Sermon Tone Analysis

1 sam 13:1

Intro: Today, we continue our journey through the book of 1 Samuel…now up to this point, the new king of the Israelites has showed pretty well…but here in chapter 13 we’re gonna see the beginning of Saul’s downfall

(Prop) Today we’re gonna have a first hand look at the kind of leader God rejects this will be a good reminder for those of us in leadership…a reminder of what not to do...

This seems fitting for Father’s day…But everyone is a leader in some right

Saul was insecure

Saul was disobedient

Saul had the wrong heart

Mind your heart

Saul was insecure

Now the first couple of verses set up the context...

Before this time Israel didn’t have standing army so to speak…they were more like a militias…but now Saul is the king…so he’s wanting an army…so he calls this standing army together…and one of the commanders of the army was his son Johnathan who was a great man…and we’ll get to know him well

Before this time Israel didn’t have standing army so to speak…they were more like a militias…but now Saul is the king…so he’s wanting an army…so he calls this standing army together…and one of the commanders of the army was his son Johnathan who was a great man…and we’ll get to know him well

Look at what he did...

1 samuel 13:3-

1 sAM 13:

So Johnathan was a remarkable military leader…and he and his thousand troops take out this garrison (A highly fortified base with around double what Johnathan had)

Notice 2 things:

Notice that when they went out and attacked the philistines…the philistines get really angry - “Israel had become a stench to the philistines” - Now it’s important to understand the dynamic of the relationship between the Philistines and the Israelites, the Philistines we’re in charge…they were the bully…and Israel was permitted to live, but essentially under the oppression of the Philistines.

but as soon as Israel fought back…The philistines got angry and really began to attack with full force

Theres a spiritual picture here: The bible says spiritually speaking we have a very real enemy named satan who wants to keep us under his thumb…and as long as your subject to him, living for what he wants you to live for…you might live quite a comfortable life

I’ve been reading about Slavery in the south and how horrific It was, and to how there was literally publication in the 1850’s called the “Ideal Slave” and it promoted a 3 pronged on how to handle a slave:

Keep them fearful - As long as they believe they have no power or chance of power they’ll remained submitted

Keep them uneducated - As long as they carry around with them deep sense of inferiority they’ll remain submitted

Teach the servants to take interest in the master’s enterprise - As long as they believe that the life that their oppressor is living is the ultimate life to live they will remain submitted

Following the prohibition placed on the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the early nineteenth century, some slave owners attempted to improve the living conditions of their existing slaves in order to deter them from running away

App: It’s important to see that this Heinous kind of wickedness had an a spiritual origin…Satan has no problem with while you remain subject to him…but fight back, He’ll use every tactic in the book to get back under his slavery

Are you being attacked?

That the sign of a liberated soul…satan doesn’t need to attack his slaves

Notice Saul’s insecurity - (ESV) 3 Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it.

And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.” 4 And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines - Who lead the battle...Johnathan, who took the credit for it?

Saul…here we see the tremors of an insecure heart are beginning....it’s not a big thing, but it will be soon…soon he’s be consumed with Jealously over a young man named David

3 Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it.

And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.” 4 And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines.

And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.

Here’s the issue with Insecurity:

App: An insecure leader is a weak leader

Insecurity shows you have low view of what God says about you...

Insecurity shows are always dependent on what others say about you...

Insecurity makes You incredibly fragile as a person

Insecurity shows a lack of care for a the common good - because you see God’s helpers…as a threat

Is that you?…whats the answer?

Realize it’s not about you

You don’t need to be…Jesus was humbly willing to let others take the credit...”My food is to do the will of the Father”…we should be like that too

Saul was disobedient

Look what else happens...

Saul was disobedient

So here we see the philistines assemble for war, theres a lot of them, they massively outnumber the 3000 that Israel had…but it’s alright, they got what they’ve been begging for a human king, so now they don’t have to walk by faith, they can walk by sight…Saul will somehow find a way to bring victory so they should be confident right?

wrong, the go running for cover…whatever they could find…I’m sure there were a lot of people who thought “if we can just get a new king, things will be different”…it wasn’t

This reminds us: You can change everything about your situation, but if you yourself never chose to change, you’ll do the same thing over and over again

So now look at Saul...

