Outline Samuel’s mourning David’s anointing Saul’s demon Introduction The overarching truth that we can write over this next chapter is, ‘God’s ways are not our ways.’ At several points we find ourselves confronted with a God who does things very differently to us. We come to the chapter of David’s anointing. We have been drawing out the end of Saul’s reign and finally come to the one God promised to choose. We will look at the three main characters and how God works in their lives, at Samuel’s mourning; David’s anointing and Saul’s demon.

Outline Psychology of pride Remedy of pride Introduction When I say, ‘Be holy!’ when you seek to apply that, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Paul has just told us to be holy, to be a living sacrifice giving our whole selves to God. In the rest of this section he moves on to tell us the specifics of what that looks like. What is the first thing Paul talks about? This question is very helpful for us to see what Paul prioritises. Paul is moving into a new section where he talks about our relationships to one another in the church. The first application of holiness for Paul is body life and serving one another with our gifts, that is what comes next in 3-13; then he talks about relating to persecution, the authorities, etc. Already we are taught several things. That holiness is not something done in a cave, it is not the journey of the lonely traveller. Also that the first place we should be thinking about being holy is in holy service to one another. It helps us define spiritual worship not in terms of existential experiences but in loving connection and selfless service. However, before Paul talks about serving one another there is a massive obstacle that needs to be overcome first, pride. 12:3, ‘For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.’ So here is the chain of Paul’s thought. ‘I want you to be holy; I want you to do this by serving one another; but this can only be done if you are humble.’ And so...

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Outline Definition of impassibility Apparatus of impassibility Application of impassibility Introduction As a Christian I have had to undergo some continental shifts in my thinking about God. From an absence of belief in God to faith upon conversion; from a anthropocentric God to a self-defining God in leaving the Charismatic Church; from a small and reactionary God to a Sovereign God in coming to understand the doctrines of the Reformation. The last major shift has come in recognising the incomprehensible God, the Creator–creature distinction, and the abyss that really exists between God and ourselves. Last week we began looking at 1 Sam 15 and the events of Saul having the kingdom removed from him and it being given to David. But in the midst of that chapter we passed over some very important statements about God. On the one hand we were told that God regretted making Saul king, v11, 35; yet on the other hand we are told that God is not like a man that He should have regrets, v29. So which is it? This is the question we want to confront, and in confronting it dig into some of the deepest waters we can find about our God. We want to talk about what is traditionally called the impassibility of God. There are a number of verses in the bible that confront us with this issue. Gen. 6:6, ‘And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.’ Numbers 23:19, ‘God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfil it?’ Jonah 3:10, ‘When God saw what they did, how...

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Outline Enemies of the renewed mind Uses of the renewed mind Introduction Spiritual warfare is primarily a battle for the mind. In preaching the gospel you are seeking to bring the light of the Gospel to darkened minds, and in seeking to grow spiritually we are told here by Paul that this too is done through the mind being renewed. As Paul enters into this new section about living out the gospel he starts in the place of importance, by talking about the importance of the mind. Foundational to all the Christian living and the worship we seek to give through being a living sacrifice, it all has to begin with a mind that is renewed. To paraphrase what Paul is saying, ‘If you want to be a living sacrifice and offering constant and acceptable worship, you must not be squeezed into the mould of the world, but be transformed by a mind that is renewed by God’s truth not the lies of this age and so are able to discover God’s will in order to do it.’ As we consider this verse we want to look at two things, our present day enemies of a renewed mind, and what uses the renewed mind has.

Outline Saul’s obedience Saul’s rejection Saul’s repentance Introduction Let me begin with a question. Why does chapter 14 end with a summary of Saul’s reign and then the story of Saul continue? If you were a literary critic this sort of thing would really get on your nerves, what is the purpose in this structure? Because Saul’s story has come to an end and the focus is moving off from him to David. Saul is no longer the central character to the plot but merely background for the rise of David. This chapter this comes in order to show the moment when Saul’s drives the last nail in the coffin. This is all about Saul’s rejection which paves the way for David. We will look then at Saul’s obedience in v1-9; Saul’s rejection in 10-23; and his repentance in 24-35. Once again our topic is Saul’s false religion and God’s rejection of it. When we think of bad people we often think of criminals and not religious people. The trouble is when the bible thinks of bad people, it is often the case that the worst are religious. It was the Pharisees who killed Christ. Think on the sermon on the Mount, we see the sermon talks about two ways, two fruit trees, and two foundations that we build on. as you go back through the sermon you will notice that it is not a contrast between criminals and religious people but two different types of religious people that are contrasted. Two types of people who pray, fast, give to the poor and obey the ten commandments, the difference lies in those who do it right and those who practice false religion. Saul falls into this second category, and we will note his false religious obedience and repentance.

Outline Paul’s appeal God’s mercies Our worship Introduction Why and how should we be holy? That is the question we are now concerning ourselves with as we reach the second part of Romans. The first part of Romans was ‘How does God save?’; now we are looking at how we are to live now that we are saved. If you can remember back to our first message on Romans we compared Paul’s letter to a giant meaty sandwich. The two slices of bread being the intro of 1:1-15, and the conclusion of the letter in chapter 16, and sandwiched in between was the meaty message of the gospel. As we took a step closer to our giant sandwich we saw that there were two major parts to it, chapters 1-11 made up the doctrinal part of the letter which focused on the gospel, and 12-15 made up the practical part which focused on how Christians must now live that they are saved. As we took another step closer to our Guinness world record breaking sandwich we saw that there were five slightly smaller sections to this meaty filling. The central theme of Paul’s letter to the Romans is the ‘gospel of God’ introduced in the very first verse. And so these 5 sections all unpack aspects of this gospel. 1:18-3:20 was The Necessity of the Gospel, here we looked at the bad news that all are sinners and need God to save us for we cannot save ourselves. In 3:21-4:25 we looked at The Provision of the Gospel, here we saw how God saves by grace through faith, through Christ as our propitiation. In 5-8 we looked at The Benefits of the Gospel, here we saw our assurance and how we are saved to the uttermost. And we saw Paul...

