“The End?” - 1 Samuel 31

Someone might say: "Well, I'm not very religious, but I'm a good person and that is what is most important." Thats what I want said at my Eulogy. But is that true? Imagine a woman, a poor widow with an only son. She teaches him how she wants him to live, to always tell the truth, to work hard and to help the poor.

She makes very little money, but with her meager savings she is able to put him through college. Imagine that when he graduates, he hardly even speaks to her again. He occasionally sends a Christmas card, but he doesn't visit her, he won't even answer her phone calls or letters; he doesn't speak to her. But he lives just like she taught him—honestly, industriously, and charitably.

Would you say this was acceptable? Of course not. Wouldn't we say by living a "good life" but neglecting a relationship with the one to whom he owed everything he was doing something commendable?

In the same way, God created us and we owe him everything and we do not live for him but we "live a good life" it is not enough. We all owe a debt that must be paid.

Family... A good moral life without repentance is still a tragedy. (Say again) This is why I continue to warn us about behavior modification principles commonly given by modern day life coaching and the modern self help pragmatic church consulting. It might make us good citizens, but it wont make us good Christians. It might teach us how to make lemonade out of the lemons the world gives us, but it wont bring us the water of life. It might keep us out of jail, but it wont keep us out of hell. No matter how moral and upright the life, a life void of faith and repentance is still a tragedy. At the end of our lives what kind of Eulogy are we looking for? One riddled with good works and accomplishments or one full of our faith and repentance before our heavenly Father. He was an awesome man or he was a man who loved Jesus.

The sad thing… in our culture, lives are or are not celebrated by the list of works, integrity, accomplishments, relationship to family ect. Even when there was a life void of anything good… the task of the Eulogy is to find something good to say about the person. There is tension… now I know that we can have both and both would be the best… but you could have a person who is a complete moral failure but because they have faith and repentance before the Lord, they will forever be a king or a queen in the kingdom of heaven. You could have a person with a life of great moral accomplishments, but have not faith and repentance, and burn in hell forever. A good life is not enough. We must be found in Christ with faith and repentance. We cannot simply be a good man we have to be God’s man. We cannot be a man of character we have to be a man of God.

How is this possible? We will see this whole thing in the spotlight in our passage today.

Last week we saw the amazing grace of God as he led David and his men to get back all that the enemy took from them. They defeated the enemy against incredible odds and witnessed a great display of leadership from David.

We now come to the battle that really began in chapter 28 but we had 3 chapters of breaking news. The Philistines attacked Israel and many were slaughtered on the slopes of Mount Gilboa. They closed in on the son’s of Saul, including Jonathan (David’s dear friend) and killed them. The battle started to become fierce around Saul and one of the Philistine arrows wounded him. Saul asked his armor bearer to kill him before the Philistines come to torture him. The armor bearer was too afraid and refused to do it. Saul then took his own sword and fell on it and when his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he took his sword and fell upon it and he died next to the king. So they all died together on the same day. The next day the Philistines found Saul and his sons. They cut off Saul’s head and stripped off his armor and proclaimed their good news… and they did it in their pagan temple, before their idols and to all the people. The Philistines celebrated as the soldiers placed the armor of Saul in the temple before their god Ashtoreth and they tied the bodies of Saul and his sons to a wall for all to see. Remember, David and the Israelites did the same thing to Goliath and the Philistines soldiers. David took Goliath’s head to Israel and the sword of Goliath eventually ended up in the temple next to the Ephod (the robe of the Priest). This is just to get some perspective to what the Philistines were doing. The Israelites did this too. Now some mighty warriors of Israel heard about what happened and snuck into the city and took down the bodies of Saul, Jonathan (David’s friend) and his other sons and burned them and buried them in Jabesh.

1 Samuel 31:6 NLT

So Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and his troops all died together that same day.

The Eulogy

God’s Grace

The first thing we will look at is the eulogy of the life of a king of Israel which ends in tragedy... not because of what he did, but because of what he did not believe. Finally, we will see that our salvation is not based on what we did or did not do, but because of what Christ did and what we believe. What will our Eulogy say about us?

Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to justify our sins and to think higher of ourselves than we ought, driving us away from repentance, our Lord Jesus came into this world to die for our sins showing us the deepest of love, compassion, and kindness which is intended to lead us to repentance.

I. Saul’s Eulogy

- A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person(s) or thing(s), especially one who recently died or retired or as a term of endearment.

A. What does the Bible tell us about the life of Saul? I’m sure we can think of many different times we have heard eulogies at funerals that you have attended. We will see this here for Saul in a way.

B. When we look back at Saul’s life in the Scriptures what do we see? What is his eulogy? We see a man who was given a great honor and squandered it. He continued to disobey and rebel against the Lord over and over again. He was to kill all of the Amalekites but he kept the king alive and tried to justify keeping the possessions. He in unbelief, offered the sacrifice in disobedience and made excuses. He hunted down David in jealousy and tried to kill him and his own son Jonathan. He had all of the priests and their families killed for helping David. He spent pretty much the rest of his life hunting down David and he consulted with the witch or medium of Endor which was emphatically wicked. Saul did a lot of evil things. But this was not his failure.

C. Many of us stop at this point calling Saul an evil man who got what he deserved… look at all that he did. But wait… David did some evil things as well. He is not even king yet and already we see the lying, the deceit, the violence, his anger, his pride and wrath especially when it came to Nabal.

D. What about us? Can we really sit back and point the finger at Saul and make that kind of judgment? I mean we do the same things. The same things as Saul? We are just as guilty. Huh? Many of us squandered the gifts and talents and honor that the Lord has given us. How many times have we been disobedient to the Lord in what he directly commands? No I was obedient… I didn’t lie I just didn’t tell the whole truth! I killed everyone, just not the king. And I’m sure we have a good reason. I’m sure we could justify it.

E. How many times did we disobey God, when instead of waiting for Him, we took matters into our own hands? We just could not wait for God anymore. Making the sacrifice like Saul did. Disobey because God took too long. How many times did we do sinful things in anger and jealousy? How many times did we and do we react harshly to people who help those we don’t like? Do you know what they did to me… how could you help them!!! Are we even now consumed with anger, unforgiveness, and jealousy?

F. How many of us have even turned to evil practices for aid in life? Psychic hotlines, mediums, Ouija boards, horoscopes, or even mind altering or numbing drugs? Many of us do the same things that Saul did and for some of us we could be even worse!!

G. David did much of the same… so how can we make a judgment about Saul this way. This life is still one of tragedy… but the problem was not simply his disobedience. Listen up! Turn the volume on your ears up… Focus. The problem was not his incessant disobedience; it was his incessant failure to repent. He did not repent.

H. After the sinful sacrifice that he made… no repentance. After he did not kill the king of the Amalekites, he seems to be sorry for what he did, but he was more concerned about losing his position rather than being concerned about disobeying God. This was not repentance. How many times did David spare his life and yet he continued to hunt him down after he said he would not do it again! Even in God’s silence, instead of pressing into the Lord in deep humility, he goes to a medium to speak to dead spirits. This is not repentance or a heart that desires repentance.

I. He obviously does not see his sin as coming against a Holy God to whom he serves! But he sees it as upsetting a God who is not serving him rightly. Ok... I’m sorry for what I did, so can you move forward with you fixing my life. What do I need to do to get you to help me again? Say I’m sorry… Ok then, I’m sorry.

J. Repentance; the turning away from sin is such an important topic and yet can be sorely neglected at times. But this is the Gospel. We don’t hear true Gospel preachers now and from all history declaring stop sinning or else… Paul said…

Acts 20:21 NLT

I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike—the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.

Matthew 4:17 NLT

From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

L. Yes… David was no different when it came to sinning like Saul, but his true repentance was deeply moving.

Psalm 51:10–12 NLT

Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

M. David wanted a clean heart, Saul wanted a stout heart. David wanted a right spirit, Saul wanted to talk to spirits. Saul did not want to be cast from the presence of the people of Israel, David did not want to be cast from the presence of God. Saul wanted restoration of his kingdom, David wanted restoration of his salvation. Saul desired peace in life. David wanted peace with God.

