A House Divided Cannot Stand

Invocation

O Heavenly Father, you have gathered us in this place this morning to worship you. You have gathered us as one people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, and united us together as one body, under one head, even the Lord Jesus Christ. As we come into your presence with songs of praise, and loud shouts of joy for the salvation you wrought for us, we ask for you to grant to us the same unity that ever exists within the Godhead, as you Father, Son and Holy Spirit dwell in perfect unity one with another. Grant that we too may share in that unity. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, and the Holy Spirit, one God, World without end, and Amen.

Pastoral Prayer

For your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

For our nation, president, cabinet, house and senate, local magistrates and police officers

For our church, officers, families, ministries and witness

For our missionaries, and the church throughout the world

Jacob Pursley in Armenia

Michael Goodlin, with RUF at Lehigh University

For the word preached.

Intro

On June 16th, 1858, Abraham Lincoln was selected by the republican party to be their delegate for the U.S. Senate. That evening he addressed the crowded hall of republican delegates in his now-famous House Divided speech. He began:

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention.

If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.

We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation.

Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only, not ceased, but has constantly augmented.

The nation at that time was being torn apart much as it is today over the issue of slavery. Lincoln saw that this was the decisive issue of his day, and until there was a resolution, the nation could not be united. He continued his speech saying,

In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.

I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided.

It will become all one thing or all the other.

Quoting from Matthew 12:25, Lincoln uses Jesus’ illustration to point the way towards unity. That speech turned out to be too much for that moment but may have prepared the way for his later election to the president and proved after the civil war to have been prophetic. During his presidency, he had the momentous task of uniting the nation divided over slavery.

In our text today, Saul has a similar task to unite the tribes of Israel, forging them from their tribal federation into a united monarchy. God uses a national enemy, and the Spirit animates Saul to bring this unity. So as we read our text this mourning from 1 Samuel 11, I want you to keep this question in mind: How does Israel unite around her new king?

The Serpents Oppression.

Every good story begins with a problem, and every problem a nation faces threatens either to bring them together or further divide them. The problem of the Ammonites has been brewing in the background for some time now. It may have been what precipitated Israel insisting on having a king like the nations. That is a visible king that would represent them on the world stage.

Nahash is a bad dude. His name literally means serpent. He begins to besiege Jabesh-Gilead, a city on the other side of the Jordan in the territory of East Manasseh. Now, this city has already become famous from the episodes of Judges 21. After nearly destroying the tribe of Benjamin, Israel realizes that they have a responsibility to provide wives for the sons left to Benjamin; otherwise, the tribe could go extinct. The problem is they all hate Benjamin and can’t fathom giving their daughters in marriage to them. But they remembered that when they summoned Israel to fight against Benjamin, the men of Jabesh-Gilead did not come. So they decide to steal 400 young women from them to give to Benjamin. Needless to say, that whole episode is not a very high point in Israel’s history. But it also shows that there are now familial connections between the people of Jabesh-Gilead and the people of Benjamin—Saul is a Benjamite.

As Nahash lays siege to Jabesh-Gilead, the people attempt to make a treaty of peace with him. But he has been on the warpath trying to subjugate people groups throughout Palestine. He does this by allowing them to live but gouging out their right eyes so that they are humiliated. After hearing this, the people of Jabesh-Gilead ask for seven days to see if any of their brothers will come to their aid. If not, then they will submit to his conditions. News reaches Gibeah, the Benjamite city where Saul lives, and they weep aloud at the news. Remember the family connection. This might mean that grandpa or grandma might lose their right eye if no one steps in to save them.

Why does God use serpents? Why does he allow enemies into the garden, into this new garden, the promised land? Have you ever asked that question? Why in the garden paradise of Eden was there a serpent? And I don’t just mean a snake, but I mean that ancient serpent—the devil. While I don’t think I can answer definitively why for the secret, things belong to the Lord. But I think from scripture, we can discern something of God’s purposes in permitting an enemy, which is to test us. Will we trust God and depend on Him by listening to His word over the serpents. Or, as was the case, will we believe the serpents lie, doubting the word of God.

But the serpent doesn’t always come with a word. As in the case with Job, God allowed Satan to do certain things to Job, all for the purpose of testing Job’s faith—which in the end, he remained true too. The serpents attack may be striking those you love. I know personally, this attack can be effective. When someone you love begins to suffer from sickness or in pain, the serpent seeks to turn your faith into fear, your belief into thoughts of doubt, and even anger. But that has the effect of driving us from the only one who can save. Instead, every attack of the serpent should be cause for fresh faith, for renewed interest in casting our cares before the Lord.

