The Lies We Believe

0:12 So if you got a Bible, turn to 1 Samuel with me. 1 Samuel. it's been said, a story is only as good as its villain. My son Wesley, he's about three and a half. He recently experienced this for the very first time because we felt led, compelled to raise our child up in the way they should go, that should not depart from them when they grow older, to show him Star Wars for the first time in his life. And I didn't want to go the route of some streaming service with ridiculous ads because I'm not paying five more dollars a month for that. So we found an old tube TV with a VCR in it, original VHS tapes of episode four, five, and six, real Star Wars, okay?

1:06 And we showed it to him. And this is the photo of him sitting with his friends, seeing for the first time the little rolling words, Star Wars. And a few minutes, seconds maybe, into the film, the iconic scene arrives where the Darth Vader is on screen. He stands up and he screams, grabbing the VHS box. It's him, it's him. He was losing his absolute mind over it. And Darth Vader is now his favorite character, which in my opinion is the best character. and if you really look through different stories you could pinpoint a villain by the lie they believed here's a few examples Darth Vader believed the lie that if he embraced the dark side he could save his family if you're a Lord of the Rings fan if you are I love you Sauron believed the lie that if he had enough power he could control the earth and make it perfect if you're heathen and watch Harry Potter. Voldemort believes the lie that he is above death by any means necessary. And then this one's near and dear to our hearts. The Albuquerque traffic cone believes if there's enough of them, this city will one day be drivable.

2:22 Yeah. If you, if you take the highway at all, I pray for you every day. T. Montano. Okay. See this idea, somebody believing a lie and it corrupting them. This is not invented by George Lucas or some fiction writer. This idea in very many ways is actually a scriptural one. And who will we observe tonight is none other than Saul in the Old Testament, King Saul to be specific. Saul in many ways could be viewed as a villain. He could be viewed as somebody who he believed enough lies about himself and God that over time he was corrupted. I want to talk to you tonight using this framework of King Saul and really more broadly Israel to talk to you about the lies we believe. The lies we believe. See, the tricky part about lies is they masquerade as the truth. The thing is, is lies are not like packs of cigarettes. There's no warning that comes with them. Lies want to be believed. Liars want people to believe that they're communicating the truth.

3:34 And so in using God's word, I believe that we can study an Old Testament example of how somebody believed lies because we use God's standard to speak against lies. It's by God's truth that we re-examine our lives and hearts to really come to understand what lies are we believing. And the beauty of scripture is that it is so brutally honest about the lives of people. It is so brutally honest, specifically in the Old Testament, about how people really are. And these stories have been left for us, these narratives, for us to understand on a better level how in our own lives we may be believing lies. So beginning in 1 Samuel chapter 8, we see, and we have to back up a little bit before Saul. Because before we get to Saul, we have to understand what is taking place among God's people more broadly. And in many ways, you could argue that the king that is over Israel, each part of their history is a direct mirror of where their hearts are with God. And here's what I mean. We look at 1 Samuel chapter 8. This is what it says. Now, it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba, but his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice. What's so interesting to me, even right here in this text, is we see a man who is in many ways faithful to God. We see a man who has done what seems like everything correctly, but even then his sons are not following the ways of the Lord.

5:20 I think that should comfort us tonight. If you are a parent in the room tonight and you are concerned about where your kids are at with the Lord, even some of the most godly people in the Old Testament struggled raising their children in the ways of the Lord. We see that pattern as well with Eli earlier in 1 Samuel. We see Eli and his sons pervert justice, do the same thing Samuel's sons do, but the difference between Eli and Samuel is that Samuel does not look the other way, and so God does not judge him for it. This will become a pattern as we continue to read about Samuel tonight. Samuel is the kind of individual who is not double-minded. He's the kind of individual who does not look the other way when evil happens. Let's keep reading. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, look, you are old. it's so rude and your sons do not walk in your ways now make us a king to judge us like all the nations in speaking with Samuel, the people will come to him and actually resist God's plan for the nations.

6:36 At this point in Israel's history, as you know, as the good Bible students you are, there have been different people appointed over God's people. There have been Moses, there has been Gideon and Judges, there's been Joshua. And so the idea and the framework that God's people actually understand a leader and have a leader over them is not completely foreign to them. But at this point in the story, really, they believe God's plan is not working. They believe that they have a better pathway than what God is laying out through the life of Samuel. The thought maybe I've crossed their mind, this isn't working. We're tired of waiting. We're tired of having to sit around and see what God will do. You are old, very rude. See, what shows up in our text tonight is the first lie. And this lie is the lie of self-reliance.

7:32 The lie of self-reliance. God works in very odd ways. All of us are in the room tonight, so we're evidence of that. Just kidding. God works in odd ways. The entire Old Testament is very odd when you read it. God calls Abram a geriatric man. That's me saying nicely he's old because I said it's rude to say someone's old. He's very geriatric. And he tells him, you will be a father of nations.

