Ashamed At His Coming

Ashamed at His Coming

DSS-10

060226PM

1 Samuel 13-20

Transcript

Let’s open our Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 4. As you’re turning there, 2 Timothy 4. Tonight, we have a choice. Tonight, you have the choice to either love, and anticipate, and look forward to Christ’s return or to dread it and not look forward to Christ’s return.

It says in 2 Timothy 4 verses 7 and 8, the Apostle Paul’s famous last words, as it were, and it was the finish line. And Paul had lived operating under this compelling conviction that he had that there was a finish line, and at the end of the race was a prize, and the only way to get the prize was to finish the race. Someone asked, if we have failed in the past, does it ruin everything into the future? That’s the blessing of the God of new beginnings. We all, no matter where we are in life, can start over brand new and fresh because the ultimate goal is not how you started but how you finish. The thrust of what Christ is telling through the Apostle Paul is pressing toward finishing and making sure you finish well. Look what Paul said. I fought the good fight; I finished the race. Most believe he wrote these from the Mamertine, these words, from the Mamertine Prison as he was awaiting execution. He was right there in the dungeons, just off of the Roman Forum in the epicenter, the heart of the Roman Empire. And he said, I’m here, I’m chained. I have nowhere to go but out there to be beheaded. I finished the race, I fought the good fight, kept the faith. And there’s laid up for me this crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge will give me on that Day—now look at his attitude—and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing. Longing for that coming. Not dreading, longing for that coming.

Now look at the opposite attitude, 1 John 2:28. Actually, this verse was when I was in high school, I remember first being challenged about the verse I just read you and 1 John 2:28, and I remember distinctly writing with a marker on the face of my watch, even so, come quickly. It was a Rapidograph because we used to have to use them in biology class. They used to, they’re real fine points and you make dot drawings. So, I could write right on the glass. I wrote, come quickly, let me not be ashamed. And I wrote it right on my watch, and every time I looked at the time, I would look at that, and it would say, come quickly, let me not be ashamed. It’s these two verses. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, as the Apostle Paul and as John said. But look at 1 John 2:28, I don’t want to be ashamed. He said, and now little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed.

The Apostle Paul was convinced that when Christ came, either we were going to shrink away in dread of what He’s going to find. Or like the Apostle Paul, we were going to love His appearing. So, the choice is ours tonight. And what we’re going to do, and if you want to turn with me back to 1 Samuel, and I’m going to start with you in 13, and we’re going to finish this list 1 Samuel 13. But what we’re doing, and if you’re just joining us right now, we’re going to the crash site, just like they did at 9-1-1, where those jets crashed in the World Trade Center. Just like they do every time there’s a crash, the NTSB goes, and they look through all the debris and figure out what happened. And they look for the flight recorder, and we’ve already gotten that. This is the flight recorder. This is the record of each life lived.

And in 1 Samuel, if you go there in the Old Testament, starting in chapter 13, we’re picking up in the life of King Saul, the first king. The one who was the man after man’s own heart, who was followed by the man after God’s own heart, David. And we’re going to see in his life, starting in the thirteenth chapter, as we sift through what the Word of God records is, the scrap and the debris of his life. We’re going to see what it was that God said he did wrong. And I want to remind you and as I get a little deeper into these, that every one of them, number one parallel, and they’re almost opposite of David’s life. Do you remember when we went through David’s spiritual secret and I told you that David was disciplined and David this and this and this and this and watch what he said and everything else. Saul was the antithesis. He was the opposite. Their lives are paradoxical, almost point for point. Everything I’m showing you about Saul’s life, the opposite is true about David’s life. David chose to cultivate the opposite by the power of God’s Spirit.

Look at chapter 13. And if you wrote these down, the first one is in the first seven verses. And if you want to shipwreck your life like Saul did, if you want to be sure that your life will amount to nothing, neglect the Lord’s leadership of your life. Now, what do I mean by that? Someone also asked me this morning, they said, could you give me the positive side of that? Could you flip that one around? The positive side is Galatians 5; Ephesians 4 and 5; and Colossians 3. Those three chapters in the New Testament tell us that we have to make a conscious choice to put off, to put to death, to mortify—that’s the negative—these evil practices, and to put on and clothe ourselves and to yield and walk in the power of the Spirit—that’s the positive side. So, what Saul did is he neglected to allow the Lord to lead his life. He wouldn’t sing, O Jesus Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee. He wouldn’t let God lead his life. He neglected God’s leadership in his life. He underestimated the strength of his enemy, the Philistines, and he was utterly defeated until finally he led the nation of Israel into a complete defeat on Mount Gilboa, and he himself was mortally wounded and later struck down by an Amalekite. So, neglect God’s leadership in your life and underestimate the strength of your enemy.

Number two, we saw in verse 8, get impatient and use your impatience as an excuse to do your own thing instead of obeying God. Reminds me of the person at the stoplight, and they wait there, and they think that they’ve waited as long as they’re supposed to, and they just drive through and cause some honking of horns. They just, or even at the four-way stops, they just aren’t going to wait for their turn. They’re just going to plow through and they say, I’m in a hurry, or whatever. They excuse their wrong behavior by their impatience. What’s the positive side of that? The fruit of the Spirit, yielding to the Holy Spirit in my life. I should have a measurable increase in my patience, in my bearing long with situations that aren’t going the way I want them to. Not that way with Saul; he got impatient. He used his impatience as an excuse to do his own thing instead of obeying God, and he didn’t realize you can’t serve God by impatience.

The third one we saw this morning is in verse 22. If you look at 1 Samuel 13 and verse 22. If you want to waste your life like him, neglect your primary responsibility. He was the king. He was supposed to lead the nation into security and cause them to win the battles, and yet it says in verse 22 that there was no sword or spear in the hand of any of his soldiers. Now, if you had an army and you never armed them, and you’re the commander of the army, you are neglecting your responsibility. And you can just take that positively. If you have a responsibility, you should have a desire to fulfill that responsibility. You should ask God to give you the desire. If you are in a marriage relationship, you are supposed to be, if you’re the man, you’re supposed to be the primary leader, and the instigator, and the initiator. And if you’re a woman, you’re supposed to be the encourager and the nurturer. And if you’re a child, you’re supposed to be the one who reverences, and honors, and obeys. In every responsibility that we have, there’s something we can either neglect, not do what God says, or we can encourage and nurture it. And Saul neglected his primary responsibility. In fact, he did that because he was only taking care of his own needs. He’d strap on his sword and say, I’m ready. You guys aren’t, doesn’t matter. I’m ready. And see, that’s a whole, the whole thing you see about Saul is a selfward look, a selfish way of looking at life that brought the impatience, it brought the neglect, it brought this irresponsibility.

