Preached Norwich 29th August 2004

Part 4 - section (c) How the mighty have fallen

Intro: (a) The question we asked was, “Why did Saul send a young boy out to fight Goliath when he was himself the leader of the Armies of Israel?”

(b) It is as interesting to look at the life of a David and see his rise to leadership to see the way he expresses audacious faith. He was young, small, ruddy and handsome in appearance. He possessed some inner qualities seen by God that capitulated him into the world scene of his day! He was referred to by God as a “Man after the heart of God!”

(c) It is equally interesting to see the pathway of destruction that Saul took. Saul was “an impressive man” and head and shoulders taller than any man, he was a political animal, but from one of the smallest tribes of Israel. We can learn powerful principles from a person’s failure as we do in another person’s success.

At the time David was rising in spiritual power, significance and influence – his contemporary the King of Israel was losing it. Saul was a man with a problem with sin. He had problems with the truth, he has difficulty in handling instructions from God, he was irresponsible and was a buck passer! Saul was actually backslidden in his heart – he was a man who was far more interested in maintaining his reputation than he was in maintaining his integrity.

Title of this sermon: “Oh how the mighty have fallen!”

2 Sam 1:19-20, “Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen! Tell it not in Gath, proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice.”

These were the words of David after he was informed of the death of Saul on the top of Mount Gilboa. Why such a lament? Saul had been king of Israel for 42 years!

What was it about Saul that brought him so low? The words of Jesus are self-explanatory!

(d) Matt 16:23, “But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” KJV

Saul was such a man – his mind was set on earthly things – he battled with earthly affections and had lost him the battle a long time before his armies met the Philistines and their champion Goliath!

Saul was unable to rise above his own dysfunction – he was unable to come to grips with his weaknesses and become the man of God God had called him to be. He was small in his own eyes, he came from the smallest of families – all this was meant by God to be to His glory – but it all pulled Saul down to a desperate state!

Saul did not savour the things of God but was a politically motivated individual – he loved the machinations of intrigue and the backrooms of deal making and manipulations. He was at his core a seditious man who sought to undermine the authority of God in the ministry of Samuel as well as the authority of God over the nation! His sedition was rooted in the weakness of his own rebellious heart!

Sedition is a dangerous sin in the family, in the church in your school or office life! Sedition undermines authority and causes unrest! The English royal families knew a lot about sedition even as the Caesar’s of Rome.

Sedition:

  1. Conduct or language inciting rebellion against the authority of a state.
  2. Insurrection; rebellion.
  3. Violence against lawful civil or godly authority with the intent to cause its overthrow or destruction
  4. Dissension; division; schism.
  5. According to Isidore (Etym. x), (Great Catholic Theologian of the 7th Century) "a seditious man is one who sows dissent among minds, and begets discord."
  6. From Thomas Aquinas – Summa Theologica - A seditious man is one who incites others to sedition, and since sedition denotes a kind of discord, it follows that a seditious man is one who creates discord, not of any kind, but between the parts of a multitude. And the sin of sedition is not only in him who sows discord, but also in those who dissent from one another inordinately.
  7. Even the Bible acknowledges this activity as a sin! Gal 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envying, murders, drunkenness, revelling, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” KJV (NIV translates it as dissensions)

This is why he couldn’t go out and defeat Goliath himself – he had so undermined the authority of God in his life he no longer knew faith! He thought more of his own skin than the welfare and safety of his nation!

This is why he sent a young boy with nothing but his faith in Almighty God because somewhere in his backslidden heart Saul could still see a man of faith – he recognized a spirit of audacious faith.

He knew himself to be backslidden – somewhere his heart condemned him and he had lost his confidence in God. His idolatry, stubbornness and rebellion stifled his spiritual life to point of disengagement from God, God’s Spirit and God’s holy prophet!

Saul was not a man of audacious faith – he was not a man of a submissive and obedient heart. Saul was a man who did not understand the authority of God in his life! Saul’s sedition caused his own downfall – Saul’s relationship with God appeared non-existent – he had disengaged from God and the man of God – Saul had no faith in God – he was a person who had second thoughts about God – he hesitated in his spiritual life – he was not a man of audacious faith! It led to his destruction!

