Well, good evening and good to be out again. The second blessing or multiple blessing, whatever you may want to call it, has been a very good day and I've received a lot this day and trust that that will continue to go on. I want to ask the Lord to bless. Heavenly Father, we do pray that you'll help us to see you in everything. Lord, many times it is a mystery, we don't understand it, but Lord, we pray that you'll help us to accept it. Lord, believe it, trust it. Lord, we pray that you'll help us tonight to look at your word, pray that you'll encourage our hearts, pray that you'll correct us, convict us, instruct us. Lord, whatever's needed in each of our lives, we just ask for it this night. In Christ's name, amen. If you will turn over to chapter 31, in 1 Samuel, and we'll do a quick review, and I guess the way I look at this tonight is that the arm of flesh will fail you, and we'll see that. But in review, David, remember the last time, David and his men, they went down after whoever had burnt Ziklag and had taken their families and all their livestock. They didn't know who did it, they didn't know where they went. But I kind of, you know, in my mind I have to imagine things and I have to think about like this area years ago when the only way to Laplace was down 51. If something happens here and somebody's taken off of something, well, I can head down 51. Now, I may not know where to go when I get to Airline Highway. I don't know whether to go to Baton Rouge or go to New Orleans, but I know that that's the way I have to go, because they didn't come this way, because I was here, and they didn't come up 51, where I was at, so they had to have gone down that way. So I believe that they take off down that way, and they get down to Airline Highway. They don't know which way to go. whether they find a half-dead Egyptian slave. And he says, hey, look, they went that way just a couple days ago, three days ago. They headed that way. And they've got all your stuff. Here's what we did. We raided this area, and this area, and this area. And we raided Ziklag. And then for some reason, they decide to burn that to the ground. So the guy's got all those details there. David says, hey, can you take us to him? He says, as long as you don't turn me back into him. And so they make their agreement, and they go. And remember, they go down there. 200 of the men are too tired when they get to the brook to cross over. So 400 go down there. They catch the Amalekites off guard. They're not expecting David. And David recovers all. That's what God had told him. He said, has David prayed before he went? He said, I don't know what to do. He said, the men are about to kill me. What should I do, God? Should I go after him? He says, go. And he said, you're going to recover everything. What a promise. What a blessing that is when you have clarity like that. You know, David, what he had in his life, he had a cloud by day. And he had a pillar of fire by night that led him. It doesn't get any better than that. David had inquired of the Lord, and God said, go. And he said, recover all. And he also told David, gave him a promise, said, hey, you're gonna be king. So David had those things going for him. You know, he had a lamp unto his feet. He had a light unto his path. It doesn't get any better than that. David had God's word. We have that today. If you will, turn over to 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles 10, and I want to read this. 1 Chronicles 10 says, now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines. and fell down slain in Mount Gilboa." A lot of information just in that first verse. And the Philistines followed hard after Saul, and after his sons, and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchushua, the sons of Saul. And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him, and he was wounded of the archers. Then said Saul to his armor-bearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me. But his armor-bearer would not, for he was sore afraid. So Saul took a sword and fell upon it, And when his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise on the sword and died. So Saul died and his three sons and all his house died together. And when all the men of Israel that were in the valley saw that they fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, then they forsook their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and dwelt in them. And it came to pass, on the morrow when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his sons fallen in Mount Gilboa. And when they had stripped him, they took his head and his armor and sent into the land of the Philistines round about to carry tidings unto their idols and to the people. And they put his armor in the house of their gods and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon. And when all Jabesh Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, They arose all the valiant men and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons and brought them to Jabesh and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh and fasted seven days. So Saul died for his transgression, which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit