One of the things we confessed about the Holy Spirit this morning for the Nicene Creed is that He spoke by the prophets. And so we have an opportunity to hear just that, the Holy Spirit speaking by a prophet, as we continue in our series, our evening series on Sunday evenings in 1 Samuel. We're in 1 Samuel chapter 13, as we hear the Holy Spirit speaking by the prophet Samuel. in these holy words given by God Himself. 1 Samuel chapter 13 beginning in verse 1. Saul was years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years over Israel. Saul chose 3,000 men of Israel. 2,000 were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and 1,000 were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent home, every man to his tent. Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba. And the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear. And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines, and the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal. And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped at Michmash to the east of Beth-Avon. When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble, for the people were hard-pressed, the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns. And some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him, trembling. He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. Samuel said, What have you done? And Saul said, When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord. So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering. And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart. And the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. And Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal. The rest of the people went up after Saul to meet the army. They went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people who were present with him, about 600 men. And Saul and Jonathan his son, and the people who were present with them, stayed at Geba of Benjamin. But the Philistines encamped at Michmash. And raiders came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies. One company turned toward Ophrah to the land of Sheol. Another company turned toward Beth Horon. And another company turned toward the border that looks down on the valley of Zeboam toward the wilderness. Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel. For the Philistines said, lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears. But every one of the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, or his sickle. And the charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares or for the mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening the axes or for setting the goads. So on the day of the battle, there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan, but Saul and Jonathan and his son had them. And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Let's look to our God again in prayer. O breath of life, we do pray that you would come sweeping through us, that you would revive us with life and power, that you would cleanse and renew us and fit us, your church, to meet this hour. We pray, Heavenly Father, that you would grant us hearts by your spirit that follow after you. Hearts like the heart of Jesus, your son. In whose name we pray, amen. Well, it's been said that you can think of the book of 1 Samuel like in terms of the shape of the letter X. On the top left part of the X, you have King Saul. He was the tallest and handsomest lad in all the land, as we have heard and as I have repeatedly reminded you. That's why he was a king fit for what Israel wanted in a king, a king they could be proud of, a king they could show off to the rest of the nations in their competition with their kings. But on the top part of that actually have King Saul, and he was anointed by Samuel, coronated as king. He was victorious over the Ammonites, and Israel was assured that he really was their divinely inspired king through that victory. And so they loved him. All but a few worthless fellows, a few naysayers, the whole nation loved their new king. And they loved him just like Saul wanted them to love him. He welcomed it, and he was on cloud nine, and the future looked bright. But it didn't last for very long, did it? as Saul's descent from the top left part of that X towards the bottom quickly began. And at the bottom left part of that X was King David, who we're going to see in coming weeks, Lord willing. King David began in such a lowly position. He was the youngest of Jesse's sons, the runt of the litter. They gave him the dirty work that no one else wanted to do. He was overlooked and downtrodden, but God had plans for him. So the trajectory of his life was like the other line on the X going from the bottom up to the top. The trajectory of his life was the opposite of Saul's. And, of course, their paths cross there in the middle. Now, the question that we have to ask moving forward about these two first kings of Israel was, what was the difference between them? What determined the trajectory of their lives? And the answer is that one of them was a man after God's own heart. And the other proved not to be. So let's consider that theme under two headings this evening. First, Saul, not a man after God's own