Fourthly, we saw in chapter 14 verses 2 and 3 that this led to Saul getting out of touch. And if you want to fail, get out of touch with what God’s doing around you. God says that we are supposed to be walking in the Spirit. We’re supposed to be conscious, through the Word of God, through Him enlightening and quickening and moving in us and causing us to desire what is His will. We’re supposed to be in step with the Spirit. Saul was out of touch. He didn’t know what God was doing, and he didn’t see what God was doing, and he missed them completely. And basically, he was lazy while everybody else was out fighting, his son and his armor bearer, he was having a siesta and he was indifferent. Jonathan his son said, God, what do You want me to do? I want to do this, and Lord, if You do this, I’m going to do this. And he was just walking through life seeking to be in touch with the Lord. Saul didn’t.

Number five, get your anger and pride to rule. That’s verse 24. He was rash, and he disabled, and wounded, and harmed those around him. And we can’t serve God by rash words. In fact, I shared with you from James 1 and James 3 about our tongue, and sometimes that impatience and that neglect in our life of our responsibility leads us to get to a point of frustration, which Saul did, which caused him to make these rash statements. And rash statements as well as the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God, James 1:20. And if you want to waste your life, allow your anger and pride to rule your life so that you say and do things that disable, wound, and harm those around you. The Lord told us that we’re going to give an account of every idle word that we speak. And our words can either come from a fountain prompted by the Holy Spirit, or can come from the well of bitterness, and anger, and defilement in our lives, and we have a choice to make. And if you want to waste your life, don’t muzzle your tongue.

Then in chapter 15, and if you turn over to that incredible chapter, we read the whole chapter a few weeks ago. We saw many points; let me go through them with you. The first three verses, ignore the clear and direct statements about what God wants you to do. If you want to waste your life, be unacquainted with the plan, the specs, the architectural drawings, the engineering report. God has engineered how He wants us to live our lives in every dimension, and Saul neglected to even pay attention. He ignored, in the first three verses, clear and direct statements about what God wants you to do. Always reminds me of the great theologian, Mark Twain. I’m joking about that. He was pagan and irreverent, but you know what he said? He said, it’s not the parts of the Bible I don’t understand that bother me. He said, it’s the parts I do understand that bother me. Even a pagan like Twain knew the clear and direct statements of God’s Word. And a lot of people neglect the clear and direct and are always over in the obscure and unclear parts and arguing about those. And as Paul said, they’re always in endless speculation about that. Don’t worry about that. Busy yourself with the clear and direct parts. And Saul didn’t, he ignored the clear and direct statements about what God wants you to do. And if you want to waste your life like Saul, just ignore those clear and direct statements. And the way you do that is neglecting to even understand this book.

I have a Tuesday morning How to Study the Bible group, and we’re actually practicing together studying the Bible and learning. And I shared with them last week that the first thing that I do is I pray Psalm 119 verse 18 every time I open this book, which says, open my eyes, God, that I can behold wonderful things. We don’t just have this literary ability to just find stuff in this book and just understand it all. It is supernaturally illumine our hearts by God. And we have to ask for that, and God is glorified when we ask and need, and He opens our minds. Saul ignored the clear and direct statements.

Seventhly, where we were this morning is in chapter 15 of verse 8. Pick and choose what God clearly tells you to do so that you offer God’s selective and partial obedience. In God’s book, selective obedience is disobedience. Partial obedience is disobedience. That’s what He condemned Saul for. Saul did about 80 or 90 percent of what God asked him to do, and God says, you failed. Ha, we teach young people if you get more than 60 percent you pass. God doesn’t grade like that. God says either it’s obedience or it’s disobedience. It’s not half. It’s not 60/40. And Saul picked and chose from what God clearly told him to do and offered selective obedience, which was disobedience.

Look at the next verse, which is the first part of verse 9 of 1 Samuel 15. If you want to really waste your life, hold on to the best and nicest parts of what God hates and has asked you to destroy, and keep them for your own use. This gets into the realm of what it says in Colossians, where it says, mortify, or put to death, and have nothing to do with uncleanness and covetousness and sinfulness and anything to do with the flesh. And that’s what Saul demonstrates here because it says in verse 9, but Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. What did verse 3 say? It says utterly destroy them right down to the smallest, most innocent looking little members of the Amalekite clan there. Get rid of all of them. Utterly obey Me. But they weren’t willing to. Jesus told what He thinks of us loving what He hates in James chapter 4 and verse 4, and it says, adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. And if you want to waste your life like Saul wasted his life, the easiest way to do that is just hold on to the best and nicest parts of what God hates, what God has clearly said is not of God and is going to pass away, and hold on tight to that and what God asks you to destroy. And that’s what Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3 and Galatians 5 talk about, that we are to put to death the lusts that are in our members. We are to mortify them, and we are to ask God to change our appetite. And we are to restrict our intake of that which feeds us lust. And if we don’t do that, then like Saul, we will keep them for our own use and we will waste our lives.

Look at the end of verse 9, but here’s the ninth one if you’re counting. Only give God what you don’t want anyway and is worthless to you. In verse 9, at the end, it says in 1 Samuel 15, but everything that was despised and worthless, that they destroyed. They obeyed God in the parts they didn’t like. Isn’t that amazing? I’ve destroyed every Ouija board in my house. I don’t have any. You understand that? That’s an easy one. You have trouble utterly destroying what you like, and that’s what Saul struggled with. Jesus told us how to live for eternal gain. In Matthew 16 verse 24 to 27 is the opposite side of Saul’s error. And Jesus said to His disciples, if you desire to come after Me, deny yourself, verse 24 says, take up your cross, follow Me. Verse 25, whoever desires to save his life—what you hold on to—you’ll lose, but whoever loses his life for My sake, will find it. Verse 26, for what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:27, for the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each one according to his works. God says, destroy what I hate, have nothing to do in your life. Jesus said, if you love Me, you will deny yourself and say no. Saul said, no, I’ll only destroy what’s already worthless to me, what I don’t like anyway. I will hold on to what You hate but I love. If we want to waste our lives, forget that God deserves the first, the best, and the costliest of our time, our treasures, and talents. And if we want to waste our lives like Saul did, just give God what you don’t want anyway and what’s worthless.

