1 SAMUEL 15-20 REJECTING GODS WORD IS A ROUGH WAY TO LIVE2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Samuel 15-20 Rejecting Gods Word Is A Rough Way To Live

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018.

This morning we're looking at 1 Samuel chapters 15 through 20 and kind of an overview of the chapters that we read this week going through the Bible in three years. And so as you're reading along with us or if you'd like to join in with us, the schedule's in the bulletin and you can continue this journey through the book of Samuel and through the rest of the Bible. But

this morning as we look at this particular passage in these particular chapters we are focusing in on King Saul. He's the first king of the nation of Israel and he presents for us a very vivid picture of what it looks like to fight against God.

King Saul is a man who tried to prevent the will of God. He tried to accomplish his purposes and establish his kingdom instead of God's kingdom. Now, he had so much going for him at the beginning.

God is the one who chose him. As the nation of Israel asked for a king, God appointed Saul to be the king over Israel. And he was the king that the people wanted. And it seems that he started off well, but he didn't stay there very long. He began to go astray pretty early into his reign. And after that, time after time, we find him disobedient to the Lord.

I've titled the message this morning, Rejecting God's Word is a Rough Way to Live. And as we look at the life of King Saul, I think that you will see this demonstrated and lived out. And it stands as a reminder for us, a call to us to seek out the will of God and to be obedient to the word of God so that we don't follow in those footsteps, that we don't follow the example of King Saul.

Now, as we jump into the passage here in chapter 15, it's one of the many times that Saul has been disobedient to the Lord. But this is the time where God announces to him, I'm rejecting you from being king because you have rejected my word. You've refused to obey me. And so I am going to replace you as king.

Samuel puts it this way in verse 18 here of chapter 15. He says,

Saul had a very clear mission given to him by the Lord. He was to take out the Amalekites completely, in totality. And they were not to take any of the spoil, but it was all to be destroyed as a result of the sin of the Amalekites.

But what happened in the midst of the battle, as they saw, wow, they've got really nice flocks and herds. They've got, you know, nice treasures that we want to keep. And so they began to collect those things and hold on to those things. They swooped down on the spoil, even though God had given them clear instruction not to do so. And here's King Saul. He has a choice to make and two paths are in front of him. To be obedient to the Lord and

Or to swoop down on the spoil. And as he's looking at those choices, boy, that spoil is looking pretty good. I mean, we use the word spoil like something is spoiled and that's not good. But no, no, this is the rewards of battle. And he's seeing the gold. He's seeing the treasures. He's seeing the wealth that he could have. And he's looking and it's like, whoa, this is like way better. If I go this route, if I take this path,

It's going to be so much better for me, for us. Wow, it's really going to be green pastures this way. And he's looking at the path of obedience to the Lord and saying, oh, that's going to be desolate and destructive. And, ah, man, that's going to be hardship. And we could be so much better off if we went this way instead of what the Lord told us to do. It looks like the easy way. It looks like a better way. But we find...

The Lord has always proven to be true. His ways are better. And the things that look better to us, this is really what faith is all about.

Faith is believing God over what we perceive or what we think or what we think is best. And God says, this is the way to go. And we look at it and we go, I don't know. I mean, look, if I go this way, look at all these rewards I could have. Look at all these green pastures and the things that I could experience. And we have this kind of decision before us. And King Saul is now presented before us through the word of God as a reminder, as an example of

You see that path that's opposite of what God has said, that's different than what God has said, and it looks attractive, it looks better, but learn the lesson. Rejecting God's word is a rough way to live. It doesn't look like it's a rough way to live, but it is a rough way to live.

It's written this way in the Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 14, verse 12. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. And we need to always keep this in mind. The things that we think are best, the things that we think are right, many times result in death, in destruction, in a rough life. While the things that God says and the ways of God are things that end up in blessing and in life.

But Saul looked at this occasion and he decided, no, it's going to be better if I don't do what God said and instead partake of the spoils, the rewards of this battle. And so God declares to him in verse 23, because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he also has rejected you from being king.

And God is going to replace Saul with a different king, a better king, he says, one who will pursue God's heart. Now, what we see happen from here on out in Saul's life, for the rest of his life, Saul will be fighting against God.