8:02 He calls Rahab a prostitute to protect and hide his people. We see even God himself show up when he takes on human flesh and he is born in a backwater town. nobody has ever really even heard of. But that's how God moves in unknown and unlikely circumstances. In our text tonight, in many ways, we can come to understand God moves through unlikely people and unlikely circumstances because it's kind of his favorite thing to do. It's kind of his favorite thing to do. Yet, despite proving himself time and time again, Israel is dissatisfied with God's plan. They don't like where it's going. They don't agree with it. They think they have a better strategy.

8:54 And we do this in ourselves because what it requires to trust God's plan for your life is you have to wait, you have to trust, and you have to be patient. Then you have to wait some more. Then you have to trust some more. Then you have to be patient some more. When we live in this way, it produces a reliance on him. Israel wants to reject that Israel wants to get away from that this I believe is the issue of self-reliance we often have an urgency about us we want our way because we have the best timeline and we've mapped out our years we've mapped out our retirement we've mapped everything out and if God can just bless our plan then things will happen the way they should right? right? read verse 6 with me what's interesting is God concedes to their wishes God concedes their wishes.

9:48 Look to verse six. But the thing displeased Samuel when he said, give us a king to judge us. So Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, heed the voice of the people and all that they say to you. For they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me. Probably one of the saddest verses in the Old Testament. That I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day, with which they have forsaken me and served other gods, so they are doing to you also. Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them. You should introduce that to your vocabulary, by the way. I'm solemnly forewarning you, okay?

10:36 Show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them. See, here in this text, we get another piece of the puzzle of what's really unraveling before our very eyes. What's happening is it's not just that they want a new system of government. It's that the people of Israel have decided to rebel against God and have rejected him. The ironic thing that God points out to Samuel is inevitably people will end up serving somebody. If you do not serve God, you will serve somebody or something. And in the heart posture tonight, I almost started singing Bob Dylan, but I sing worse than him. Trust me. Yeah, that's real. We'll end up serving somebody. Somebody, something will take the heart and the throne of our hearts and rule over us. And it's a worse ruler often and every time than God himself.

11:32 But in the beauty and grace and mercy of this God we serve, he allows that decision to be made. He allows that decision to be made. This is what it says in verse 10. Let's keep reading. So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who asked him for a king. He said, this will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen. And some will run before his chariots. So that's the front line. That is the guaranteed wall of arrows that will get absorbed pretty much is that idea there. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties. He will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.

12:25 He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves. So far in scripture, up to this point, there's a very specific way that Israel fights its battles. And it's really, like I said, super odd. I remember Matt Parolo quoting this with Gideon if you remember that story arguably what he did to fight against the army is he had mason jars and kazoos to kill the other army that is pretty much equivalent if you've ever seen Veggie Tales they're not far off with the wall of Jericho and them marching around that's the one time Veggie Tales is biblically accurate it's very odd the way Israel fights its wars but at this point because they are not having a king preside over them their strategy is shifting. It now becomes the exception, not the expectation that Israel will trust God with its battles. It will now become rare when a king actually believes and follows the Lord so that they will be successful. There's two things that, there's these three things that happened with the military conquest with Israel. There was often no unnecessary battles fought.

13:34 They fought when they needed to. The battles they did fight were unlikely victories and war was often wagers in defense, not offense. Gideon, Joshua, and all these different leaders have this pattern. Proverbs 21, 31. The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord. We make our plans. We make our preparations. We do what we see fit, but truly it's the Lord who grants or qualifies whatever plans we do. I was reading Psalm 127 today that if the house is not built by the Lord, the laborers labor in vain. We must establish our life, the reality of all that we are, and trusting God first. But Israel doesn't want to go that path. They don't want to pursue that way. Samuel will go on to say that when you are obedient, and when your king is obedient, you will be blessed. But as long as you are disobedient, and your king is disobedient, you will not be blessed. As we continue reading, what becomes very apparent is that Israel wants a selective relationship with God. They want God's blessing. They want him to do things for them. They want what they desire, but they reject actually his leadership.

14:54 They have what I would like to call a selective relationship with God. selective relationships do not work in real life by the way if you want a little relationship advice tonight 101 i'm in college young adult ministry so i try to give a lot of it hopefully it's good we'll find out in 10 years but selective relationships work this way it's equivalent to if you get married and when you get married or if you are married you kind of augment and edit your vows. You say, in health, for richer, I promise to marry. Imagine those vows.