Number ten, look at verse 12 of 1 Samuel 15. Here’s the tenth one: honor yourself before others. When people come, honor yourself and remind people of your accomplishments instead of reminding them and honoring the Lord. Now, look what he does in verse 12, when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul went to Carmel, and indeed he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal. A monument for himself. He actually set up a monument saying that Saul really conquered the Amalekites! He didn’t conquer the Amalekites. He left them alive, so much so that they’re alive 500 years later, and almost destroy the nation of Israel, as we’ll see when we go and look at the whole Agag situation.

But Jesus’ harshest criticisms were for the proud religious leaders. Matthew 23 has got the longest of all of Christ’s vehement denunciations. In Matthew 23, Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, and He said: the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, observe it, but don’t do what they do. Why? Because they say and do not. They talk the talk; they don’t walk the walk. And they are concerned about honoring themselves. And Jesus goes through, in verse 4, they bind heavy burdens, in Matthew 23. They make their phylacteries broad; they enlarge the borders of their garment. They love the best place. They love to be greeted as Rabbi. They love to exalt themselves. If you really want to waste your life, just honor yourself in front of others, remind people of how great you are, and fail to honor the Lord. And that’s a way to waste our lives because God says, My glory I’ll share with no one. And it says in James 4:10 that if we humble ourself in the sight of God, He lifts us up. And Colossians 3:12 says, if we choose to clothe ourselves with humility, that’s when God empowers and uses us. If you want to waste your life, be like Saul, honor yourself.

The eleventh one is in verse 13 of 1 Samuel 15. It says, then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, blessed are you of the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD. The next way to waste your life is be deceptive about the true condition of your spiritual life by making false claims about your dedication. I think how easy that is for us to do because we often stand with our hymn books in our hands and we sing songs. Have you ever thought about what the words to these, some of these hymn book songs are? Here’s one: all to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give. Worldly pleasures all forsaken, take me, Jesus, take me now. I surrender all. Now, that is either a true assertion of a humble, obedient heart. Or it’s like Saul, a deceptive statement that veils the true condition of our spiritual life by making false claims about our dedication. That’s why it says in Ecclesiastes 5, be careful what you say. Let your words be few because God is in Heaven and we’re on Earth and God listens. And God says the surest way to waste your life is to make false assertions about your spiritual life and mine. And claim to be something we’re not, and claim something that we have not experienced, to deal in secondhand truth. You know what secondhand truth is? Truth you haven’t experienced, truth you’ve heard about and you pass on but you’ve never experienced. And Saul was deceptive about the true condition of his spiritual life. If you want to waste your life, make false claims about your dedication to God.

Almost every time I hear some kind of a plea for surrender and consecration, in my heart, I always renew my dedication and commitment to the Lord. In fact, that’s one of the things that often in many retreat settings, when I speak at retreats, they always conclude the whole retreat, or camp, or conference, or whatever with some kind of a consecration service. And they always invite the speakers to be there. And I love to be there, not just to hear all that, but in my own heart to renew that consecration, to renew that commitment, to renew those vows that we make to the Lord. Saul was deceptive and made false claims.

The next verse to look at is in verse 15, in 1 Samuel 15:15. Here’s the twelfth bad event that the Lord records. It says in verse 15 at the beginning, and Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites. He was questioned about where these animals came from. The people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen. Here’s the twelfth way to make sure you waste your life: blame others for your own personal failures. No, no, the kids made me do it. My wife made me do it. My husband made me do it. My boss made me do it. Being out of work made me that way, or someone warped me in the past. Blame someone else for your own personal failures. That is a sure way to waste your life. Blame someone else. And if you want to waste your life, go through life blaming others for your own personal failures. The Lord says whoever confesses and forsakes his sins will find mercy and will prosper. Confession: I say what God says about it. I say what God sees about it. I don’t admit; I confess, I agree with God, and I forsake. And God says if we confess and forsake, we find His mercy. But whoever covers his sin, God resists them, and they will not prosper. And God was resisting Saul because Saul blamed, he says, look at that beginning of the verse, they brought them from the Amalekites. Those people out there, they spared the best of the sheep and the oxen. Blaming. It’s this whole attitude we see pervading our society. Nobody’s guilty for any crime anymore. No, no, no, it’s the manufacturer. I have a gambling compulsion. I have a… I got burnt by the whatever because they didn’t do it right. And they blame everything on someone else. No one takes personal responsibility for anything, and that’s the only way we can have change in our life.

The end of verse 15 has another one. Notice what it says at the end of verse 15. He said that the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen. Now continue in verse 15 of 1 Samuel 15, to sacrifice to the LORD. And I love how the Western manuscripts, they follow the manuscript wording that says the LORD your God. Now, you notice that this is three times in this text. It’s not once. It’s not a variant. Every time Saul gets to talk about the LORD in a direct way, he refers to God as Samuel’s God. What is that saying? Not his God. Notice this. If you want to waste your life, experience God secondhand, only through others, not firsthand and personally. Notice what he says, to sacrifice the LORD your God; the rest we’ve utterly destroyed. If you want to waste your life, go through life only experiencing Him secondhand, experiencing Him through conferences, and through books, and through radio shows, and through tapes, and through television, and through songs, but don’t ever personally face-to-face experience God. Let everybody else dig out the truth. Let everybody else find the blessing. Let everybody else report on God doing great and mighty things, but don’t ever experience it personally. Never get into the place where you have to ask God to do something that only He can do. Never get into the place where you have to trust Him, where no one else knows about it, where only He could act. Never get in those places, and you will waste your life. Because Saul only experienced God secondhand, he only knew God through others, he never firsthand and personally spent time with God. Now, what’s amazing is at the beginning of his ministry, he sought the LORD, and LORD gave him a new heart, but he fell so quickly from that and gets to this secondhand type of thing.