Fighting against God's will and trying to prevent God's plan. And what we see in his life is that is a rough way to live. And so we'll look at four points from the example of Saul here as we work our way through these chapters. The first point we look at is going to be found in chapter 16. It's a rough way to live rejecting God's word because it's a life without God's protection.

In chapter 16, because God has rejected Saul as king, God tells Samuel the prophet, he says, go anoint David as king. And so we see that anointing of David at the first part of chapter 16. And we're going to jump into verse 13 and 14. Here's what it says. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

but the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him. Here in chapter 16, we see David is anointed as king. Saul is rejected. Now the new king is anointed, but what's interesting about this whole account is that David will not take the throne alone.

For many years, there's a kind of a long road ahead of David before he becomes the king of Israel. And God has a process that he works out in the midst of this. And we might wonder, well, if God has rejected Saul from being king, why didn't he just take Saul out right then and there? Why didn't he just kill Saul, you know, put him to death, cast him out? Why didn't he just get rid of Saul immediately?

And there's a lot of reasons we could consider, but here's the one that I would propose to you this morning. The rough life that Saul experiences after this is God giving Saul every opportunity to repent. This is an act of mercy. This rough life that we're talking about this morning is an act of mercy and grace from God, giving those who disobey and reject God's word opportunity to come back and get right with God.

He allows for there to be distressing. And what we see as we continue to follow along with Saul, I mean, his life is just miserable. He is distressed. He is angry. His heart is bitter. He is miserable as he continues to walk this path away from God.

Another quick proverb to consider here. Proverbs chapter 13 verse 15 says, Good understanding gains favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard. The way of the unfaithful is hard. It's difficult. It's distressing. It's miserable.

Now, these are important things for us to remember for ourselves because we have a multitude of opportunities every day to obey or disobey God, to reject God's word or to follow God's word, to seek God's will or to pursue our own will. We have those choices to make and we need to remember that

Although it may look glorious that other way, the way of the unfaithful, when we are not faithful to God, that way is a hard way to live. And so it's important for us to reflect on these things for our own decisions, but I would also encourage you to consider these things in light of the people that we interact with and to recognize that as we're interacting with people that, well, they're not pursuing the heart of God, they're not seeking after a life with God, and

we would have some sympathy and compassion upon them, recognizing that it's a hard life. It's a miserable life. It's a distressed life to live in rejection of God's word. Now, it may not look that from the outside. From the outside, if we didn't have, you know, the inside scoop here from the Holy Spirit, King Saul is the king. He has all the power. He has whatever he wants. He has the army. He's in charge here.

Without, you know, understanding what's happening within his heart and what's happening in his life, we could think that Saul is blessed, that he has it all together. But as we walk this journey with him, we see he is miserable. That's what life is like without God's protection.

As David is anointed, it tells us that the Holy Spirit comes upon David from that day forward. And the presence of God and the protection of God is upon David in a unique and powerful way as you see throughout the rest of Samuel. At the same time, what's being poured out upon David is being removed from Saul. And so the Holy Spirit is removed. And in its place, a distressing spirit from the Lord comes upon Saul.

And he goes through times and seasons of great trouble within, distress within. Now, a lot of people wrestle with this idea. Here in verse 14, it says, a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him. And they wonder, how can...

That be true. How can God send a distressing spirit? And there's some, you know, perhaps wordplay that we could do. Well, God didn't send the spirit, but he allowed the spirit. And you can wrestle with those concepts if you want. But if you have a hard time with that, I would just ask you to consider Jonah the prophet. I would suggest to you that it's really not any different than God preparing a great fish for Jonah. In the book of Jonah chapter one, as Jonah is running from God,

He's rejecting God's word, rejecting God's plan and say, no, I'm gonna go the other way. God prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights until he came to the point where he turned and said, okay, God, I will be obedient to you. This is a similar situation with Saul. God sends a distressing spirit. He allows this to happen. However you want to word that in your own mind or heart. But the point is,

He is giving Saul opportunity, first of all, to recognize that he is running from God in rebellion against God and also giving him opportunity to come back and be restored to right fellowship with God. God's pronouncements of judgments are always opportunities towards repentance.

Peter, when he was preaching to the crowd in Acts chapter 3, he tells them, In rebelling against God, in rejecting God's word, we find ourselves in great distress. We find ourselves in great misery as a result. But,

The good news of God is that there is the opportunity to come back, to have our sins be blotted out, and that we may be refreshed. And it's that opposite of being distressed. It's that renewing of our hearts within as we come back to a right relationship with God and His Word.

