
He said
(Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Likewise
Moses
The man of God :
Before his death
on Mount Nebo,
blessed the tribes
of Israel,
concluding with
(Deuteronomy 33:29 “Happy art thou, O Israel: Who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, The shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! And thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; And thou shalt tread upon their high places.”
and
Nearing his death,
David
offered a final charge
to his son, Solomon,
advising him
to follow God's commands
faithfully.
and his parting words
Were
(1 Kings 2:2–3 “I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man; And keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself:”
Then
As he was stoned
to death,
Stephen
modeled the forgiveness
of Christ
With these final words
Where the Bible says
(Acts 7:60 “And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
And
The patriarch Jacob
Before passing away,
he blessed
his twelve sons
and gathered his feet
onto his bed,
And his last
recorded words
being
a plea
for divine salvation
Said
(Genesis 49:18 “I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.”
The apostle Paul
Facing his execution
in Rome,
Uttered
final written words
That reflected
his lifelong mission
Where he said
2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:”
What a blessing
To be able to make such a statement
That’s true
And
Joshua Moses’ minister
In the one who succeeded him
As the leader of Israel
and
Before gathering the elders
and leaders of Israel
to challenge them
to serve the Lord,
he
famously declared
his own allegiance:
By saying
(Joshua 24:15 “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
And again
What meaningful
Final words those were
From a life
Well lived
Oh but
In
Our text
For this evening
We read about a life
Or the conclusion
Of the life
That wasn’t live very well
King Saul
And
We read
His last words
His final words
In our text
(1 Samuel 31:4 “Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.”
And
With that in mind
And this evening
I want to speak
On
The thought
Of final words
I want to preach
In fact
About King Saul’s
Final words
And I want us
To look
Into
His heart
And be instructed
This evening
But before
We examine his last words
It is important
For us
To understand the background
And
If you know your Bible
And understand
Bible history
Then
You will recall
That
Some 40 years earlier
God
Had
Raised up Saul
To be the king
Of the nation of Israel
And He did so
At a time
When Israel
Had rejected
their Heavenly King
In fact
Turn back
To chapter 8
here
In 1 Samuel
And let’s read
Versus 1 – 5
The Bible says
In 1 Samuel 8:1–5 “And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beer-sheba. And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
Now
In the passage
We find the truth
That Israel
Had rejected
Their true King
There Heavenly King
And that Heavenly King
Was God the Father
In fact
In verse seven
We are told
That
(1 Samuel 8:7 “And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.”
Oh what a tragedy
That is
Of a people
Who
After
God created them
As a nation
And after
God had redeemed them
And brought them
Into their own land
After got sustained them
After so many years
They
Rejected Him!
By the way
The word rejected
There
In verse 7
Means to spurn
It is
To abhor something
So
The truth is
God said
That these people
My people
Have despised me
They have spurned me
They Have
Rejected me
And you know
Sadly
Some people
Have rejected God today
They are somewhat
Like the nation of Israel
Of old
Who would rather
Have another king
Ruling over them
Rather
Then
the KING
As a matter of fact
Some would prefer
The king of cash
Some would prefer
The king of convenience
Or the King
Of the casual
To reign over them
That is
Entertainment
Relaxation
And pleasure
But again
In the days
That preceded
God is raising up Saul
It
Why is this sad time
When Israel
Had rejected
their Heavenly King
But
At the same time to
It was a time
When Israel
Was under attack
In fact
We are told
In verse 3
Of chapter 7
(1 Samuel 7:3 “And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”
So
During this time
The Philistines
Attacking Israel
And all throughout
The period of the judges
The Philistines
Had been there enemy
And
From
Reading the Bible
We realize
That the Philistines
Were a warlike people
Who made frequent incursions
Into the Jewish homeland
As a matter of fact
There was almost
Perpetual war
Between them
And God’s people
And sometimes
The Philistines
Help the tribes of Israel
Especially
The southern tribes
In degrading servitude
We
Read about that
in the book of Judges
Chapter 15
Which sums up
Those Philistine incursions
By saying about Samson
(Judges 15:20 “And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.”
That is
In the days
Where the Philistines
Troubled Israel
And
Not only that
But the Bible says
In 1 Samuel 13:19–22 “Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears: But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock. Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads. So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found.”