to inquire of it, and inquired not of the Lord. Therefore he slew him and turned the kingdom unto David, the son of Jesse. Look at verse 13. So Saul died, why? For his transgression, which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not. And also for asking counsel of that had a familiar spirit to inquire of it, and inquired not of the Lord. We saw that David inquired of God, and God gave him direction. Saul never did that. Therefore, he slew him and turned the kingdom unto David, the son of Jesse. I want to ask God to bless this word again. Lord, we thank you for the word of God, and we pray, Lord, that you'll bless your word tonight. Give us understanding, give me clarity in it, and Lord, we just pray that you'll be seen in everything that's said and done. In Christ's name, amen. So we see here that that in 1 Chronicles, this is just a repeat of, it's another, it just gives you a couple more verses in 1 Chronicles than what we had in chapter 31 of 1 Samuel. But why did it have to come to this for Saul? Those last two verses of 1 Chronicles tells us that, verse 13 and 14. You know, if we look through Saul's life, we see that, you know, Saul, what happened? You know, we've gone through the whole book of 1 Samuel now. This will conclude it tonight. But in chapter 13, Saul did not wait for Samuel and offered up the sacrifice himself, disobedience. He says, because of your disobedience, God has rejected you as king. Chapter 15, Saul's disobedience of not killing Agag. He was told to do it. And when Samuel comes back around, he says, yeah, I did what you told me to do. Oh, really? How come I see the king out here? How come I hear the sound of these animals? No, you didn't do it. And then he made an excuse for it, as you may remember. And then in chapter 22, remember, Saul asked his men, he says, kill these priests. They helped David. Kill all 85 of them. They said, we're not going to do it. But there was one that would do it. Remember that one it did at Doag, the Edomite? He says, I'll do it, and he kills every one of them. And one of the priests escaped, but everybody else Doag killed. But then Saul goes on in chapter 28, and he seeks counsel from a, you know, it's kind of funny what it said there. It says disobedience is as a sin of witchcraft. And then chapter 28, he goes to a witch, you know? Saul goes to the witch looking for guidance and direction. Saul's constantly trying to kill David, a man of God. Saul's just a picture of the flesh. You've got sins of omission, things that he didn't do that he should have done. You've got sins of commission, sins that he didn't do that he should have done. And you remember there in chapter 28 when he went to the witch? She fed him. That was Saul's last supper. That was it for Saul. You can see how this is going to end. I mean, you could just see this pattern keeps going this way, and you know how it's going to end. It's not going to end well. Saul's life was like driving at night with no headlights on. Really, no direction. It's just dangerous. Or like driving drunk. Usually that doesn't end well for people. And sometimes it's not just you that it doesn't end well for. Sometimes it takes out a lot of others with you. But Saul was told in chapter 28 how it was going to end up. He's told, hey, look, your sons and you are going to be killed tomorrow. You're all going to die. Why? Same reason, was it Belteshazzar and Daniel? He says, because you've been weighed in the balances, and you've found yourself wanting. And that was Saul's situation here. Saul, you've come up way short. It's not good for you, and tomorrow you're gonna die. It's good to have a will or a trust made out. Kathy and I are working on this. If you know that you're going to die, and I know I'm going to die if the Lord doesn't return. So we're making plans for that, preparations for that time. But if you told me today that, hey, look, I'm on death row, and tomorrow they're going to execute me, I'd be I wouldn't wait till this Friday to start working on those things. I'd be saying, hey, I need to get these things in order right away. But, you know, Saul is on death row. He's going to be killed the following day. And what's Saul doing to prepare for that? He's doing everything he can to get a stay of execution. What can I do? Somebody needs to call the governor. Somebody needs to do this. Somebody needs to do that. But I need, or maybe I can escape. But Saul is looking for, he's not looking for eternity. He's looking for a way out of this situation, hoping he would not die. So he's trying to keep his body alive, basically. The songs that we sing, they're always talking about God. Basically, God is in control of everything. Our God does reign, no doubt about it. And what I want you to see here is that in chapter 28, it was told what's going to happen to Saul. In chapter 30, we see David and the success that he goes on. But with chapter 30 going on, chapter 31 was going on at the same time. David's down fighting here and Saul's up fighting there. We got the events going on at the same time. Where is God? Is He in the north or is He in the south? He's everywhere. He's got