15:34 This is when you are raising a child. When you become a parent, if you become a parent. It is your responsibility to raise that kid. Even on days y'all don't like each other. You know what I'm talking about. It is the responsibility of a parent in relationship to a child to raise their kid. In friendships, if every friendship you have ever had ends the moment conflict arises, you either need to find better friends or be a better friend. See, this is the tension of the text. This is Israel. They want one thing with God, but they can't accept him for all of who he is. You and I must take heed at Israel's heart posture. When we sign up to follow Jesus, We have committed to bearing our crosses. We have committed to what he calls a narrow way.

16:29 My friend John Chitwood says, there's a lot of Christian vampires. We want the blood, but we don't actually wanna follow the man. I wanna challenge you tonight. Are you somebody who's selective in your relationship with God? God will allow you to be for a time, but ultimately, this is a form of self-reliance. This is a form of disobedience.

16:53 Let's keep reading in verse 13. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks and bakers, and he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards and your olive groves, give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage and give it to his officers and servants. This is an interesting thing to know. Up until this point in Israel's history, what would they give a tenth to? Somebody call it out to me. God. right? The temple. Now, in many ways, they have to actually give a tithe as well to a king. I think there's something spiritual about that, that goes back to the throne of their hearts is taking new leadership. He will take your male servants and your female servants, your finest young men and your donkeys and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep and you will be his servants. And this is Israel in the entire Old Testament, the human condition truly summarized in one verse. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves. And the Lord will not hear you in that day.

18:03 Israel's history could be viewed in many ways as a mirror to the human heart. Here's the human heart in Israel's history. Israel, in many ways, is a repetition of Genesis chapter three with Adam and Eve. And they just keep over and over and over replicating the mistakes of our ancestors. Here's the human pattern though that we see. God invites us into perfect relationship. He desires us. He invites us into that relationship. designing what's best for us, he gives us guidelines to thrive. Not wanting any kind of limitation, we reject him and his guidelines. In our rejection, we wound ourselves with our newfound freedoms. Wounded, we return to him and he kindly receives us. Knowing us, he gives us more guidelines to avoid more mistakes.

18:56 Not learning our lesson, we push against those guidelines and once more, we reject both him and his guidance for life and rinse and repeat, right? This is the human condition. This is the sin nature in us. This is Israel's history. This is over and over what they do until they're taken into captivity and they're brought out of captivity and then they are dispersed again. See, every human since creation has struggled with this reality.

19:25 Surely to Samuel's warnings, the people will say, you know what? That actually sounds really bad, right? and I could fast forward the 21st century. Just get ready for taxes, y'all. It sucks, okay, right? They're not even ready for what's about to come. No, they don't do that. Verse 19. Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel and they said, no, but we will have a king over us that we may also be like all the nations and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.

20:00 Samuel heard all these words of the people. he repeated them in the hearing of the Lord. So the Lord said to Samuel, heed their voice and make them a king. And Samuel said to the men of Israel, every man go to his city. At the root of what Israel believes is truly self-reliance. Even when the consequences are present before them, they push against and they resist what God's will is and what God's desire is. And they get their way. Even if they needed help, they reject it out of independence. see at the heart of self-reliance of believing we can do things apart from god it's really a lie of what we believe to be true about independence if you have seen a parent get sick you have witnessed this firsthand it is so hard to convince your parent that even though they cannot do things on their own they need to become dependent on somebody that somebody has had independence their whole life that they didn't want to give that up. I think in many ways we can make an idol of independence. We can elevate freedom and ability to do what we want when we see fit to such a great degree that it crushes us.

21:14 This is Jesus' warning to Peter in the end of John. Let me read this to you. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted. But when you were old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you out where you do not want to go. This is the core of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Do you surrender? God is not interested in partial surrender.

21:42 Are you surrendered to Jesus? All of who you are, every aspect, your freedom, your abilities, what you think is your plan for your life. Have you surrendered? Because God will not bless partial surrender. Let's be real for a moment. We're at a Wednesday night service. I assume many of us in the room tonight love Jesus in the amphitheater. Shout out to the amphitheater. We love you. I was going to make a joke about make some noise, but we wouldn't hear you.

22:14 Many of us most likely love Jesus unless you're tricked into coming. You're like, what did I get brought to you? Hopefully the person that brought you is cute. Okay. So that, you know, But there's probably a strong chance you love Jesus. And the idea of when I say we need to surrender to Christ, you say, yeah, of course. I'm here and I'm spending an hour on Wednesday night Bible study. I love Jesus. And we may mentally agree with the idea of surrender, but it's a different thing to live that obedience out. the true test of where your faith is relies in what you actually do with your life so to help you here are a few symptoms that you may be believing about self-reliance a few symptoms that you may be believing the lie of self-reliance you make decisions in haste this is Israel we want it we want it now give us a king right now make it happen there's no time for prayer. There's no time for further consideration. You want what you want when you want it. Number two, you reject wise counsel. When I say that, no elbowing any friends, okay?

