Let's take our Bibles this morning, and turn with me to 1 Samuel, chapter number 13, this morning. If you have your Bible, 1 Samuel, chapter number 13. Wasn't that a great sermon last night by Pastor Berzins? That was great. I thought on this trip that I was only going to have to deal with an oversized pulpit on Wednesday night. I was looking forward to that grill, you know what I mean? Back home we've got a platform, and on Sunday morning we had a visitor and he was, I don't know how tall he was, but he was tall. I was standing at the end and shaking peoples' hands as they go out and I said, "Thanks for being with us!" He said to me, "You look a lot taller up there." I said, "You look a lot shorter up there too!" That was good.
All right, 1 Samuel, chapter number 13. We'll begin reading at verse number one. We'll read the entire chapter. 1 Samuel, chapter number thirteen. The Bible says, "Saul reigned one year and when He had reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel, whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in Mt. Bethel and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent. Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba and the Philistines heard of it and Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land saying, Let the Hebrews hear. All Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines and that Israel also was had in abomination with the Philistines and the people were called together, after Saul, to Gilgal.
The Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which was on the sea shore in multitude, and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven. When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then the people did hide themselves in the caves, and in the thickets, and in the rocks, and in the high places, and in the pits, and some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed, but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings, and he offered the burnt offering. And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him. And Samuel said, What hast thou done?
Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together to Michmash; therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord. I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering. And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly. Thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee. For now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, but now thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee. And Samuel arose, and gat him up from Gilgal unto Gibeah of Benjamin, and Saul numbered the people that were present with him, about six hundred men, and Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with him, abode in Gibeah of Benjamin, but the Philistines encamped in Michmash.
The spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies and the companies turned unto the way that leadeth to Ophrah, unto the land of Shual, and another company turned the way to Bethhoron, and another company turned to the way of the border that looketh to the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness. Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears, but all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattocks, and they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulter, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads. So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan, but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found. And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the passage of Michmash."
Let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you this morning asking that you would please bless this time that we have. Lord, I pray that you would help me. I pray that your Holy Spirit would come upon me at this time. Help me to have clarity of mind to be able to say those things which you'd have me to say and to be able to minister to your people. Father, thank you for this church and thank you for the great work that they're doing here, we love you, Lord. In your precious name I pray, amen.
All right, while we're there in 1 Samuel, chapter number 13, and this is actually a sermon that I preached at our church on a Wednesday night Bible study. It was kind of one of those things where those of you that have preached before, you may have had this happen to you. This happens to me all the time where I'll preach a sermon and then once you're done, you think about all these other things that would have made that sermon a lot better, you know what I mean? That's kind of what happened. I preached the sermon and then afterwards I was just thinking about all these other connections and passages so I'm preaching this sermon again but it's a little bit different of a sermon. I added a lot more content to it and I was a little worried, thinking to myself, "You know if I add all these passages to it, am I going to make this sermon too long to preach at the camping trip?" Then I remember that Pastor Anderson preaches for like two hours so I was like, "Well, they're used to it. It'll be fine."
In 1 Samuel chapter 13 there, if you go down to verse number 14, I want you to notice a very famous phrase found in this passage. It says, "But now thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord hath sought him." Now, I want you to make note of this phrase, "A man after his own heart and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people because thou has not kept that which the Lord commanded thee." Saul is the king at this time and in the book of Samuel, up to this point, everything that we've heard about Saul has been fairly positive. We've been hearing about him being a humble man, about him being chosen and anointed but here in this chapter we begin to see the character faults of Saul and we see his first major sin against the Lord. Samuel says to him that God has chosen a man after his own heart.
Often this is a phrase that is very famously attributed to David, and it is about King David, that David was a man after God's own heart but what I think is interesting is that we don't find this phrase attributed to David in regards to the context of David. What I mean by that is, it's not like we see a great story of David killing Goliath or we see a great story of David winning a great battle and then God says that David was a man after God's own heart. What we see is Saul failing God and then God saying, "I'm going to replace you with somebody who's different than you, with somebody who's better than you, with a man after God's own heart." If we want to figure out what it means to be a man after God's own heart, I think what we could do is look at this passage and see the areas where Saul failed because it is in those areas where Saul failed that we see why God turned to a different man.
This morning we're going to look at a lot of scripture and we're going to compare Saul, and we're going to compare David, and then we're going to compare the Lord Jesus Christ and try to figure out what it means to be a man after God's own heart because I'd imagine if you are here at this type of church, at Faithful Word Baptist Church, if you've decided to be part of this type of preaching and this type of ministry, that you all have a desire to be a man or to be a woman, to be a husband or to be a wife, after God's own heart. Like I said, here we see, we begin to see Saul's mistakes, and Saul's character faults, and Saul's foolishness. Look at verse number 13, 1 Samuel chapter, 13, notice what Samuel says, the Bible says and Samuel said to Saul, "Thou has done foolishly." He says, "Thou hast not kept the commandments of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee, for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever."
