November 6, 2022 - The Spirit, Freedom & The Word
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Today we’ll jump back into our trek through 1 Samuel - having stepped outside of it - LAST WEEK - to address the Heart of Man...
…and how to fight against it!
We had seen...
The Way of the Heart
The Truth of the Heart
The Life of the Heart
And in looking at those things - we saw how the Heart of Man - REALLY is the ENEMY within us...
We saw that the Heart of Man TRULY is - deceitful above ALL things!
Today - we’ll get back into the story of 1 Samuel…and we’ll see the connection between The Spirit and The Word.
…And that connection will no doubt speak to us today...
We’ll go ahead and read through the text, and then we’ll circle back and dive in...
If you remember - Samuel had anointed Saul as King -
And during that anointing ceremony...
Samuel had given Saul some marching orders - in how certain things would play out...
And things he needed to do - in obedience to God.
So let’s start by going back to that anointing ceremony...
1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage.
2 When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?” ’
Jump down to v5
5 After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying.
6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.
7 Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you.
8 Then go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”
In this verse here - we see the marching orders...
Samuel says - Wait 7 days until I come to you and give you the next steps!
1 Saul lived for one year and then became king, and when he had reigned for two years over Israel,
2 Saul chose three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent home, every man to his tent.
3 Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.”
4 And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines. And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.
Jump to v8
8 He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.
9 So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering.
10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him.
11 Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash,
12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.”
13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
So - in a nutshell - what we see here is -
Saul is anointed King - and in that anointing - he is given orders to do certain things.
But in seeing it play out - we see OTHER choices are made...
And IN THAT - we see a connection between The Spirit, Freedom, and The Word.
Circling back - we will see this...
SLIDE: The Word of God: Our Authority
The Word of God
The Word of God
Back to our text … But as we look at it, let’s highlight - THE WORD of GOD
1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage.
VERSE - HIGHLIGHTED
1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage.
So these things were going to TAKE place - This was SAMUEL - speaking FOR GOD...
GOD speaking His WORD - to SAUL
Saul was told what was going to HAPPEN - and it would all be a SIGN to Saul...
To help STRENGTHEN his trust in God!
It continues…(don’t read)
2 When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?” ’
MORE of God’s WORD...
What do we see?
VERSE HIGHLIGHTED
2 When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?” ’
See God isn’t SHY about going into the GREATEST of detail when He decides to prophesy the future...
He continues...
3 Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine.
4 And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand.
5 After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying.
WOW - Does God know that if ONE of these prophecies doesn’t come to fruition that He’s labeled a FRAUD and Samuel will be put to death?
Jump to verse 8
8 Then go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”
This is the WORD of the Lord!
HIS WORD - is our authority - JUST AS it was - THRU Samuel - TO SAUL!
See – it’s VERY EASY for us and most common in the world …· …to view life through the FILTER of – Our Experiences
· That our EXPERIENCES determine REALITY…
SLIDE:
Experientialism: the philosophical theory that experience is the source of knowledge
· Now – on a worldly level – this is seen as OBVIOUS…· All the world HAS is experience…
· The world EXPERIENCES a silent sky – therefore – in their mind – God doesn’t exist·
The world EXPERIENCES a DEAD man today – STILL dead 3 days from now – therefore – Jesus couldn’t have risen from the dead
On the world side – Experientialism is the norm…
BUT – EVEN within Christian circles…within religious circles… Experientialism is a danger
· Experientialism puts EXPERIENCE over the Word of God (even within the church)
· And what happens is this – People begin to – SEEK the SIGN and not Jesus!
- I want to see A SIGN… THEN I’ll believe!!!
Does Scripture speak to this?
· YES – experience is a LOUSY test for truth…and this is ESPECIALLY true of the last days…
· The Bible teaches that spiritual DECEPTION is going to keep on INCREASING...
4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.
5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.
