"Finding the King"

This has been automatically generated, and therefore may contain some unintended inaccuracies.

You may be confused that we haven't had the Bible reading yet. Don't panic. We will get to it. But if you would turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 9, and I will give you the page number for that. Page 2 7 8.

So if you've got a Bible, do turn there. If you've not got 1, there should be 1 on the chairs nearby, or you might have sat on it, or it's under your chair. Do grab it, turn to page 2 7 8, because that will help you because I'm gonna be preaching. We're being brave this morning. You're being brave with me, or you've not had a choice, but we're gonna go to for 1 Samuel 9 and 10.

We'll get there. Don't worry. I'll get you through it. Let me pray for us. Father, thank you for your word, and we thank you.

It is a joy to come into your word. And we pray that you would teach us help us to be ready to listen to you, to learn from your word, and father, would you change us and shape us by your word? Armen. Our first question is not 1 Samuel 8. It's 1 Samuel 9 and 10.

That was my first mistake. Next is someone in control. Is someone in control. I I don't mean about this service. You may have wondered that, but I mean life in general is someone in control or something out there shaping what goes on in the world and in your life.

Maybe you've been aware of incredible coincidences in your life, and you're not sure what to put them down to you. And sometimes those coincidences can depend on seemingly insignificant things, incidents, accidents, Decisions you made that seemed pretty small, but actually turned out to be quite big. And what if those things had been different? Many films pick up on that theme, don't they? My mind probably given my age goes to the film sliding doors, which is a film in which you've got 2 storylines, which depends on whether the main character catches her train or misses her train.

If she catches her train, she goes home, finds out her boyfriend's been cheating on her and breaks up with him and so on. And then the other plot line where she, where she misses the train, none of that happens, and and you go in a different direction, And I'm not gonna give the ending away just in case it's on your list of films to watch. Although if you haven't watched it yet, you're probably not going to. But you come away wondering What could have been different? What could have been different in my life if decisions had gone different ways?

If things had happened differently. And it is all this the way that we've ended up, is it all by chance, or is someone behind it all? And if there is someone or something behind it all, what's their purpose? What are they wanting? Well, we're gonna think about some of those things as we look at 2 chapters in 1, Samuel.

1, Samuel, 9, and 10. And we need to get into this story. Now the reason why I didn't have it read before is because I thought if we just read through, 1, Samuel, 9, and 10, I think you would get a little bit lost in the details. So what I'm gonna do is we're gonna have 2 points for the sermon They're gonna come from sort of the beginning and the end of the 2 chapters, and I will I'll talk you through chapters 9 and first half of chapter 10. And then about 2 thirds of the way through the 7 will have the Bible reading, which will be the last part of chapter 10.

So don't panic at that point thinking we seem to have had a long introduction, then we'd have the reading. And now the sermon, how long is that gonna be? Don't worry. It's about 2 thirds of the way through the sermon. So don't panic.

Alright? But that's how we're gonna go about doing it. But you need the passage open in front of you. And you need to know what's going on in the life of Israel, because 1 Samuel is about the history of god's people at that time, the people of Israel. And at this point in Israel's history, the people are demanding a king.

They want a king. And the prophet at the time, a guy called Samuel sent to the people, a message from god, which was to say your demand for a king is actually rebellion against God. You're wanting something to replace God by asking for a king. But the people say, no, we want a king. And so God says to Samuel, give them a king.

And then we come to 1, Samuel, 9. And like I said, we've got 2 points, but once Samuel 9 and 10, by the end of them, there will be a king. And we've got 2 points. The first is gonna be, oh, I should have showed you those earlier. The first is the king chosen.

The second, the king revealed. So we start with the king chosen. Now we start 1 chat 1 Samuel 9 by being introduced to a particular person. And his name is Saul. Actually, we're told about his family in verse 1.

Have a look at 9 verse 1. There was a Benjaminite, a man of standing whose name was Kish, son of Abial, and then you get more names. First 2, Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else. So here is Saul. His family are wealthy.

That was what it means by being of good standing. He is wealthy. He is handsome. He is tall, and that description is just left hanging, but remember that. As we go through.

They're sore. And then we're plunged into the details of farm life. First 3. Now the donkeys belonging to Saul's father, Kish, were lost. And Kish said to his son, saul, take 1 of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys.