23:28 Do not be elbowing each other, okay? Even when people who love you and love the Lord, right? We pull this thing. We're like, I'm just so grateful for my community. I'm so grateful for my connect group. But the moment they tell me what not to do, I serve God alone, okay? I serve Jesus, all right? Y'all don't tell me what to do, right? Here's a good question to ask yourself. When someone confronted you last, did it offend you? When someone called you out, when someone called you to the carpet, were you a little offended? Number three, you minimize the consequences of what you know will take place. You know it's bad. You know what that road leads down, but you tell yourself the lie that you can figure it out, that you got yourself out of the last situation, you can get yourself out of this one. Sin always keeps us longer than we want. See, like a child, we often put our hand to the stove, not because we like our hand being burnt, but we love the thrill of knowing we shouldn't be doing it. And this is the lie of self-reliance.

24:31 This is what Paul David Tripp in his book, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands, says this, Rebellion is the inborn tendency to give into the lies of autonomy, self-sufficiency, and self-focus. It results in a habitual violation of God-given boundaries. Autonomy says, I have the right to do what I want when I want to do it. Self-sufficiency says, I have everything I need in myself, so I don't need to depend on or submit to anyone. Self-focus says, I am the center of my world. It is right to live for myself and to do only what brings me happiness. These are the lies of the garden. The same lies Satan has whispered in generation after generation of willing years. That deny our basic makeup as human beings. We were not created to be autonomous. We were designed to be in daily submission to God and to live for his glory. Living outside this design will never work.

25:29 self-reliance doing things your way not considering god not considering his truth not considering his standard for your life will destroy your life and we see this take place in one man that truly israel's heart posture is reflected in this king that they elect saul see before we get to saul i want to encourage you jesus has a better way than self-reliance self-reliance is exhausting if you ever talk with somebody who's trying to make it you know you know what I'm talking about? The kind of person who has graduated, they're getting after their career, they've moved to the big city, they're really trying to really grind, hashtag hustle, you know what I'm saying? You talk with these people, they are exhausted. Everything they do is reliant upon how good they can perform, how much charisma they have, and if they have enough talent and skill to pull it off. That is an exhausting way to live. Jesus has a better way. Matthew 11, 28, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

26:31 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I'm gentle and lowly in heart. You will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. It's still a burden and it's still something we have to trust. In the first century, rabbis would refer to their teaching as a yoke. And if you were a Jew choosing a rabbi and then the rabbi, you were good enough that the rabbi chose you back. All right. That's the beauty of Jesus is he's whosoever King James version. Okay. Any King James people in the house tonight? Raise your hand. Let me see you. Yes. Okay. Everyone gets down on it, but whosoever is in there. All right. And so that's good translation. Whosoever by the time of Christ, what would happen is a rabbi would choose the best of the best students. It'd be like getting into an Ivy League PhD school, okay? And I know nothing about that, obviously.

27:24 So this is what would take place. And if you were the best, you would get chosen. But Jesus gives a new standard. If you're burdened, if you're burnt out, if you're frustrated, if you are doing things your way and you are exhausted, come to me. You can be my disciple. I will be your rabbi. And the yoke would be this idea of you would want to take the rabbi's yoke upon you, like how animals and oxen have yokes, that you would want to trust their teachings. I think it's in the Mishnah, it says that you would want to be covered in the dust of your rabbi. Wherever they went, you just would follow after them. This is Jesus's invitation to you and I. We try to figure it out on our own and I hear this language a lot. Well, just gotta figure it out with the big man upstairs. We got some business, right? It's like, who is this big man and why is he upstairs, you know?

28:15 We don't follow a big man upstairs. We follow Jesus and he's inviting you and I, if we are burdened, stressed out as we are to come to him. Sustaining your life on your own strength is exhausting. You will not be able to do it. You will be crushed by it. To see how this plays out is a live time play-by-play of Saul's life. Like I said, Saul is a perfect reflection of where Israel's heart's at. So turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 13. the most fascinating thing about Saul is he's anointed chosen by God for Samuel chapter 10 and it's only a meager three chapters later that God rejects him that God rejects him as king and hands the kingdom to that phrase we see for the first time a man after his own heart referring to David. But to understand that, we have to first see what I think is probably the most clear example of who Saul really is. 1 Samuel chapter 13 verse 1 says this, Saul reigned one year, and when he had reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose for himself 3,000 men of Israel, 2,000 were with Saul in Michmash, in the mountains of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan and Gibeah of Benjamin.