But in those days
Prior
to God rising up Saul
As king of Israel
It was a time of war
Where Israel
Was under attack
They
Had an enemy
The Philistines
And by the way
Their greatest enemy
Was not the Philistines
It was their own flesh
Because
Had they just been doing right
By God
The
Philistines
Wouldn’t have been
Such a problem
For the nation of Israel
The Lord
Would have surely defeated
These people
See
When God’s hand
Is on the people
And what the people
They may have an enemy
And we surely do
Our enemy
Is Satan
As well as our flesh
And
If we would simply
Conquer our flesh
God would give us the victory
Over the devil
But again
In those days
Before Saul
Was crowned as king
Deliberation
It
was a time
Of rejection
Israel
Had rejected the Lord
As there King
And wanted
A king
Like all the other nations had
And
At the same time too
It was a time
Of Revolt
Were the Philistines
Were laying siege
To the nation of Israel
They were under constant attack
By these warlike people
So
God raised up
A human king for them
Saul
And as God chose him
He seemed!
To be a humble man
In fact
When Samuel
Was
About to anoint him
As the king
The Bible tells us
In chapter 10
Here in 1 Samuel
And in verses 21 – 23
(1 Samuel 10:21–23 “When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken: and when they sought him, he could not be found. Therefore they inquired of the Lord further, if the man should yet come thither. And the Lord answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff. And they ran and fetched him thence: and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.”
But see
God shows all
To be the king
Of the nation of Israel
But as you read your Bible
You eventually find
That God regretted
Having raised up Saul
To be their king
Because
It wasn’t long
Before Saul’s disobedience
Got in the way
In fact
Let’s read
The first 12 verses
Of chapter 13
Here in this book
The Bible says
(1 Samuel 13:1–12 “Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Beth-el, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent. And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear. And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also was had in abomination with the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal. And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Beth-aven. When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits. And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him. And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash; Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.”
Now
And that passage
We find Saul
Disobeying the instruction
Given to him
By the man of God
And that is in all
Because later on
We realize
That
He deliberately
Disobey the commandment
That God gave him
In chapter 15
In fact
The Lord sent Samuel
To tell Saul
(1 Samuel 15:2–3 “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.”
But
We find
In verses 7 – 8
(1 Samuel 15:7–8 “And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou come st to Shur, that is over against Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.”
And not only that
But he spared
The best of their flocks
But the truth is
He didn’t know they
The Word of the Lord
Because
Partial obedience
Is disobedience
He partially obeyed
The commandment of God
But not fully
And as you continue
To examine his life
You realize
That
Saul
Seemeds determined
To do things
Saul’s way
By the way
Solomon wrote
In Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, But the end thereof are the ways of death.”
And that was Saul
He
was determined
To do things
His own way
What a reckless determination
That can be
For the child of God
To just determine
To do things
One’s own way
Regardless
Of what anyone says
What a spiritually dangerous
Attitude to have
But sadly
There are some believers
Who do just that
Black King Saul
They say to themselves
I
am Going to do things
my way
I’m going to do
What I want
When I want
And how I want
But in their stubborn disobedience
And their determination
to
Do things
Their way
Well like Saul
They become
A huge disappointment
To their Lord
And listen please
Saul was
Because
In chapter 15
After Saul had deliberately
And just obediently
Determined
To disobey God
Well
The Lord said
In verse 11 there
(1 Samuel 15:11 “It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night.”
Oh
What a disappointment
Saul had become
To the Lord his God
But let me ask you
Do we ever
Disappoint our Lord
Because
We don’t follow Him
And His Word?
By the way
Whether
It is disobedience
To slay the Amalekites
Or to bear false witness
It still disobedience
And whether you commit adultery
Or are unkind
To someone
Both their disobedience
And
Disobedience
Of any kind
Brings disappointment
To our Lord
There is no doubt
Determination
But
That was Saul
And as a result
Of Saul’s rejection
Of the commandments of the Lord
God rejected him
From being king
In fact
Look if you would
At chapter 13
After Saul usurped
the priestly duties
by offering
an unauthorized sacrifice himself
instead of waiting for Samuel
He tried
To
Excuse himself
By saying
(1 Samuel 13:12–14 “Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering. And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.”
Oh
What is that pronouncement
That was made to Saul
Thy kingdom
Shall not continue
Can
You imagine
What it must’ve been like
To hear those words
Your time is finished
But the point is
King Saul
Had become a disappointment
To the Lord God of heaven
So
God decided
Not only
Upon his dethronement
But God decided
Upon his demise
In fact
Look at chapter 15 again
As
Saul tried
To justify himself
For his disobedience
To God’s Word
Samuel told him
In verses 22 – 23
( 1 Samuel 15:22–23 “ Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.”
