Sound Doctrine

Jeff Johnson: Pastor Jeff with a choice that sits before each of us. Now some of us are going to face adversity and we're not going to lose it. But the other side of the coin is some of you that are here this morning, you're facing adversity and you're going to lose it like Saul. And it's a choice that we need to make this morning. Are we going to be like David or are we going to be like Saul?

Because it means everything for our future, for our family, for our church. Are we going to be carnally minded and then experience death? Or are we going to experience His spirit in our life?

Guest (Male): We thank you for joining us today for Sound Doctrine, a ministry of Calvary Chapel Downey. We're dealing with a heavy subject today. We'll be looking at the tragic end of the life of King Saul. He died in despair, an empty, unfulfilled man. He reaped what he had sown, and it wasn't pretty.

But that doesn't have to be your story if you'll learn from the pitfalls of Saul. That's what we aim to do today. So join us for our very last program in 1st Samuel. We meet up with Pastor Jeff Johnson now in chapter 31.

Jeff Johnson: This morning, we're finishing the first part, 1st Samuel. We're in chapter 31 of 1st Samuel, finishing off that book, but we are going to cheat a little bit and go on into 2nd Samuel this morning into chapter 1. So we're actually going to finish 1st Samuel and then continue on in 2nd Samuel, just a few verses as we need to look at Saul's death and take it in its full perspective.

We're going to be learning some heavy lessons here, and we are going to be warned to take heed to this example of Saul because we are given these Old Testament examples for our own help, that we would learn by their example. We are now entering into the death and end of Saul and his reign.

We are going to begin next week in David's reign, and what a reign it's going to be. I am looking forward to getting on with David after we've finished with Saul this morning. But looking back a little bit, there is a big difference in being internally or externally oriented. We are living in an external world, a temporal world. We're living in it, and we're going to be external to some degree. It's part of living in this world.

In Romans 8:5, it says that for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. But then it goes on to say, but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. To live your life always externally is to end as Saul in death. To live only for the external, to live only for the temporal, you will end as we're going to see Saul end, who always responded only to the outward experiences that he went through. Because of that, he would end in death.

Romans 8:6 says, "For to be carnally minded is death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace." David and all of those who have a spiritual outlook, who are looking to the Lord, are experiencing life and peace in this crazy world that we're living in, that is so dark and that is passing away. Saul, always moved by his surroundings, constantly because of what he saw, always had fear, which affected him mentally and physically.

He was full of anxiety continually in his life. He was without hope. He moved as a man that had no hope. He blew it in his life as he got his eyes off of his God. David, on the other hand, gave himself to God. Even though he failed—David did fail, we watched him—even though he had distress in his life, his inward man was being renewed and strengthened.

That's what this life is all about: to build us up in the faith. David was being built up. David could face adversity without losing it, but Saul lost it. Now, some of us are going to face adversity and we're not going to lose it. But the other side of the coin is some of you that are here this morning, you're facing adversity and you're going to lose it like Saul.

It's a choice that we need to make this morning. Are we going to be like David or are we going to be like Saul? Because it means everything for our future, for our family, for our church. Are we going to be carnally minded, and experience death? Or are we going to experience His spirit in our life?

Saul, in his rebellion, saw his God as an angry parent, always punishing him for what he did wrong. That's how his relationship was with God. If he made the wrong step, God was going to whack him. That's how he saw God. David, on the other hand, also sinned, didn't he? He was also chastened by the Lord.

But his reaction to God was like a son running to his loving father. He realized that what God was doing to his life and allowing to happen in his life was because God loved him and he was being chastened because he was loved by God. He ran to his father. God help us as parents to be the same way with our children, that we love them so much that we spank them and they turn around and just love us back.

At the time, they don't love you back. That's why you need to be very careful: once you lay the rod to them, you need to hold them afterwards and tell them that you love them. Not just leave them cry in their room and leave them alone, but hold them and tell them that you love them.

