Your actions, reactions, behavior, responses, words are more shaped by what's inside of you than what's outside of you. We would like to think that's not true, but it is. I think the church of Jesus Christ has been powerfully affected by the determinism of our culture, a culture that essentially says, "You are what your experience has made you." The Bible would say something very different. The Bible would say that what rules your heart will control your behavior--that your behavior, your words, are organically connected to the thoughts, attitudes, motives, and desires of your heart.
Three Men, One Situation
We're going to be looking, this evening, at the responses of three men in the exact same historical situation, but with remarkably different responses. Turn again to II Samuel, chapter 1. It is a sad moment and an amazing contrast. David has just accomplished a great victory against the Amalekites, while Saul has had a miserable defeat, indeed, in his death and the death of his sons. Look with me at the first few verses there in 2 Samuel, chapter 1: After the death of Saul, when David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag.
And on the third day, behold, a man came from Saul's camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. (ESV) Sure sign of mourning--this man was adorned like somebody who was mourning a death. He was a messenger coming to announce to David the situation, the conditions, the circumstances of the death of Saul. Before we can really consider that, I want you to turn, if you would, to look at I Samuel 31. I Samuel 31 actually gives us the historical account of Saul's death. Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers. (ESV) And then Saul goes on. He asked his armor-bearer to take his life--he won't do it, and Saul commits suicide. I think it's very important that we reflect on the sad journey of this man, Saul. What a horrible, horrible moment is recorded in these verses. Think of the journey of this man: Anointed as the first King of Israel, the Spirit of God placed on him for this task, a man esteemed by the people around him, celebrated as king, a man who accomplished great, military victories, but whose heart begins to wander, a guy who begins to play fast and loose with the will of God, gives himself to acts of disobedience, grows growingly rebellious, cannot handle the victories of David, and is more obsessed with power, and more controlled by jealousy, so rebellious, that God removes His Spirit from him.
In a shocking moment, almost unthinkable, we see the anointed King of Israel visiting a witch for help and wisdom, and in an act of rebellion and selfishness and despair, in a moment of awful defeat, this man ends his life. Now maybe you look at Saul and say, "Okay Paul, what a sad story. What does that have to do with me?" I want to get you to think this evening with me that this account of this man's life, given so much ink in Scripture, ending in this sad moment of suicide, is in the pages of the Word of God to be a warning to us.
I would ask you this evening, "What is the journey of your relationship with God? What is the pathway, right now, that you're taking? Is it a pathway of growing enthusiasm with the truth of God, a growing zeal to understand the will and the way of God, a growing enthusiasm with the purposes of the kingdom of God, a growing love, a devotional tenderness for your Lord, a growing zeal to be part of the ministry of the Gospel in the place where God has put you, a love for the people of God, a love for worship of God?
Or is maybe that not your journey? Could it be that there are people in this room, that your walk with God has actually been a chronicle of letting down your guard? Perhaps there are things you're doing right now, things you're saying right now that you wouldn't have thought of doing, you wouldn't have thought of saying when you first came to Christ. Perhaps there is coldness in your relationship with God where there once wasn't. Perhaps you've slacked in your devotional life. Perhaps, if you are honest, in subtle, yet significant ways, your journey of faith is actually a journey of a progressive falling away.
What is your journey?" As I considered the shocking end of this man, my mind couldn't help but think of a warning that's in the New Testament. I'd like you to turn with me to Hebrews 3. I think this passage has direct thematic connection in warning form to the historical warning that we find in the life of Saul. Hebrews 3, verses 12 and 13, "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (sin's deceitfulness)."
A Warning to Believers
(ESV) Now there are two things I want to point out to you in this warning. First of all, very clearly, it's a warning to believers. It says, "See to it, brothers." This is a warning to people of faith. But a second thing I think is very important to notice is that the warning here is a progressive warning. It's the warning against a progressive falling away. I'd like you to look up here because I'm actually going to physically demonstrate this to you, even in this little circle I'm in. "See to it, brothers, that none of you has an evil, unbelieving, turning away, hardened heart."