So now it’s time for the nation to attack…so what are they gonna do?

So now it’s time to attack and Saul give word to Samuel “we’re gonna attack the philistines…we need God’s blessing” and Samuel says “I’ll be there in 7 days” now understand this, everyday the Israelites wait, the philistine forces are mobilizing…so human logic says “attack now while you have the eliminate of surprise”…But Samuel says “7 days” Human logic “Do it now!”

God logic “Wait for me”…but He doesn’t he goes ahead and offers the offering himself

This is called disobedience - So here Saul disobeys in 2 ways:

God said through Samuel to wait…He didn’t

God’s law said that Saul wasn’t allowed to offer sacrifices “only the sons of Aaron could offer offerings”() He did it anyway

So Saul disobeyed God’s instruction through Samuel…but you know what was worse? the way he handled his disobedience…with lots of facade and lots of excuses...

1 Sam 13:10-

So look at how Saul handles being caught

Isn’t

He tries to cover it up: V.10 He went out to meet him and greet him - This word greet in the original language means to “bless” which he came up to Samuel like “Oh Samuel…bless you brother!!!” trying to act as if everything is fine…when that was the furthest from the truth

So what does Saul do?

1 sam 13:10

So Saul gets caught red handed and how does he respond?

He tries to cover it up: V.10 He went out to meet him and greet him - This word greet in the original language means to “bless” which he came up to Samuel like “Oh Samuel…bless you brother!!!” trying to act as if everything is fine…when that was the furthest from the truth

He responds with lots of excuses:

He blamed public opinion - v.11 “I saw the people scatter from me” - As Saul was waiting, the people began to scatter, and Saul so worried about what the public opinion of him was instead of God’s opinion

App - God’s opinion is always more important

He blamed Samuel - “You didn’t come in the days appointed” - Last week when Samuel called out the sin of the nation they were like “Yeah…we sinned” but here Saul doesn’t want to own it

He blamed the moment - 12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’

So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering” - Saul says “I had to” I felt forced to do it...

App: Here’s the thing walking with God is often walking against what your feelings tell you to do

12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’

So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.”

Big point: So here we see in Saul a someone who is willing to disobey God when pressured…but also willing to make excuse after excuse...

Here’s the truth…when every we talk about Saul…No one remembers his excuses…but everyone remembers his sin…that will be the same with you

Good leaders obey God even when it’s difficult…even when we don’t understand…even when we will end up standing alone

Here’s the last thing…and It’s the Biggest one

Saul had the wrong heart

Does this seem harsh to you?

It was just one mistake right?

well here’s the thing about God...he always sees deeper into any person then just the actions…he measures the intention...he weighs the matters of the heart as well…and as we can see here, the heart was the real issue for God…and it goes to show that it was enough of an Issue for God to want another King in David

but think about this: They were simular in a lot of ways - kings - anointed - did great things - sinned…so what made David’s heart so different?

I wanna give you 3 ways David’s heart was different from Saul’s

The heart is such a big deal to God

Why is the heart such a big deal to God?

Because starts in the chambers of the heart will eventually come out of the Life

Understand: I believe that This was God’s way of giving Saul a chance to repent

The importance of the Heart - Around 800 times in the bible…best translated the “inner person”

It was different in relationship - All you have to do is read about Saul, you get the since that His relationship with God was almost one of necessity more love and devotion…yet David had a incredibly close relationship with God…just ask the book of Psalms

Jer 17:33

Ezekiel

My Dad…I know him…not like an aqauntance …like a son

Saul knew God like an acquaintance…David knew him like a son

It was different in repentance - Both men sinned…some might say that David’s sin was more horrendous than Saul’s but here’s the difference, both men sinned…one man repented…one didn’t

Here’s what Saul did...

Here’s what David did...

psalm 51:1-4

Both men Failed…but Saul failure ended with him turning his back…David

It was difference in dependence - Saul’s motivation was the people - When King Saul disobeyed God and did not utterly destroy the wicked cities and plunder, “Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice” ()