Is this not the point of lament? To move from a place of pain to a place of trust by bringing our care and concerns to the Lord and trusting him for relief. Often we don’t wait long enough to hear God’s answer when we rush in to provide it for ourselves. Or else we crash in on ourselves in despair, saying with Jobs wife—just curse God and die.

The Christian life comes with Nahash’s, Serpents tailor-made for your sanctification. In fact, it is the absence of serpents that should cause us to worry. For as Jesus warned us, “In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). That trouble comes in the form of the world, the flesh, and of course the devil. But make sure that the testing of your faith produces endurance, not bitterness, perseverance, not anger, and even joy, knowing that these light momentary afflictions are producing for us an eternal weight of glory. God sends a serpent to test Israel, but more importantly, to test Saul. How does Saul respond, and how is God using this to unite Israel as a nation?

The Spirit-Wrought Victory.

As the whole city erupts in weeping at the news from Jabesh-Gilead, Saul hears and asks what all the commotion is. Upon hearing the news, the Spirit rushed upon Saul. We had talked already when we looked at Ch. 8 that when the Holy Spirit fills someone in the OT, it is to carry out some function. This is not regeneration; Saul is not becoming a Christian again. This Spirit is going to supply the strength and discipline to accomplish a task. So Saul takes the yoke of oxen he was just plowing with and cuts them up in pieces sending throughout Israel, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!”

Now we need to back up a little bit and remember the context of the book of Samuel. Samuel is the last of the judges, and the context of that period is highlighted in the last couple chapters of Judges, specifically 17-21. There the refrain is, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” The stories recounted in those chapters painted a bleak picture of life in Israel when there was no king, and everyone did what they wanted. There is a striking similarity between the Levite who, after his concubine was abused and died by the men of Gibeah, Saul's hometown mind you, he cuts her into twelve pieces and sends her throughout Israel. Saul does the same thing. Saul is the narrator is drawing our attention to; he is the answer to the problem found in judges. Saul is turning the tables so that it becomes there is a king and everyone did what was right before the Lord.

Israel gets the message, and they rally together at Bezek, which is due west of Jabesh-Gilead. Saul sends word to the people of Jabesh-Gilead that salvation has come. They, in turn, tell Nahash that they will give themselves up to him tomorrow. But in the morning, Saul attacks the Ammonites by dividing his army into three separate camps—and until the heat of the day, he strikes them down. The key to this whole episode is found in v. 6-7. At first, when Saul was anointed King, he was filled with the spirit, and nothing happened. But now, his hand finds something to do. And this is what the Spirit does. He takes the shy, unsure of himself farmer and animates him with zeal to save His people.

This point is absolutely vital to get—unless the Spirit of God is at work, efforts fail, people are not saved, and nations are divided. The problem is we don’t always have the omniscient narrator telling us look that leader is filled with Spirit. Sometimes we attribute the Spirit’s work to someone else—say in their newly named King. But Saul, apart from the Spirit, is just a farmer, minding his own business.

So how does Saul respond to the serpent—he crushes his head. And in so doing, he unites the people together against a common enemy. Saul, as the people of Jabesh-Gilead recognize, is a savior. Saul is the messianic type, the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent. Or he at least begins that way. This is the high point in Saul’s career as King, and this, as the rest of his story will show, is because he relies on the Spirit.

From my experience, I know that relying on the spirit is not as easy as this text makes it seem. Sometimes you do have those moments when everything seems clear. You know the next best thing to do is chop up my oxen and send them throughout Israel as a threat to rally the nation. But other times, relying on the spirit is not so clear. When your wife and kids are sick, you have spent too long watching your wife in pain, unable to help, and on top of that, you have constant anxiety over the church, desiring that Christ would be formed within you. Then it is not so clear what spirit-wrought work you are being called to do.

But it precisely there that God meets you. Notice that there is a little bit of hesitation in Saul’s threat. He says, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel.” He adds Samuel’s name to lend some credibility to the threat—but he is the king, which is why the narrator draws our attention to this being done by the Spirit because it is a little out of character for Saul. Saul has not lead an army, let alone an army of 300,000 men. He is going to have to rely on the Spirit to accomplish this task.