Here's the scary thing that could happen to anyone in this room. You begin to let down your guard, and you begin to give yourself to subtle patterns of disobedience. Listen, Saul didn't go from being anointed...to the next day visiting a witch. There's a sad progress of deceit and slavery to sin. Where is it that, in your life, you are allowing, in your heart, subtle patterns of sin; sinful unbelieving? When I sin, my conscience bothers me, and it's very tempting to back away from the clear teaching of the Word that says what I'm doing is sin and to mollify, to ease my conscience by arguments for the rightness of what I've done.
By self-atoning arguments that make me feel good about what I should not feel good about. You read the history of Saul; he was great at rationalization, great at bending the truth in a way that would relieve his conscience--that's unbelief. As I began to give myself to a pattern of self-swindling, not taking, humbly and seriously, the convicting message of the Word of God, it always leads to further turning away because the Word of God is meant to be my spiritual anchor. When I cut that rope, I give room for the evil of my heart to grow.
And here's what ultimately happens, I end up with a hardened heart. What does that mean? It means that thing that once bothered me doesn't bother me anymore. What a warning is in this end of Saul's life. What is the direction of your journey? Be honest--ever closer to your Lord, deeper joy in the life of obedience, or the subtle legacy of turning away? Are there places where your heart has become hard? Be honest, look into the mirror of the Word of God. I wish I had time this evening to talk to you about suicide more fully.
It is one of the shocking moments in Scripture. I want to say that I think we always ought to greet that act with tears and compassion. We ought to mourn any moment where a human being, in despair, takes his life. We should never respond to that with self-righteousness and a judgmental and critical spirit, but it's also important to realize that suicide is always relational. I cannot escape that I'm a person created for community; I'm created for community with God, and I'm created into community with other people.
And somehow, some way, suicide is the ultimate act of anger against and rebellion toward God. Because in that moment, I do the one thing I must never do...take life into my hands, do what only God has the right to do. It is also a horrible violation of human community. Imagine the selfishness of that act; imagine what the people who remain must live with as they are faced with the scene and the implications of that. I was counseling a man who got that. He was a deeply depressed man. He told me this story.
He got up one morning and decided he was going to end his life. He walked down to the corner to the local drugstore and bought a pack of double-edge razor blades. He filled his tub full of water, got into the tub, now holding the razor blade in his hand, and he thought of his mother, and he thought of his father, and he thought of his brother, and he thought, "I'll get to die, but they will discover a horrible scene that they will never escape from." And he said, "I began to cry. I couldn't do that to my mother, and my father, and my brother."
I Took a Bath
As a counselor would, I said, "Well, what did you do?" And with a big smile on his face, he said to me, "I took a bath." Praise God! Praise God! Well, there's another man in this same scene. Turn to II Samuel, chapter 1. It's the Amalekite. He comes to David with the report of Saul's death. And David asks him how he knows of this, verse eight: 'Who are you?' I answered him, 'I am an Amalekite.' And he said to me 'Stand beside me and kill me, for anguish has seized me, and yet my life still lingers.' So I stood beside him and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen.
And I took the crown that was on his head and the armlet that was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my Lord.' (ESV) Now we know for sure, because we've just read I Samuel 31, that what this Amalekite is reporting is a lie. What an evil thing for this man, in the face of the slaughter of the army of Israel, the death of Saul's sons, and the death of Saul, to look at that whole situation as a way to gain advantage. He was an Amalekite, a mortal enemy of Israel. And yet, he comes of the king carrying the armlet and the crown of Saul with a story that was a self-aggrandizing lie, thinking that if he told this lie, he would ingratiate himself to the king, that his life would be spared, and then maybe he would even be invited into the court of the new king.