We see that Saul is messing up. Saul is making mistakes and I want to just point out for your three different areas from this text in regards to where Saul failed, what Saul was unable to do in regards to being a man after God's own heart. Number one, Saul was unable to control his insecurity. Saul was unable to control his insecurity. I don't know if some of you like to take notes. If you like to take notes, that's point number one. If you look at verse number one there, 1 Samuel chapter 13, the Bible says, "Saul reigned one year and when he had reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel, whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin, and the rest of the people he sent over, every man to his tent." We see that Saul's gathering a group of men. He's gathering an army. He's getting them together.
Now, I want you to notice verse number 3. Notice what the Bible says, "And Jonathan." Now if you like to take notes in your Bible, if you don't mind writing in your Bible, I want you to underline that name, Jonathan. Jonathan is the son of Saul. Jonathan is a great character in the Bible. This is the first time we see Jonathan in scripture and the Bible says, "And Jonathan," and I want you to notice what it says, "Smote the garrison of the Philistines." Jonathan kind of leads this charge and it's the initial charge against the Philistines and basically begins a war against the Philistines. It's a successful charge. He actually wins the victory and the Bible says, "And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it."
Now, I want you to notice that. The Philistines heard about Jonathan coming in and fighting against them and the fact that he smote them. The Bible says, "And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying," now I want you to notice what Saul says. Saul says, "Let the Hebrews hear," because this is news. I mean they just won a battle against their enemies and Saul wants everybody to know that Jonathan led a charge, Jonathan had a victory against the Philistines, and Saul is the one who's prompting the news getting out. The Bible says, "Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear." He wants them to hear but notice what they hear in verse number 4, "And all Israel heard say that," notice this, "Saul," not Jonathan, "That Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines and that Israel was had an abomination with the Philistines, and the people were called together after Saul to Gilal."
See, here from the beginning we see that in the life of Saul and in the character of Saul, Saul was a very insecure man. Saul was not able to deal with the fact that his followers and even his own son, was able to win a victory and have a battle. Saul was glad that Jonathan led a battle, and that Jonathan led the charge, and that Jonathan was successful but when the news got out and when Saul blew the trumpet and made sure everybody knew, he spinned it a little bit and he made sure everybody heard that it was Saul, not Jonathan, who had smitten the garrison. You see this even worse later on in the life of Saul. Keep your finger there in 1 Samuel 13. That's our text for this morning but flip a few pages over to chapter number 18 of 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel, chapter number 18. Later on we see this same thing happen even more clearly with David.
1 Samuel, chapter 18, if you look at verse number 6, notice what the Bible says, "And it came to pass as they came when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistines that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music." David has just led a successful battle. He slayed Goliath and they're coming back. They've won a great battle. Notice verse 7, "And the women answered one another as they played and said," notice what they said. They said, "Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands." They're coming back. These women are singing and they're saying, "Oh, we've got a great leader. Saul, he's slain a thousand," and a thousand's a lot. To be a soldier and to have someone say that you've killed a thousand men in battle, that's a lot but then they said, "And David his ten thousand."
Notice how Saul reacted, verse 8, "And Saul was very wroth." He was upset, "And the saying displeased him and he said they have ascribed unto David ten thousand and to me they have ascribed but thousands and what can he have more but the kingdom and Saul eyed David from that day and forward." Before we beat up on Saul a lot, you've got to ask yourself this question because we all have it. We've all felt it whether we want to admit it or not but what is that inside of us, you know, when at work when you co-worker gets a promotion and you don't? You know how you get that feeling? You're just kind of like, "Ahh! I wish I would have got that. Why did he get it?" When someone else gets a compliment and then you're just kind of like, "What about me," you know?
There's something inside of us sometimes when we see somebody fail, we never say it out loud but we secretly kind of like it because it makes us look good. When somebody else messes up at work and then your boss is like, "Why, be more like so and so," and you're like, "Yeah," you know? Inside of all of us, we deal with these insecurities. Inside of all of us we see other people and they're driving a nice car, or they just bought a nice house, or they're living in a, you know or they just started a business, or they're being successful. We look at ourselves, and we look at our finances, and we look at where we are and we think, "Well what about me," and there's that insecurity in all of us. You've got to understand something. If you want to be someone who God uses, if you want to be someone who has a heart after God, you're going to have to do what Saul was unable to do, and that is to control your insecurity.
