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The Right Choice

This week’s sermon is really a quick look at the life of Saul, the first King of Israel. We are going to take a quick overview of his entire life. Saul was not the confident leader you might think he would be. As a matter of fact, he was a reluctant leader who sometimes made some very wrong choices. He often put his confidence in all the wrong things. Saul had an incredible chance given him to lead God’s people but he largely squandered it away by not putting his confidence in God.

The question is, what are you putting your confidence in today? Maybe I should ask who are you putting your confidence in today. We all have things and people we put our confidence in every day. We trust those in the military and law enforcement to protect us. We trust those who are firemen and women to be there when are house catches on fire. We trust teachers with our children’s education and cooks in restaurants to prepare our food. We have confidence in the people who build buildings, fix cars and doctor us when we are sick.

All of those things are important yet I wonder today who you are trusting with your life. I mean your life as a whole. Are you trusting yourself or your family or your company?

Let’s look at five life lessons about confidence from King Saul’s life.

1. Do you put your confidence in your abilities, your family name or your status in the eyes of others? That would be trusting in human pedigree.

The first story we will look at together is the story of Saul’s call by God to be the King of Israel. The prophet Samuel was told by God to go and anoint Saul as king. Saul is out looking for some stray donkey’s when Samuel finds him.

In 1 Samuel 9:17-21 we read these words: “17 When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD said, “That’s the man I told you about! He will rule my people.”

18 Just then Saul approached Samuel at the gateway and asked, “Can you please tell me where the seer’s house is?”

19 “I am the seer!” Samuel replied. “Go up to the place of worship ahead of me. We will eat there together, and in the morning I’ll tell you what you want to know and send you on your way. 20 And don’t worry about those donkeys that were lost three days ago, for they have been found. And I am here to tell you that you and your family are the focus of all Israel’s hopes.”

21 Saul replied, “But I’m only from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel, and my family is the least important of all the families of that tribe! Why are you talking like this to me?”


There are indicators from the beginning that point out how much saw lacks confidence in God and the call God is placing in his life. If you read chapter ten you will find a story of how Saul hides himself when it is time for his inauguration and has to be found.

When God ask you to do something do you show a lack of trust by giving him all the excuse why you can’t do it? Is it because of your past or family history? Some of the greatest people that have touched this world for Christ are people with the worst backgrounds or family histories. The thing is if you will let go of your pride and human arrogance and turn from wicked and ungodly ways there is no limit to what God will do through you.

2. Do you put your confidence in physical strength, military might or national power? That would be human might.

“5 The Philistines mustered a mighty army of 3,000[c] chariots, 6,000 charioteers, and as many warriors as the grains of sand on the seashore! They camped at Micmash east of Beth-aven. 6 The men of Israel saw what a tight spot they were in; and because they were hard pressed by the enemy, they tried to hide in caves, thickets, rocks, holes, and cisterns.” 1 Sam. 13:5-6

“19 There were no blacksmiths in the land of Israel in those days. The Philistines wouldn’t allow them for fear they would make swords and spears for the Hebrews. 20 So whenever the Israelites needed to sharpen their plowshares, picks, axes, or sickles,[e] they had to take them to a Philistine blacksmith.” 1 Sam. 13:19-22

The most repeated story in the history of Israel is how quickly they forgot what God had done for them time after time. He had demonstrated many times that numbers didn’t matter to Him when it came time to when a battle. Size doesn’t matter to God when it comes to His strength being involved.

Gideon defeated thousands with three hundred men and David, a young teenager, took down a giant with a slingshot because God was on his side.

I don’t know what you are facing today or what giants lurk in your life but if you will place your trust and confidence in God, He will fight your battles for you and with you.

3. Do you put your confidence in your ability to figure things out and make decisions? That would be human intelligence.

Always remember that God’s way is the best way. Even if it doesn’t appear to make sense to others or yourself, always pick His way of doing things. Saul began his major downfall as a leader by not obeying God. One day Samuel instructs Saul to go and wait for him to come and give him further instructions.

8 Then go down to Gilgal ahead of me. I will join you there to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. You must wait for seven days until I arrive and give you further instructions.” 1 Sam. 10:8

Meanwhile, Saul stayed at Gilgal, and his men were trembling with fear. 8 Saul waited there seven days for Samuel, as Samuel had instructed him earlier, but Samuel still didn’t come. Saul realized that his troops were rapidly slipping away. 9 So he demanded, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings!” And Saul sacrificed the burnt offering himself.

10 Just as Saul was finishing with the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet and welcome him, 11 but Samuel said, “What is this you have done?”