Okay. So it's fairly sort of seemingly ordinary moment in family farm life. Someone's left the gate open for the donkeys, and they have gone. They have disappeared. And Saul's father says, where you go and go with the servant and go and find them.

And they go, and they go on a long journey. First 4, which I won't read out, but it tells you where they traveled. And it's a long way they go. They go through the hill country of eframe, all looking for these donkeys. They go through the area of Benjamin.

And in the end, they come to a place called The District of Zuff. And they just happen to come to a town where the prophet Samuel is. And while Saul is keen to give up the search for the donkeys, the servant says, no. No. It's Let's go and ask the prophet.

Maybe he can tell us which way to go, and saul agrees. So saul and the servant head towards the town. And we're having worked out what gift they're going to give to the prophet, They approached the town and are met by some women. And they ask in verse 11, as they were going up the hill to the town, they met some young women coming out to draw water, and they asked them, is the seer here? Because that's what they called the prophet.

And the women say your timing is perfect. He has just arrived. So hurry up, they say. Go and meet with him. And as they enter the town, there is Samuel coming towards them.

And so this brings together saul and Samuel. And we are thinking, what a weird set of circumstances? What is going on here? And then the writer does a little flashback. Takes us back to the day before.

First 15. Now the day before Saul came, The lord had revealed this to Samuel. About this time tomorrow, I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him ruler over my people, Israel. He will deliver them from the hand of the Philistines I have looked on my people for their cry has reached me.

When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said to him, this is the man I spoke to you about. He will govern my people. So here is the 1 who's to be made king, and the lord told Samuel in advance, he was coming. But did you notice the way that the lord says it to Samuel? He says tomorrow I will send you a man from Benjamin.

He sent Saul. How did he send Saul? He didn't send Saul by giving him a message of saying go to that particular town at that particular time. He didn't give saul sort of indications in the clouds. He didn't just give him a funny feeling of, I think I need to go to that town.

No. It was through donkeys being lost. And if you think back over everything that needed to happen, it's quite a list of things that needed to happen, isn't it? For Saul to get to the right place at the right time to meet with Samuel. I mean, if you think back, it it the servant had to persuade Saul to go and talk to the prophet rather than saw saying, no, stop it.

Let's just go home. And every time they were going on this long journey, Every time they came to a a divide in the road, can we go left? Do we go right? They had to go the right way. And before that, there had to be someone who left the gate open for the donkeys.

And the donkeys needed to decide to go rather than stay. There's a whole load that needs to happen. And the lord is saying, I sent him to you. This is telling us who the real king is. Saul may be the 1 about to be anointed as king, but the lord is the 1 in control of it all.

The lord is so in control. He can use everything The accidents of life, the seemingly ordinary decisions we make, things that we just think are small or insignificant. He uses them all. For his purposes. Now you might think, well, that's all, that's Samuel.

This was a particular moment in Israel's history. Is this true of me? Is this true of your life? Let me give you a a verse from proverbs. We learned this almost a year ago as a church.

Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the lord's purpose that prevails. We may have our plans, where we will live, what job we will do, and yet the lord's purpose prevails even over our choices, even over the seemingly mundane things of life. Donkeys lost. Babies ball. Coming to a Thanksgiving service.

Maybe you think well, I only came to the service because I wanted to support the parents. But since everything is under the Lord's control, that isn't the only reason you're here. I can say that with confidence, because of what this says. The Lord brought you here. He has determined your steps and mine.

Charles Thurgen, was a famous preacher, but at the age of 15, he wasn't a preacher, the age of 15, in 18 50, he was on his way to church, and the weather was appalling that day. He was heading to church, and it was snowing so badly that he didn't go to the church that he was gonna head to. He decided to turn into another smaller church. It was a Methodist Chapel. And he says the minister couldn't make it that day because the snow was so bad.

And so someone else got up to preach, and spurgeon says he he wasn't sure. Maybe he might have been a tailor or a cobbler, but he does say he was not a good preacher. The verse from the Bible that he read out was Isaiah 45 verse 22, turn to me and be saved all you ends of the earth. Well, the preacher managed to string out his sermon for 10 minutes. And ran out of steam.