It is the ethics of advantage. It's looking for an edge; it's looking for an opportunity to gain power, to gain advantage, to gain respect somehow, some way, by bringing another person into my debt by bending the truth a little bit. Now I would like to say to you, don't sit there and think that you don't know what I'm talking about. You have told stories that make you more the hero than you actually are. In fact, some of us suffer from the reality that our stories get better all the time--same story!
There are times when you're tempted to do something for a person to place them in your debt. There may be ways that you look for an edge, look for an opportunity. I would ask you this evening, "Is there evidence anywhere in your life that you live by the ethics of advantage? Is there somebody in your life that would tell a joke that you would laugh harder with that person than somebody else? Is there somebody that you want to impress for some reason because you think their respect is of a particular advantage to you?
Is there a place where you've maybe turned ministry into occasion to get power and control?" A Christian ethic is very different than that. It can be characterized by two words, here they are, you're familiar with them, "Trust and obey!" I'm not seeking advantage. I'm not seeking control. I'm not seeking power because I believe that my world is ruled by One who has awesome power and complete control, and He is good, and wise, and loving, and gracious, and I can rest in all of my circumstances in His care.
And I understand my job description--it can be said in one word, "Obey!" No matter where, no matter whom I'm with, no matter what the situation, no matter how troubling the circumstances, no matter how much sin is surrounding me, no matter who else is advancing, no matter who else has the advantage, I am called to one act, "Obey." And my moral system doesn't change with the circumstances. It's rooted in rest in God and a disciplined commitment to obey His Word. Now, I wish I could say to you this evening, "I'm not tempted to step out from that ethic," but I would be a liar, I am.
When Obedience Is Hard
There are times when obedience is hard. There are times when there are things that are attractive that could be gained by stepping out from that clear trust and obey system. I think perhaps there's a bit of this Amalekite in us all. Well, the man doesn't get the response that he was expecting. And this is the third person in this scene, a man of a very different heart. David's response isn't to celebrate; you find that beginning with verse 11, David takes hold of his clothes and he tears them, and he leads his followers in this time of weeping and mourning for the fallen king, for the nation of Israel, for Jonathan, the son of the king.
And he says to the Amalekite essentially this, "What were you thinking? What would be ever in your head that you would reach out your hand and you would destroy God's anointed? How could you ever make that seem like it is right?" And David says, "Your own testimony is against you." And the man is executed. What happens next is just amazing. Now remember what David's life has been like. He has been, although the anointed King of Israel, he's been in exile. He's been in exile because of the jealousy, the obsession, the vengeance of Saul.
You would think this would be a moment of, "I told you so." This would be a moment of celebration, but it's not at all. It's a moment of weeping. It's a moment of mourning, and David actually pens a eulogy to Saul and his house. I can't think of a better historical example for what it means to love your enemies than this one. You will only love your enemy in this way, if what really truly rules your heart, is love for God. Notice, if you would, at verse 17, David means for this eulogy to be kept, to be taught; it's to be entered in the book of Jashar, which seems to be a book of poetry that had been passed down through the years, where poems would be written to celebrate various events or to mark various events in the life of Israel.
It's hard for us to get the full power of this little poem because Hebrew poetry doesn't translate well into English. Let me just point this out to you. This poem is actually in three stanzas, three verses and each verse begins with, "How the mighty have fallen." You see that in verse 19; you see that in verse 25, and you see that in verse 27. The first stanza is David mourning the death of Saul and Jonathan and the impact of that on Israel. Verse 19 says, "Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places!"
Israel was meant to reflect as the people of God, the glory of God. The victories of Israel were meant to picture the power and the might of the Lord Almighty, the Lord of Hosts. What a shocking thing to see the slaughter of Israel, bodies strewn across the mountainside, weapons of warfare abandoned as Israelite men ran from the Philistines-- this was never supposed to happen. Saul, in his rebellion, had literally brought this nation to the point of destruction, and there's actually a word picture here.
