The Choice of One Without Life

Today is the last sermon on 1 Samuel. Through thirty-three expository sermons on 1 Samuel, we have brought the events of the Bible out into the world and learned what God’s abundant grace is, and what judgments and decisions people of faith make. The Bible records things that actually happened in the world, so the same events can happen today. Keep that in mind, and do as the people of faith did. These are not old tales. The world moves with this Word at its center, and so both the way to receive answers and the reasons for rebuke are all written down in it.

People have a great deal of worldly knowledge, but what matters is having the true knowledge that believes in Christ. Only with that true knowledge can one receive new life and, by the eternal bright light that life gives, choose to live rightly. The right choice matters because a fearful outcome awaits, dividing eternal life from eternal punishment. That is why I tell you to know the true knowledge that is God’s word and to make the right choice by faith.

When we began 1 Samuel, we saw every event unfold around Saul, as though Israel had been prepared for Saul rather than for David. When Israel, having rejected God, asked to have a man made their king as the nations had, God himself set Saul up. Chosen by God and made king, Saul was at first a humble and very shy man, and so obedient that he kept every secret as Samuel wished. He was a dutiful son to his parents; he relied completely on the prophet Samuel and obeyed him; and he tried to rule the nation according to God’s will. He came from a good family and was outstanding in appearance. The world admires people like this and wants to be like them. But though he knew God’s will, he was not born again. So even after receiving blessing, he collapsed easily under small hardships.

Until God called him and he became king, Saul lacked confidence and could not even stand up in front of people. It was Samuel who encouraged that Saul, taught him God’s will, and shaped him into a king. But once he met David and jealousy took hold of him, he would not listen even to Samuel’s counsel; unable to master his temper, he began to turn into a wicked man. He forgot that God had made him king despite his shortcomings, and he even forgot all the effort and love with which Samuel had helped him live rightly as king. Proud in the thought that he was king, he chased after David to kill him.

Of course, it was not pride and jealousy that changed him. From the beginning there was probably an immature character inside Saul. So while Samuel was helping him, he seemed to have changed, but in the end he went back to where he started. God gave him victory in many battles so that he would be a king the people served well, and filled him with power and wealth, yet Saul abandoned not only God but Samuel too. Once he had everything he wanted, he no longer needed God or Samuel.

People of small capacity are those who, as soon as something does not quite fit their own ideas, throw away God, grace, faith, and the people of God without a second thought. Even people of small capacity, while they stay with people of faith, can see the world, judge, and deal with things by the help of the Holy Spirit. But once they start living for themselves, as Saul did, they are swayed by their feelings or their problems look huge, and so they stumble. Saul was not yet mature, and when David seemed to be more highly regarded than he was, the evil fleshly nature hidden in him came out. Because the flesh is weak, it is not easy for people to keep their balance and hold on to their faith, but if we are God’s children, we must not waver.

Whether he was on the throne or had come into the world bearing a sinner’s flesh, Jesus lived with one consistent purpose. In the same way, if we live with a good sense of purpose, we will never change. Without a good purpose, we are crushed by our circumstances, and even our faith is shaken by other people’s feelings or opinions. Such people judge and decide their problems by feeling rather than by faith, so God cannot bring them into great work.

Saul was exactly that kind of person. When he was called to be king, he was fearful and humble, but as he gradually came to see that power as his own, he grew proud and stopped fearing God. When the people praised them, saying that Saul had slain his thousands and David his ten thousands, the evil human nature that lay dormant in him began to surface. This is how hard it is for a person’s basic nature to change. However much Samuel taught and guided him at his side, Saul did not change, because he still had the evil human nature that can only be cast off when human righteousness dies. Only those who admit that they are sinners and weak human beings throw off human righteousness and, to live by the Word, take their seat each day in the place of dying.

Everyone has something they must throw away. Some live unhappily because they care more about how others see them than about their own abilities. Others, though excellent in every way, cannot control their emotions and so end up unable to use even their strengths. Still others overrate themselves beyond their abilities. All of these things keep people from coming to God. When you deny yourself, to take up your cross and share in Christ’s sufferings, God will bless you with more than you have ever imagined.