Look at verse 17 because here’s the fourteenth if you’re numbering them, cultivate an exaggerated view of your own importance. It says in verse 17, so Samuel said, when you were little in your own eyes, were you not head over Israel? And didn’t the LORD anoint you as king? See, what had happened is he cultivated an exaggerated view of himself. Saul began to think he was important. And you know what it says in 1 Corinthians 1:30? Do you know who God has chosen? God has chosen the weak things, in those last few verses of that first chapter of 1 Corinthians. It says, God has chosen the weak. God has chosen that which is normally despised and overlooked so that the glory will come to Him.

And I remember telling you about a kid I went through school with. His name was Tom Harrison. He was a very bad student at school. He was a drug head. In fact, he was led to the Lord by Jack Wyrtzen at Word of Life. And he had been, I think, mainlining heroin and everything else, and he really blew his mind. He was never real sharp in school. But you know what? He said, God, I want You to have all of me. And he went back in the 70s to New York City, and he started a ministry that our students this summer are going to work with, Manhattan Bible Church and New York Go is entirely the result of a not too bright, not too quick former drug addict whom God had all of his heart and life. And I remember when Tom spoke at Grace Community Church one time, I always remember what he said. He rambled on and on, and I couldn’t figure out anything else until he got this point. And he said over and over again, he says, I want God to do something with my life that no one can plan, and figure, and orchestrate, and administrate so that when He does it, I won’t get the credit. He’ll get all the credit. And I thought, that’s a great attitude. Don’t have such a fail-safe plan, such a foolproof plan it’s going to succeed with or without God. That’s the way we operate in America. We have backup everything. We’ve got the contingency, we’ve got security, we’ve got everything worked out, and it’s going to work with or without God.

Saul had an exaggerated view of his own importance. He thought the army needed him. He thought victory was dependent on him; he didn’t need the LORD. He just did it and thought he was important. And God saw that, and He says, when you were little in your own eyes, that’s when I could use you. If we humble ourself, James 4:10, in the sight of the Lord, He’ll lift us up. And there’s no limit to what God can do with someone if they will let Him get all the credit. And that’s something Saul wasted his life for.

Look at the eighteenth verse because it says, now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, fight against them until they’re consumed. Did Saul do that? No. The fifteenth way we can waste our life is to do our own thing, even when God’s Word tells you explicitly not to. There are a lot of explicit things in the Bible that you don’t have to have a PhD in English to understand. God says that all fornicators, He’ll judge all of them. He says an adulterer is like pouring hot coals down the front of your shirt, and He says it will always burn you. God says that alcohol always mocks individuals. You don’t have to get a PhD; you don’t have to do extensive words studies. There’s so many clear things about the occult, about alcohol, about immorality, about anything to do with self-driven covetous lifestyle. But Saul did his own thing, even when God’s Word explicitly told him not to. And if you want to waste your life, just do what you want to do, even when God’s Word explicitly tells you not to. Again, I’m not talking about the gray areas. It’s so clear what God is for and what He’s against.

Keep going to verse 20, argue with godly people God sends your way to point out the ways that you are disobeying the Lord. That’s what Saul did. Argue with godly people that God sends into your life to point out how you’re disobeying the Lord! Argue with them! Hold them off! Don’t listen to them! That’s a sure way to fail and waste your life. And Saul said to Samuel, but I have obeyed the voice of LORD. Samuel was telling him; you didn’t obey the voice of the LORD. He says, yes, I have. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD. I went on the mission on which the LORD sent me, I brought back Agag King of Amalek. Wait a minute, look at verse 3, go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all they have. Don’t bring anything back! Leave it all there! Destroy it! Ruin it! Utterly destroy it! Look at him, arguing. Verse 20, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, I brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. If you want to waste your life, just argue with godly people God puts in your life that point out ways you’ve disobeyed the Lord. Argue with them. Don’t accept their criticisms. Don’t accept their exhortations. Don’t accept their admonition. Don’t accept their concern. Don’t accept what they point out, and it’s a good and sure way to waste your life. As I said before, James 4:10 says, if we humble ourself in the sight of the Lord, if we’re willing humbly to receive correction, then the Lord has no limit to what He can do with us.

The twenty-fourth verse has the seventeenth bad report that God has to give us about Saul, and that involves make sure you only half repent and make excuses for why you sin, and fear people more than God. In other words, half repentance is just a faint repentance. Just act like you’re repenting. Verse 24, then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned. Doesn’t that sound good? He said, oh, I’ve sinned, I’ve transgressed the command of the LORD and your words—now he gets in the blame mode—because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now drop down to verse 30, then he said, I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people, before Israel, return with me, that I may worship the LORD your God. He says it again, your God.

In your minds, do you see a difference between what David is going to do in the future when he fell into sin and what Saul did in the past, in this recorded instance, when he fell into sin? When the prophet Nathan came to David, David said, I’m the man. I am the man. God, you can do whatever You want. And David fell on his face and wouldn’t eat and wouldn’t do anything but just laid on his face before the LORD, humbled himself. In fact, he wrote down that he was a sinner, and he wrote all those Psalms and said, it was me. I did it. I disobeyed God. I dishonored God. I am guilty before God. And he wrote it, that we all have it in our Bible. God’s going to forget all sins. Some of them are record in the Bible that’s forever settled in Heaven, and they’re going to always be around as a picture of God’s forgiving grace.

Now Saul. Saul was confronted, and he argued and said, no, I didn’t do it. And then he made these half repentant statements as he says, first of all, in verse 24, I’ve sinned. I’ve transgressed, but it’s not my fault. It’s their fault. See, that’s a half repentance, blaming it instead of saying, I am guilty. Have mercy on me, O God, according to the abundance of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. And don’t go on and say, but it’s because I was warped or because someone pushed me too far because I’ve, just stop! That’s what David did, humbly accepted responsibility—Psalm 51; Psalm 32. Not Saul. I’ve transgressed, but it’s their fault. I’ve sinned, but honor me now. Look what he says in that thirtieth verse. Then he said, I have sinned; yet honor me now. David said, I’ve sinned, and God, I want You to be honored, and I want to humbly come before You. There’s such an opposite attitude in these two men’s lives. So, if you really want to waste your life, just make excuses for why you sin, and fear people more than God instead of humbly, contritely repenting when confronted with your sin.