And so here Saul is living a life without God's protection. And the first aspect of that is this distressing spirit, this troubled heart, this great affliction that he experiences within. Now, I would also point out at this time that

Don't get the idea then that if your life is rough, well, that must mean that you've rejected God's word. That's not always the case. Many times, God's saints, his people, as you look at David, the man after God's own heart, he's going to go through a rough life for the next few years as Saul persecutes David. You could also think about the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4, he says,

He tells them, Here the Apostle Paul says is we are hard-pressed on every side.

It's a rough life, Paul says. We're going through great difficulty, but notice how he says, yet we're not crushed. It's not over. We're not done. We're not completely wiped out, but we are hard-pressed. We're perplexed, but we're not in despair. And there's a contrast. Saul is perplexed and in despair. He is hard-pressed and crushed.

And what Paul goes on to say is all of this hardship and difficulty in our lives and in our ministry is revealing the life of Jesus within us. And so the rough life is not necessarily an indication of disobedience to God's word, but the rough life does reveal what's really happening within the heart. And for someone who is walking with God and seeking God's will, that rough life reveals the life of Jesus within us.

And Saul, as he is going through a rough life, you know what it reveals? A distressed heart, a bitter heart, an angry heart, one who is rejecting the will of God and the word of God. Rejecting God's word. It's a rough way to live. It's a life without God's protection. Moving on into chapter 17, we get the second aspect of this, and that is it's a life of great fear.

Here in chapter 17, we have that famous encounter of David and Goliath. And here is David fights Goliath. Before he fights Goliath, Goliath comes on the scene as the champion of the Philistines and he challenges the nation of Israel to a battle. We're going to read through a few verses here, starting in verse 4 of 1 Samuel chapter 17. Here's what it says.

And the champion went out from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head and he was armed with a coat of mail. And the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze.

And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam and his iron spearhead weighed 600 shekels and a shield bearer went before him. Verse eight, then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel and said to them, why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me.

If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. And finally, verse 11. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid."

The Philistines were the perpetual enemy of Israel. And this season, as they gather for battle, they present a mighty man, Goliath, six cubits and a little bit more tall. Now, if you want to kind of measure that out or picture that out, these lights right here, the bottom of that light, that's about like Goliath would hit his head walking under that. So that's about how tall he was. He was a massive man, nine feet or so tall.

And as he comes out onto the battlefield, he's got this armor that's impressive, that would be hard for a normal man to carry, but he's able to wear it and wield it and use it in battle. And so he presents a challenge. Hey, let's not have all our soldiers fight. I'm the best of the Philistines. You guys pick your best. And the two of us will represent our armies and fight. And whoever wins, well, that's the nation that wins. And the other ones will serve the winners.

But as Goliath comes on the scene and presents this challenge, it tells us in verse 11, Saul and all of Israel are dismayed and greatly afraid. Here is Saul. Now remember Saul, it describes him as being a man who has head and shoulders above everybody else. Saul was not a small man. He was already, he wasn't a giant, but he was of impressive stature.

He was a man experienced in battle. But here, as this challenge goes forth, he's no match for the challenge. He's dismayed. He begins to live in great fear. And he's hiding in the back. He's hiding in the tent. And Israel is faced with this challenge for days upon end. Every day, the Philistine Goliath comes out and issues the same challenge. But nobody's willing to go forward until little David shows up.

And David has a very different reaction compared to everybody else. David tells Saul in verse 32, let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. David at this time is a young man, probably an early teenager, not very old, not a man of war. He hasn't fought in battles. He's had a couple encounters with some wild animals, which he tells Saul about, but he's not experienced. He doesn't have armor.

He has a sling and some stones that he picks up. That's all that he knows. That's all that he's had. But despite all of those circumstances, which should cause David to be greatly afraid, David is not greatly afraid. In fact, he tells Saul, hey, you guys calm down. Let's not be afraid of this guy. Why? Why does David have this confidence? Well, because he has the presence of the Lord.

Later on, when David encounters Goliath and goes to battle with him, in verse 45, David says to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

You're coming at me with things, with weapons that are natural, that are physical. And David says, I have something far greater on my side. I walk with God and you've come to fight against God and I'm with God and God's on my side. And so I'm not afraid of you. And Israel, you shouldn't be afraid, but Israel is afraid and Saul is afraid because he's not walking with God.