Every time Samuel made God’s will known to him, Saul tried to lay aside his own righteousness, thoughts, feelings, and temper, so he probably went through many changes as he grew spiritually. But because he did not give up his greed, jealousy, and temper, he failed. As I have stressed again and again while preaching through 1 Samuel, only when we live with life, Christ, and the saving of souls at the center can we find peace. Whatever problem we meet, if we work it out with life, Christ, and the saving of souls at the center, we can solve it far more wisely than the world that threw it at us.

When the people exalted David with his ten thousands, if Saul had not reacted emotionally but, with the generous heart a king can show, had praised not only David but all his other servants as well, he would have gained much more. But King Saul put at the center of his life his power, his pride, and the folly wrapped around his self-righteousness, so in the end he could not help but fail. He was tormented by the foolish question of why David should be praised more when he was the king, and in the end it brought him to his death. As Saul shows, people seem to think and act only as far as their own capacity allows. Had he thrown away human righteousness when Samuel showed him the spiritual world, he would have received the amazing blessing of becoming a person of great capacity through God’s wisdom and grace. But Saul was true to his own feelings, and so in the end he collapsed. The king who had held absolute power died a lonely death with his sons, with no one to mourn him.

God did not make Saul wicked from the start in order to make David king. Saul had been called as king, so he could have lived as king to the last day of his life and given God much glory as king. But his greed, stubbornness, and temper brought him down. He said he was suffering because of David, but he had brought it on himself. How great is the capacity of your faith? Is it great enough to embrace not only yourself but others as well? Are you not full of desire, wanting to have everything and embrace everything, and yet only complaining and struggling because it is not working out?

The world is like a vast, open sea, so it is not that we who believe in God sail on calm water while the people of the world are out on rough seas. Anyone may meet rough waves, and anyone may meet a calm sea. So whether your circumstances are hard or peaceful, you must look to God alone. If you look at things that way, with God’s word at the center, you will be able to tell whether the problems you meet in the world are blessings or training meant to make you grow. Saul could not overcome himself, and so, though he had been blessed by God, he fell into eternal death.

In verses 3-4, Saul was badly wounded by arrows the Philistines shot. In agony, Saul asked his armor bearer to kill him, since the uncircumcised might kill him. When his armor bearer would not, Saul killed himself with his own sword. If you listen closely to what he said, he may seem to have had faith. For when he said he feared that the uncircumcised would come and thrust him through and abuse him, it sounds as if he feared that God’s name would be defiled.

But if Saul had had faith, then, badly wounded as he was, he should not have worried about the uncircumcised Philistines. He should have repented to God, the master of life, and prayed for help. Had he prayed to be forgiven just this once, promising never again to be a fool who sins against God, he would not have met such a miserable death. But Saul chose to take his own life because he had forsaken God, the master of life. Depending on whether we have received Christ into our hearts or hold the spirit of the world, we become either Christians or beasts. So if we keep Christ at the center, the answer will come at once, whatever problem we meet.

Verse 6 records that Saul and his three sons died together. That means Jonathan was killed with them. Jonathan understood God’s will, and he loved David like a brother and helped him, to save his life. You may find it hard to understand why so good a man should die together with wicked Saul. If you read the Bible without putting God, life, and the saving of souls at the center, you will find many confusing parts like this event. It is very sad when a good man like Jonathan leaves the world so pointlessly, but in life we often see the wicked around us live in wealth and grow old in good health.

When his father tormented innocent David, Jonathan thought that one day his father might be severely rebuked by God. He was a son who could not abandon his father, and so he asked David to take care of his descendants. Though Jonathan died with his father, he had lived by God’s word while he lived, so his death was very different from Saul’s. Of course, to human eyes Jonathan’s death may look unjust, since he died miserably in the same place as a wicked man, and some may wonder whether he was judged. Such thoughts start from the idea that good people ought to live well. But you must understand that the world is a road all people pass along like travelers, so anything can happen to anyone. If you simply live holding on to the faith that living by faith leads to heaven, there is nothing in the world’s troubles to confuse you.