See, as a leader, it is our job to watch our followers succeed. It's our job to see those who are following us. As a pastor, that would be your church people. As a husband, that would be your wife and your children. As a wife, that would be your kids. As an employer, that would be the people that work for you or whoever that is, whoever you're leading. It's our job to see them succeed and grow, but see Saul was comfortable with people fighting on his behalf because they made him look good but as soon as they took the attention, he had a problem with them. He had an issue with them. He was insecure. He was not able to control his insecurities.
Now, notice the contrast is David, who was a man after God's own heart. Let's look at David in a similar situation. Go there in your Bible. You're there in 1 Samuel, chapter 18. Go to chapter number 22, 1 Samuel, chapter number 22 and I want you to look at verse number 1, 1 Samuel, chapter 22. Now, if you remember because of the fact that Saul began to eye David, Saul eventually began to persecute David. David actually had to run away from home, and he had to leave. We're going to read that here in 1 Samuel. I'm sorry, did I say 1 Samuel? Let's see, 1 Samuel, chapter 22. I'm in 2 Samuel. Let me go back. I went to the wrong spot there. 1 Samuel, chapter number 22 and look at verse number 1. 1 Samuel, chapter 22, and look at verse number 1. The Bible says, "David therefore, departed thence and escaped to the cave Adullam, and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down hither to him." David's running away from Saul.
Now notice who comes after him. Verse number 2, "And everyone that was in distress," okay, "And every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them, and there were with him about four hundred men. Here's the thing, David runs away from Saul and after him comes a group of people but they're a raggedy bunch. They're not very impressive. The Bible says they were distressed. These people are stressed out. They were in debt. They were discontented. I told our church people, right next to that verse there, just write Verity Baptist church, you know what I mean, because that's usually who, you know, people come to church when they're distressed, when they're in debt, when they're discontented, when things aren't going well. David had this group, and you would think, you know, if I were David I'd be thinking, "What am I going to do with these people. They've got issues and they've got problems. What am I supposed to do with these four hundred men?"
I want you to notice the type of leader that David was. Go to 2 Samuel, chapter number 23, in 2 Samuel, chapter number 23, and look down at verse number 8. 2 Samuel, chapter number 23 and verse number 8, notice what the Bible says. I want you to notice what David made out of these men. Four hundred men, they're distressed, they're in debt, they're discontented. They're leaving society. Nobody wants them. Nobody misses them. They're saying, "I'd be better off with David hiding in a cave, hiding in the wilderness but notice David took these men and in 2 Samuel 23 and verse 8, the Bible says this, "These be the names of the mighty men whom David had, the Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite. He lift up his spear against eight hundred men, whom he slew at one time."
Go down to verse number ten. Notice another example of one of these mighty men, "He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword, and the Lord wrought a great victory that day, and the people returned after him only to spoil." Skip down to verse number 12. Look at another example, "But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines." Go down to verse number 15. Look at another example, "And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord."
Look at verse number 18, "And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief among the three, and he lifted up his spear against three hundred, and slew them, and had the name among the three." Look down to verse number 20, "And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of Kabzeel, who had done might acts, he slew two lion-like men of Moab. He went down also and slew a lion in the midst of the pit in the time of the snow, and he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man, and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear." Here's the point that I'm trying to make. David took men who no one wanted. David took men who said, "I'm leaving town. I've got nothing here," and he turned them into a fighting force. He turned them into mighty men.
See, one of the differences between Saul and David is when a man showed victory and showed success and showed the power of God on his life, Saul did his best to minimize him. Saul did his best to get rid of him. In fact Saul, in the next chapter, is trying to kill his son Jonathan for eating honey after winning a great victory but David would take men and would make them better. That's what a great leader does. He takes people who are distressed and discontented and in debt, and he helps them, and he invests in them, and he promotes them. You've got to understand this, if we're going to be people that are used of God, if we're going to be men and women after God's own heart, we're going to have to learn to control our insecurities.
Go to Philippians, chapter number 2 in the New Testament now, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Philippians chapter 2. Really, we see the contrast right, between Saul and David, but I want you to notice the contrast to Jesus Christ because if there was ever a man after God's own heart it was the Lord Jesus Christ who was God in the flesh. Notice what the Bible says about Jesus and ask yourself this question, Was Jesus more like Saul or was Jesus More like David? Philippians chapter 2, look at verse 5, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God but," notice this phrase, "Made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men."
See, Jesus did not have to be in the spotlight. In fact, he was God in the flesh and the Bible says, "He made himself of no reputation." He did great works and then he told his disciples, "You'll do greater works than these." Jesus was the type of leader that when you became his follower, you became a better person as a result. If you and I are going to be used of God, we've got to be okay with other people succeeding. We've got to be okay with other people doing great things. We've got to be okay and realize what David realized, it doesn't take anything away from me to have followers who are also mighty warriors.