the whole world in His hands. He's in control of every bit of it. So we see here that we have two different things going on with two very different outcomes. And chapter 31 here in verse 1 says, now the Philistines fought against Israel and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell down slain in Mount Gilboa. The Lord will also deliver Israel. He says that the Lord will deliver thee and Israel into the hands of the Philistines. And it is happening exactly as it was foretold in chapter 28. You know, the sad thing about it is the effects of Saul's sins are upon a multitude of people. Because of his actions, it affected so many other people. Not just his family and his sons, it affected many of Israel. So we see here in verse 2, it says, And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons. And the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchoshua, Saul's sons. So we see it had an effect. Who were these? Who were these that were killed? Well, who was Jonathan? That was the one that Saul wanted to succeed. This is Saul's heritage that he wants to see carry on the kingdom and have a part in it. But you know, what does Saul see? You know, it's kind of like that psalm, you know, we have met to worship. You know, it says, brethren, we have met to worship. See our fathers and our mothers and our children sinking down? Saul sees them wiped out. A sad situation. So again, Saul's like a drunk driver with a bunch of other people in the car. You know, he's got the men with him that were always pursuing David. So now he doesn't just have a car and him drunk at the wheel, he's got a bus. He's got all these people in it. And as it's foretold, it's the way it's going to happen. And it's not going to be end well for Saul and the people with him. Verse 3 and 4 it says, And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him, and he was sore wounded of the archers. Then said Saul unto his armor-bearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through. Therewith lest these uncircumcised come, and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armor-bearer would not, for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. We see here that that Saul receives a very serious wound. If you can picture this, the way I look at it is, you know, they probably come in with their chariots and everything. They can't get up in the mountains with those, so they got their archers, and some of the men are running up into the mountains, into the hills, and the archers are just firing shots off. And one of them goes through Saul. And I have to wonder how he was hit. You know, did it hit him? Did it go through him and stick out the back? Or was he running and it hit him in the back and it's sticking out the front? Doesn't matter. He was seriously injured. He receives this wound. So Saul's dying. What's his final thoughts and his final words? What are those? You know, when we think about the two thieves on the cross, you know, At first they were both berating and bad-mouthing the Lord. One of them says, hey, if you're the Christ, save yourself and us. The other one says, hey, more or less, shut up. We deserve what we're getting. This man's done nothing amiss. But I'm afraid with Saul, he was like the first one. He wasn't concerned about eternity. He was concerned about the now and now. He had no thought of repentance. That second thief did. Saul was not like that. Saul was just thinking about the flesh. You know, and as it says there in Luke, it talks about, you know, don't fear him that can kill the body and can do nothing after that. You know, that's temporal. He said you better fear him that can take your life and also deal with you into eternity, cast you into hell. That's eternal. But Saul's whole thing throughout his life is temporal. Every thought that he had, every concern that he had was about the flesh. And Saul's still concerned here. Even after being wounded, he's concerned about the flesh. You know, why? Why was he so concerned about the Philistines coming and getting him? Well, if you remember, probably, I don't know, 100 years earlier, remember what happened then? Remember when they came and they got Samson and they took him? What'd they do? They bound him. They gouged out his eyes. They had him, you know, walk in the mill. And then they brought him out just to make sport of him. Maybe that was going through Saul's mind. Hey, these people are going to come, and they're going to torture me, and they're going to make fun of me, and I don't want that. Again, his thoughts were on the flesh. We see that we see that his armor bearer would not rise up against him. You know, when I think about his armor bearers, I think about all the different armor bearers that we've seen, you know, some of them we've seen in the Bible, and I think you made reference to it, was it, boy, my memory's shot, but remember when Jonathan and his armor bearer went up? And it said that the rocks that stuck out on each side, it was difficult. They weren't expecting them to come up that way. It said one side was thorny and rough to get through. The other side was slippery, hard to climb up. So I'm sure they was expecting