The world grieves over the death of its heroes and mourns them. Even today, when respected people die, many mourn them, and some even follow them in death. They act this way because they look only at this life. In verse 11, the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard of the evil the Philistines had done: they had killed Saul and fastened him and his three sons to the city wall. Ready to die, they went all night and brought back the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan. They burned Saul and his three sons, took the bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days, mourning the death of the king and the princes. The king and princes of a nation had been killed all at once, and the Philistines had desecrated their bodies. Outraged at that evil, the men of Gilead ran all night ready to die, and their loyalty deserves praise.

Yet even though they risked their lives to bring back the bodies, they could not save the souls of Saul and his sons. The people of Jabesh brought back the bodies of Saul and the princes and fasted and mourned for seven days, but beyond grieving, there was nothing the living could do for the king and the princes. This is the limit of the living. However sad and unjust it may be, they cannot bring the dead back to life, and they cannot make their souls enter heaven.

But though Jonathan met the same miserable death in the same place, his death was different. He did not become king even though his father wanted him to, and he showed weakness in entrusting his descendants to David. But because Jonathan truly received God, he will have been saved. You who believe must no longer look at people’s deaths with the same eyes as the world. With a believer’s eyes, with life at the center, you must learn to tell those who have life from those who do not.

Those with new life who were sawn in two like Isaiah, stoned to death like Stephen, or hung upside down on a cross like Peter were neither unfortunate nor miserable. For they all knew that after death they would live forever in God’s arms. They died for their faith, and they will now be sharing in God’s glory in heaven. It will not be easy to look at the world this coolly. Such faith may even be criticized by the people of the world, for they all judge and act by what they see. But having life and not having it are as different as heaven and earth. That is why believers must judge coolly and keep their faith.

In this world people may die because of their own sin, as Saul did. Or, like Jonathan, they may lose their lives defending the nation alongside a father, doing their duty as a child even though the father is wicked. Jonathan had to protect his father, so he probably could not leave his side. Unexpected things can happen like this in the world we live in, so even believers may leave the world in a way that seems pointless. That is why what matters is how a person lived before dying. If they lived with faith while they drew breath on this earth, they will have met God after death and will be enjoying eternal life, where there is no more death. Had Saul kept his first faith well, he would have lived as a believer approved by God, enjoyed many blessings, and not met a miserable death. But once his heart was captured by the world, he could no longer hear Samuel’s advice, and he was not thankful for God’s grace. Look at how Saul offered the sacrifice in Samuel’s place. He regarded even Samuel as one of his own subjects and made light of him.

What is your heart like now? When a pastor, a fellow believer, or a family member urges you for the sake of your soul, do you believe they do so because they truly love you, and turn back from the road you were on? Or are you thinking and judging by your own feelings and your own temper? Or are you flaring up because it differs from what you want? Anyone can become a Saul, and anyone can become a David, so we must always be careful. If you have fully understood what I have said, you will have come to see that Jonathan’s death was not a miserable one, and that dying peacefully in bed does not mean one has been blessed. Your life now will decide what comes after death. This is a vitally important matter for everyone living in this world. Walk the way of truth by faith, with Christ in your heart.

Now I will bring these expository sermons on 1 Samuel to a close. There will be believers who heard these sermons and turned to David’s way, and there will also be those who go Saul’s way and stubbornly hold to it. But God, I believe, wants all of them to turn back and be blessed. If someone has heard these sermons on 1 Samuel and still stays in Saul’s place, God will grieve over it.

Though David made many mistakes, he turned back, and because of that he was loved by God and received the blessings of the world in overflowing measure. Now you know both David’s way and Saul’s way. As you go through life, right judgments and decisions are yours to choose, and by that choice you will receive salvation or judgment. I believe that you are living in keeping with God’s purpose, and that you receive and enjoy the blessings of heaven that God pours out.

May you always keep your faith wisely and honestly, as David did. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.