Let me give you another example. Go to John chapter number 3. John, there at the beginning of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, John chapter 3, you have the story of John the Baptist. You remember John the Baptist. John chapter 3, verse number 26, if you remember before Jesus came on the scene, John was the preacher. All of Judah came out to hear him preach. They were all coming to be baptized of him. Then Jesus comes on the scene and things change. Notice verse 26, John chapter 3, and verse 26, "And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth," They come to John and they're kind of snitching on Jesus. They're saying, "Hey, you know, aren't you John the Baptist? Don't they call you that because you kind of started this whole baptism thing? Hey, do you know that he's copying you? He's the same, baptiseth," and they said, and it's worse, "And all men come to him."
They're like, "Hey John, have you been wondering where everybody went? Have you been wondering why your attendances have been down? You know that they're all over there with Jesus? You know that they're all getting baptized by Jesus? You know that," but notice how John responds. Verse 27, "John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven." If you look at verse number 30, he makes a great statement, "He must increase but I must decrease." See, in our lives we've got to be okay, we've got- See, if you're going to be a follower of Christ, if you're going to be a man after God's own heart, if you're going to do something great for God, you've got to be okay with other people maybe being acknowledged, other people succeeding and maybe you not being in the spotlight.
When I think of this, I think of a pastor's wife. Ask my wife, or ask Mrs. Anderson, or ask Mrs. Berzins, they do a lot. They sacrifice a lot. I don't know that anybody really understands what it means to start a church in your house until you've done it, just the amount of work that goes into that but often who gets the accolades? Who gets all the nice words and who gets all the, you know, the pastor we're told, we're always how great we are. We're always told how great our sermons are. We're always told all these things but you know what, sometimes I wonder, when I think about at Verity Baptist Church, at our church. We've got a group of people there, they put so much work into everything that's done. They take care of the sound. They take care of the video. They take care of the offering. They clean the building. They fill up the van. They take it out. They pick people up.
We've got thirty plus adult soul winners, every week, out soul winning and fifteen or twenty of their children out with them. They bring the visitors. They make the phone calls. They do the follow up. I get up and preach and I get all the credit. Sometimes I wonder, as a pastor, how many rewards will I actually get because a lot of the things I do are just in public? I honestly, and I wonder if God just looks down at someone who says, "I will work. I will sacrifice and it's okay if Pastor Anderson gets the glory. It's okay if Pastor Jimenez gets the glory. It's okay if someone else gets the glory. I'm just here to serve." If you want to be a man after God's own heart, if you want to be a woman after God's own heart, you're going to have to learn to control your insecurities.
I hear these reports from Ft. Worth and Pastor Ramirez is just tearing it up there. He's making us all look bad. You know what I mean? He's been going for like a year and he's got all these crowds and all this stuff. I hear that and I'm not thinking in my heart, "Man, I really hope he doesn't get anymore people because then he'll make us look bad." I'm, "Praise the Lord! Praise God!" Now, you know, "would to God that he have hundreds more people and it's great to see people succeed but Saul was a man who was not able to deal with that. Saul was a man, and I know the heart of Pastor Anderson is he wants to see other churches grow and thrive and if he can teach, and invest, and help, hey, he wants you to do greater works than him and Jesus wants us to do greater works than him. A man and a woman after God's own heart is able to number one, control his insecurities.
Number two, if you can make your way back to 1 Samuel 13, not only was Saul unable to control his insecurities, which kind of disqualified him from being a man after God's own heart, but Saul was also unable to maintain dependability. Saul was not a man that you could depend on under pressure. Now again, before we beat up on Saul a lot, realize that Saul, in this story, was under a lot of pressure. Look at verse number 5. The Bible says, "And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots," okay, that's not thirty thousand men, that's thirty thousand chariots that's probably holding about four men each, "And six thousand horsemen," again, that's just the guys on the horses, "And people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude." They could not even get an accurate number of how many people they were against. They just said it's like the sand of the seashore, "And they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven."
I want you to notice this. Saul's enemies were successfully preparing for battle. Now, we already know this about Saul, he doesn't like it when someone's doing something better than he is. He's looking over at his enemies and they are ga- I mean ever time he looks out there, there's more, more soldiers, more chariots, more horses, just getting stronger. Saul's enemies were successfully preparing and here's the problem, Saul's men were very fearful. Look at verse 6, "When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait," meaning they were in a limited space, "For the people were distressed," again, they were stressed out, "Then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits." They began to hide. Look, if you're leading an army and you look behind you and all your soldiers are hiding, that's not good. You know what I mean? I can understand why they were stressed out.