He doesn't have the presence of God, the promises of God. He has rejected God in his word. It's a rough way to live. It's a life filled with fear because you don't have that confidence of the presence of God, of the work of God in your life, of the victories that God has promised. It's a miserable life to live, a life of great fear.

Moving on to chapters 18 and 19, here we see point number three, and that is it's a life of failed plans. As we continue on in the account, in chapters 18 and 19, Saul will attempt repeatedly to get rid of David, and he will fail repeatedly. But it all begins, we'll jump into verse six here of chapter 18. Here's what it says. Now it happened as they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine,

that the women had come out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. So the women sang as they danced and said, Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. Verse 8, then Saul was very angry and the saying displeased him. And he said, they have ascribed to David ten thousands and

And to me, they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom? So Saul eyed David from that day forward. They're coming back from the battle against Goliath. And as they're coming back,

Saul with all his soldiers, including David, there's great celebration and the ladies come out and they're singing a cheer. They're singing a song and it's a song that's hitting the charts hard and it's rising up the chain. It's, you know, the top 10 for three weeks running that David has slain 10,000 and Saul has slain thousands and it really bothers Saul.

He says, look, he's got the most popular song in the nation of Israel. Of course, he's going to be king next. You know, it's kind of a leap to jump to, but Saul knew what was going on. He begins to recognize that David is the man that God has chosen to reign. God has rejected him as being king because he's rejected God's word. And now here is the new king, David. He knows God is working in his life. He knows God is raising him up.

But instead of recognizing that and working with God on that, Saul will spend the rest of his life trying to prevent that from happening. He's going to spend the rest of his life trying to stop David from becoming king. And he finds that it's a futile endeavor. You cannot go against God's plan and succeed. We see a lot of examples of this here in chapters 18 and 19. First off, in verse 10 and 11,

Saul tries to pin David to the wall as the distressing spirit from the Lord comes upon Saul and David comes in as he always does to play on his harp to bring the music that settles his soul. But this time Saul would not be settled. In verse 11 it says that Saul cast the spear for he said, I will pin David to the wall. But David escaped his presence twice. So a couple times this happened.

Saul thought, here's how I'll get rid of David, with my spear. It just so happened I have it right here, and he throws it at David, who dodges, and it just, you know, hits the wall. David escapes twice as Saul tries to take him out. Well, that didn't work. He couldn't kill David himself, so he decides, let me get the Philistines to kill David. In verse 17, it says, then Saul said to David, here is my older daughter Merib,

I will give her to you as a wife. Only be valiant for me and fight the Lord's battles. For Saul thought, let my hand not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him. I can't beat him. I can't kill him. Saul decided, I'm not that great with the spears. I thought I was. And so maybe the Philistines can kill him. And so he makes him a proposition. All right, I'll let you marry my daughter. It would be a great honor for you to be the king's son-in-law. Okay, but so here's the condition.

You go fight the Lord's battles and be valiant against the Philistines. And Saul is thinking his luck's about to run out sometime, right? It's bound to run out sometime. So he's gonna be killed in one of those battles against the Philistines. But as David goes out to battle, he is victorious repeatedly. Well, on the day that David is supposed to be married to this older daughter,

Saul pulls a fast one and gives her to someone else instead, and she gets married to some other guy. But Saul finds out his other daughter, Michelle, she likes David. And he says, oh, well, this could work out good. In verse 21, here of chapter 18 still, Saul said, I will give her to him that she may be a snare to him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore, Saul said to David a second time, therefore, you shall be my son-in-law today.

Oh, Michelle likes David. Okay, good. So I'll hook them up and now we'll use that to try to get David. Now,

David, well, he wasn't too excited about being the king's son-in-law because he came from a very poor family. He didn't have the dowry that would normally be given, a big amount of money that could be given to the father of the bride. And he didn't have that. He came from a very poor family. And so he's saying, it's not, you know, I don't have what it takes. I can't give, you know, the dowry that's needed. And so here's what Saul says. Okay, I don't want any money.

just bring me the foreskins of 100 Philistines. Weird request, but Saul didn't really care about that. He was just trying to put David in a position where he would be killed by the Philistines. And David hears that and he goes, oh, I could do that. He actually goes and kills 200 Philistines and brings back the reward to Saul. Another failed attempt to kill David by the Philistines.