Now in spotting spurgeon in the congregation, and it being a small congregation, he could spot that there was a visitor. He'd addressed him directly Sturgeon says the preacher looked at him directly and said, young man. You look very miserable. Spurgeon says, well, I did. But I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance.

Before. However, it was a good blow, struck right home. He continued. And you will always be miserable, miserable in life, and miserable in death. If you don't obey my text, but if you obey now this moment, you will be saved.

Then lifting up his hands, the preacher shouted as only a methodist could. Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look. Look. Look.

You have nothing to do, but to look and live. I saw at once the way of salvation. And spurgeon says he might have stayed in darkness and despair. Had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm. Donkeys, snowstorms, babies.

The lord is sovereign over it all. Maybe you have in some ways suspected that things don't just happen by chance. But that something or someone is in control. But even if you don't feel it, even if you don't sense it, even if life feels very much like chasing donkeys at times, It is still true. The law the lord is suffering.

But if that's the case, we need to ask what's his purpose? What does he want from me? And the good thing is he's told us. Because that's what we need. We need the lord to tell us.

That's what was needed in 1 Samuel 9. Without god's word to Samuel, it just looks like lost donkeys. But god's word revealed what was going on. And what is the lord's purpose for you and me? What is the purpose for which he direct our lives?

Do we need to guess? No. He has spoken. There is more that could be said on this, but Acts 17 says this. From 1 man, he made all the nations that they should inhabit the whole earth, and he marked out the boundaries of their lands.

God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out and find him, though he is not far from every any 1 of us. His purpose today for you being here is that you would reach out to him. And find him. And there is huge encouragement here for Christians too. All things are under the lord's sovereign control.

We can question where we've ended up. In the place at the time, doing the job you're doing or retired and where you are at this moment. Was it all by accident? No. It is all in the lord's purpose.

That doesn't mean say you have to stay where you are, but it does mean where you are is at least in some way where the lord wants you to be. Here's the first incident, the lost Donkeys, the king chosen. Second then, second point. I said we had 2. We're coming on to the second.

The king revealed. Now at this point, we're gonna have to skim through the rest of chapter 9 and chapter 10 And we're gonna whiz through. It's a bit like if you've been sent on a mission to a supermarket, you've gotta grab a few things. You've just gotta dash in. You've got 2 minutes.

You've gotta grab the things and get out of there. That's what we're gonna do with the rest of chapter 9 and the beginning of chapter 10. So I hope you're ready. I'm gonna put the main points up on the screen. There are gonna be 4 of them, and you're as you go through, you could be thinking this could be a whole another sermon, and I go I agree with you.

It could. It's not gonna be. We're just gonna whizz through it and pick out these 4 very important things. So are you ready? Here we go.

1 Samuel chapter 9 continues. So saul and Samuel have met, and Samuel then brings Saul to a feast. A feast that he has prepared in honor of Saul. Saul is gonna be the, the guest of honor. And he's got it already because he knew Saul was coming along, but Saul must have been bewildered by this.

Anyway, the next day, Saul is going to leave. And Samuel speaks to him and tells him some important things and does some important things. And there are 4 of them. The first is he anoints soul with oil. In other words, he pours oil on his head.

It's a symbolic way of showing that he is Key. He is anointed. Next thing, Samuel says to saul that as he leaves, he's gonna have 3 encounters with people. And in 1 of those encounters, you're gonna have to read them yourself if you wanna look at them all. Not right now later on.

But in 1 of those 3 encounters, so, I'm gonna get their names mixed up. Samuel says to saul that he will be filled with the spirit. So he'll be spirit filled, anointed, spirit filled. We also learn that as king, saul needs to be obedient to god's word. He needs to be obedient.

We see that because Samuel says to Saul, when you go from here, go to a particular place, go to the place called Gilgau, and there you must wait for me, he says. You must wait for me, and I will tell you what to do. You get that in verse 8. End of verse 8. But you must wait 7 days until I come to you and tell you what you're to do.

In other words, all as king, you can't just go off and do whatever you want. You've got to wait, get your instructions from the prophet who gives you the word of god, and then you are to obey them. Do what God says. You must be obedience. And the last of the 4 things that we're gonna pick out is what Saul's job was to be as king.