Because once that's over, they're just going to be going, "Okay, let's go on." And they'll love you for it, because that is the chastening hand of someone that truly loves them. Now, each man chose his own destiny. Saul abused what God had given to him, and he destroyed himself. We need to see that very clear. You make the choice to destroy yourself.

In Proverbs 29:1, it says, "He that being often reproved hardens his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy." So Saul, always stiffening himself up against his God, what God was trying to do in his life, ended up destroying himself. But David, after many trials, was really emotionally ready and was being prepared to be Israel's king.

God had prepared him for this for years back, so much so that later on when the people received him as their king, they would refer to David, or to the God of David, as the God of David. So much so they looked to David that all kings afterward they would use David kind of like the yardstick to judge the kings and say, "Well, you're not like David. David did it this way." He affected them so much.

To avoid the pitfalls of Saul, what are we to do? To follow after David in his blessings, what are we to do? We're to look to their example. We're to see what they did and do the same so we will avoid those pitfalls and get the blessing. So we're to learn our lesson well. Saul accepted bribes in his life, and he always fed his carnal appetites.

He was always living in the temporal world. Every experience affected him. He didn't have his eyes upon the Lord. Because of that, he was perishing inside. This guy had lost God-consciousness. He died an empty, unfulfilled man. In the end, you can only say of Saul that he reaped what he had sown, and that's the truth.

His death was a result of self-will. "I can do it myself. I'm a big guy. I've got brains. I can get this kingdom together. I don't need God." Everything he did was flesh, was in his self-will and determination. That is not the way of David. David was a man of principle. He didn't take bribes.

Early in his life, he gave his life to God, and he had a spiritual experience. He experienced and endured much affliction. But he grew from the affliction. In the end, he enjoyed God's promises, and in the end, adversity only matured him. We see that in the end he was a man after God's own heart. Lord, let us be that.

The adversity that we're in today, that which we're going through now, will only seek to mature us and to get us going to receive God's promises. It will get us to our knees so we can look up and begin to receive God's blessings in our lives, begin to be spiritually minded: His life and peace.

Chapter 31 in verse 1 now, as we go into the last part of 1st Samuel. It says, "Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell down slain in Mount Gilboa." God was not with Israel. Can you imagine? What a conflict of terms here. Israel, meaning governed of God. Israel's on its own now.

It's not governed by God. God's taken His hand off of Israel, as He has, I believe, off of this nation. We are in trouble, folks. Look around you, open your ears, open your eyes, watch the news, look at the media, look what it's saying about this country.

We are under attack against an enemy that is seeking to destroy this country from within, a cancer. They said it would happen anyhow, because if you look at Rome, you can just see how we're disintegrating exactly like Rome did. All into self and those things that are temporal.

Yet, all of a sudden, it's fleeing away and it's getting tough. All of a sudden, we're seeing things happen like they've never happened before. Well, this is just to wake us up. God was not with Israel. The Philistines were beating them up and beating them hard, driving them to the north part of Israel.

They were taking land quickly, so they drove them up into the mountains. Usually, they wouldn't go up into the mountains because they were a chariot people, but they're just going for it. They're going right after Israel into the mountains of Gilboa. Thank God that David wasn't a part of this slaughter.

Look at verse 2. "And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua, Saul's sons." All of a sudden, we're seeing what was prophesied. The little battle went sore against Saul, it says. And the archers hit him, and he was sore wounded of the archers.

Do you remember when he went to the witch to find out what's going to happen? Remember what he got? He got a word and that is: you and your sons this day are, or tomorrow actually, you are going to die. It happened just like it was told to him. Here they are, experiencing defeat and death.

What a tragic end to King Saul. But I think it's more tragic because look at Jonathan is also dying with his father, David's best friend. The sins of the parents truly do go down to the children, don't they? Parents, we affect our children for the good or for the bad. Saul was a bad king and affected his son, took his son to die with him out there in that skirmish.