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Outline Genuine faith Religious faith Introduction These last few chapters have been summarising the reign of Saul. If we merely read the last verses of this chapter v47-52, you could imagine an historian speaking of the golden era of Saul’s reign, how he fought enemies on every side, how he fought valiantly and hard. But the purpose of the biblical narrative is not merely to report on political successes but to interpret the various actions in light of covenant faithfulness. The last event we looked at was chapter 13 where Jonathan again overcame a Philistine garrison but the great advantage was lost by Saul’s disobedience and lack of faith. As we look at another one of Saul’s ‘victories’ we will soon see that it was not due to him that there was success. This chapter shows God giving the victory but gives us two very different types of religion and faith. On the one hand we have the genuine faith of Jonathan which is full of action and confidence, but on the other we see Saul apathetic, indecisive and covered in a veneer of religion. Our chapter begins with movers and sitters. V1-2, ‘One day Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who carried his armour, “Come, let us go over to the Philistine garrison on the other side.” But he did not tell his father. 2 Saul was staying in the outskirts of Gibeah in the pomegranate cave at Migron. The people who were with him were about six hundred men.’ The Philistines are in the dominant position, they have removed the blacksmiths of the land, the majority of Israel’s armies that had been assembled have returned home and only 600 are remaining with Saul in Gibeah. The king should have been busy about his business...

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Outline God as our good God makes other things good Some other goods we have in God God our good in Christ Introduction When all is being shaken you need something unshakeable to hold on to to keep you from falling apart; when all things temporary are slipping away you need an eternal anchor. Psalm 16 is a psalm of David where his world is crumbling, things are going as badly as they can go and yet he finds his good and comfort in the unshakeable God. David in this psalm is a refugee fleeing from Saul. Now when we think of refugees the picture we have in our minds is one of poverty, filth, devastation, rape, women and children, refugee camps where medicine is in short supply, cholera and other epidemics break out, and the wars that have caused this large exodus of people. Refugees are people to pity, people who have nothing, they have no homeland, no resources, no hope, no possessions, they are displaced among strangers and a strain on good will. Their lives are marked by survival, and not certainty, depression and not joy, however this is not David’s experience when he is a refugee. How do we know David is a refugee? There are certain clues in the text. Firstly, his prayer for protection in v1 indicates a time when he would have been in danger, most likely when fleeing from Absalom or Saul. The reference to not worshipping idols in v4 remind us of some of the things that were said to David when he was fleeing from Saul around the time he entered Philistia for just over a year, after he spared Saul in his sleep, listen to his words, 1 Samuel 26:17-20 (ESV) Saul recognised David’s voice and said, “Is this your...

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Thanks to Tim Stanton for preaching this morning; he was back home during his Christmas break from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he is currently earning a Master of Divinity. Outline These four verses command us to rejoice at the reign of Yahweh in light of three realities. We should rejoice at the judgement of Yahweh because His kingdom is eternal in its duration, universal in its scope, and righteous in its administration. We will look at the eternality of its duration in verse 10. The universality of its scope in verses 11 and 12. And the righteousness of its administration in verse 13. Introduction The Story of the Marathon: In the year 490BC, the Greek army won the first of the three Greco-Persian wars on the plain of Marathon. The Greek soldier Philippides, who was the courier between the magistrates of Athens and the battlefield, was commanded to tell Athenian magistrates of the recent victory. After fighting all day, Philippides ran the entire 42 kilometre journey from Marathon to Athens before the sun had set. The distance that he ran to proclaim this victory has been the standard through the ages as the limit of how far the human body can handle running; it is the foundation for today’s Olympic marathon. On the verge of exhaustion, as he was gasping for air and Philippides said: “Chairete Ninekomen” “Rejoice; We have conquered!” Before falling down dead. These words are remarkably similar to the words of our psalmist today, “Say among the nations “the LORD reigns!” . . . let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice.” But we do not usually understand the reign of Yahweh as something to be excited about. When I say to you, out of the blue, the judgement of...

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Thanks to Tim Stanton for preaching this morning; he was back home during his Christmas break from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he is currently earning a Master of Divinity. Outline The Need of the Light The Promise of the Light The Victory of the Light Introduction In the movie the Lord of the Rings, Gandalf instructs Aragorn before the siege of Helms deep, “Look for my coming on the dawn of the fifth day. At dawn, look to the east.” Then in the midst of the battle for Helms Deep the soldiers have come to the last of their strength and orcs have almost finished breaking the door to the keep. The city is all but destroyed and its leaders are tempted to give into despair. Then, in the midst of all this darkness, Aragorn remembers the words of Gandalf and as he looks up—there is Gandalf with the riders of Rohan shining in a blaze of light. And as the Rohirim charge the soldiers regain their courage as the see the light of Gandalf shining in the darkness. The ideas of light and salvation are inextricably linked in our thinking. Even secular counsellors instruct those struggling with grief or depression to look for the light at the end of the tunnel. The human capacity for hope is enormous. We are hard-wired for a light at the end of the tunnel. We are wired for hope. The labourer hopes for a promotion. The child looks forward to his high school years. We are adept at producing lights to get us out of the darkness of whatever tunnel we find ourselves in. But our tendency to hope can also blindside us. Think of the serfs prior to the Russian revolution who were sold a hope of...

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