In
Other words
Samuel was Saying
You have rejected God’s Word
So
He has rejected you
And here is the point
Sin
Is a very destructive
it
Pays wages
It works powerfully
And ultimately
It brings about penalties
It penalizes
The disobedient
Who engage in it
And
In terms
Of Saul’s kingdom
He was a train wreck
With regards to sin
And that’s sin
Led
To what we read
In our text
For this evening
In chapter 31
II. The burden
Declaration
In fact
30 years
After the events
Chapter 15
Saul was still the king
Of Israel
And once again
Israel
Is under attack
Notice
Verse 1
Here in chapter 31
The Bible says
(1 Samuel 31:1 “Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.”
By the way
It may
Had seemed
That the wheels of God’s justice
Were moving slowly
But I’m convinced
Because of what I know
About my Lord
But
I
Am convinced
That God
in His grace
Was givcing Saul
Opportunity
After opportunity
To repent
To find mercy
Because see
God’s mercy
Is everlasting
I sure am glad
It is
And the psalmist wrote
In Psalm 100:5 “For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; And his truth endureth to all generations.”
But
That being said
God’s mercy
Is just as sure
God’s correction
We ought never forget that
Let me say it again
God’s mercy
It is as sure
As God’s correction
Because
As you read
The latter part
Of 1 Samuel
You realize
That David
And his men
Had been in Ziclag
They had in fact
Had
Had recovered
Their kidnapped loved ones
Who had been taken
By the Amalekites
In chapter 30
And now
They had returned
to Ziklag
While
King Saul and his men
Were in battle
Losing
I might add
So think about that
God delivered
David’s enemies
to him
In battle
But
God delivered Saul
And his men
Into the hands of his enemies
Again it says
(1 Samuel 31:1 “Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.”
And
The point is
When you’re out of God’s will
Things
Have a tendency
To fall apart
For you as a believer
That
When like Saul
You determine
To do things your way
Well listen please
There
Will be no shortage
Of the correcting hand
Of the Lord
Upon your life
And in Saul’s case
He used the Philistines
To be the instrument
Of His correcting hand
And
Notice the price
Saul paid
For his unwillingness
To get things right
But yet would not
Even after 30 years
Our text tells us
That
Many of his soldiers
Fled in battle
And you can be sure
These were his elite soldiers
These were the ones
Thatr protected salt
In battle
But
The Bible says
They fled
From the Philistines
By the way
When you are depending
On God
In the battles of life
Welll listen please
He never runs away
But
Not only
Did his soldiers
Flee in battle
But
The Bible says
Many of his soldiers
fell
In battle
Listen
To verse 1 again
1 Samuel 31:1 “Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.”
But as Israel
Was under attack
King Saul
Was under active judgment
The judgment of GodIt’s
Because
30 years
Prior
God had told him
Your kingdom
Shall not stand
Three decades
Before the events
Of chapter 31
The prophet Samuel
Told Saul
(1 Samuel 15:28 “ The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.”
That word
Rent
By the way
Is a violent word
And it means
To tear away
And in chapter 31
The God of heaven
is
Tearing away
His kingdom from him
Details
And
Think about
The details
Of all of this
Of God’s judgment
His men were killed
In verse 1
But then
His son was killed
In fact
The Bible says
In verse 2 here
(1 Samuel 31:2 “And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, Saul’s sons.”
How heartrending
That must’ve been
But then finally
He himself
Was struck in battle
Verse three says
(1 Samuel 31:3 “And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers.”
By the way
Let me say that
Satan has an arrow
With your name on it
And without the protection
Of the Lord
That arrow
Will most certainly find you
It will wound you
Like a wounded Saul
So
The lesson is clear
With the Lord
There is safety
With the Lord
There is serenity
And supply
But when you are away
From the Lord
You
Can expect
The arrows of adversity
To come your way
You can anticipate
The Arrows of aggravation
To be shot at you
And you can count on
The arrows of assault
When
You take yourself
Away from God’s safety net
And when that happens
You can market down
Like Saul
You will fall
Again verse three says
(1 Samuel 31:3 “And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers.”
That word sore
By the way
Means heavily
Because
Saul was away from God
The errors of adversity
Weighed heavily
Upon him
Deliberation
And
That brings us
To Saul’s final words
As those Philistine archers
Found their target
And as Saul
Was mortally wounded
Listen again
To his final words
In
Verse 4
He said
(1 Samuel 31:4 “ Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.”
