What Spirit is Leading You?

1 Samuel 16:14-23

What Spirit is Leading You?

If you would like to begin turning to our text today, it will be 1 Samuel 16:14-23

This Present Darkness

These are the darkest days I have ever experienced in my Christian life.

It is so oppressive it is causing divisions on every front.

The level of anger, hatred, vitriol is unparalleled.

Many want to lay the blame on politics or social media or the news organizations, maybe the virus or social injustice, but I believe it is something bigger and more nefarious.

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

This present darkness

Spiritual Warfare is Real

We are living in a time of incredible darkness.

In some ways we have tried to fight from home, or quit the battle.

But Spiritual warfare, being all around us, cannot be avoided.

It must be fought...spiritually.

They key to Spiritual Warfare is Knowing Who’s Leading You

Have you ever seen a kid shoot at the wrong basket, pass to the wrong team or score a touchdown in the wrong end zone?

Coaches and Parents screaming at the top of their lungs to change course, but they follow some unknown instinct and end up working for the other team.

That can be us when it comes to spiritual warfare.

Worse is that sometimes we know we are fighting for the wrong team and refuse to choose to be led by the Holy Spirit.

Do You Know What Spirit is Leading You?

I am going to posit that you don’t.

And I am speaking to every one of you.

We can all be misled, and tend to think we aren’t while it is happening.

Do you want to know what spirit is leading you?

Then please rise with me in honor of the reading of God’s Word

1 Samuel 16:14–23 ESV

Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.” So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.” One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.” Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.” And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul. And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.” And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.

The Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul

He not only lost the Kingdom, he lost the Spirit

Over the next several months we are going to watch the decline of King Saul.

From Weak King to Madman

Saul has Freewill

While it is part of God’s plan, Saul has chosen not to pursue God.

This is the Key to all things in this book, but also in life.

To the extent that we choose to pursue God we will be blessed. Period.

The Holy Spirit does not depart from believers

Giant Blessing

We Can Quench the Holy Spirit

1 Thessalonians 5:19

We can overrule His leadership.

And become vulnerable like Saul to the whims of our own spirit, or even another.

A Harmful (Evil) Spirit Tormented Saul

This Harmful Spirit was from the LORD

See Job

How does that make you feel?

Do you feel impervious because you have the Holy Spirit?

Satan can influence even the believer

1 Chronicles 21:1 ESV

Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.

David, who was a man after God’s own heart, could be influenced by evil spirits.

Old Testament Saints Only Understood God’s Sovereignty

When they mention that an evil spirit is from the Lord, they are recognizing that nothing happens without God.

He is sovereign over all.

1 Kings 22:19–23 ESV

And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the Lord has declared disaster for you.”

This is a vision

It shows us the creativity of the Spirits, but it also shows us how God allows them to operate.

God’s responses to our sinful behavior is not only physical

One of the blessings of the Holy Spirit is peace.

The removal of His presence or leading will likely result in an unsettling spirit.

Romans 8:16 ESV

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

The Holy Spirit is the one who helps our spirit acknowledge our salvation.

When we are in sin we have effectively quenched the Spirit of God, put out His flame in us, poured water on our desire to follow after God.

The result is often a loss of peace, our peace with God.

The relationship becomes strained.

How many of you love it when a relationship becomes tense?

The Spirit Torments Saul

This is God’s response to a person who had been given His own Spirit and did not follow Him.

Torment is that lack of inner peace.

He becomes unsettled, angry, hyper emotional, distrusting, fearful, etc.

Those are the reactions of his spirit to the tormenting of the evil spirit.

Do you see how that works?

What Spirits Are There?

Some Ascribe Names Based On Purpose

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Spirit of Fear

So we have folks that talk about a spirit of doubt or a spirit of anger.

This must be valid in the sense that Paul mentions such an idea.

But I don’t believe that he is labeling the actual spirit being that brings the emotion, but the resulting emotion itself.

When we think about the passage in 1 Kings 22 that we read earlier with Micaiah’s vision, that spirit that volunteers is not likely a spirit of lying, but a spirit that is going to use lying as a means to accomplish God’s purpose.

So he is not only a lying spirit, but a spirit who is using the tool of lies to accomplish a purpose.

Four Kinds of Spirits

The Spirit of Man

The Holy Spirit

Good Angels

Bad Angels

Romans 8:16 talks about our spirit - usually attached to the notion of emotion.