Saul didn’t confess; he admitted. A confession looks like 2 Samuel 12:13. In fact, if you just want to keep your finger there, let me show you a real confession, 2 Samuel 12:13. This is David’s words when he was confronted, 2 Samuel 12:13, and David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. Period. And Nathan said to David, the LORD also has put away your sin; and you shall not die. One who really confesses is also really repented, so they can unashamedly sing of God’s forgiveness. And that’s what David did after this moment. He wrote a song, it’s called Psalm 51, Psalm—or Song—51. That’s his humble confession, and God forgave him and used him. So, if you want to waste your life, make an excuse for why you sin. Fear people more than God instead of humbly, contritely repenting when confronted.

Now look at 1 Samuel 17. Keep going. We’re going to skip right over the sixteenth and go to 1 Samuel 17. Here’s the next one: forget the awesome power of God so you begin to think that mere mortals—like the Philistines—are greater than the Ancient of Days, the God of the universe. We can’t serve God by doubting the power of God. Look at the eleventh verse of 1 Samuel 17. When Saul—who was the head—and all Israel—who he was leading—heard these words of the Philistine—Goliath—they were dismayed and greatly afraid. If you really want to waste your life, then forget the awesome power of God so that you begin to think that mere mortals are greater than the Ancient of Days. We can’t serve God by doubting His power. Remember what it says in 2 Timothy 3:5, having a form of godliness but denying its power. That was going to be the mark of those who would fall away from the faith. They would have a form of godliness but no power for transformed life. That’s why if you’re reading the current literature, there’s a complete re-analysis of the Scriptures as it comes to do with homosexuality in our country among evangelical theologians. And what they just declared is we need to have a five-year cooling down period so we can all read the Scriptures over again and make sure they that we’re not misinterpreting them because all these people are becoming so enmeshed in their homosexual lifestyles that there has to be room for them in the Church. And the reason they’re doing that is because homosexual lifestyles are so gripping and people get so enmeshed in them that it is a bondage that only God can break. Just like drug addiction, just like the occult, just like bitterness, just like covetousness, just like any other gripping, life-dominating sin. If you really want to fail and waste your life, forget the awesome power of God and begin to think that mere mortals are greater than the Ancient of Days.

Next chapter, chapter 18. I want to show you another element of Saul’s life. Get so absorbed in your self-image that you begin to constantly have to defend your reputation all the time. That’s a dangerous sign. Just like the old idiot lights used to be on dashboards, those red lights, now they have talking voices and words, but it used to be a red light that would say oil or something temperature, or heat or something. Those were reminding us, and they were telling us something’s wrong. If you want to know when something’s wrong in your life, it’s when you’re so absorbed in your self-image, what you look like, you begin to constantly have to defend your reputation. And make yourself look good; you’re always worried about what people think, and you got to go in there and correct them, and send them a note, and call that person, and make sure they don’t say anything bad about you. It’s a self-absorption. Look at verse 8 of chapter 18, then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, they have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. He was completely absorbed in his self-image. He wanted to be the ten thousand Philistine killer. He couldn’t stand that. They were ascribing that to David, the little kid, this little wimp, this guy that worked for him. He wanted to be the one that was elevated and exalted in the sight of the people. Saul measured the worth of his life by what others said rather than by what the LORD knew. Saul was consumed with what people thought of him rather than what God knew he really was. I think about 2 Corinthians 10:18, for not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends, 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 18. Saul measured his worth by what others said. And if you really want to waste your life like Saul, get so absorbed in your self-image that you constantly have to defend yourself all the time. We can’t serve God by a self-focus. Saul was concerned at this level. God wanted him to be concerned about this level, and he wasted his life defending his reputation.

Look at the end of verse 8 because I only read the first part of 1 Samuel 18:8. Look at the last part of it. He said this after he said, I want to be the ten thousand killer. What more can he have but the kingdom? Here’s the next way to waste your life; be so convinced that you are the master of your fate that you live in constant fear and insecurity about your health, your job, your future. He was trying to hold on to what he couldn’t hold on to. And he was so concerned, he said, he is going to get my kingdom. He’s going to get my kingdom. I don’t want him to have my kingdom. I’m the greatest. What did the Lord say? What you hold on to you lose. But what you give and give up for My sake, you gain forever. Saul wasted his life. Saul surrendered the care of his future to himself. His security was his own department. He took it away from the LORD. And fear is always in the realm of Satan. And if you want to waste your life, be convinced that you are the master. You will live then in constant fear and insecurities about your health, about your job, and about your future. We can’t serve God by insecurity.

Now, here’s what God says, 2 Timothy 1:7, for God has not given us a Spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind. There’s something, I remember when I worked for the dean of men’s department at Bob Jones University. Dr. Lieberman, the white-haired, old dean of men I worked for always told me one thing. He said, when you work for me and work with all these young people, he said, you’ll always notice something. He said, the wicked run when no one is pursuing them. We’d call in these boys, and we’d say, what have you been doing? They’d say, I haven’t been drinking! Oh, we’d say, drinking? Did anybody say anything about drinking? Oh, I haven’t been drinking! See, the wicked run when no one’s pursuing them. They’re constantly insecure and in fear. God hasn’t given us a Spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, you are not your own? I don’t have to be concerned about my future. I don’t have to be concerned about my health. I don’t have to be concerned. We all need to eat and brush our teeth and all that. I’m talking about the ultimate concern about our destiny that belongs to the One who purchased us. If you want to waste your life, spend your life thinking that you’re in charge of your life and spend all your time trying to hold on to what you can’t.

Keep going to verse 9, 1 Samuel 18:9. It says, Saul eyed David from that day forward. And then look at verse 12 of chapter 18, now Saul was afraid of David—look at this—because the LORD was with him. Here’s the next way to waste our lives: look upon others that God is blessing with suspicion and jealousy. If you see God’s blessing in someone else’s life, be suspicious of them and be jealous. We can’t serve God by jealousy. That’s why a connected church in the New Testament, a Spirit-prompted, connected New Testament church life that we see in the epistles, in the book of Acts, they rejoiced with those that rejoiced when someone got a promotion, when someone got an incredible outpouring of blessing in their life, instead of going, how’d they get that? They don’t deserve that. I worked harder than they did. I should have gotten that promotion. The New Testament Church rejoiced with those that rejoiced, and they didn’t rejoice with those that sorrowed; they sorrowed with those that sorrowed. You see the connection? You see that the spirit of jealousy and suspicion does not come in the realm of God’s blessing, it detracts from it. Saul was driven by a lust for self-desire. He wanted to keep others from having something he wanted for himself. That is the worst form of jealousy. Jealousy darkens our eyes to anything good about someone else. In Saul’s mind, David was unable to ever measure up to Saul’s expectations. Saul neither treasured nor sought God’s blessing, God’s favor, or God’s presence, or even God’s involvement in his life. He valued himself, he neglected God, and he feared David because the LORD was with him. What a tragic misdirected life! If you want to waste your life, look upon others that God is blessing with suspicion and jealousy. God says, you can’t serve Me with jealousy. Rejoice with those that are rejoicing in their blessings, and sorrow with those who are sorrowing.

