Have you ever wanted to get the prize and the recognition? Emptying the dishwasher
- Nahash comes up and fights jabesh-gilead. Immediately they make concessions. Nahash- I’ll take your right eyes. Jabesh says 7 days to see if we can fight. People find out and they weep.
- Saul was in his field, wonders why the people are weeping. They tell him and he gets super mad. He cuts up a yoke of oxen and says anyone who doesn’t fight is going to get this treatment. The people come out as one even tho they are afraid. There is 300k of them. They tell them they are going to be saved tomorrow, and they are glad. Jabesh submits to Saul as king. Saul puts them in 3 companies. They rout the ammonites until mid afternoon. Then the people remember that some people said Saul couldn’t save them, lets kill those dudes. But Saul is the bigger man. He says, salvation is here. Lets renew the kingdom. The people finally submit to Saul and then they party.
- This is a great story. Great parts of the story
- Killing until the heat of the day. Salvation comes upon Israel! Death- mayhem
- Saul makes it happen, the people make it happen! Go to War- ammonites lose. Israel wins
- At the end- some people want to go back and kill the haters who didn’t support Saul
- Saul sets them straight “The Lord Worked Salvation in Israel”
Saul knew it was God’s power- his purpose- it was HIM that did it. Not Saul. Not the People. Only God Such a great leader to give the glory to God and not himself. - Who do you glorify for your wins? You, or God? “God Glorifying Death Machine”
- When people look at your life, are you a person that gives God glory, or yourself. Who did what? Do you take all the credit, or do you give God all the credit?
- 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
- Because that’s what we’re supposed to be doing “proclaim the praises of Him”
- In this participation trophy, everyone is a winner society in which we live, people so desperately want to get the glory- when the goal is for GOD to be glorified- not US. Make HIM BIG us small
- When you become a Christian- you relinquish any rights you may have to recognition or glory
- Your job is now to give God glory- to help others praise HIS name. If you have demands, u wrong
- 1 Chronicles 16:28-29 Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Give to the Lord glory and strength. 29 Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
- These are not the only ways to give God glory- but from this story- we have a good start
- How to give God glory
- Salvation brings glory to him
- 12 Then the people said to Samuel, “Who ishe who said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men, that we may put them to death.” 13 But Saul said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has accomplished salvation in Israel.”
- This story of Saul with Israel is a pre-cursor to King Jesus- who will save Israel from their sins
- Saul here is already displaying the heart of God- that salvation is possible only through him
- God was able to save Israel from the Accuser- Nahash- the serpent- the one who was trying to bargain with Jabesh “Give me your eye and I will not destroy you”
- The Bible says the wages of sin is death- that deals with the Devil bring death
- But Jabesh did not submit to Nahash. They wanted to- but they resisted James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
God delivers Jabesh and the Ammonites are destroyed, only by the grace of God- had it not been for God, they would have become slaves to Nahash (no power w/o eye) but God saved!
- The heart of some of these guys after the battle was to destroy the haters- but Saul says No- God saved us, we will save others- Its only right. Salvation has come! Give God the Glory!
- That gives God the Glory because it shows the nature and Character of God- Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
- What does it mean to you
- You should be psa 96:3 Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.
- If you are a Christian, when you forgive and love others and share salvation with others, you give God glory. It shows his nature. It draws people to him. It shows the heart of God
- Luke 17 lays out a story of 10 lepers that were healed by Jesus- only one came back to give thanks, but here’s what happened in his life- Luke 17:15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God,
- That’s why bringing people salvation is so important- its not that their life is changed- its that God gets more glory! It makes God look better- it grows the kingdom. More people to praise
- You should be a conduit of God’s grace. You should be administering the grace of God like Saul- to bring more people to God- salvation found in God. God does it!
- Firefighters don’t get any recognition- the fire department does. Levies get passed- because they save people. Low people do the work- the higher ups (department- gets the glory)
- Jesus told his disciples to forgive- that we would be forgiven- that brings God glory because those in a forgiven state should be glorifying God with their lives.
2.Recognize its all him
- V 13 “for today the Lordhas accomplished salvation in Israel.”
- In this, Saul is describing to the people that it was in fact the LORD that accomplished everything in Israel. It wasn’t Israel at all.
- The people wanted to give Saul the credit- They crowned him king! They were ecstatic that they had been saved- but Saul wasn’t having it- he wanted God to get the credit- not him.
- Psalm 95:5 The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land.
- Even that they were going down to Gilgal after this war- shows the heart of Saul- if they didn’t go there- they would have sat around and patted themselves on their spiritual backs praising themselves for What they had done- but NO they wanted God to get it.
- This is a very hard concept for people to grasp, because in their minds, it is them that did it, that no one else had any involvement in it
- Rom 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen
- Few weeks ago- meeting guy in Airport- give thanks to God- you didn’t give yourself your brain
- John 3:27 John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.
- What does it mean to you-
- Are you living with a constant awareness of who gave you what in your life and to whom credit is due?
- Its very easy to lose sight of this- but complete dependence on God in everything, helps.
- 1 Corinthians 10:26 for “the earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness.”
- This is why the reading of scripture is so important- it keeps you grounded
- James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
- You get a job? Relationship? Physical attributes? Knowledge, character?
- The only good things in me are from God- without him, vile sinner in need of savior
- 1 Corinthians 4:7 For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
- Colossians 1:17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
- You must make him bigger Galatians 6:3 New King James Version (NKJV)
- Gal 6:3 For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
3.You must worship
- V15 There they made sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
- They get done with battle- and they end up down at worship service. They went to Gilgal
- When you see God move, it should bring you to worship him- it should bring you to praise him
- Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
- This is why I wonder if people who don’t worship have been saved? I people who come in at the preaching time, so they don’t have to sit through the song time- the songs aren’t for you!
- Are you thankful? I call the banker who loaned us the money for this building and thank them
- Isaiah 12:5 Sing to the Lord, For He has done excellent things; This is known in all the earth.
- What does it mean to you?
- God has won many battles for you in your life- and you should praise him for it!
- Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
- Your life should be a life of worship. Yes you should do it at home- but when you do it together, it pleases the heart of God- it blesses him- it brings him Glory
- Ephesians 5:19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
- When we lift up his name- when we praise him individually and collectively it glorifies him because it shows a lost and dying world that something is bigger than them.
- Acts 16:25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