N. When we repent… what are we asking for? Do we repent like Saul tried to or repent like David did? Do we apologize to God because we disobeyed Him or because we don’t want him to punish us! Do we apologize because we are just playing the part or because we are really sorry. Are we sorry because we sinned or because we got caught? Do we desire peace in life or peace with God. Do we desire the good life or the good God? Is our desire to always be right or always be right with God? Look at what we learn. This is how you know you have not truly repented.

O. Saul apologized to Samuel only. Do you realize what you show if you apologize in fear of me (your pastor) more than God? This is just worldly sorrow. This is why his life was one of tragedy. David apologized to God…

Psalm 51:4 NLT

Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.

P. Saul justified his sin (This is a big one). When you justify your sin, you are showing that you are not really completely responsible for what you did. You couldn’t help it. Take responsibility for it… And let me help you…You cannot justify your sin before God, so do not even try it. Know this, it shows what we really believe about God if we justify. It is just worldly sorrow. This is why his life was one of tragedy.

Q. Saul is more concerned about saving face. He is concerned about how he looks more than he does about how he really is. Hmmmm. Fine I will do whatever you want… i’ll repent, just don’t make me look bad. It is just worldly sorrow. This is why his life was one of tragedy.

2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT

For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

S. Hopefully you see that this chapter is a wake up call for us! We must be concerned about this. We should be concerned, because His judgment is real. He promises to judge us and His promises are yes and amen. There is no if ands or buts about it. Judgment is real and it is coming. Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.

II. God’s Grace

Nothing lasts, except the grace of God, by which I stand.

A. God’s word is true and it is clear. There was judgment coming for Saul.

1 Samuel 15:

1 Samuel 15:28–29 NLT

And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to someone else—one who is better than you. And he who is the Glory of Israel will not lie, nor will he change his mind, for he is not human that he should change his mind!”

1 Samuel 28:19 NLT

What’s more, the Lord will hand you and the army of Israel over to the Philistines tomorrow, and you and your sons will be here with me. The Lord will bring down the entire army of Israel in defeat.”

B. And for all of us today

Romans 2:5 NLT

But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

Luke 13:5 NLT

No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.”

E. This is the future life of unrepentance. Judgement. You will be rejected as Saul is rejected. We may have the sorrow of the world, but it will only bring us death. We may carry the integrity of the world, but it will only bring us death. We may carry all the moral rewards from the world, but it will only bring us death. This is the promise of God. And as you can see, all of the promises of God came true in the death of Saul and his sons. God’s word is true. It will happen. It will all come to pass. God promises to judge and He did and … listen up… He will Judge. You better believe that judgement is coming and like I say it is already here and happening.

F. But I have good news for us today… God’s promises are true and will not change. We see it with His judgment, therefore we will also see it with his salvation.

G. All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart you will be saved.

H. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ

I. If you confess your sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us.

John 5:24 NLT

“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.

K. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance… Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised on the third day

L. This is the gospel of Jesus. The grace of God continues… Did you notice that when Saul was killed the Philistines gloated in their temple before their gods? They had the victory over Israel and they saw it as a victory of their gods over Jehovah. All that celebrating was in defiance and disrespect of the God of Israel. Why would God allow this? Why would he do something that would reflect badly on Him? You better believe that our God will endure humiliation and blasphemy to fulfill his promises to His people.

M. He endured humiliation in giving the people what they wanted… they wanted to reject God and for him to give them a king. Saul. He gave them what they wanted and look at what happened. Maybe we should remember this story, when we don’t get what we want. They were defeated and God was mocked by the Philistines. But it was all used to shape the Lord’s king David who was coming.

N. He did it once again, when He was humiliated by become a man and dying on the cross to fulfill His plans and purposes. He was mocked and rejected again. But this time he saved us all with the coming king… one who was resurrected and sitting at the right hand of the Father with all authority in heaven and on earth given to Him. Our Lord Jesus is the king who came… He is the King of Kings. He is our Savior.