Hebrews 10:38-39

38 But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

2 Samuel 1: 1 –27 “The story of Saul’s death”

“Oh how the mighty have fallen!”

  • Committed suicide rather than be captured by the Philistines
  • An Amalakite confesses to killing him
  • The two tribes of people she should have fought and annihilated ended up being part of his own downfall.
  1. The lessons from the life of Saul:

There were two critical mistakes Saul made after he assumed the kingship of Israel; It is more than committing sins or making an error in judgement – Saul’s heart was revealed – his actions were a reflection of his character and lack of integrity.

The first mistake:

1 Samuel 10 was the account of Samuel’s anointing of Saul as King – immediately after this Samuel gave him instructions: It was the first true test of his character, faith and obedience.

1 Samuel 10:8 – Saul was instructed by the Prophet to go to Gilgal and wait for 7 days – then Samuel was to offer the sacrifices and advice him and tell him what he was to do.

The story goes that Jonathan had actually attacked the Philistine armies and now Israel had become a stink in the nostril of the Philistine armies – the enemy was going to teach Israel a lesson and gathered to fight them.

Saul was waiting at Gilgal for 7 days waiting for the Prophet to arrive. It was a test of faith and obedience – a test Saul not only failed but also sinned in a more grievous way.

  • 1Samuel 13:7 Some of the soldiers had gone AWAL, they were scattering – fearful of the attacks from the Philistines - The rest of the people were afraid – the scripture says they were quaking with fear! It was then that Saul made his big mistake: He took it upon himself to offer the sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel the Prophet to do it!
  • 1 Samuel 13:10 – 13 say – the Prophet confronted Saul –

“What have you done?”

  • Saul’s litany of excuses, seeking to rationalize his behaviour.
  • “When I saw the men were scattering” – Leadership 101 – how can you tell you are a leader? Turn around and see if anyone is following you. If you have to resort to these tactics to keep people with you then your leadership abilities must come into question.
  • This begs the question concerning Saul – why was he chosen? The scripture says God Himself was grieved He made Saul king over Israel.
  • The need to identify those with Ephesian 4 gifts – training and recognition by others. Where God has established leadership people follow – the kingdom of God has at its foundation the DNA of growth – yeast – a seed.
  • “That you did not come at the set time” – passing the buck – it was actually YOUR FAULT – why didn’t you come earlier and then I wouldn’t have done this terrible thing!
  • True accounts of peoples excuses to the Insurance Company:

I collided with a stationary tramcar coming in the other direction.

To avoid a collision I ran into the other car.

The accident was due to an invisible lorry narrowly missing me.

A cow wandered into my car. I was afterwards informed that the cow was half-witted.

A pedestrian hit me and went underneath my car.

The other car collided with mine without giving any warning of its intentions.

I thought the side window was down but it was up as I found out when I put my head through it.

The bloke was all over the road; I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.

I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment.

I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel.