29:41 The rest of the people he sent away, every man to his tent. And Jonathan attacked the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, let the Hebrews hear. Now Israel heard it, said that Saul had attacked a garrison of the Philistines and that Israel had also become an abomination of the Philistines. This is kind of a similar language when I hear people talking about sports. You know sports, like football and stuff? And a gifted athletic individual makes a touchdown. And then I hear people say, yeah, we really scored today, or whatever the case may be. And it's like, I didn't see you on the field. There was like 900, 300-pound men. You would never make it five seconds out there. What's the we, okay?

30:34 Stop lying. Anyway, had also become an abomination of the Philistines. And the people were called together to Saul at Gilgal. As I mentioned, I lead our college ministry. And me, Caden, and Caleb have a running joke that at any given time, nobody knows which one of us is which. So I constantly get asked how middle school is going. And then Caden gets asked how college is going. And then I get asked how Calvary Kids is going. It's like, great, I don't know. I'm not too sure what they're up to, but it's great. So college age, and young adults is a weird term, I understand, but college age, and we just wrapped up a series on relationships. We worked through nine or something weeks and our team absolutely crushed it. We did small groups afterwards. I just gotta say, if you are 18 or 30, if you're college age, okay, because that's college age, all right, look it up, and you are not at Sunday night in the hub, I'm just gonna tell you something, you're missing out.

31:27 Don't complain about community and we got this and you're not tapping in, okay? Got a whole crew over here, okay? right but we just finished this relationship series and i quickly realized something i have no idea how modern dating works like at all like i really don't i've been out of the dating game 10 10 something years all right um i'm what they call an unk okay that is what they call me so scylla and i took it upon ourselves to understand what's happening in the culture okay we have two kids we don't know we don't go out i don't go up like this is the latest i'm out because you're teaching the Bible. You know what I'm saying?

32:03 So we sat down with some of the younger adults and we asked them, okay, what's up with the modern dating scene? What's the struggle? What's good about it? They're like, nothing. What's happening? What's the biggest issue with modern dating? They said, the hard thing is somebody being consistent in who they are. And how somebody presents themselves is often not who they really are. people don't have consistent character. And what's difficult is most interactions are online. Everything is happening online. Everything is AI online. I don't even know anymore, right? So people are perceiving how people are one way, but the reality of how they act and how they are with boundaries and how they treat the other person is completely opposite to what they put in their bio, what they post about.

32:56 And on that note, let me give you a free tip, okay? if you're in the dating world. Look at people's tax photos, okay? Changes a lot. Changes a lot, I'm just telling you. Anyway. we are constantly exposed as a culture to people's highlight reels. The best part, the best moment, the best day, the best trip, the best everything is constantly being fed to us at all times at any point in time.

33:26 And it seems that what is most valued in our culture right now is the more status and influence you can attain, the more important you are as a person. And I don't know if you realize this, it doesn't take a PhD to figure this out. How you look does not translate to actually who you are as an individual. Yeah. I don't know if you knew that, but how you are perceived does not directly translate to actually how you treat people. How you appear to be in one place does not translate to what is character. We see in this moment, the life of Saul is this repetition right here. His main objective, who he is, is revealed. Maya Angelou once said, when someone shows you who they are, believe them, believe them.

34:17 And it's really based upon how Saul was elected as king. Right, was Saul elected as king because Israel, man, he just loves God. This guy loves God like nobody else. He just serves the poor. He's down there in the city at the city gate, just washing the feet of the poor. No, turn with me to 1 Samuel 10, verse 23. If you're new to the scriptures, get ready. This one's crazy. Drum roll, what it takes to be the king of Israel. So they ran and brought him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. that the bar is very high right so that is the standard for israel to choose a king verse 24 and samuel said to all the people i just imagine he's just standing there and he's really this awkward guy as you read about saul he's like lying to his uncle that he was anointed he's like where have you been where are the donkeys what's going on he's like i took the donkeys over here there's a prophet and doesn't mention the anointing thing then they're trying to find him it says he's hiding among the equipment. He was like hiding in barrels because he was so embarrassed to be king.

35:25 So Samuel just like brings him out. It's probably really awkward. And Samuel said, all the people, do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? That there is no one like him. That there is no one like him among all the people. So literally zero character, zero standards. He's above six foot. that'll do. All right. And it seems like modern dating is more biblical than we come to realize. Okay. That's a joke about women choosing men off height. Anyway, he is tall. That is it. That is the standard why Saul has chosen as king. So it's been said when someone shows you who they are, believe them. And we see who Saul is, that the garrison is attacked. His son has the victory, but Saul claims the glory for himself.

36:19 See? what really defines who you are is when no one is paying attention, who are you? The opposite happens in culture. We believe who someone is based on how many people pay attention to them. This is the lie of image and influence management that we have become cultured and conditioned to keep up with, right? I want to say the Joneses, really the Kardashians at this point, right? keep up with the trends, what's happening, who's saying what. And it's this standard that we now measure our life by, but it's entirely shallow. Saul not only takes the glory from his son, he then attributes it to himself. And this practice is not really just isolated to Saul as an ancient Israelite king. We as people, we like to get a little glory ourselves.