While God has not called you to be king over Israel, nor are you a type of the messiah, but each of us has tasks and callings that we cannot accomplish if we don’t rely on the Spirit. And what is it to rely on the Spirit? It means that you come to the place that you recognize you can’t do it. It’s there that God has brought you. So that at that point, you may depend on Him. Relying on the Spirit is faith. You can’t save yourself; you need someone else to do that. Jesus did that. But to make that salvation yours, you have to have faith—you have to trust that God’s word is true. What is it that faith can do, faith can say to this tree be cast into the sea, and it will be done. Your faith is what overcomes the world. So how does Saul deliver Jabesh-Gilead from the serpent? By relying on the Spirit.

The Unity Won

A peculiar thing happens when Saul, by his spirit-wrought victory, delivers Israel—they unite together. Remember that after they had publicly made Saul king, some worthless fellows said, not my president and refused to show their support for Saul. But Saul kept quiet at the time. Now that he has proved himself to be the serpent slayer, the people want to defend their new king. Look in v. 12, “Then the people said to Samuel, “Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men, that we may put them to death.” They want to string up the opposition. Fresh with victory, with plenty of zeal, this is the time when soldiers get into trouble. But in a rare instance, Saul shows wisdom and retains them. Remember this is the task that God told Samuel he would do in Ch. 9:12; he would restrain the people.

In doing this, he rightly points to where true victory over their enemies came from—for it was the Lord who had won them their great victory. Now v. 14-15, I think, belongs better with chapter 12, but I included them because they begin to explain the unity this event had for Israel. Saul, for all his many character defects, which will soon be glaringly obvious, had a good start. He is relying on the Spirit and fulfills the task he was called to by crushing the head of the Serpent. And God is at work in the midst of these situations, unifying his people around a king.

It’s hard to even think of unity in these fractured times. If it’s not politics, it’s COVID; if it’s not COVID, it’s race; if it’s not race, it’s sexuality. We, as a nation, can’t agree on anything. And we, in the church, can’t seem to either. I can’t remember the last time we were united, maybe 9/11. Even the unity that the media attempted to portray in Joseph Biden’s election was absent about 75 million people. So, where is unity to be found? And is the kind of unity Israel finds in our text today the kind that will last?

The answer to that last question is no, and the reason why it is no will lead us to answer the first question of where true unity can be found. This unity was grand, and it ushered in a golden period of prosperity, and blessing which comes to full flower under Solomon, David’s son. But as you may know, Solomon’s son Rehoboam has the kingdom stripped from him, and he is left only with the tribe of Judah and Benjamin to rule over. Why that brief high point in Israel’s history? For the same reason, God gave Israel types and shadows—to strengthen faith and build anticipation.

Getting a taste of heaven, in the laughter of your child, or the love shared between husband and wife, or even the thrill of a beautiful landscape, leaves you with a longing for the real thing—it leaves you hungry with anticipation. And that anticipation is a powerful motivator for how you live right now, striving for the holiness without which no one will see God. Seeing Saul rise up as a savior and crush the head of serpent-like Nahash makes us long for the greater savior Jesus, who is right now crushing the head of the serpent in and through the church. It makes us long for the true unity that is found only in him. Whereas Paul says in

Galatians 3:26–28 ESV

for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

True unity, a unity that unites heaven and earth, is found only in Jesus Christ. It is found only in our union with him by faith. And we cannot have true unity with one another apart from union with him. No program of education, no better legislation, not in medication, can a unity like that be found. So instead of arguing on Twitter or casebook, we need to be proclaiming that true unity is found in Christ. For only He is the answer to the problem of George Floyd and Derek Chauvin, the problem of BLM and white supremacy. The same gospel that broke down the dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Greeks, I am sure, can do the same between blacks and whites. But we can’t just proclaim it; we have to live into it. We have to enact here and now, at Hope church, in our little communities, and especially in our homes. For this church, and our homes, are outposts of the kingdom of God, colonies of heaven, and they must resemble that. If you have been united to Christ, then you are united also with all those who are a part of his body — the church. And since that is true you must live like it. True unity is found in Christ alone In reliance upon his Spirit. Since God supplies the victory, we must depend on His Spirit for unity.

Charge

The charge is this: Crush the serpent under your feet. How? By relying on the Spirit. Then let pictures of unity like we saw today drive your longing to embody better the unity we already have in Christ. So receive the Lord’s Benediction.