The last three, I’ll just read them. Tear down your wife and kids when they don’t embrace your self-driven agenda. That’s in verse 30. We’ll see that next time. Verse 31, look at life as if it’s only for the moment; live only for what you can grab and hold. See things from an earthly perspective. Next one is in 22:17, get so calloused about the things of God you lose all respect and honor for God’s servants. And finally, in verse 18 of 1 Samuel 22, we’ll see trust in God’s enemies and use the enemies of God to advance your goals. Saul did all those things. He did all those things because he was a catastrophe, because he crashed against the rocks of his disobedient life, because he failed to serve God. I remember my good friend I went through school with, Jim Berg. He had this little saying, and I think you probably heard it. He teaches high school and college students, and he always says the same thing over and over. Only two choices on the shelf, pleasing God or pleasing self. Which one did Saul make? He pleased himself. He used his anger to advance his agenda. He used his impatience to advance his agenda. He used his rash words. He was driven by his agenda at everyone else’s expense, including God’s, and he wasted his life. The answer for us is humble yourself in the sight of God. Submit to God, draw near to God, serve God.

Let’s all stand together and have a closing word of prayer this evening. And if this is the last time we ever gather and the Lord comes or calls one of us home, redeem the time you have by telling the Lord, I want to be Your bondservant. I want to be Your slave. I want to be consumed with the will of Another. I want to do Your will, not mine be done. Let’s bow before Him. Dear Father in Heaven, You’ve called us to be Your servants. You’ve shown us that in Heaven, You’re surrounded by bondservants who want to do Your will. We pray in our prayers, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. And I pray that would be our heart’s cry tonight, lest we fail and waste our lives like Saul so tragically before us did. I pray that we would submit and walk in Your Spirit, and put to death our flesh, and humble ourself in Your sight. May we be Your good and faithful servants. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Notes

Tonight either we will love His appearing—or dread it. The choice is ours. Let’s look at the finish line. Paul had a distinct impression that life was a daily race with an end of life prize, and the only way to get the prize was to finish the race.  

• 2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. (NKJV)

John the Apostle was also convinced that we would either welcome Christ’s coming or wither in shame before Him.

• 1 John 2:28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Himat His coming. (NKJV)

In fact, as John records the closing words of the Bible, they point to that very truth.

• Revelation 22:12 And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. (NKJV)

I have spent this week sifting through all the debris at the crash site of King Saul’s life. Much like the NTSB goes to airplane crash sites and examines every twisted piece of metal and scrap of plastic in order to piece together the cause of the crash—so God’s Word records every scrap of Saul’s life that is important for us to know about why he crashed and wasted his life. Today in this morning’s and again this evening’s messages I want to share with you the conclusion of all my sifting.

I have sorted through and found no less than twenty-five recorded reasons that Saul’s life crashed and burned; reasons why God rejected his life’s work and said that his ministry was wasted.

So if God is going to analyze our lives and judge us by our works, what should we be doing? That takes us back to Paul and this picture Paul challenges us with—that life is the production of building materials that we present to God. Each day our time was either spent in what is merely earthly and temporal or some of our time was also given over to what is lasting, endless and eternal.

1 Corinthians 3:13-15 …each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. NKJV

 At the judgment seat of Christ some believers Paul warns, are going to see everything they lived for thrown overboard (burned up in the fire) and they will float to shore on a board.

All that will be left of life will be that they were saved (they shall be saved, yet so as by fire). That is such a description of so many lives that fill God’s Word; they began the race with great achievement, but failed at the end because they ignored God’s rules. They did not lose their salvation, but they did lose their rewards (1 Cor. 3:15). It happened to Lot (Gen. 19), and to Samson (Jude 16), and probably King Saul who is our focus these past weeks (1 Sam. 28; 31), and to Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). And, as Paul warns–it can happen to us!

Paul wanted to avoid at all costs the disastrous loss that would come if He ignored God and His will for life. Over and over we hear him say things like: 

• 1 Corinthians 9:27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. (NKJV)

DISQUALIFIED —The literal sense of the word is “tested and proved to be false or unacceptable.”

• Borrowed from the athletic games, the word describes a contestant who, because of some infraction of the rules, is disqualified from winning the prize (1 Cor. 9:27; castaway KJV).
• Another metaphor is possible: a “counterfeit faith” (2 Tim. 3:8, NRSV). This suggests a coin that has been tested, proven false, and disapproved as legal tender.[1]

The chilling fact of God’s Word is the individual life analysis that God Himself then performs—an autopsy not of the cause of death, but of the purpose of life. That is why the constant theme of Paul’s exhortations to us in the church revolve around the idea of finishing well at the finish line, a life that survive the fires of the judgment seat, and a “well done good and faithful servant” analysis of our race by the Lord Himself.

God’s Word has some sobering portraits of those who suffered loss. One of the greatest of these lessons in how to waste your life is Saul. What a great start and what a terrible ending. In God’s race it is those who finish that get counted for reward—all the rest suffer loss. All the rest have their life’s work burned up before them, thrown overboard and sunk in the depths of the sea, irrecoverably lost.

If you want to not suffer loss, God has given us the tracks of one who walked before us, had the Spirit, knew God—and yet failed completely. The life of Saul stands today as an example to all of us of how not to live, how not to end, how not to invest these precious days we have on earth!

So what was God’s summary of Saul’s life? God only needs one word—rejected. God says five times in just three verses (1^st Samuel 15:23, 26; 16:1) that Saul rejected God by disregarding His Word, so God rejected him.

So Paul said, don’t load your ship with what God is going to throw overboard. Don’t build with flammable materials if your house is going to go through a fire. Don’t waste your life!