In verse 28, it tells us, Notice what happens here. Saul recognizes, I've tried to kill him twice. I've tried to kill him with the Philistines twice. Now, God is really with David. And so what does that cause Saul to do? Become David's enemy.

You see, Saul is continuing to reject God's word and he is living out this incredibly rough life as he tries to execute his plans and accomplish what he wants and his purposes and is just failing once after another, after another, after another. You can also see, without getting into too much detail, that the rest of Saul's life and how it's impacting him, think about and consider how Saul valued his daughters, right?

I'm going to give you to David. Psych, I'm going to give you to this other guy instead just to hurt David. This other daughter, I'm going to give you to David, but I'm just trying to get him killed. Like they're just pawns in his scheme to try to fulfill his plans. This life that Saul is living, it's affecting not just himself, but oh, it's destroying him and his family. It's destroying everything around him, but he's not finished. As we head into chapter 19, he continues to try to kill David and

In verses 1 through 3, we see him plead with his servants, we need to kill David. In verse 1, it says, Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted greatly in David. And so Jonathan hides David until he can try to talk some reason into his dad. And he gets Saul to kind of back down a little bit and go, okay, okay, we're not going to kill him. So he failed again, trying to get the servants killed.

to kill David. Then in verse 9 and 10, he tries again to pin David to the wall with a spear. Again, it happens. Same occasion. Distressing spirit from the Lord. He's really troubled. He's like just in a wreck. He's depressed. He's overwhelmed. David comes in to bring the music that would soothe his soul. And Saul, frustrated again, throws a spear at David. But it tells us in verse 10 that he slipped away from Saul's presence. And he drove the spear into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night.

David escapes. At that moment, he runs home. And so now Saul tries another attempt. He tries to kill David at home. And he sends guys to go put David to death there in his home. But verse 12 tells us that Michelle let David down through a window and he went and fled and escaped. So this plan failed. Tried to catch him while he was at home, but Saul's daughter snuck David out the back window and David escaped again.

Well, when David escaped from there, he goes to where the prophet Samuel is at Ramah. And then Saul tries to kill David at Ramah, jumping into verse 19. Now it was told Saul saying, take note, David is at Naoth in Ramah. Then Saul sent messengers to David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as leader over them, the spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul and they also prophesied.

And when Saul was told, he sent other messengers and they prophesied likewise. Then Saul sent messengers again the third time and they prophesied also. You could see just the frustration mounting in Saul, right? As he tries over and over and over and over again to kill David and fails over and over again.

In this last event, David's there with the prophet Samuel, not much forces around them, not much to defend against. But as the messengers from Saul come, the Holy Spirit comes upon them and they begin to prophesy to the Lord and they're unable to fulfill this execution that Saul has sent them on. And when Saul hears about that, he's like furious. Okay, next group of messengers, you go kill David. And same thing happens to them. They get close, the Holy Spirit comes upon them, they're prophesying, they're unable to complete the mission.

Saul says, all right, third group, you guys go. Holy Spirit comes upon them. They prophesied they can't complete the mission. And it goes on to tell us that then Saul himself goes.

Boy, if you want something done right, Saul says, you got to do it yourself. So he goes, I'm going to kill David. But as he gets close, the Holy Spirit comes upon him. He begins to prophesy and he is unable to kill David. Over and over and over, we see Saul's attempts fail. He's fighting against the plan of God and failing every step along the way.

This is a chart that we looked at as we were working our way through 1 Samuel on Wednesday evenings not too long ago. And here we see the different times and occasions where Saul has tried to kill David. And we've looked at the majority of these this morning and these different occasions. But going on in next chapters that we'll be reading this week, in chapter 23, he tries to catch David at a city named Keilah and kill him there. In chapter 23, we also see Saul trying

seeking David daily in the wilderness. So it's not just a one-time event, but every day Saul would get up and go try to find David and kill him while he is out hiding in the wilderness. In chapter 24, he mounts up 3,000 men to go catch David at En Gedi where he hears that David is, but

But David escapes. And then in chapter 26, Saul takes another 3,000 to go find David and Ziph because he heard David was there. And David escapes. And we see this pattern over and over and over again. The things that Saul wants to do so desperately, he is failing to do because he's fighting against the will of God and the word of God. It's a rough life to live, rejecting God's word. It's a life that's filled with failure.