This word 'glory' has sort of an alternative translation--it's 'gazelle'. And there are those who say that maybe that David is actually doing that on purpose and picturing this thing--imagine this great deer with the big rack that pranced his way on the hills. You couldn't live in the area without seeing him, and now he lies dead! The glory has been slain. And then David, already responding like the future king says, "Let's keep it quiet." Notice verse 20, "Let it not be known in the cities of Philistia lest they rejoice too much and they take advantage."
Little did David know that Saul's body had already been abused. It had already been beheaded. It was already hanging in one of the cities of Philistia, being further abused in public--what a sad thing. And then in a word picture of mourning, he says, "May the hills of Gilboa grow dry. May there not be any harvest so that there wouldn't be any celebration." In a farming community, there was great celebration when harvest would come--no time for celebration. May the hills be dry. And then in another word picture, he talks about the shield of Saul not being anointed with oil.
Shields Polished With Oil
The shields were polished with oil before a soldier would go into battle, and as the army would come over the hills, the sun would hit the shields, and they would glisten. It was a fearful sight if you were being attacked. Saul's shield would never again be anointed with oil because the great warrior king was dead. Verse 22 celebrates the successes of Jonathan and Saul. Jonathan's bow was never turned back. The sword of Saul never returned empty. And verse 23 talks about, again, the successes, you know those pictures of "swifter than the eagle,"
"stronger than a lion"--these were great warriors. Verse 24 pictures Israel benefiting from their victories, that Israel was made rich from the plunder that these men had achieved by their victories. This is a remarkable eulogy. Where is the vengeance? Where is the anger? Where are the memories of all the evil that Saul did to David? Hear this, the death of Saul, for David, was not so much about what had been done to David, it's what had been done to the message of the glory of God. And since this house of Saul was meant to point to a greater King, that's what matters to David.
It's not all about him. It's all about his Lord. Verse 25 begins the second stanza of this eulogy where David remembers the love of Jonathan for him and those famous words, "Your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women." He didn't say, "Replacing the love of women." What he is saying is, "There is no greater love that I've ever experienced than the love this man had for me." And in verse 27, he comes to the theme again, "How the mighty have fallen and the weapons of war perished."
Again that picture of the weapons of Israel strewn across the mountains--the unthinkable has happened to the people of God. It has been said that you know all you need to know about a man's heart by what he celebrates and what he mourns. Here you have the hearts of three men revealed. Saul, far from God, angry that the plan for his life will not be, and in an act of selfishness and rebellion, ends his life. The Amalekite, in a horrible moment of grief, seeks to gain advantage. David, a man after God's own heart, gets it right, and his mourning is not just the mourning of the loss of two men, but the shame brought to the people of God.
What rules your heart? What gives you hope? What forms the things that you say and the things that you do? You can't consider the death of this one king without your heart reflecting on another King, who willingly died. His death wasn't an act of rebellion and disobedience. His death was the picture of obedience. Jesus willingly submitted to the plan and purpose and will of His Father, willing to be obedient, even to death, death on the cross. That death was not a moment of sad despair and defeat.
That death was a victory! Colossians says, "That Christ triumphed over the power and authorities, making a public spectacle of them through the cross." That death is our hope. We don't need to give way to Saul-like despair, no matter what you're facing, you don't need to give way to Saul-like despair because the death of that King is your hope, is your life, is your rest, is your peace. You don't need to live to take an advantage because that King who died rules over all things for the sake of His people.
And you can give yourself to the glory of God, living that 'trust and obey' lifestyle, knowing that your Savior King is sovereign, and good, and wise, and faithful. He is your only hope. Let's pray: Lord, how we would like to separate ourselves from these characters in Your Word, and how You remind us that they are, in fact, people just like us. Lord, help us to put our rest in You and You alone, to accept our job description, to be glad to obey, to forsake our glory, to live for Your glory, to rest in the forgiveness, and the grace, and the wisdom of the King of kings. Thank you. In Jesus's name, Amen.