The Holy Spirit is the very spirit of God, not only good but perfectly good.

Good angels can be warriors and messengers like Gabriel or Michael

Bad Angels are those that were swept out of heaven with Satan (Rev. 12:4-9)

What Can These Spirits Do?

Possession

There are many passages in the Gospels that speak of demon possession.

A spirit literally overtakes a human being, or a pig.

This is the most common perception of what an evil spirit does.

Heads rotating, green vomit, cussing, growling, screaming.

Casting themselves into fires or preventing a person from speaking.

It is the ultimate form of spirit control.

Oppression

In the case of Saul it is portrayed as an oppression.

The spirit comes and from the outside of him, torments him.

The spirit isn’t said to be totally controlling him, but leading him through oppression.

Why is such a minute spacial distinction important?

True Believers Cannot Be Possessed.

I mentioned earlier that Believers cannot be possessed.

Let me take a moment to tell you why I believe this.

2 Corinthians 6:15–16 ESV

What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

I believe that this teaches that a true believer that has the Holy Spirit within them cannot be possessed.

They can, however, be oppressed.

We can quench the Holy Spirit by refusing to follow His lead and that leaves us vulnerable to the other spirits.

This is what I believe is misunderstood and the cause of this great darkness we are in right now.

When Two Believers Fight

Someone is wrong, and possibly both.

We are called to unity, and yet we could not be any more separate in the church today.

People I know are faithful Christians are at each other in dark ways and it breaks my heart.

How To Know What Spirit Is Leading You

How can you know?

You think because you are keeping a certain set of commandments that you are led by the spirit.

But if we look at the two commandments Christ said summed them all up, love God and love your neighbor, you would know you are not keeping the commandments.

The way you walk away from people you disagree with shows you to be just like the priest and the levite who passed the injured man on the road.

Look at the Fruit!

Matthew 7:16-20

What is your fruit.

This is talking about recognizing the wolves in sheeps clothing, but what if you have become the wolf?

Do You Have the Fruit of the Spirit?

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Do you want to know what spirit is leading you? Look at your fruit.

That tells you everything you need to know.

Saul’s fruit is going to become anger, hatred, desire to kill and destroy a Jewish brother.

It is the fruit of the evil spirit come to torment him.

If your fruit is not the fruit of the Spirit, you are being led by another spirit.

How To Overcome An Oppressive Spirit

Music

Music is a powerful tool of emotional expression and movement.

When our minds are almost gone, lyrics will always be remembered.

Music can move you to tears or away from them.

It can give courage, love, tenderness.

Seneca, a stoic, wrote of Pythagoras that “Pythagoras quieted the perturbations of the mind with a harp”

William Cowper, an 18th century British poet wrote

“There is in souls a sympathy with sounds;

Some chord in unison with what we hear

Is touched within us, and the heart replies”

Modern day poet Rudy Fancisco says “I believe music is easier to digest than medicine, a good song can turn any room into a church.”

Music is a powerful sedative to the troubling of our spirit.

But it will not last.

Sauls troubles would cease for awhile, but eventually he is going to try and kill David while he plays the music.

It is not the answer, only a vehicle to give us the space to take the real steps necessary for true healing.

Seek God and His Will

You have to seek Him, in His Word, in Prayer, In Battle

The difference between Saul and David is the desire to be led by God’s Spirit.

David wants to be right with the Creator

Submit To His Will

It is not enough to desire His will, you have to actually submit to it.

If you know His will, say it and then submit to it.

If you don’t know His will, pursue it.

Get counsel.

Iron sharpens iron

Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Conclusion - The Power Of The Spirit Filled

David is Holy Spirit Possessed

Because he is being led by the Spirit he is motivated to do the right thing.

He goes and serves Saul, who is sitting on his throne.

He will refuse to destroy Saul, but continue to try and reason with him.

David foreshadows Jesus’ own ability to remove evil spirits from the tormented.

The art of exorcism is

sometimes magnificent (Jesus)

sometimes simple (David)

always by the Spirit-filled

An evil spirit troubles our land.

People are not themselves.

divisive, hateful, full of anger and rage

it is incumbent on those who possess the Holy Spirit to bring quite to the tormented.

Will You Submit In Spiritual Worship Today?