heart. And second, David, a man after God's own heart. First, Saul, who sadly proved not to be a man after God's own heart. Again, Saul started out really well. He seemed to be tracking with God and his will for his life. and for his people. But cracks in Saul's integrity and motivations began to emerge. Now, the opening verse of the chapter is a tough one to interpret in the Hebrew. In fact, there's a couple different versions. You may not know this. There's a couple different versions of the ESV Bible. This is a newer edition, I believe, that I have up here. I like the large print. So some of you may have the smaller print. Did it do that weird thing where it sort of skipped over in your smaller print versions? Yeah. Now, the older versions of the ESV actually have some numbers in there and translate a little bit differently. The NIV translates it very differently, and the King James very differently. What is going on here? Why does the ESV sort of punt on this and not translate part of it at all? Well, some people believe that some of the numbers that were in the original version, you know, inspired by God, some of these numbers were lost in transmission or mistakenly transcribed from what was originally written. So that the NIV reflects this idea and takes some interpretive license and translates verse 1 as, Saul was 30 years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel 42 years. The King James translates it a little more literally, closer to the extent Hebrew manuscripts, but alters the wording from the manuscripts. The ESV sort of leaves it alone, but the King James alters the wording a little bit so that it says Saul reigned one year, and when he had reigned two years, over Israel, he chose for himself 3,000 men of Israel. So we're not exactly sure what's going on there in the first verse, but nothing is lost. The faith is not diminished, right? The faith is not, we don't, we don't find some verse, we're not gonna find some manuscript that contradicts, you know, John 3 16 or something like that, right? We're okay, we're fine. But what we know for sure is that Saul, during his reign as king, did a new thing here. He created what we call a standing army. A standing army, the first of its kind in ancient Israel. Before this time, there had essentially been militias. in Israel, men who trained and were prepared, but who remained at home pursuing other callings, mainly farming, of course, unless there was a threat or a need. And then they would gather together, the word would be sent out, and they would... Take some time and they would gather together to fight for Israel. But here Saul created a standing army, sent some of the men home, but he kept many as a standing army, essentially professional soldiers, full-time soldiers prepared to fight at a moment's notice. And as the saying goes, when you have a standing army, you tend to use it. Right? You tend to use it. That's why some of our founding fathers were against a standing army, like George Washington famously even, against a standing army. So when you have a standing army, you tend to use it. We see that right here with Saul and his son Jonathan. So Jonathan, Saul's son, whom he had appointed over part of the army, led Israel to defeat the garrison of the Philistines at Geba. The garrison not just a restaurant in the wonderful town of Pineville. The garrison, a garrison, also a force of troops who guard a fort or a town or a city. Now We're not told why Jonathan led Israel to do this. Again, maybe because he had a standing army and he wanted to lead that standing army. More likely, It was simply that Jonathan was tired of being under the thumb of the Philistines. You notice that the Philistines were having their way with Israel at this time. They had taken away all of their plowshares, their mattocks, their axes, all these things that could be made into weapons. The Philistines had taken those away. So Israel at this time essentially in subjugation to the Philistines, and rightly so. Jonathan was tired of that, so he leads his force against the garrison of the Philistines at Geba, and they are successful. But some things began to unravel after that. First thing that we notice is who took the credit for this victory. This is a kind of a peculiar thing, wasn't it? Saul took the credit in verse 3. Saul literally tooted his own horn. You never thought you'd literally see somebody toot their own horn, but that is what Saul did. Here he tooted his own horn. And in verse 4 we get more of the gist of what the message was because in verse 4 we read, And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines. And Saul seemed a-okay with taking the credit for what another, in this case his own son, had accomplished. And this is one of those first indications that Saul's heart was really after the applause of man rather than the glory of God. He didn't defer to Jonathan and say, you know, it was actually Jonathan that, you know, let's honor Jonathan. The Bible says give honor to him honors you, let's honor Jonathan. Or ultimately, let's honor the Lord. Saul seemed perfectly okay with Israel being under the impression that this was Saul who had led the nation or this force to victory over the Philistines. And Jonathan's victory, for which Saul took