Because you cannot fight against God and win. It reminded me of the psalmist in Psalm chapter two. The psalmist there in chapter two says, why did the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in heaven in the heaven shall laugh.

The Lord shall hold them in derision. The psalmist says, look, nations rage against the Lord and people plan and they plot to try to escape the bonds of the Lord. That is to do what they want and disregard what God says.

Let's cast away those cords. Let's cast away the word of God. Let's get rid of what God has declared. And kings of the earth and nations align together and try to join against God and the work of God. And God's response is in verse four, he laughs. He giggles a little bit. You guys are so cute. Tried to prevent my will. Trying to stop my word from being fulfilled. It's such a foolish endeavor.

God's not scared by our attempts. He's not afraid. We can't come up with any scheme that is so wise or so profound that we can accomplish what God does not want to accomplish. He's not afraid of our bank accounts. He's not afraid of, you know, our allies or our powers or our authority or whatever else we might come up with. We can try to do all kinds of things to hedge ourselves and protect ourselves against the Lord to do our own will, but

And God says that you're foolish. You're plotting a vain thing. You're raging against the Lord. It will never work. Your life will be filled with failed plans when you reject God's word. Well, finally, the fourth point, finishing up in chapter 20 here of 1 Samuel, we find that it's a life of self-destruction. Here in chapter 20, David and Jonathan have a little bit of a conversation, and they were good friends. They loved one another, and

David tells Jonathan, I'm afraid for my life. Your dad's trying to kill me again. And Jonathan's like, no, no, no, he hasn't. I would have heard if he was trying to kill you. I know he's not trying to kill you. And David says, no, no, he really is. And so they set up a test. David is gonna be missing from this upcoming feast. And the way that Saul responds will tell Jonathan if Saul means to kill David or not. And so jumping into verse 27 here, 1 Samuel chapter 20, it says, and it happened the next day.

the second day of the month, that David's place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan, his son, why has the son of Jesse not come to eat either yesterday or today? So Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem. And he said, please let me go for our family has a sacrifice in the city. And my brother has commanded me to be there.

Verse 30. Verse 30.

you shall not be established nor your kingdom. Now therefore, send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die. And Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, why should he be killed? What has he done? Verse 33, then Saul cast a spear at him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David. They set up this occasion to kind of

sound out Saul's heart regarding David. David's missing. At first, Saul's like, well, there's probably something came up. He wasn't able to come, but he's gone the second day. What's going on? Something's going on here. Where's David? He asked Jonathan. And Jonathan says, oh, he's with his family. And Saul becomes enraged. He says, look, don't you know, as long as that guy's alive, you won't be able to be the king over Israel forever.

Saul knows very clearly what he's trying to accomplish. He wants his son to be king. And so he has to kill David. And he's incredibly frustrated that his son, Jonathan, is not seeing the picture and is siding with David and protecting David. And so much so that it tells us in verse 33 that Saul casts a spear now at Jonathan. No longer just casting spears at David, but his son.

twisted heart and mind has developed more and more so that now he's trying to kill his own son, which if you think about it, doesn't make sense, right? I'm trying to establish your kingdom, you know, and I'm going to kill you. You know, that's, it doesn't make sense, but it doesn't have to make sense. Rebellion against God is not about being rational and it doesn't always make sense. It's a life of self-destruction, right?

When we reject the word of God, we begin the journey down this path where we are destroying ourselves. And we will turn against our own family. We will turn against our own selves and what's good for us. We will turn against the people around us. We will begin to self-destruct. This is what it's like to reject God's word. Think about the other Saul in the Bible, Saul of Tarsus.

He, in the New Testament, in the book of Acts, we find him, he is a religious leader who is vehemently opposed to the disciples of Jesus.

And he is so frustrated by these disciples. He is so angered by them. He is persecuting them and chasing them down and torturing them and trying to get them to blaspheme the name of Jesus. And there is, this is not coming from this, you know, peaceful, tranquil Jewish guy who's just at one with God and walking with God. No, there is this turmoil within him. And he is fighting against the Christians.

Because of this troubled heart that he has. And when God finally reveals himself to him in Acts chapter 9, he knocks him out of his saddle. And the Lord speaks to him and says, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads. The goads were these sticks that farmers would use to keep their animals going in the right direction.