Look at verse 7, "And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan," they're running away, "To the land of Gad and Gilead, and for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling." Okay, so these are the brave ones. These are the ones that didn't run, the ones that didn't hide; the ones that are actually following Saul. Could you imagine being Saul, leading your soldiers, and you look back and they're all trembling. They're physically just afraid because they're looking at this enemy and his soldiers are fearful and Saul's wasting time. Look at verse 8, "And he tarried." The word tarried means he waited, "Seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed." Samuel told him, "Hey, I'll be there in seven days and Saul waited those seven days.
Every day I can imagine Saul. He gets up the first day, looks over there. He says, "Ah, looks like they've got ten thousand chariots." He gets up the next day, looks over there. Now they've got twenty thousand chariots. He looks over there the third day, now they've got thirty thousand chariots. Every day he's looking over there and they're getting bigger and they're getting stronger, and he's wasting time. See, something about the military is this, sometimes you can't waste time. You've got to attack while your enemy is still kind of getting their stuff together. Saul feels like he's wasting time because he's waiting for Samuel, the man of God, but Samuel, the Bible says if you look down at verse 8, "But Samuel came not to Gilgal and," to make matters worse, now his men are deserting him, "The people were scattered from him."
Now, understand this, okay, look back at verse number 2, just real quickly, all right, "Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel." Saul started with three thousand men at the beginning of the chapter, right? Verse 5, "And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand of the sea shore in multitude." Now, look down at verse number 15. After they leave, after they desert, after they go AWOL, the Bible says in verse 15, "And Samuel arose, and got him up in Gilgal and Gibeah of Benjamin, and Saul numbered the people that were present with him, about six hundred men." He started with three thousand. Now he's got six hundred. They are leaving. They are deserting. They are going AWOL and Saul is under a lot of pressure.
To make matters worse, not only were his men leaving him and afraid, and not only was the enemy getting stronger and bigger every day that goes by, but Saul's men were unarmed. Look at verse 19, "Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears, but all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock." These are farming tools. They've got tools to farm and when they need to make them sharp, they have to go to the enemy to sharpen them because they don't want them to have any weapons. I'm sure they weren't putting a real sharp edge on those axes. You know what I mean? They're probably just kind of leaving them kind of blunt just to make sure that they're not able to fight.
Look at verse 21, "Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads." Verse 22, "So it came to pass," listen to this verse, "So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan, but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found." He's got these men, they're deserting him, they're trembling, and none of them have a weapon. The only ones that have a sword are Saul and Jonathan. Saul was under a lot of pressure.
By the way, I'm not really preaching about this but since it's right here in the text, you've got to understand, this is always what the enemy wants. He wants to disarm you. Obama's going around right now, because there was this shooting in Oregon, he's going around and using that as a way to kind of push his gun control agenda, you know? They're acting as if the gun picked itself up, drove itself to the college, and shot a bunch of kids, you know? It's like there was a maniac who was pulling the trigger, you know what I mean, but they use that. Here's the question because here's what they say, "We're not going to hurt you. We're going to take your guns for your own protection.
Here's the question that I want to ask these people because I'm thinking to myself, "Look, I'm not going to shoot you unless you're trying to hurt me, okay? If you're not trying to hurt me, why do you want to take my gun?" You know what I mean? Hitler took guns, you know? All these bad people, all these tyrants have always known, and even here, the Philistines view, take the weapons from the people and they won't be able to defend themselves.
It's not just physically, it's spiritually because the Bible says the sword of the Spirit is the word of God and today Satan's trying to take the sharp sword of the word of God and give us a blunt farming tool. They want to give us the NIV and they want to give us the American Standard Version that removes words like hell, that changes sodomite to male prostitute, you know? It takes away words like damnation. They want to give us this blunt sword. The Bible says, "For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Satan wants to take that sharp sword away and give us a farming tool, give us a blunt axe, give us something that we can't fight him with and that's always what the enemy wants to do. That's why we've got to fight this King James Bible battle. We've got to let people know that the word of God is the King James Bible.
Go back to 1 Samuel 13. Look at verse number 9. Notice what happens. Saul is under a lot of pressure. The enemy is successfully gathering for an assault, his men are leaving them. The six hundred that are left are trembling and have no weapons. He's under a lot of pressure and notice what he does under pressure. Verse 9, "And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings; and he offered the burnt offering." Now, you may think, "Well what was the big deal with that," but here's what you've got to understand. Saul was not a priest. He was a king and it was not Saul's place, and it was not Saul's position to offer this sacrifice. Saul should have waited for Samuel but Saul overstepped his boundaries.