We could sum up the tragic shipwrecked life of King Saul by saying that you don’t serve God by doing what he did. Why not re-examine his life and see what made Saul the man who wasn’t after God’s heart.  Or as I have come to look at Saul after sorting and sifting through all God left for us—25 ways to be sure that your life will amount to nothing!

1. Neglect God’s Leadership of your life so that you underestimate the strength of your enemy—and get completely defeated.  1^stSamuel 13.1-7

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (NKJV)

If you want to waste your life—neglect God’s Leadership of your life so that you underestimate the strength of your enemy—and get completely defeated.  1^st Samuel 13.1-7. Or walk in the Spirit and seek Christ’s rule each day in your life!

2. Get impatient and use your impatience as an excuse to do your own thing instead of obeying God. We can’t serve God by—Impatience.“Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him” (1 Samuel 13:8). 

Saul was impatient with God’s plan. He sought the approval of man before he sought the approval of God.

If you want to waste your life—get impatient and use your impatience as an excuse to do your own thing instead of obeying God. We can’t serve God by—Impatience. Or walk in the Spirit and seek Christ’s rule each day in your life! 

3. Neglect your primary responsibilities that God has entrusted to you by only taking care of your own needs. We can’t serve God by—Neglect. “So it came about, on the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan. But they were found with Saul and Jonathan his son” (1 Samuel 13:22). 

Saul neglected to provide for those entrusted to his care. He made sure he had what he needed to defend himself, but not that those he cared for were armed for the battle. In the New Testament, God says such a person is worse than an infidel:

“If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8).  

If you want to waste your life—neglect your primary responsibilities that God has entrusted to you by only taking care of your own needs. We can’t serve God by—Neglect. Or walk in the Spirit and seek Christ’s rule each day in your life! 

4. Get so out of touch with the battle raging around you—that God can be doing mighty things, and you miss them completely. We can’t serve God by–Lazy indifference. “AND SAUL was sitting in the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron. The people who were with him were about six hundred men. Ahijah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest in Shiloh, was wearing an ephod. But the people did not know that Jonathan had gone” (1 Samuel 14:2-3). 

Saul became lazy and indiffer­ent; he was unaware of his son, the battle, and even the victory. He missed it all!  

If you want to waste your life—get so out of touch with the battle raging around you—that God can be doing mighty things, and you miss them completely. We can’t serve God by–Lazy indifference. Or walk in the Spirit and seek Christ’s rule each day in your life!

5. Allow your anger and pride to rule so that you say and do things that disable, wound, and harm those around you. We can’t serve God by–Rash words.“And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had placed the people under oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats any food until evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies.’ So none of the people tasted food” (1 Samuel 14:24). 

Saul spoke with no thought of what the implications were to his family or nation. Instead of his mouth being a fountain of blessing—he was a curse.

• James 1:19-20 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. (NKJV)

Now look at James 3.

• James 3:5-10 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. 8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. (NKJV)

If you want to waste your life—allow your anger and pride to rule so that you say and do things that disable, wound, and harm those around you. We can’t serve God by–Rash words. Or walk in the Spirit and seek Christ’s rule each day in your life!

6. Ignore clear and direct statements about what God wants you to do.1 Samuel 15:1-3 Samuel also said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ” (NKJV)

If you want to waste your life—just ignore clear and direct statements about what God wants you to do.

7. Pick and choose from what God clearly tells you to do so that you offer God selective and partial obedience.1 Samuel 15:8 He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. (NKJV)

Remember that the clearest way to declare that you love the Lord is by obedience.

• John 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (NKJV)

If you want to waste your life—just pick and choose from what God clearly tells you to do so that you offer God selective and partial obedience.

8. Hold on to the best and nicest parts of what God hates and has asked for you to destroy, and keep them for your own use.1 Samuel 15:9a But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them…(NKJV)

Jesus told us what He thinks of loving what He hates—

• James 4:4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (NKJV)

If you want to waste your life—just hold on to the best and nicest parts of what God hates and has asked for you to destroy, and keep them for your own use.

9.Only give God what you don’t want anyway and is worthless to you. 1 Samuel 15:9b … But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. (NKJV)

Jesus told us how to live for eternal gain—

• Matthew 16:24-27 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. (NKJV)

God deserves the first, the best, the costliest of our time, treasures, and talents. If you want to waste your life—just give God what you don’t want anyway and is worthless to you.

10. Honor yourself before others and remind people of your accomplishments instead of honoring the Lord.1 Samuel 15:12 So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal.” (NKJV)

Jesus’ harshest criticisms were for the proud religious leaders.

• Matthew 23:1-12 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ 8 But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (NKJV)

If you want to waste your life—just honor yourself before others and remind people of your accomplishments instead of honoring the Lord.

11. Be deceptive about the true condition of your spiritual life by making false claims about your dedication to God. 1 Samuel 15:13 Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” (NKJV)

Jesus honored honesty and condemned hypocrisy.

• Luke 18:9-14 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10  “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” NKJV

If you want to waste your life—just be deceptive about the true condition of your spiritual life by making false claims about your dedication to God.

12.Blame others for your own personal failures. 1 Samuel 15:15a And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen…” (NKJV)

If you want to waste your life—just blame others for your own personal failures.

13.Experience God second hand, only through others, and not first hand and personally. 1 Samuel 15:15b “to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” NKJV 

If you want to waste your life—just experience God second hand, only through others, and not first hand and personally.

14. Cultivate an exaggerated view of your own importance.1 Samuel 15:17 So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel?” (NKJV) 

If you want to waste your life—just cultivate an exaggerated view of your own importance.

15. Do your own thing even when God’s Word tells you explicitly not to.1 Samuel 15:18 Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, “Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.” (NKJV)

If you want to waste your life—just do your own thing even when God’s Word tells you explicitly not to.

16. Argue with godly people God sends your way to point out ways that you are disobeying the Lord!1 Samuel 15:20 And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.” (NKJV)

If you want to waste your life—just argue with godly people God sends your way to point out ways that you are disobeying the Lord!

• James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. (NKJV)

17. Make sure you only half-repent by making excuses for why you sin, and fearing people more than God!1 Samuel 15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 1 Samuel 15:30Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord your God.” (NKJV)

This is admitting not confessing. Here is what a confession looks like: 2 Samuel 12:13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. NKJV And one who really confesses has also really repented and so they can unashamedly sing of God’s forgiveness like David does in Psalm 51!