them to come up the same way they came up. But you know, Jonathan and his armor bearer, they went up, just two, and they slew 20 men up there on top of that hillside. And then also, I think about David when he fought Goliath. You know, Goliath had, but it doesn't call him an armor bearer. It says that he carried his shield. But, you know, all these other armor bearers that we look at were vicious type of warriors, fighters. And I don't think it was that way with his armor bearer, because you don't see anything about David killing him or anything. I think as soon as Goliath dropped, I think he's probably trying to get out of the way so Goliath didn't fall on him and I think he just took off running. So he wasn't a fearless warrior by any means. But you remember there, Abimelech, when he had burnt the towers before with the people in it, he went over to that other city and the people in the tower, and you remember the woman threw the rock down and hit him in the head and hurt him bad. What did he say? He was just like Saul. He was concerned about the flesh. He says, go ahead and thrust me through, because I don't want anybody to know that I was killed by a woman. Wow. I mean, something to really think about. But you know, one of the best armor bearers was who? It was David. David was Saul's armor bearer. But he's not now. Why? Because Saul, you ran him off. You chased him all over the place. So what's happening now? Saul is dying alone. There's nobody there. There's no priest, because you killed him. There's no David, because you ran him off. Your sons, you have pulled them in to your sin, and they have been killed. So Saul is going to die alone. Verse 5, and it says, It says that when his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon a sword and died with him. You know, some of the Jews believe that this was Doag. I can't tell you that it was, but it's something to give thought to. And if that's the case, it kind of gives new meaning to live by the sword, die by the sword. I mean, think about that. If that's the case, Doag had killed many people with that sword. We know at least 85 that he killed. And so is that the same sword that he killed them with? Now, he has taken his own life, just a thought. Also, we see here what a poor example Saul was. Here is an uninjured. It doesn't say anything about his armor bearer being injured, but yet he takes his life. What a bad example Saul was in so many ways. Verse six, it says, so Saul died and his three sons and his armor bearer and all his men that same day together. So we see many of the men of Israel died that same day. Verse seven, and when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities and fled, and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. When they saw that their king was dead, they took off. You know, that was the same thing that happened when we studied there in chapter 17, when Goliath was dropped. You know, it said that they fled when they saw their champion. Their champion was dead. Verse 8 says, And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in Mount Gilboa. Now the Philistines and Israel, Imagine, or just picture, that they fought all day long. So the evening comes, and you're in no hurry to go find the bodies, because you don't know who's there or anything. And if they fled up into the mountains, you don't know that there may be an ambush or anything. So hey, we've done what we can. They've taken off. We know they're not going to come back on us. We're going to get a good night's sleep, and then we're going to go up and strip the bodies and take anything that's of any value. So I think that's what happened. But then they, in verse 8, it says, And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in Mount Gilboa. So they had the fight, like I said, all that day. And then the next day they go up. Evidently, they didn't know that they had hit Saul. Or they probably would have wanted to really make sure that they had him. And oh, yeah, if we've killed him, we know it's over. So they go out, and they find Saul. And they see that everybody has taken off. And then in verse 9 says, and they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent into the land of the Philistines round about to publish it in the house of their idols and among the people. So we see here, you know, the world rejoices at the falling, the stumbling of a saint, or a child of God, a professing believer. And the world will throw every bait they can at you to get you to fall. Everything. Hey, take these drugs. It'll really, it'll make you feel good. And get involved in some of these sexual things, and you'll be popular. But you know what? As soon as you sin, they turn on you like a dog, like a mad dog. You know, how quickly they turn. You know, what do they do? They call you a drug head, a drunk, a whore. You know, that's just the way they are. You know, once they've gotten you to fall, that's the way the world is. But what I want you to see here in verse 10, it says, and they put his armor in the house of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan. So we see here that they strip the armor off of Saul, they cut off his head, And