And if they were, you know, resisting it, there would be just this little goat. And the animal could kick against the goat, but it just hurts yourself. And that's what Saul was doing. He was fighting against the Lord. And God's saying, no, here's my plan. Here's my gospel. Here's the truth. And Saul is saying, no, I refuse to accept that. I refuse. But it was hard for him to kick against the goats. And internally, he was becoming more and more determined.

angry, more and more bitter, more and more self-destructive. We find that in King Saul also. He's fighting against the will of God, fighting against the plan of God, kicking against the goads, and it's hurting him, and it's destroying his life, and it's destroying his family. That's what rejecting God's word does to us. It's a rough, rough way to live. Is that the kind of life that you're living?

Look, this is important for us to consider because every one of us, we have multiple decisions on a daily basis, whether or not we're going to obey God and seek his will and try to please God and live our lives for him, or whether we're going to disobey God and seek to live our will and accomplish what pleases us. And we have those decisions before us

every day. And here's what we need to remember. Let Saul be a constant reminder for you as we continue reading through his account in the Bible in three years. This is what it looks like when we begin down that path. We begin to lose God's protection. We put ourselves in a place where we are vulnerable to attack, where we weren't vulnerable before because we've moved away from God.

And there's going to be some distressing times. There's going to be some troubling things within. Our hearts are going to be troubled and there's going to be turmoil that comes. Continuing down that path brings great fear. And we're paralyzed by situations and paralyzed by events and paralyzed by things because we don't have the power of God and the working of God in our lives in the way that we used to. And it's going to be filled with failed plans because we're trying to accomplish what we want.

But God will not be mocked. His will will be accomplished. And we can try and try and try and come up with all of our clever resources and schemes. We can't undo what it is that God desires to do. We'll find ourselves on a life, on a path of a life of self-destruction where we could become more and more miserable. This is also important for us to remember because of the people that we interact with. Listen, there's people around you.

And it may look like they have everything all together. They may look like they're the king and they've got all the power and they've got everything that they want, but they've rejected God's word. And internally, boy, it's rough. And there's great misery. There's great fear. There's failed plans. There's self-destruction. Let the example of Saul stir up a sympathy within you.

As you look at the way that David interacts with Saul, throughout this whole time, Saul was David's enemy, right? He was an enemy against David, but David refused to be an enemy against Saul. And throughout the whole time, even to Saul's death, you see that David loved Saul. He was gracious and merciful to Saul. Not that he put himself in vulnerable positions, not that he just, you know, allowed himself to be executed, but

He always behaved himself in a way that was demonstrating the grace and the mercy of God towards this one who hated him so much. David serves for us a good example of how to relate to the people around us who have rejected God's word. They're miserable. And we can get really upset with them and try to yell at them and beat up on them, but they don't need that. They're already miserable. Even if you don't see that, even if it looks like everything's cool on the outside, no, no, no. Understand this example

is the path of those who reject God's word. It's a hard life. It's a hard life. Show grace and compassion towards them. Jesus tells us in John chapter 10, verse 10, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. You can look at this and see clearly, Saul, he was experiencing the ministry of the thief.

His life was being stolen and destroyed, but the Lord came. The Lord comes into our lives to give us life more abundantly. And again, this is the great thing about this account. God didn't just take Saul out, but he allowed him to experience these things to give him opportunity to turn back and experience the abundant life that God would have had for him. He probably wouldn't have been king. I mean, things would have changed as far as that, but he could have had peace with God.

and a life still filled with joy and great grace from God. We all have that opportunity, and so do the people around us. And so as we look at these things, understand rejecting God's word is a rough way to live for you and for the people around you. Noah's going to come up and close us in a song. As he does, I would encourage you to be seeking the Lord and invite the Lord to minister to your heart about where you're at. Are there things in your life that

areas, aspects of your life, perhaps your marriage where you have rejected God's word, perhaps your occupation, perhaps your relationship with God, perhaps some other area of your life. And you know what God has said, but you've rejected it. Understand there's a roughness there. There's a difficulty there to give you opportunity to come back. And let God show you those things that you don't continue down that path, but that you would come back and experience the abundant life that he has for you.

As we spend this time in worship, I would also encourage you to pray. Pray for the people around you who have rejected God's word. It's a rough life. It's a rough way to live. Pray that God would give you an opportunity to show them grace and love and mercy from him. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.