God was no longer with Israel. Premature death. Young man, whole future before him, taken just like that. But remember this, that Jonathan did have an opportunity to leave with David, and he chose not to. He just said David would go, and he went back home.

Because of that choice, Jonathan chose not to suffer with David out in the wilderness. He would not reign with David. We see it right here, he's not going to reign with David. It's the same with us with the Lord. The Lord says, "Follow Me." But He never said, "If you follow Me, everything's going to be fine," did He?

He said, "In the world, you're going to have tribulation." "If you follow Me, you're going to experience the suffering, the fellowship of My suffering. I suffered, you're going to suffer. I had affliction, you're going to have affliction." It's going to mature you, though. You're going to get tough in the Lord.

You're going to get close with the Lord. You're going to be blessed of God. You're also going to receive the power of the resurrection. You're going to know God and His power. But you're also going to experience the suffering. Jonathan was taken.

Yet, even though he wouldn't have an earthly throne because he was second to his father. If he were to live through the battle, he would have been the king. But God had other plans: David's going to be king. Jonathan, it's time for you to come home. Took him home. Now he's really in the heavenly throne, right?

He's right in the throne room. To die is gain, Paul said. He was brought right before his God. I believe Jonathan is with the Lord. We're going to see him when we get up there. Verse 4. "Then said Saul unto his armor-bearer, Draw your sword and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse me."

His armor-bearer would not, for he was sore afraid. Therefore, Saul took a sword, and he fell upon it. Saul feared being tortured. Remember, we saw in Judges that Samson was tortured by the Philistines. They took him and they bound him with fetters, and then they took his eyes and they plucked them out.

Then they took him and made him go around like an oxen threshing the wheat. They abused him. Saul said, "I'm not going for that. I don't want that. Kill me." He told his armor-bearer to kill him, and he wouldn't do it. So we see here Saul seeking to escape through death.

"Get me out of this. I can't handle this affliction. I can't even think about being abused by them. So kill me." Suicide's always been a cop-out. The Bible never teaches us to choose death to escape affliction. The Bible says we are to endure affliction. It never says take your life or have somebody else take your life. That's murder. That's killing, and it's wrong.

So we have here the first recorded suicide in the Bible. So we come to the question: is suicide the unpardonable sin? I have to say no, it's not. It is a big mistake and it's a coward's act. It leaves the family and friends behind in a mess. I know: I was there, called upon the scene of a young boy that took a .45 and blew the back of his head out.

As I walked in that hallway, and the parents were in the front room, I walked in there, the coroner was in there, everybody was looking at the situation. I walked in there, I couldn't believe what I saw. Then they cleaned up as far as taking the body out of this young boy whose brains were all over the place and took him out and then said, "Bye," and left the family to clean up the mess.

I went, "Oh no, I can't let them do that. They've experienced too much right now to go back in that room and clean that mess." So I took the rug and I pulled the rug out and I rolled it up and I cleaned it up as best as I could. Because I couldn't believe they could take anymore. This is too much.

I had to get out. When I was done with that day, I had to go down to the beach and get out in the open spaces just to get away from everything. Because there's such a loss here. This guy just snuffed his life. He's gone. Look what the mess he left behind. It's like sin, or it is a sin. To take one's life is a sin. It's like lying: it's a sin. But it leaves everybody in a mess.

Will it be forgiven? Well, there's really only one sin that will never be forgiven. And that is the sin of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. What is that? Over in Mark's Gospel, chapter 3, let me read it to you. Jesus is speaking in verse 28, Mark 3. He says, "Truly I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, all sins, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme; but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost shall never receive forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation."

What is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? That is turning the Holy Spirit's tug on your heart to receive Jesus Christ, turning Him away, pushing Him out, saying, "No, I don't need God. I don't need Jesus Christ. I don't need this whole thing of Christianity. I can do it myself."

If you continue living that way and then you die that way, it'll never be forgiven, and you're going to go to an eternal damnation. It's over. It's a sin that will never be forgiven, and that is the only sin that will never be forgiven. I know a lot of people think suicide's the big one. It's not. Because I know actually some Christians that have taken themselves out because it just got too tough and they took the easy way out. It's terrible.