Saul replied, “I saw my men scattering from me, and you didn’t arrive when you said you would, and the Philistines are at Micmash ready for battle. 12 So I said, ‘The Philistines are ready to march against us at Gilgal, and I haven’t even asked for the LORD’s help!’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering myself before you came.”

13 “How foolish!” Samuel exclaimed. “You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you. Had you kept it, the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom must end, for the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart. The LORD has already appointed him to be the leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD’s command.”
1 Sam. 13:7b-14

In 1 Samuel 15 there is another story of Saul’s disobedience based on taking matters into his own hands. In essence he ignores what God says to do and does whatever he pleases. How many of us do this every day of our lives. Do you have any idea how destructive this is to your personal life? Do you understand that this matters? Now watch what happens when he is confronted by Samuel. Everything about him is calculated to spin, lie and evade the truth of what really happened. He does nothing but make defensive comments and partner them with excuses.

13 When Samuel finally found him, Saul greeted him cheerfully. “May the LORD bless you,” he said. “I have carried out the LORD’s command!” 14 “Then what is all the bleating of sheep and goats and the lowing of cattle I hear?” Samuel demanded.

15 “It’s true that the army spared the best of the sheep, goats, and cattle,” Saul admitted. “But they are going to sacrifice them to the LORD your God. We have destroyed everything else.” 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! Listen to what the LORD told me last night!” “What did he tell you?” Saul asked.

17 And Samuel told him, “Although you may think little of yourself, are you not the leader of the tribes of Israel? The LORD has anointed you king of Israel. 18 And the LORD sent you on a mission and told you, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, until they are all dead.’ 19 Why haven’t you obeyed the LORD? Why did you rush for the plunder and do what was evil in the LORD’s sight?”

20 “But I did obey the LORD,” Saul insisted. “I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else. 21 Then my troops brought in the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and plunder to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”

22 But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.

23 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.”

24 Then Saul admitted to Samuel, “Yes, I have sinned. I have disobeyed your instructions and the LORD’s command, for I was afraid of the people and did what they demanded. 25 But now, please forgive my sin and come back with me so that I may worship the LORD.”

26 But Samuel replied, “I will not go back with you! Since you have rejected the LORD’s command, he has rejected you as king of Israel.” 27 As Samuel turned to go, Saul tried to hold him back and tore the hem of his robe. 28 And Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to someone else—one who is better than you. 29 And he who is the Glory of Israel will not lie, nor will he change his mind, for he is not human that he should change his mind!”
1 Sam. 15:7-29

So many times those of us who have spoken from this platform have asked you turn from your own destructive ways of living and serve God with your whole heart. We have preached total surrender to God probably more than any other subject. Do you know what drives that? First of all it is what God demands and expects from us but it is also the result of seeing the destruction that happens in some of your lives over and over. Don’t you ever get tired of it? Don’t you ever wish that you could love God more than the things of this world so that when you are faced with the temptations that always take you down you would choose God’s way out of sheer love for Him?

Listen to me, that is the only way to live on this earth and find satisfaction, peace and joy. Until you get this and place yourself totally in God’s hands you will never be content.

To be honest with you this can be summed up in this phrase: Thy will or my will?

4. Do you put your confidence in activities and habits that mask pain and cover sin? That would be human entertainments.

As Saul’s life began to fall apart due to his continual disobedience of what God wanted him to do he began to self medicate to make it through. In his case it was music.

“17 “All right,” Saul said. “Find me someone who plays well, and bring him here.”

18 One of the servants said to Saul, “One of Jesse’s sons from Bethlehem is a talented harp player. Not only that—he is a brave warrior, a man of war, and has good judgment. He is also a fine-looking young man, and the LORD is with him.”

19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse to say, “Send me your son David, the shepherd.” 20 Jesse responded by sending David to Saul, along with a young goat, a donkey loaded with bread, and a wineskin full of wine.

21 So David went to Saul and began serving him. Saul loved David very much, and David became his armor bearer.

22 Then Saul sent word to Jesse asking, “Please let David remain in my service, for I am very pleased with him.” 23 And whenever the tormenting spirit from God troubled Saul, David would play the harp. Then Saul would feel better, and the tormenting spirit would go away.”
1 Sam. 16:17,23

Let me briefly address this “tormenting spirit from God,” comment. When Saul was anointed king the Bible says that the Spirit of God came on him in a very powerful way. Over the years of deliberate disobedience Saul finally arrives at a place where we read these words. “Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul.” (1 Sam. 16:14) You can’t play with God’s Holy Spirit. You can’t continually indulge sin in your life and expect that you won’t grieve away the Spirit of God from your life.