If you want to waste your life—just make excuses for why you sin, and fear people more than God instead of humbly, contritely repenting when confronted with your sin.

18.Forget the awesome power of God so that you begin to think that mere mortals (the Philistines) are greater than the Ancient of Days! We can’t serve God by–Doubting the power of God. “When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid” (1 Samuel 17:11). 

• 2 Timothy 3:5 …having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! (NKJV)

If you want to waste your life—forget the awesome power of God so that you begin to think that mere mortals (the Philistines) are greater than the Ancient of Days! We can’t serve God by–Doubting the power of God. 

19. Get so absorbed in your self image that you begin to constantly have to defend your reputation all the time. We can’t serve God by–Self-focus.

“Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, ‘They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands’ ” (1 Samuel 18:8). 

Saul measured the worth of his life by what others said, rather than by the Lord.  

• 2 Corinthians 10:18 For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends. (NKJV) 

If you want to waste your life—get so absorbed in your self image that you begin to constantly have to defend your reputation all the time. We can’t serve God by–self-focus. 

20. Be so convinced that you are the master of your fate, that you live in constant fears and insecurities about your health, your job, your future. We can’t serve God by—insecurity. 

“Now what more can he have but the kingdom?” (1 Samuel 18:8b). 

Saul surrendered the care of his future security to himself and took it away from the Lord. Fear is always the realm of Satan.

If you want to waste your life—be so convinced that you are the master of your fate, that you live in constant fears and insecurities about your health, your job, your future. We can’t serve God by—insecurity. 

• 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. NKJV 
• 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. NKJV 

21.Look upon others that God is blessing with suspicion and jealousy. We can’t serve God by—jealousy. “So Saul eyed David from that day forward” (1 Samuel 18:9). “Now Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, but had departed from Saul” (1 Samuel 18:12). 

Saul was driven by the lust for self—desiring to keep others from having something he wanted for himself! This is the worst form of jealousy. Jealousy darkens our eyes to anything good about another; in Saul’s mind, David was unable to ever measure up to Saul’s expectations. Saul neither treasured nor sought God’s blessing, favor, pres­ence, or even involvement in his life. He valued himself, neglected God, and feared David because the Lord was with him. What a tragic, misdirected life!  

If you want to waste your life—look upon others that God is blessing with suspicion and jealousy. We can’t serve God by—Jealousy.

22.Tear down your wife and kids when they don’t embrace your self driven agenda. We can’t serve God by–neglecting our marriage. “Then Saul’s anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, ‘You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?’ ” (1 Samuel 20:30). 

Saul confessed his failure to nurture and care for his wife. An undiscipled wife breeds many painful days.

If you want to waste your life— Tear down your wife and kids when they don’t embrace your self driven agenda. We can’t serve God by–neglecting our marriage.

23. Look at life as if it is only for the moment—live only for what you can grab and hold. We can’t serve God by–Seeing things entirely from an earthly perspective. “For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Now therefore, send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die” (1 Samuel 20:31).

Saul wasn’t able to see the eternal, the divine, and the spiritual parts of life. He looked on his family, his future, and their success as only a physical pursuit, not a spiritual heritage. God was always left out of the equation for security, pros­perity, and happiness.

If you want to waste your life—look at life as if it is only for the moment—live only for what you can grab and hold. We can’t serve God by–Seeing things entirely from an earthly perspective.

24. Get so calloused about the things of God that you lose all respect and honor for the servants of God. We can’t serve God by–Having no fear of God. “Then the king said to the guards who stood about him, ‘Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me.’ But the servants of the king would not lift their hands to strike the priests of the Lord” (1 Samuel 22:17). 

Saul did not see God, so he did not fear God. Thus there was no limit to his actions because he saw no consequence in offending the Lord by his life.

If you want to waste your life—get so calloused about the things of God that you lose all respect and honor for the servants of God. We can’t serve God by–Having no fear of God.

25. Trust in God’s enemies and use them to advance your goals. We can’t serve God by–supporting the enemies of the Lord.“And the king said to Doeg, ‘You turn and kill the priests!’ So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck the priests, and killed on that day eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod” (1 Samuel 22:18). 

If we love someone, we hurt when they are hurt. We are loyal and reverent of the name of those we cherish. Saul had none of these qualities because he failed to cherish God enough to carry out His fierce wrath against the Amalekites. He uses one of God’s enemies (an Edomite) to kill God’s choice servants (the Levites).

If you want to waste your life—trust in God’s enemies and use them to advance your goals. We can’t serve God by–supporting the enemies of the Lord.

The end of Saul was a catastrophe. He crashed against the rocks of his own disobedient life and sank into the dark waters of sin. He was a disgrace to himself by his ignominious death; to his family he failed to protect; to his country he betrayed and brought to defeat; and to his God he ignored and dishonored. What a colossal failure and a grim testimony of neglected warning signs that led to a ship­wreck of a very promising life!

Saul’s failures can serve to drive us to pray to live in such a way that these areas don’t get solidified in the lives of those we love!  

Life really does come down to servanthood—who we present ourselves as servants to obey as Paul said (Romans 6:13). Or as Jesus so clearly warns us “no one can serve two masters”. (Matthew 6:24)

Over and over in God’s Word we see that God summarizes an entire life in a few words. The challenge of that summary is two fold. When God summarizes a life He means it, and it is accurate.

Do you remember God’s summary of David’s life? We can call that David’s epitaph. God distills David’s seventy-year life down to just 9 words in English.

• Acts 13:36 For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. (NIV)

Let’s prayerfully heed the important lessons learned from Saul’s shipwrecked life! When we or members of my family face challenges, hardships, and unfair situations, we will live by 1 Peter 3:8-14.

• 1 Peter 3:8-14 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; 9 not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For“He who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit. 11 Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 13 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” (NKJV)

[1]Youngblood, Ronald F., General Editor; F.F. Bruce and R.K. Harrison, Consulting Editors, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1995.

Slides

Check Out All The Sermons In The Series

You can find all the sermons and short clips from this series, David’s Spiritual Secret here.

Looking To Study The Bible Like Dr. Barnett?

Dr. Barnett has curated an Amazon page with a large collection of resources he uses in his study of God’s Word. You can check it out here.