Paul said this…
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,
10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
· John even writes about great DECEPTION by signs and wonders…
13 It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people,
14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
· SO – how is EXPERIENCE as a gauge for REALITY…for TRUTH?
Terrible…
· And in our text today – We see GOD’S WORD - God’s TRUTH - coming to SAUL - thru Samuel…
- What do you think happened?
9 When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day.
WOW - What can WE take from this?
Let the WORD OF GOD direct your path…!
Let the WORD OF GOD – be your guide!
Filter what you THINK is an ANSWER to prayer – through the WORD OF GOD!
Filter what you THINK God is telling you to do in that situation – through the WORD OF GOD!
God’s WORD - - our Authority!!
- We embrace this truth - and yet we also need to know...
SLIDE: The Spirit of God: Our Strength & Freedom
The Spirit of God
The Spirit of God
Remember what Samuel told Saul in his anointing OF HIM…?
6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.
7 Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you.
As part of Saul’s anointing - Samuel tells him that the Spirit of the Lord is going to COME upon Saul...
And in turn - God’s POWER will come as well...
It says - The Spirit will come - and you will PROPHESY with them…
the Spirit came and POWER came with it...
To the EXTENT that the people of Israel heard Saul prophesying - and they thought - WAIT - Is Saul a prophet now TOO??
So they saw God’s POWER...
The Spirit came - and God’s POWER came with it...
But something else came too...
v7 - says - Now when these signs meet you, do what your hands FIND TO DO…for God is with you.
Do you HEAR the freedom in this?
Do what your hands find to do - FOR God is with you!
And this shouldn’t be surprising - BECAUSE...
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
FREEDOM...
NOW I remember when I first started to grasp this idea of FREEDOM…IN Christ… earlier in my walk of faith!
And i struggled thinking - OK wait - I often don’t FEEL - FREE - when I follow Jesus.
The world seems MORE FUN...
And so I remember struggling with this FREEDOM - and I asked - is it really - FREEDOM?
I’d like to go back to an analogy if I could…to help us with this.
Do you guys remember this analogy/picture?
SLIDE: Unbeliever under water
What do we have here?
This represents - and UNBELIEVER...
And the water - represents — Sin.
The water is EVERYWHERE...
This person is SATURATED with water...
There isn’t one place on OR in this person - where the WATER (sin) doesn’t affect the person!
NOW - next picture...
SLIDE: Believer Under water
This represents - a BELIEVER
What’s the difference?
The INNER man is - REDEEMED!
But SIN is still ALL around this person…sin is CLOSE at HAND in this world!
We don’t have a slide for it - but let me just read…Romans 7:21-23.
These verses will describe this picture here on the screen.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Inner man - Redeemed
Outer flesh - still dealing with SIN...
If we see both of them together...
SLIDE: Believer and Unbeliever under water
What’s the difference?
The Light of Christ INSIDE.
The Spirit of the Lord - INSIDE...
Well - what did we just read - Where the Spirit of the Lord is - there is FREEDOM!
So - there’s freedom here?
What we need to know is -
Where we COULDN’T love Christ (first guy)
We now DO love Christ! (2nd guy)
Where we COULDN’T HONOR Christ
We now DO honor Christ!
- And the way that GOD NOW sees us - is the next slide:
SLIDE: Believer in God’s Eyes!
From God’s vantage point - This is how HE sees us - as believers!
Where’s the SIN in this picture?
It’s GONE!
It’s been DEALT with!! On the cross!
White AS SNOW!
So if we put all 3 together...
SLIDE: ALL 3
When we see ALL 3 -
We ONCE were unbelievers...
SIN Saturated!
NOW - having FAITH in Christ - our inner man - REDEEMED
SIN - still close at hand - but without ultimate IMPACT on us...
And GOD NOW - sees us as - PERFECT!
The Righteousness of Christ APPLIED to our accounts
SO - (2nd pic) we are NOW new creations in Christ...