credit, stirred up the hornet's nest That was the Philistine Army. It's sort of like when Cornwallis came through this region of our country and he said it was like stepping into a hornet's nest. That's why the Charlotte Hornets are the Charlotte Hornets, right? And that's why our city police have a hornet's nest on the side of their car and on all of the departments around the city. Well, that's exactly what was like here. Jonathan stirred up a hornet's nest that was the ferocious, the bloodthirsty military of the Philistines. Humanly speaking, the Israelites were no match For the Philistines and their 30,000 chariots, some manuscripts, some translations say 3000. Either way, that's a lot of chariots coming at Israel has nothing of the sort. Six thousand horsemen. and warriors as many as the grains of the sand on the seashore." So what did Israel do? They turned tail and they ran. In fact, they ran. Where did they run? They ran to their king. They ran to their king, the one who was supposed to be protecting them, the one who was supposed to bring them victory, the one in whom they trusted. The one who had taken credit for their most recent victory won by another. Their hope was in him. Again, that's why they demanded a king. We need a king to help us defeat the kings and the armies of the nations around us. We need a king. So where do they run? This reveals where their confidence is. They run to their king at Gilgal. Their hope was in him and his hope was in himself. When Samuel was delayed, Saul took matters into his own hands, making decisions and making sacrifices that he hoped would bring Israel victory. The king should have waited on the word of the Lord from Samuel. Samuel was the prophet. The prophet was above the king in the sense that the word of God is above the king. Saul was under the authority of God's word, not the other way around. But in this case, Saul put it the other way around. He forgot that he was under the authority of the word, The Holy Spirit, as we confess this morning from the Nicene Creed, the Holy Spirit speaking by the prophet. Or as the Westminster Confession of Faith puts it in chapter one of the confession, the Holy Spirit, as we would say, speaking through the scriptures. He is the authority. Samuel, excuse me, Saul, rather, forgot that. And so he came up with his own word in this very important situation, came up with his own word to guide him and Israel. And with that, he should have waited for Samuel to arrive and instruct and oversee the priests in their offerings to the Lord. But he took on the role of the priest as well. God's word, and this may be the specific command that Samuel called Saul out for not obeying. Numbers chapter 18 and verse 7 instructed the people that only the appointed priests were to offer sacrifice to the Lord. So this wasn't for the king to do, this was for the priests to do. But in this situation, Paul was desperate. Something's got to be done. Takes matters into his own hands. He knew better. He thought he could be prophet, priest, and king. All that Israel needed rolled into one. Again, when Samuel arrived, he rebuked Saul for his hubris. for his willful, prideful foolishness. When Samuel told Saul you have acted foolishly, he wasn't saying you're not intelligent. He wasn't saying you have a low IQ. He was saying you've been unwise. You've not humbled yourself before the Lord. You've not waited on his word. You've not done things his way. You've been prideful. rather than humble and under God's authority. In other words, foolishness in scripture isn't just an intellectual thing. It's a moral thing. It's a matter of the heart. And that was the case with Saul. And most significantly, rather than repenting, Samuel made excuses for himself. Did you notice that? in verse 11. Samuel said, Saul made excuses for himself. Samuel said, what have you done? And Saul said, when I saw that the people were scattering from me, uh oh, so he's blaming the people. They were being cowardly, they're scattering from me. When I saw that people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, so he starts blaming the people. He starts blaming Samuel. Kind of reminds you of when Adam was confronted in the garden after the fall, and Adam says, the woman, says to God, the woman you gave me. So, and men have been saying that ever since, right? But he's shifting the blame, right? Adam was the priest of humanity, of all creation. Adam was the appointed head of the human race. He was ultimately responsible here, but he shifts the blame. He shifts the blame to his wife, and then he shifts the blame to God. The woman, you, gave me. Here, Saul, rather than wanting to humble himself and examine his own heart and say, you know what? You're right, Samuel. I should have waited on the word of the Lord through you. I should have waited and let those who were appointed to make sacrifices make the sacrifice. I should have waited on the Lord, again, he makes excuses for himself. He blames the people. It's reminiscent of those words of Benjamin Franklin, who said, he that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. Right. And so Saul was in the excuse-making business. What is that always an indication of? It's an indication of someone who doesn't want to examine themselves, take stock