The key words here are “feel better” and “go away” or relief. Saul was not interested in healing or repenting and turning from his sin. He is only seeking relief from the pressure and conviction he is feeling. He finds that a form of entertainment helps mask the pain of his messed up life.

What are you using to mask the pain? People will do all kinds of things to avoid dealing with the issue at hand. We self medicate with illegal and sometimes prescription drugs, we self medicate with alcohol, the fake world of pornography.

Let me take a step closer to you for a moment and ask you what you do with your time. There are people in this room that need to do some work on their soul and ask God to do some renovation, but they are content to sit in front of a TV night after night and shift into couch potato mode instead of dealing with it. There are all kinds of distractions to keep us from dealing with our spiritual needs. Some of us work insane hours; some of us embrace destructive relationships that you know are outside of Gods will. Some of us put hours in time consuming hobbies that keep our minds off of the things that matter most.

There was once a very old widow who lived in a dirt floor shack. She worked hard for every bite of food she ate. After one particularly long, hard day she sat down and looked at the “dinner” before her. She had a glass of water in a broken cup, a dry crust of bread, and a handful of beans. A smile broke across her haggard face as she wondered, “All this and Jesus too?” When you know joy like that old woman, you will stop yearning for the next big thing. You can rest knowing you have “all this and Jesus too.”

5. Do you put confidence in false religion or the stars and heavens? That would be human deception.

In his final stage of drifting away from God Saul entered into the world of the so-called paranormal.

3 Meanwhile, Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him. He was buried in Ramah, his hometown. And Saul had banned from the land of Israel all mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead.

4 The Philistines set up their camp at Shunem, and Saul gathered all the army of Israel and camped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the vast Philistine army, he became frantic with fear. 6 He asked the LORD what he should do, but the LORD refused to answer him, either by dreams or by sacred lots[a] or by the prophets. 7 Saul then said to his advisers, “Find a woman who is a medium, so I can go and ask her what to do.”
1 Sam. 28:3-20

This truly is one of the saddest stories in the Old Testament. Saul is now breaking his own law and seeking a medium. Parts of this have a sad ironical twist that is almost humorous. Listen to this story:

8 So Saul disguised himself by wearing ordinary clothing instead of his royal robes. Then he went to the woman’s home at night, accompanied by two of his men. “I have to talk to a man who has died,” he said. “Will you call up his spirit for me?” 9 “Are you trying to get me killed?” the woman demanded. “You know that Saul has outlawed all the mediums and all who consult the spirits of the dead. Why are you setting a trap for me?”

10 But Saul took an oath in the name of the LORD and promised, “As surely as the LORD lives, nothing bad will happen to you for doing this.” 11 Finally, the woman said, “Well, whose spirit do you want me to call up?” “Call up Samuel,” Saul replied. 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she screamed, “You’ve deceived me! You are Saul!”
1 Sam. 28:8-12

This woman is about as cheesy as the people that are on late night TV. They offer these general statements like, “I sense you have faced conflict in your life with someone you care about.” Have you ever found it astounding that people ooh and ah over a statement like that? Saul came full circle from having a call from God and being anointed by His Spirit to being abandoned by God and seeking evil spirits through human deception. The Bible clearly teaches that this is wrong behavior.

So here is Saul’s life in a thirty minute fly over view. He died by committing suicide in essence. He died without God, alone and unable to even make his way back to where God was.

Why did this happen to Saul. From the first moment of God’s stirring in his life he never truly or fully had confidence in God’s ability to help him handle things in his life. He ran his own show and did his own thing.

Here are some things for you to remember and think about as we close this service.

  • If God is setting a task before you, don’t hide in the baggage.
  • When God calls you to do something, do it His way, not your way.
  • If you’ve been disobedient to God, don’t try to spin it, hide it, or blame it on someone else. Just fall to your knees and confess it.
  • If envy is choking your heart, let God do surgery and change you.
  • If God tells you the time has come for you to let go of something, don’t clutch it tightly, but let it go.

Today I am asking you to recommit yourself to giving your full devotion to God.

C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity says “The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.

In his classic devotional book titled The Saint’s Everlasting Rest, English Puritan pastor and author Richard Baxter (1615-1691) wrote:

Why are not our hearts continually set on heaven? Why dwell we not there in constant contemplation…Bend thy soul to study eternity, busy thyself about the life to come, habituate thyself to such contemplations, and let not those thoughts be seldom and cursory, but bathe thyself in heaven’s delights.



2007/10/28