You know what I've noticed over in the five years that God has allowed me to pastor Verity Baptist Church? You know what I've noticed, is people who want the spotlight, people who want to be noticed, people who have a pride problem and they can't have any, you know they want all the attention on them, they're always also overstepping their boundaries. I'm constantly asking people, like, "Why did you do that? Who asked you to send those emails out? Who asked you to organize that ministry? We don't ask you to do that." You know what I mean? It's like people are constantly overstepping their boundaries and it's because of this reason, they want the limelight on them. Saul had an issue with insecurity and now we see him overstepping his boundaries. He didn't wait on God. He didn't wait on the man of God. He took matters into his own hands and under pressure, under pressure he sinned.
You know what I've noticed? Christians will do right as long as their jobs are good, their marriages are good, their children are good, their health is good; they can show up to church. They can say, "Amen," but as soon as their health begins to fail, as soon as they loose that job, as soon as they start having issues with marriage, as soon as they start having issues with their children, as soon as that pressure comes on, all of a sudden you don't see them at church much because you've got to understand this. To be a man, to be a woman after God's own heart, it's not enough to serve God while things are good but while you're under pressure, when you're under persecution, when you're under tribulation, you've got to be able to make good decisions. Saul was unable to do that. Saul was under a lot of pressure and he made bad decisions.
Now, let's contrast him to David. Go to 1 Samuel 26. Look at verse 7. 1 Samuel 26, look at verse 7, because there was a time in David's life when he was also under a lot of pressure. In 1 Samuel 26, and verse 7, the Bible says, "So David and Abishai came to the people by night." Now, in the context here David is being hunted like a dog by Saul. He's living out in caves. He hasn't been home. He's a fugitive. He's the number one most wanted man. At this point, he goes into the company of Saul and notice what the Bible says. Look at verse 7, "So David and Abishai came to the people by night, and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster, but Abner and the people lay round about him. Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day. Now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time."
He says, "Hey David, you see Saul laying right here? You see his spear right here?" When I see that I think to myself, "What's David supposed to say, No, I don't see Saul there. No I don't see the spear there." He's like, "Let me take this spear and I'm going to smite him and I'm going to kill him. When I do it, he'll die the first time. I won't do it again." Here's what's interesting, for those of you that want to be pastors in the future, those of you that just have a leadership role, as a leader you will constantly have followers trying to pressure you to do things. They're constantly trying to get you to like, "Let's go down this road," and "Look what I learned," and "Look what I've got," but listen to me, as a leader you've got to be able to learn to deal with peer pressure because people are constantly trying to get-
It's like, look, I'm sure his heart was in the right place but David is a seasoned warrior. I think he knows that he could take the spear and kill Saul if he wanted to but notice how David responds. Look at verse 9, "And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not," and that's a true test of a leader. It's easy to say yes but a leader has to be a man who's able to say, No, we're not going to do that. We're not going to go down that road. That's not the decision we're going to make, "And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not, for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless? David said furthermore, As the Lord liveth," now notice was David says, "As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him."
Here's how David was different than Saul. When Saul was under pressure, Saul said, "I'll take matters into my own hand. I'll do the sacrifice. I'll do what I think is right." When David is under extreme pressure, he said, "We will wait on the Lord. We'll let God deal with it." He said, "The Lord shall smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle, and perish. The Lord," notice verse 11, "The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed, but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster, and cruse of water, and let us go."
He said, "I'm not going to take matters into my own hands." He said, "I'm not going to overstep my boundaries." He said, "I'm not going to force the hand of God." He said, "I will wait on God," and there's the difference between Saul and David. Saul, under pressure, made bad decisions. David, under pressure, made good decisions. David said, "I know we're out here living in the wilderness and I know it's been a long time but we'll wait as long as we need to wait and we'll let God deal with it."
Go to Luke, chapter 22, let's look at Christ. How does Christ deal with pressure? Luke chapter 22 in your New Testament, you've got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Luke, chapter 22. Now when you get to Luke, well, just get to Luke 22, look at verse number 43. We'll look at another passage in Luke also. Luke chapter 22, look at verse 43, "And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him, and being in an agony he prayed more earnestly." This was right before Jesus goes to the cross and he's under a lot of pressure. "And he," the Bible says, "And his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Jesus is dealing with a lot of stress right now. He's getting ready to be the atonement for our sins. He's getting ready to take on the sins of the world. He's getting ready. He knows that his body will be buried and that his soul will descend down to hell for three days and three nights, and he has a lot of pressure.
Notice what he says. Look at verse number 41, if you go right up before what we just read, verse 41, "He was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and he kneeled down, and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me." Now here's what Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying, "If there's any way I can get out of this, God, can you help me get out of it. If there's any way that I can not die, that I can not go to the cross, that I can avoid the humiliation and the pain of the cross," he said, "If you can remove this cup from me, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me," but here was the difference between Jesus and Saul, under pressure Jesus did right. He said, "Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."