37:17 We like to flaunt a little bit who we know, what we've done, where we've been, what business we're working on, what school we went to. People are like covering up if you have like a, unless it's UNM, okay, because you're like, I don't know, this is the only sweatshirt I have, right? I graduated from UNM, so I can say that, right? But we like a little bit when people notice us. We like a little bit being on the edge a little bit of people's attention. recognition is not the same as significance. Recognition is not the same as significance. When we do that, when we elevate our status as people, what our value is, to a place of what we bring to the table, what influence we have, how we are perceived by others, what we're really doing is we're devaluing God's view of us and we're ultimately devaluing God.

38:11 Here's what I mean by that. God is not waiting around in heaven for you to impress him. He's not standing around, oh, last week was tough. Last week was really tough. I'm just, hopefully, they just really knock it out of the park this week. Before time has begun, God has made up his mind about you. God has made up his mind about you. God has made up his mind about you. This is what Ephesians says. Ephesians 1, 7. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself. Which he purposed in himself. That he's decided before time has begun that he loves you. That he has a plan for your life.

39:06 So when we take that view that God has already decided and we kind of put it on the second shelf and we take what people say about us and we take what we can attain and what we can maximize and how much is in our bank account. We were telling God ultimately that his view of us is secondary.

39:29 This is the lie of image and influence management. And in a sense, we are rejecting God's approval of us. This is what Saul's doing. In this passage, here's more symptoms if you find yourself wondering if this is you. Number one, do you expect thank you for being obedient? Do you expect thank you for being obedient? Often, how this can show up in the life of a follower of Jesus is we wanna be recognized for the good things we do. We wanna be seen for the way we show up. Number two, do you feel the urge to defend yourself in your honor when it's questioned? Number three, when others get the glory for your hard work, are you bitter? Are you bitter? This is the symptoms of Saul in this text that he cannot help that somebody else is praised and he is not. It's a good thing that happened.

40:22 It's a good thing that God's enemies are defeated, but he wants to take it. See, this is why Jesus is constantly referring in his teachings to the secret life, to not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. and he exemplifies it perfectly in the gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 18, 11 through 14. He gives the story of a Pharisee at the front of a church, at the front of synagogue. It says, he stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, even as this tax collector. Look at all the good things I do. Look at the image I've attained. Look at the influence I have. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. and then there's the tax collector the the view shifts in the story to the back of the service standing afar off he would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast saying god be merciful to me a sinner i tell you this is jesus speaking 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. So when no one thanked you for the money you gave, when someone else got the promotion at your job for your hard work, when no one saw you help out that person, what is your response when it goes completely unseen? Are you more concerned with obedience or your image. See, when these things happen, we must pose the question to ourselves, what am I really in this for? What are my intentions? Because the moment we do something that we at first think is for the glory of God and that thought creeps into our head, well, no one's going to see it, right? Is it even worth doing if you don't post about it on your story, right? It is that thought that reveals the intentions of our hearts. And I think it's through

42:28 that process of being honest before God that we actually get away from being dependent on our image and our influence and more dependent on him. St. John of the Cross wrote about this in his book, The Dark Night of the Soul. And I don't agree with all the theology in the book. It's also very, very old, all right? It's like very old and it's hard to read, but there's a good part. It says this, There often comes a certain kind of secret pride when they come to have some degree of satisfaction with their works and with themselves. Then there comes to them a certain desire, which is somewhat vain and at times very vain, to speak of spiritual things in the presence of others and sometimes even to teach such things rather than to learn them. They condemn others in their heart when they see that they have not the kind of devotion which they themselves desire. And sometimes they even say this in words resembling the Pharisee who boasted of himself, praising God for his own good works and despising the sinner. The lie of influence and image management can be alluring, but do not fall for it. Those words from Jesus at the end of that passage, God, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. And he who humbles himself will be exalted. We have two choices. Our first choice is we can go our own way, do what we want, and let God humble us, right?

43:52 That's for us who are thick-headed in the room. I am in that group. Or we can go the way of understanding that God rewards what is done in the unseen, that those who are humble now will be exalted later. In our passage, Saul chooses the latter. He chooses to actually exalt himself. And the result is at this point in time, the kingdom unravels from him and everything he has worked for, he loses. Let's keep reading in 1 Samuel chapter 13. It says this in verse five. The Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen and people as the sand, which is on the seashore in a multitude. And they came up and encamped in Michmash to the east of Beth-Avon when the men of Israel saw that they were in danger for the people were distressed.