of their lives, and take personal responsibility for their own decisions and change course in light of the folly of what they've been doing. Samuel said that because of Saul's unrepentant pride, the kingdom would be taken from him. And that the Lord had sought another to lead Israel, a man after God's own heart. Saul's prideful, excuse-making heart was far from God. So what did that mean for Israel? Remember what Samuel said to Israel in the previous chapter we saw last week? If you and your king will follow after God, it will go well with you. The king had to follow after God in order for Israel to prosper. But Saul's heart was moving away from God. So Israel's power was depleted, just as Samuel had promised. Israel was raided by a numerically and technologically superior military force without a king whose heart was for the Lord. Israel was doomed. Thus to our second point, David, a man after God's own heart. Now we won't jump ahead and talk too much about David this evening, but since the passage alludes to him. as a man after God's own heart. And since in our corresponding New Testament passage, which Dennis read that sermon from St. Paul in Acts chapter 13 and 22, where St. Paul referred to David as a man after God's own heart. You notice how, you know, this history was very much on the frontal lobe of Paul as he preached Christ, as he preached the gospel. He's like, you know, Israel demanded a king and so God gave him Saul. But, you know, Saul wasn't following after the Lord. So God found in David a man after his own heart. David, a man after God's own heart. So let's ask the question. this evening. What made David worthy of that title, a man after God's own heart, and Saul unworthy of it? What made David and not Saul a man after God's own heart? Well, it had to have been that David was sinless and Saul was not. Is that what... Okay, all right. We know that's not the case. David's sin was just as clearly recorded in Scripture as Saul's, if not more so. So what was the difference? Well, it was surely that when David was confronted with his sin, he repented of it, confessed it, and saw God's mercy and forgiveness and God's Spirit, as we read Psalm 51, take not your spirit away from me. He sought God's Spirit to transform him, make him different. That's what David did rather than continuing to make excuses for his sin. And the deeper reason for that was that David's heart, above all else, actually loved God. Whereas Saul's heart, above all else, loved the esteem of men, the love of men. David had his moments, to be sure, when he simply wanted to keep up appearances and he dug himself a deeper hole. at times because of that, but ultimately, his heart belonged to God. By grace, his heart belonged to God. So he confessed his sins and turned to God for grace, restoration, and transformation. What it means to be a man after God's own heart. How can we be a people, men and women, boys and girls, after God's own heart? The answer comes from our invocation tonight. What a beautiful invocation for Pentecost. Sunday, printed in the bulletin. We prayed it together. But come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful people and kindle in us the fire of your love. Direct and rule our hearts in all things. Empower us for witness and ministry and daily, that's the key, isn't it? Daily, increase in us your gifts and fruit. The answer comes from asking the Holy Spirit to do what only the Holy Spirit can do, which is to give us the heart of Jesus for the Heavenly Father, as we talked about this morning, and to develop in us the character of Christ. Again, isn't that beautiful from the catechism to be a Christian? Relatively new catechism developed for one of our sister denominations, if you will, the Anglin Church of North America. The catechism to be a Christian written primarily by J.I. Packer, who's now with Jesus. But question 89, of the Catechism, what is the fruit of the Spirit? The fruit of the Holy Spirit is the very character of Jesus developing in us through the work of the Spirit. That is the best definition I've ever read about what it means when we talk about the fruit of the Spirit. It's the very character of Jesus developing in us by the work of the Holy Spirit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. In order to be a people after God's own heart, we must center our lives on the only man who ever lived who was fully and completely a man after God's own heart, David's offspring, His physical descendant through whom God fulfilled the promise to Israel and brought a Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord. In order to be a people after God's own heart, we must center our lives on Him. Who else would you want to center your life on? Well, you say, well, I've got remaining sin, so me. Next week is Trinity Sunday. but sometimes we want to center our lives on the unholy trinity of me, myself, and I. So we need the holy, thank you, yes, thank you. We need the Holy Spirit. Every moment, we need the Holy Spirit to center our lives on Jesus and to ask the Holy Spirit to develop His character in us. to the honor and glory of our Father. So let us open our lives evermore to him, that we too might be a people after God's own heart. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.