And actually, that comes from earlier on. In chapter 9 verse 16, you could make a note of that if you want, where we have already seen what his job is to be, which is to deliver god's people. He is to deliver them from the Philistines. So there you go. 4 things whistle stop through those those bits.

Of of things that had to be true for soul as king, anointed, spirit filled, he had to be obedient to god, and he had to deliver god's people. Okay. And Saul, is told this by Samuel. He says, you're gonna leave. You go do these things.

I know everything that Samuel said happens. Okay. Then Samuel reveals to the people who the king is gonna be. Because so far, only Samuel and Saul know about these things. So there's gonna be a big reveal.

And now we're gonna have the reading of god's word and you're thinking, we're 2 thirds of the way through. Okay. We're over halfway, not doing badly, or at least I hope you're thinking that. And now name is going to come up and read for us from Godsworth 1 Samuel chapter 10, 17 to 27. Samuel summoned the people of Israel to a lord at Mispur, and said to them, this is what the lord, the God of Israel says.

I brought you up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of Egypt. And all the kingdoms that oppressed you. But you have now rejected your God who saved you out of all all your disasters and calamities. And you have said no, appoint a king over us So now, present yourselves before the lord by your tribes and clans. When Samuel had made all Israel come forward by tribes, the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot.

Then he brought forward the tribe of Benjamin, clan by clan, a mid military's clan was taken. Finally, saw son of Kish was taken, but when they looked for him, he was not to be found. So they inquired further of the lord. Has the man come here yet? And the lord said, yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.

They ran and brought him out. And as he sit among the people, he was a head taller than any of the others. Samil said to all the people, do you see the man the lord has chosen? There is no 1 like him among all the people. Then the people shouted, long live the king.

Samuel explained to the people the rights and duties of kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll and deposited it before the lord. Then Samuel dismissed the people to go home go go to their homes. Saul also went to his home in Gibia, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts got attached. But some scoundrels said, how can this fellow save us?

They despised him and brought him no gifts. But Saul kept silent. Great. Thank you, Naomi. Okay.

Here's the great reveal to the people. Samuel having told the people reminded them that they have rebelled against God by asking for a king. He then draws lots to see who the king is gonna be. In other words, it's kinda like, drawing straws. It's kind of a random way as it were, but it they recognized it was under the lord.

So it was a way of revealing who the lord's choice was. And we know it's sore, but the people didn't know that. And so you go through this process of which tribe is the king gonna come from? Benjamin. And then which clan, and they would have gone through which family, and who's it gonna be?

And in the end, they get to saw. And did you notice It was a bit of a comedy scene. Who is it? This king? Well, it's all.

Where is he? Where is he? I can't find him. And similar language is actually used about saulers, was used about the donkeys. Both got a bit lost.

He's a bit of a donkey. Where is he this chosen king? He's amongst the supplies, and they bring him out. There's tall handsome man, remember. And it's a funny line.

I think it's a funny line. When it says, verse 24, Samuel said to all the people, do you see the man the lord has chosen? Well, we do now. But we didn't before, we couldn't see him anywhere. But now we see him.

He's huge. He's tall. He's handsome. Yes. We see him.

There's no 1 like him among all the people. Well, that that's true, isn't it? There is no 1 like him. Might not be a good thing. What are we to make of this bizarre reveal?

I think humor is being used here to convey something to us. I think we're to see that there are hints here that there's something not quite right with this king. To be fair to him, it's all been a bit of a whirlwind. He only went out to find donkeys, and he's coming back king of Israel. And he will, in due course, do some good things.

He's not all bad. But why is he hiding amongst the baggage? Maybe this is humility. Maybe that's what this is. After all, Israel have had some bad leaders who have led them, done incredible things, but have been arrogant, have been hot headed and violent.

You might think of someone like Samsung. And you think, well, maybe this is someone different. A bit that he's not like that. He's holding back. But we need to realize disobedience and not fulfilling your responsibilities and not humility.

Samuel has been anointed. Don't forget. He's been anointed king. He's been filled with god's spirit. And told to do whatever his hand finds to do.

That's what it says in the text, because God is with him. He's been told to be obedient to god, to deliver god's people, and so far, and there has been a bit of a time delay so far. He has done Nothing at all. I don't wanna be unfair on him. He hasn't had very long, and he will do some good things.