44:46 Then the people hid in caves and thickets and rocks and holes and in pits. Not much of an army that he has, right? And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. So everyone's leaving, nothing's working out. As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal and all the people followed him trembling. You have to give it to Saul. At least he's a little bit brave, okay? 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. So Saul said, bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me. And he offered the burnt offering. Now it happened as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering that Samuel came and Saul went out to meet him that he might greet him. If we back up in 1 Samuel chapter 10, go with me real fast to 1 Samuel chapter 10, verse eight.

45:42 Samuel gives instruction. He gives Saul a play-by-play. He says, okay, you're gonna go here, you're gonna do this, you're gonna go here, you're gonna go do this. And this is what he says. You shall go down before me to Gilgal, and surely I will come down to you to offer burnt sacrifices, burnt offerings, and make sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait till I come to you and show you what you should do. So Saul knows what he should do. He does not have short-term memory loss. He understands how to be obedient. But what does he do? He goes and makes the sacrifice. This is wrong for a couple of reasons. He's not a Levite. And more importantly, Samuel gave him specific instruction to wait for him. And it's interesting to me that he waits the full seven days and it's just like, okay, I just gotta do this thing, right?

46:34 He resists the prompting of God by how he responds with his life. But you have to ask, why does Saul do this? He doesn't have like a play-by-play monologue in Saul's head of why he is making the burnt offering. And there's a few things we could maybe conclude at. Number one, Saul had no framework for what a king was responsible for. My super smart friend, Luke Betzner, pointed out this thought that, yes, I have smart friends. I don't look like it, but I do, okay. He points out that at this time in history, pagan kings would do this all the time. Pagan kings would make the sacrifice themselves when they saw fit and that it was done to appease the gods so they could fight their battle. Saul, not having any example, just kind of looks at what's happening in culture and takes cues from there. And just instead of being obedient to God, he's obedient to culture. So that could be an option. Number two, Saul believed if he performed the ritual, God would do his part.

47:30 This is kind of a ritualistic way to view things. Instead of having relationship to God, instead of having this ongoing dynamic thing between him and the Lord, It's kind of just, I accomplish what I desire, and then God blesses it. There's something interesting to note. All throughout 1 Samuel, the times, I want you to go back another time, and highlight and pinpoint how many times Saul actually refers to God as the Lord versus as him referring it to Samuel, the Lord, your God. It's an interesting note. Even later on in chapter 15, when he's disobedient with the Amalekites, the kingdom is torn from him. Samuel rebukes him. And his response isn't even, hey, make me right before the Lord. Make my heart right before the Lord. He says, no, no, no. Make me right before my people. That's his first response. So it could be concluded that Saul had very much a ritual idea behind how God worked. Number three, Saul was prideful and believed himself above obedience.

48:30 He could have said, hey, I'm the king. I can do whatever I please. If Samuel is saying God has spoken, Saul knows the right thing to do, but in alignment with his other actions, it would reveal to be true that Saul believes himself to be better than being obedient. He's more concerned with outcomes than his obedience. Four, he wanted to encourage fleeing soldiers. God was with them. So everybody is just running away. Everyone's scared. Everyone doesn't know what to do. So maybe he's just trying to muster up enough gusto and muster up enough image that people will do what he wants. It does note that people were scattered from him. I think all four options are true at the same time. Sorry to let you down, right? You're like, what is it, right? I know you're sitting on the edge of your seat. I think all four options. I think he was prideful. I think he looked more to culture than he actually looked to being obedient to God.

49:24 I think he was more concerned with the ritual than relationship to God. This is, if you could summarize where Saul falls short, the lie of prioritizing opinion over obedience. Saul is taking opinions. He's taking what other people think. He's taking what other people do, not what he's been told by the Lord through extension of Samuel what to do. And instead he is being obedient to those opinions, not to God. In many ways, what Saul is doing is pushing against what God has commanded him to do. He knows better, and that's the curse sometimes of knowledge, that you know better and you decide not to do it anyway. Jesus, in describing following him, is specific. That the way to destruction, it's broad. There's a lot of opinion, there's a lot of views, there's a lot of different things.

50:20 But the way of the gospel, the way of following him is narrow. It's very specific. God's voice is specific. It's not confusing. It's not how you feel. it's specific it's truth in many ways you could view christian obedience like an orchestra here's what i mean if i was ever to play the game two truths and a lie one of my truths okay would be i played clarinet for two and a half years and i got first chair for a little bit okay so that's like seventh grade was a good year right and my favorite part about playing in the band was when we would do something called tuning up. We would all tune our instruments to one note. It's most likely A4, right? I had to look this up because I don't even know how to read sheet music anymore, but the noise it would make is all these different instruments were looking to one note, and this one note set the tone for the entire band. Didn't matter how much we practiced, didn't matter how good we think we were, it was when we tuned ourselves to this one note that determined if it was practice, if it was a concert, whatever it was, was going to sound good or not.