He said, "You know what, God? I'm going to do the right thing even though I'm under immense pressure." David said, "I'm going to do the right thing even though I'm under immense pressure." Saul said, "I will over step my boundaries. I will take matters into mine own hands because I'm under a lot of pressure." See, as Christians we've got to learn to deal with this idea of pressure. You say, "Why is that," because I don't know if you know this but there's a time of immense pressure coming.
Luke chapter 21, if you'd turn there, Luke chapter 21, you look at verse number 12. Jesus is talking with his disciples about coming persecution. Notice what he says. He says, "But before all these," Luke 21 and verse 12, "But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake, and it shall turn to you for a testimony." He says, "Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer." He said, "Don't worry about it." He said, "Don't stress out about it." He said, "Just settle in your heart that you'll be fine under pressure for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all of your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist."
Here's what you've got to understand, there's a time that's coming where there's going to be great pressure, great persecution, great tribulation and God is looking for men and women who can make good decisions under pressure because he expects us to preach the gospel. He expects us to do great exploits. He expects us to do something great for God under pressure and Saul was not a man after God's own heart because under pressure he was not able to make good decisions. See, under pressure you've got to learn to deal with pressure now before the persecution comes. When you get under pressure are you going to quit on God? When you start having marriage issues are you just going to quit, and get a divorce, and say, "I can't deal with the pressure?" When the finances start getting a little harder are you going to quit on tithing? When things get hard are you going to quit?
Hey, you young men that are going to be pastors in the future, when things get hard, when people are criticizing you, when people are stabbing you in the back, when people are dealing with you in a way you don't deserve, are you just going to say, "You know what, I'm done with this, I quit this, I didn't sign up for this?" Listen to me, a man and a woman who have the heart of God are able to make good decisions under pressure. David was a man after God's own heart because he was able to control his insecurities. David was a man after God's own heart because under great pressure God could depend on him. He was able to maintain his dependability. God could not depend on Saul to deliver under pressure.
Number three, if you go back to 1 Samuel 13, I said, number one, Saul was unable to control his insecurities. I said, number two, Saul was unable to maintain dependability. Number three, Saul was unable to take responsibility. Look at verse 10 there, 1 Samuel, chapter 13 and verse number 10. The Bible says, "And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came." Isn't that how it always works? As soon as you get done doing something wrong, you know the authority shows up. Hey kids, as soon as you get done doing something wrong, mom's going to show up, dad's going to show up, pastor's going to show up, someone's going to show up. Here's what happened to Saul, "And it came to pass, as soon as he had made the end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came, and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him, and Samuel said, What hast thou done?" He said, "What have you done?"
Now, notice how Saul responds, "And Saul said," here's excuse number one, "Because I saw that the people were scattered from me." He said, "Samuel, you don't understand. I started with three thousand soldiers. I'm down to six hundred men. They're leaving. They're abandoning me. I had to do something. It wasn't my fault. It's because of the people." Look at excuse number two, "And Saul said," I'm sorry, verse number- Here's number two, verse number 11, middle of verse 11, "And that," notice excuse number two, "Thou camest not within the days appointed." He says, Saul says, "And by the way, Samuel, this is your fault because you're late. You said you were going to be here in seven days and you didn't show up, and you didn't call, and you didn't send a text message, and you didn't send an email, and you didn't even send a pigeon with one of those little messages to say you were stuck in traffic and this is your fault, Samuel, because you are late."
Look at excuse number three, "And that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash." Here's what he's saying. He's saying, "The enemy's getting stronger. I couldn't wait. The people are leaving. I couldn't wait. You're late." Here's what Saul's saying, "It's their fault, it's the enemy's fault. It's the people's fault. It's your fault. It's everyone's fault except me, it's not my fault." See, Saul was not able to take responsibility for his actions. Notice what he says in verse 12, "Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord." He says, I love this phrase, he says, "I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering."
People say that, "I had to get a divorce. You just don't understand. I didn't want to but I just forced myself. I forced myself. It's everyone's fault except me." You've got to understand this. This is human nature. Go to Genesis, just real quickly, Genesis chapter number 3. Remember the story of Adam and Eve? Remember when they get caught in sin? Genesis chapter 3, look at verse number 9, Genesis chapter number 3, verse number 9, the Bible says, "And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?" Notice verse 12, "And the man said," this is Adam. He said, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat."
Adam says, "It's not my fault. It's that woman you gave me, God." Notice what she says. Look at verse number 13, "And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." She said, "It's not my fault. It's the serpent's fault." See, it's human nature to always have an excuse. It's human nature to say, "It's not my fault. It's not my problem. It's their fault. I did it because of that. I forced myself because of that." See, Saul was a man who was not able to take responsibility. Contrast that to David. Go to 2 Samuel, chapter number 12, 2 Samuel chapter number 12.