  • We love to blame others for our sin – it makes us feel good if we can identify some one else as the culprit – It is part of our fallen nature to seek to blame others for our short comings. Taking responsibility for your actions is the sign of a mature person.
  • When it comes to our spiritual life or the fulfilment of our responsibilities before God – for some it becomes advantageous to blame the man of God – it was your fault – you didn’t arrive when you said you would – If Saul had waited for another 1 or 2 hours the Prophet would have arrived!
  • We need to take responsibility not shirk it – we need to identify ourselves as the ones who have sinned – we need to stop blaming others when OUR dreams or visions or destinies don’t materialize as expected – No one can thwart the plans and destinies of God in your life accept YOU!
  • “The Philistines were gathering” – Circumstances throw us some times! We look in other place rather than keeping our eyes on Jesus – we are tempted to look at the situation and react to it rather than see God and the circumstance from His perspective.
  • 1 Sam 13:5, “And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Mishmash, eastward from Beth-aven.” KJV
  • “I thought the enemy will come down and I have not sought the Lord’s favour” – this pretence of piety – Hypocrites lay a great stress upon the external performances of religion, thinking thereby to excuse their neglect of the weightier matters of the law.
  • Authenticity, according to the Webster’s dictionary, is being genuine. Genuine, suggests Webster’s, means not being a hypocrite. And, at last, to be a hypocrite is "to feign qualities or beliefs that one does not actually possess or hold, especially a pretence of piety or moral superiority."
  • C.S. Lewis acknowledged that religion easily becomes a device to exploit others. The pretence of piety, he said, has left a record of violence that should shame every honest believer. ''Of all bad men, religious bad men are the worst,'' he wrote in ''Reflections on the Psalms.''
  • It was a sin he was to fall into at his next critical point of testing. It was there The Prophets asks the powerful question, “Does God desire sacrifice or obedience?”
  • “So – I felt compelled to offer burnt offering!” An action he felt compelled to do – an action against his own conscience – but he forced himself to do it! I didn’t want to sin but it was necessary – you don’t understand – I didn’t want to do this – it just happened! I had no other choice – I had to take matters into my own hands here! I had to do it! I know that what I did was wrong but I had to do it. Saul got caught in sin – it is different to being deeply repentant and confessing to sin.
  • At these comments we see there is no sign of true repentance – it is this that concerns the Prophet the most! THERE WAS A SHOW AT PIETY BUT NO HEART RESPONSE TO God.
  • No sensitivity to the conviction of God. It is not sinning that ruins men, but sinning and not repenting, falling and not getting up again.
  • 1 Samuel 13:13 –14, The Prophet rebukes Saul by saying
  • “You have acted foolishly” - a rebel to God and His government – you have acted outside the purview of your mandate as a King – Kings do not offer sacrifice – it was a priest’s duty!
  • Your sedition comes before God – you have acted subversively – you have caused dissension in the people they had to choose either you doing the sacrifice or waiting for the Prophet! Your actions have undermined the authority of scripture and it has undermined the authority and the role of the Prophet!
  • You have acted foolishly by pretending to be pious.
  • You have disobeyed God, you have undermined the priestly authority and
  • You have acted seditious towards the man of God –
  • You have moved in the flesh –
  • You have rejected the biblical mandate – the biblical process –
  • You have acted with no reverence to God and His word.
  • The word of God has only one descriptive word for you – FOOL!
  • The word "fool" is often used in the Scriptures to denote a wicked man-as sin is the essence of folly.
  • The scriptures speak a great deal about the foolish – those without faith!
  • Gal 3:1-3, “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”
  • James 2:19-20, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder. 20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?”
  • Fool found 82 times in scripture – foolish found 46 times in scripture. It is a biblical concept and a biblical word worthy of our note! So listen today!
  • Psalms 14:1, “The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no-one who does good.”
  • The word fool has a background picture attached to it – it is the picture of a withered plant – it refers to a withered soul, intellect – spirit. The fool then is a person with a withered spirit or relationship with God. It is the fool who has a wasted – emaciated and shrunken relationship with God.
  • Compare this picture to Psalms 92:12 – 14, “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; 13 planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,”
  • How foolish is man when he or she says, “There is no God.” - No Judge or governor of the world, no providence presiding over the affairs of men." That there is no creator – no absolute being – that we are alone in the a Universe exploding outwards forever – How can there be creation with no creator – can we state with absolute certainty that there is no supreme being – no loving Heavenly Father – no blessed Holy Spirit – is there no shred of doubt – doesn’t the conscious prick - only a fool speak such.
  • Note he says it in his heart – the whispered confessions of a heart in sin and backsliding – in his heart he hopes against hope that there is No God - He dares not speak it out, lest he be confronted, but he whispers it secretly in his heart, for the silencing of the clamours of his conscience and the emboldening of himself in his evil ways.
  • It is interesting to note - the words “there is” are not found in the original Hebrew script – so the emphasis of the passage could be rendered the fool has said in his heart NO God! Saying NO to God and His word is not a good idea. Claiming that you know more than the Divine One could lead you to sure destruction.
  • Isa 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
  • Foolishness is seen in the utter sinfulness of sin.