51:35 I saved the video because I love the way this sounds. So we're gonna play the video so you can hear it. someone's like barely hanging on there they're all like oh stop i gotta get on there it's beautiful it's all these different instruments strings brass woodwinds percussion not percussion percussion do nothing right but all these different instruments right and he's drumming the room like yeah i just show up and hit things that's how it works right but all these different instruments are aligning themselves to one true note what if during that practice that warm-up that tuning, somebody started taking cues from the audience. Somebody started playing a different note. What if during that practice, somebody decided, actually, I kind of want to do my own thing today. Kind of want to like, you know, mix it up a little bit, right? Just think about even tonight with our phenomenal worship team who crushed it. They needed to tune their instruments.

52:54 If they did not tune their instruments and make sure they're singing in the right key, it would sound what we like to call creative. That's aka, it would sound like garbage, all right? the tuning matters. And to show it to you, I'm gonna have Antoine come up here and we're gonna do this live time because this is the call for you and I as followers of Jesus that we tune the standard of our lives. We tune ourselves to what God expects, his truth. When we do that, we align ourselves to God's word. So it sounds, Cantuano, could you play that note for us? God's word, right? God's word, right? Play it again. Sing it.

53:45 Sing it the best you can. God's word, right? Play something else. Instagram comments. bad advice from your unsaved family members tick tock theology that's what that looks like thank you Antoine you're amazing I love you all right we have a standard we live by. We have something that when we gather together, when we sit under God's word, we're tuning up. We're taking our personal opinions. We're taking the backseat to what we think is best. And we align ourselves under God's word. That is what we're doing. And so as we do that, it's not based on what feels good in the moment. It's not based on how we are perceived. It's not based on anything outside of the narrow path of obedience to God's truth. But sadly, Saul goes a different way. Let's end in 1 Samuel chapter 13, verse 11.

54:57 Saul has not tuned his life to the reality of God. Instead, he has decided to do what he feels like. and Samuel said what have you done Saul said when I saw that the people were scattered from me and that you did not come within the days appointed and that the Philistines gathered together in Michmash then I said the Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal and will not have made supplication to the Lord therefore I felt compelled and offered a burnt offering and Samuel said to Saul you have done foolishly you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God which he commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart. And the Lord has commanded him to be commander over his people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.

55:52 This is the beginning of the end for Saul. After this, the kingdom unravels, his family unravels, and he ends up falling on his sword, dying for himself, a coward. See, in many ways, and the reality is, Saul is dead. We can't talk with him, we can't ask him, what are your five points on what you did wrong and how you would do it differently? This is all we have. But we as followers of Jesus, we do not follow a dead king, but a king that is alive. And our example is not found in some disobedient man who did it half right, but in the king of kings, Jesus. See, I wanna close with this tonight. Saul is the worst Jesus. And here's what I mean. Jesus is the better Saul. Jesus was perfectly obedient. Jesus is perfectly between God's people and himself.

56:49 Saul was a king of a nation. Jesus is king of kings. Saul was a self-interested ruler. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. Saul sacrificed others so that he may access his throne. Jesus sacrificed himself so that we may access his throne. The call for you and I is to follow this king, King Jesus. I wanna end in Luke chapter four and just read this to you. You can turn there if you're super fast. but lies when they take root destroy our lives and it's only when we measure those lies against the standard of god's word that we know the right path to walk down this is probably my favorite moment in luke's gospel it's when jesus begins his ministry he says this luke chapter 4 verse 18 he unrolls the scroll of Isaiah and this is what he says the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind and set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord you may tell yourself I'm an American.

58:13 I'm as free as I can be. You get asked if you're free this Friday, say I'm American. I'm free. Okay, I'm free. 250 years, let's go. Let's make it to 251. Okay, guys. You may tell yourself, I am not a slave to anything. But I have to tell you this. If God's word is not the measurement of your life, if God and who he is, his character, is not the standard by which you live by, you are enslaved to lies. And he wants to free you by Jesus. so let's close tonight we'll end in a chorus but let's stand if you're able and let's pray together and I want to pray against if we're believing the lie of self-reliance if we're believing the lie of image management if we're believing the lie of prioritizing opinions over obedience to God that he would correct our hearts and that he would convict us where we need to be convicted and comfort us where we need to be comforted let me pray for us Father we love you thank you for your grace and mercy thank you that you you lead us you call us that you give us the ability to choose you lord i pray over anybody in this room who has been believing lies who has been trusting the voice of the enemy that father they would trust your voice instead that in describing satan lord you say that he is the father of lies and he lies and he speaks his native tongue lord Lord I pray that we would be people as a church who would lock arms around your truth not political jargon not ideology but the reality of the gospel breaking out and changing our city