Now, we contrast it to Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:32 says, "For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Jesus was willing to take responsibility, not for sins that he committed because he had no sin, he took responsibility for all the sins that anyone ever committed, even though he didn't do them. Jesus took the punishment, took the responsibility for our sin. To be a man after God's own heart, you have to at least be willing to take responsibility for your own sin but when Saul was confronted by the man of God, he said, "It's their fault. It's her fault. It's his fault. It's everyone's fault," and don't we live in that type of society? Isn't that what psychology teaches? It's your parents fault. It's your mom's fault. It's your dad's fault. It's how they raised you. It's everyone's fault except your fault.
Listen to me, people wrong us, and people do us wrong, and people put us in situations that are very difficult but at the end of the day we have to learn to take responsibility for our actions. Let's contrast it to David. 2 Samuel chapter 12, look at verse 7. 2 Samuel, chapter 12, and verse 7, remember the story of David? He committed adultery and he had Uriah the Hittite put to death. In verse number 7, here comes the man of God, "And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man." Nathan just told him a story and basically got David to get upset about a certain man taking advantage of a situation and then Nathan says, "Hey David, thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; and I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and I gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have moreover have given unto thee such and such things."
He says, "Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of the sun. For thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun." Notice verse 13, "And David said unto Nathan," here's the difference between Saul and David. He said, "I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die."
See, why was David different than Saul, because David was willing to take responsibility for his own actions and Saul always had an excuse. I believe here, at Faithful Word Baptist Church, and this is just my opinion, and I'm not saying this to put anybody down, I believe you guys have the greatest preacher in America today. You've got a man of God that stands up and preaches the word of God. He does not compromise. He does not mince words. He doesn't sugar coat it. I don't think he knows how to but listen to me, when your man of God stands up and puts his finger in your face, and says, "Thou art the man," when he points out the sin in your life, and he makes the application, and he shows you where you're lacking, how you respond at that moment shows us whether you are a man or a woman after God's own heart.
If you're the type of person who says, "Pastor Anderson doesn't understand. They don't understand. It's not my fault; it's my wife's fault. It's not my fault; it's my kids' fault. Not my fault, my dad's fault, my mom's fault, anyone's fault except my fault." When you are the type of person who's not willing to deal with your sin in your own life, you show all of us that you are not a man, that you are not a woman after God's own heart. See, God's not looking for perfect people. There are no perfect people but God's looking for people who are willing to take responsibility and to say, "I have sinned against the Lord," that are willing to deal with sin when it is brought to their attention. They are willing to deal with their own life when the man of God says, "Hey, you've got to deal with this.
Why was Saul replaced? Why was Saul not a man after God's own heart? Why was David a man after God's own heart? I believe, number one, because Saul was unable to control his insecurities. He was not able to see other people succeed. He was not able to see other people get the accolades. He was not able to see other people get the pat on the back. He wanted everyone to constantly be looking at him and God says, "If you're that type of person, I can't use you." God says, "Anything that's done is done for my glory, not yours." Like John said, "I must decrease." Why was Saul not a man after God's own heart? Why was David a man after God's own heart? I believe because Saul was unable to maintain dependability. When things got hard, when the pressure came, Saul made bad choices. Under pressure, David was able to say, "I will wait on God. I will not take matters into my own hands. I'm going to stay put."
Listen, some of you, you're getting, you're under stress and you're wondering should I leave this church? Should I move somewhere else? Should I quit on this thing? Listen to me, the best thing you could do right now is like David and say, "I am going to stay put and I will let God deal with it. I will not take matters into mine own hands." Some of you maybe are single and you're just wondering if you're ever going to get married. You're just wondering if you're ever going to meet that right person. You're starting to think, "Is it even possible to find another single, independent, fundamental, King James only, Baptist out there? Is it even possible?" Listen, before you quit, before you fornicate, before you go down that road, just wait on God. Just say, "I will wait. I will wait for God to deliver the person."
Maybe you're here today and you've got sin you've got to deal with. You've been avoiding it, and you've been excusing it, and you've been saying in your mind and maybe even out loud, "It's everyone's fault except my fault." I believe Saul was not a man after God's own heart and David was a man after God's own heart because he was able to take responsibility for his actions. Here's the question I have for you. Are you a man, are you a woman, are you a leader, are you a husband, are you a wife, are you a father, a mother, are you a person after God's own heart? If not, change it. Are you Saul or are you David?
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for this church and Lord, I'm so encouraged as I come here and I see new faces, and I get to talk to the people, and I get to be here, Lord. I know you're doing a great work here. Father, I pray you would help all of us to be, help all of us to endeavor, help all of us to deal with the character faults that we may have in our own lives and help us to desire, Father, to be a man, to be a woman after God's own heart. We love you, Lord. In your precious name I pray, amen.