like I said, that's the same thing the world will do. They'll do whatever they can to disgrace you, to put you up as a picture of a falling Christian if you're a child of God. And you know what? Even if you're not a child of God, they still do the same to people in the world. They lure you in, they wreck your life, and then they're against you. But you remember back in chapter 5, when they had taken the ark, and that's what represents the presence of God. Remember, they put that ark in the housing there with Dagon. And you remember what happened? Dagon's head came off. That was their idol. But you know what? Israel's idol was Saul. And Saul's head was taken off. And it was put in that house of Dagon with those idols. Both were powerless. Dagon's powerless. Saul is powerless. But he was Israel's idol. That's a mistake in making a man your idol. Remember? But that's what they wanted. They wanted somebody like Saul, and they got it. But Saul's death was used to glorify the Philistines' gods and to mock the living God. Beth-shan is the city that sets up on a hill. From what I understand, it's kind of a cross area where a lot of people will pass by. So Saul's body is hung up just in humiliation and shame. Verse 11, through the end, it says, when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan and came to Jabesh and birthed them there. And they took their bones and buried them under a tree at Jabesh and fasted seven days." Why did these valiant men do this? Why go and risk your lives and go after some dead bodies? You know why? Well, if you remember when we studied back in chapter 11, you remember when Nahash the Ammonite came and he surrounded the city there of Jabesh Gilead and he said, look, and they said, hey, look, we'll surrender. Don't kill us, but we'll be your servants. They said, that's fine. That'll work great. So just come on out, and we're going to take everybody's right eye out, and then you'll be our servants. And they said, ooh, wait a minute. Can we have seven days to see if somebody might come and help us? They said, sure. You know what? They sent that word back to Saul and enraged Saul. And Saul said, Remember, he cut up those oxen, and he sent them out to the areas of Israel. He said, look, if you all don't come and help out, he said, we're going to come and kill your livelihood. We're going to kill your oxen. So you remember what happened. It's hard to get people to do things. But that was quite an incentive. 330,000 people said, hey, yes, we're ready to fight. Remember, they came, and they ran the people off. Well, that's something to be appreciative for. And these men didn't forget that. And he said, out of respect for what he's done for us, they went in and they took the bodies and gave them proper treatment. They did not forget what had been done for them. They removed the humiliation of those men hanging on those walls. They covered up the disgrace. They burnt the bodies to remove any kind of diseases and things like that, and they properly buried the remains. You know, I think in a sense, we could apply 1 Corinthians 13, that love covereth a multitude of sins. You know, I think we can see here that the first Adam failed, and the first king failed. The second Adam is the conqueror. And I could say he will succeed, but more proper is that he has succeeded. So I guess three points here. Just remember that you reap what you sow and that the arm of flesh will fail you. If that's where you have your trust, it's going to fail you. And then also looking at what the people, J. Basculia did, we need to remember the people who have helped us in times of deep distress, and even more so. We need to look back at our 40 years that we've been in the wilderness and see what God has done for us. That's the greater thing that we need to look at and thank God every day for it. And then thirdly, we need to realize, you know, Saul, even on death row, even knowing that he's dying, within hours he's gonna be dead, there was no repentance, not at all. A lot of people think that they're going to wait. Well, I'm going to wait. When I get older, I don't want to give up my things right now. But when I get older, I plan on doing that. No, you don't. No, you don't. I've seen people, talked to people that are dying, have cancer. They know that they've got days to live, maybe a few weeks to live. Had no regard for the things of God. I'm good. I'm good. Today is a day of salvation. Today, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart, because that's what happens. Saul's heart was hardened and hardened and hardened and hardened, and he's dying, and he still has a hard heart. No repentance. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your precious word, and Lord, we pray that you'll continue to give us instructions in it, Lord, of what we should do, Lord, of what we shouldn't do. And Lord, we'd be a fool to think that it's going to be any different, to continue to do the same thing, to live a life like Paul, like Saul, and think that it's going to be any different. It's not. It's not. It'll be the same. Help us to see these things, Lord, and we'll give you the praise for it. In Christ's name, amen.