But so far, he hasn't done anything. And some have pointed to the fact that he was told to do whatever his hand found to do, that that language is used elsewhere to say you should have started fighting the philosophize. You should have started delivering god's people from their enemy, but you have done nothing. And I don't think I'd have done any better. And the reality is none of the leaders of god's people in the Old Testament managed to be all they should be.

They may have been anointed. They may have been spirit filled, but they didn't obey, and they couldn't always deliver. None match up. Here is the great reveal and we see someone who is not up to the task. He has the looks.

He has the height. He has the money, but he won't be all he needs to be. Because as we'll see, he doesn't obey the lord, and he doesn't trust the lord, not fully. And so he'll go down in history just to give the game away. You go down in history as another failed leader.

And actually, that's true of all world leaders. We expect far too much of them. They are only human. But the Bible doesn't give us this template Just so that we can see the failings of Seoul or the other biblical kings or the rulers and governors of nations today. Now we're given this so that we can spot the 1 who actually is the king, the great king.

It helps us see the king revealed. You see, when Jesus came to this world 2000 years ago, as we're gonna celebrate over Christmas, he fulfills all these things. He was called the anointed 1. That's what the word Christ means. So when you hear of Jesus Christ, it means anointed 1.

The angels announced the birth to the shepherds. They said, a savior has been born to you, he is Christ, the lord, the anointed 1. The king. He was spirit filled. And his baptism, we're told the spirit descended on him like a dove.

He was totally obedient. Could you turn with me to Philipp chapter 2? I should have had the page number ready for you. Page 1 1 7 9. Page 1 1 7 9.

Philipp chapter 2. Which tells us the obedience of Jesus. Verse 6, Here's Jesus, who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage, rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Here is god's king revealed Saul failed to be the king. Jesus did it perfectly, even at the expense of his life.

Here is real humility. Not found in backing off and not doing your responsibilities but being obedient to god, that's real humility. And this humility and obedience took Jesus to the cross. That is how obedient he was to God the father. Jesus made it very clear that this too was how he delivers his people through the cross, through his death.

He came to defeat sin, which is our biggest problem, our rebellion against god, are wrongdoing, thinking, and speaking, and he dealt with it at the cross. That was his great act of deliverance. And the passage in Philippians continues. First 9, Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledged that Jesus Christ is lord to the glory of god, the father. And here's the right response.

This isn't a king who hides amongst the supplies. This is a king who rose from the dead. And reigns now. And whereas it may have seemed a bit ridiculous that the people hailed saul as king, having been brought from the baggage. The Bible says we see this king, Jesus revealed to us, this greater king.

The king's soul points us to, who outshines soul, who came not from hiding amongst the supplies, but from an empty tomb having conquered sin and death and who is seated on the throne of heaven, people hailed saul as king, but some refused, and we have the same decision today. Will we bow before him in this life? And if we do, when Jesus comes back when he is revealed, it will be a joyful day. If we refuse, though, it will be a terrible realization that Jesus really is king. Here is the king.

Jesus ignoring him would be a big mistake. Come before him today, this Christmas, hail him as your king. Saul, left home to find donkeys and came home, King of Israel. Maybe you came here just for the Thanksgiving, just to support a family. Well, you don't don't go home as king.

But you could go home with a new king. And wouldn't it be wonderful? I would love it if there were some who said, well, kind of like spurgeon that you came here, not because of the weather, but because of a Thanksgiving service. And the preacher, well, then maybe he wasn't that great. He spoke about donkeys and about a failed king, but you heard about Jesus, the king.

And that was the moment that you bowed before him. You came for a Thanksgiving, but will you go home with a new king? Father, thank you for 1, Samuel, 9, and 10. Thank you for this king who has chosen and revealed, and thank you. We see in it all your purposes and your plan that you use everything, that everything is under your hand.

Father, thank you that that is true of our lives too. And thank you. You have a purpose for us to reach out to you. And thank you that you have revealed your king to us, and that through seeing saul, so we see through him to the Greater King, who really can deliver us from sin, who was obedient to death, even death on a cross. And we recognize father that he was raised and is reigning on high.

And father, please, would you help each 1 of us? To bow before him as king. Oh, man.