SIN close at hand -
YET -
CALLED to walk in RIGHTEOUSNESS! (3rd pic)
NOW - FREE to do so.
FREE to OBEY Jesus!
THAT’s where the FREEDOM comes in!
Remember what PAUL kept going BACK TO - in Galatians?
He kept going back to - Are you ENSLAVED or are you FREE?
UNBELIEF (1st pic) = SLAVERY! = NOT FREE
BELIEF (2nd-3rd pic) = FREE
The believer HAS the Spirit of God (2nd PIC)
Now FREE to Walk in Righteousness (3rd pic)
NOT FREE to walk AS a SLAVE (1st pic)
Does that make SENSE?
**When a guy who’s been in jail for 10 years is SET FREE...
He’s FREE to.... WHAT?
He’s FREE to WALK as a LAW ABIDING citizen...
If he chooses to BREAK the LAW...
He’ll NO LONGER - be - - FREE!
NOW - we don’t LOSE our salvation based on our STEPS...
We can’t LOSE our FREEDOM based on our choices - BUT...
Our lives will DISPLAY - what we BELIEVE...
We’ll leave this graphic up - but let me READ Romans 6:12-13
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.
13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
The call is to Embrace the Righteousness of God - IN US!
In our text today - did Saul do that?
3 Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.”
4 And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines. And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.
Who defeated the garrison (governor)?
Jonathan did....YET - the Saul took credit for it!
Didn’t the people of Israel ask for a king who would GO OUT IN FRONT and fight their battles FOR THEM?
This is kind of the OPPOSITE right?
And yet - this seemed to be a precursor to what was coming....
8 He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.
9 So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering.
10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him.
Saul here does what?
He doesn’t OBEY the word of God!
Samuel (God) had TOLD HIM to wait 7 days...
It seems here he didn’t wait the FULL 7 days...
His circumstances AROUND HIM end up causing him to PANIC - and DO WHAT GOD SAID HE WOULD DO - thru Samuel...
Samuel had said that he would be the one to offer the burnt offering (the ATONING offering), and the peace offering...
BUT SAUL ends up doing it himself!!
He disobeyed God!!
He DIDN’T OBEY the word of God!
And there were consequences BECAUSE - He rebelled against the WORD of God as his authority!!
What were the consequences!!??
14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
Saul’s kingdom would be STRIPPED of him...
WHY?
Disobedience!
We need to know that when we REFUSE to HEED God’s WORD...
When we choose to allow our own intuition to dictate how we respond...
When we choose to allow our GUT - to guide us...
There WILL be consequences!
Often we can GET AHEAD of GOD...
Too often we can MOVE FORWARD (like Saul) BEFORE hearing from God through His word!!
See - in that moment - Saul was QUICK to provide a sacrifice… go through the RITUAL...
BUT when it came to - WAITING for instruction from the Lord - Saul couldn’t follow through with THAT!
In that moment - Saul was saying -
It’s GETTING TOO CRAZY down here God - I’m just gonna handle this on my own!!
And it goes back to this idea of - FREEDOM in Christ!
In Christ - we’re NOT FREE to ignore Christ!!
And yet - that’s what SAUL did!
He tried to BYPASS God’s WORD - to save himself in that moment -
And isn’t it interesting...
He performed a burnt offering....
Which is - an ATONING offering!
An atoning offering - for sin!!
Can we look inward?
Have you - Like Saul - been operating on your own TERMS lately?
Have you been BYPASSING God’s WORD in your life?
Or do we seek Him for ALL THINGS? AT ALL TIMES?
SUMMARY:
SLIDE: The Word of God: Our Authority
The Word of God
The Word of God
SLIDE: The Spirit of God: Our Strength & Freedom
The Spirit of God
The Spirit of God
We need to know - IN CHRIST - WE ARE - - FREE!
Free now to walk in the newness of life...
NOT free to walk enslaved to sin
We’re free to LOVE Jesus…not trample His name!
Let’s pray