Look at verse 5. "And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword and died with him." Great example, Saul. Keep it up, you great leader, you. "Follow me!" That's great. How many leaders have caused their people to follow themselves in such a stupid act and wasted their lives?

Many of them went into a Christless eternity. For what? I believe that the armor-bearer really thought Saul was dead and blew it by following his example. Many believe, those that believe in Jewish tradition, that Doeg was his armor-bearer. Remember Doeg?

Remember this is the bad egg that we talked about earlier in 1st Samuel, who actually, because none of Saul's people would slay the priests, Doeg said, "I'll do it," wanting to get a little political up climb up the ladder. Said, "I'll take care of the priests for you, Saul."

And he went over there with a sword and slew 85 priests. Killed them. And with the same sword he slew those priests with, he jabbed himself. Because if you live by the sword, man, you're going to die by it. And Doeg took himself out. Verse 6. "So Saul died, and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men that same day together."

Later on, we're going to see in 2nd Samuel that Saul was really, I believe, still alive here. And his old enemy will do what David refused to do to him, will take him out. You see, God's will is going to be done. Saul, you're going to be taken out. But I believe it wasn't going to be by his own hand because God has got what I call poetic justice. And we'll see it in a little bit.

Guest (Male): We're finishing up our study of 1st Samuel today on Sound Doctrine. Pastor Jeff Johnson has more ground to cover and will have that for you in a minute. A reminder that you can catch up on what you may have missed in the series at sounddoctrineradio.org or at oneplace.com.

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Jeff Johnson: Verse 7. "And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side of Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled and Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them."

It came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in Mount Gilboa. And they cut off his head and they stripped off his armor and they sent into the land of the Philistines round about to publish it in the house of their idols among the people.

And they put his armor in the house of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan." Now, in Beth-shan, in 1921, as they were digging in the area of Beth-shan, they dug up what they believe is the temple of Ashtaroth.

They had many proofs as they were in the digs. So the very place where they had hung Saul's body, they dug it up in 1921. But I want you to notice here that sin causes us to lose ground. What a defeat for Israel! Why? Because of sin and disobedience.

Whole cities were given up, and the enemy was just moving into the cities, going, "Thank you very much. We'll just kind of take up our abode here." They started to gloat. This is their time, the enemies started to prance around with the enemy's clothes and, "We've got the victory."

You mean God would allow this? God would allow it to go this far? Yes, if there's sin and disobedience, God will go to great lengths to bring back restoration. He'll allow you to go way out, to lose everything, if you will. He allowed this to take place. Why? Because God wanted to see sin dealt with. He wanted to see His people repent.

So purified through affliction. Affliction came, but this would bring purification in their lives. They would get right with the Lord. So it's a kind of a temporary defeat, if you will. The enemy never gets a full-on victory. It's always a temporary thing, especially when God is involved, as He is here.

Now Saul's head went on tour, and everybody probably is handing out flyers: "You can see it at such and such city, it's now at this city." There was five cities, so the head was really getting around. It was terrible. I mean, what they did back then to bodies.

We laugh, but yet what did David do with Goliath's head? He put it on tour, too. And he went with it. "Hey guys, check it out. I did this with the help of the Lord." And he went around showing the head. Many believe that this is David—listen, he is a man of war.

He wasn't allowed to build the temple. Why? Because his hands were bloody. It was a very bloody time. They did horrendous things. The head of Saul goes around to the different cities, and then they put his body on the wall of Beth-shan.

What they would do, they would hang the body on the walls of the enemy cities just to show and just to tell everybody, "We have the victory. Look what we have done."

Guest (Male): The end of a life that had so much promise. Are we going to be like Saul or David? We'll leave you to think that over. And on we go to 2nd Samuel next time we get together. Read ahead and join us for the start of a new journey. Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Downey.