Now
Think about that
He was asking his men
Actually
He was commanding
His men
To kill him
He
Was asking him
To do
What amounts
To assisted suicide
What an awful thing
By the way
Suicide
Is not the unpardonable sin
Although
It is a sin
Because death
Is God’s prerogative
It is his prerogative
To both give
And take life
But Saul asked his men
to help me
Commit suicide
But
The reason is clear
And I want you
to listen carefully
He said kill me
So the enemy
Doesn’t kill me
Kill me
So that the enemy
Doesn’t abuse me
Oh but
They will abuse him
In fact
It tells us
That after they killed him
The Philistines
(1 Samuel 31:9–10 “cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people. And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.”
And there is a lesson here
That we need to learn
That
Like Saul
When we align ourselves
With the enemy
When we determine
To do things our way
Rather
Then God’s way
We
Invite the abuse
Of our enemy
Against us
Delegation
But
Please don’t miss this
King Saul’s final words
Were not words
Of encouragement
To his children
Or his grandchildren
Nor were they words
Of instruction
For the nation
They
Were some
Of the saddest words
Ever recorded
Kill me
He said
They were words
Of defeat
And demoralization
Because
Those words
Came
From a man
Who had rejected
The Word of the Lord
And for 30 Years
He would not repent
But
Just think
God had given him
3 Decades
To get things right
But rather than repent
He is determined
To commit suicide
And
Even
As the Arrows of the enemy
Were flying his way
He could’ve begged God
For forgiveness
And he would’ve found
That God
His gracious
In fact
Are you so glad
For the words
Of 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
man
I sure am
By the way
God will give grace
To the wicked
Even on their deathbeds
If they but repent
In fact
I think about
The thief on the cross
On his deathbed
As
he hung on the cross
Beside Jesus
He said Lord
Would you please remember me
When you come
Into Your kingdom?
But
Do you remember
What
Jesus said
He said
This day
Thou shalt be with me
In paradise
And
Here’s the point
I’m trying to make
Deathbed conversions
Foxhole conversions
Are better
The no conversion at all
But
There was Saul
As he stared down
The enemy
And faced the arrows
He could’ve repented
Before God
He could have turned
Back to the Lord
But
Sadly
He did not
He stayed determined
To take matters
Into his own hands
Rather than let God
Decide
How he died
And
When he decided
Commit assisted suicide
But couldn’t find
A willing accomplice
Notice what he did
The Bible says
In verse 4
(1 Samuel 31:4 “Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.”
And
Moments later
he Went out
And met the Lord
In disobedience
He
Could have pleaded
For mercy
But he didn’t
Now
The truth about God is
He is merciful
In fact
The Bible says
In Lamentations 3:22 “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.”
So
Saul could’ve pleaded
For mercy
But he did not
Mercy from God
But instead
He pleaded for someone
To help him do things
His way
By the way
Did you Notice
His self-centered attitude
Again he said
In verse 4
(1 Samuel 31:4 “Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.”
see
He was more concerned
About me
About
Himself
That he was
About the Almighty
And therefore
His final words
Were so foolish
III. The blessing
Declaration
But
I’m so thankful
That our final words
That our life
In fact
Doesn’t have to conclude
Or be like Saul
And
With that in mind
Let me
Make
Three suggestions
Suggestion 1
Is
Live your life today
So that there be no regrets
Tomorrow
Live
In view of eternity
Today
So that there will be no regrets
Tomorrow
The Bible says
In James 4:14 “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”
There is
A second suggestion
That I would like to make
And that is
If by chance
You are out of God’s will
In the here and now
Then
Remember
That
God is merciful
And come to yourself
Like the prodigal son
After being away
Ms. earthly father
After living his life
In a world of sin
The Bible says
(Luke 15:17 “And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!”
So
Live your life today
In such a way
That there will be no regrets
For tomorrow
And
If you’re out of God’s will
In the here and now
Then
Just repent
Come to yourself
And come home
to Jesus
Determination
And
Finally
As a believer
Make your words
Meaningful
Whether they are words
In the present
Or your final words
Speak words
To those around you
That edify the saints
That evangelize
Lost souls
And that exalts
Our Savior
So
What about you
Maybe God
Has spoken to your heart
And if so
You come to the altar
And let Him
Deal with you?
Conclusion: Let’s close in prayer
