Ephesians overview – 3:14-19, Pauls prayer (inner man: fear of the Lord; the human spirit), part 11.

Sunday March 28, 2020

 

Saul did not fear the Lord. He rather feared the opinion of the people.

 

1SA 13:8-14

Now he waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattering from him. 9 So Saul said, "Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings." And he offered the burnt offering. 10 And it came about as soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, that behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him and to greet him. 11 But Samuel said, "What have you done?" And Saul said, "Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, 12 therefore I said, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the Lord.' So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering." 13 And Samuel said to Saul, "You have acted 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. 14 But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you."

 

Saul didn’t care about the favor of the Lord other than he thought it would bring him victory and therefore favor among the people. Like so many with the mind of a politician, he wanted to be known as the great man, the man of the hour, the one to be admired, the only one that the people needed.

 

1SA 15:10-12

Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, 11 "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not carried out My commands." And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the Lord all night. 12 And Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul; and it was told Samuel, saying, "Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, then turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal."

 

1SA 15:20-22

Then Saul said to Samuel, "I did obey the voice of the Lord, and went on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal." 22 And Samuel said,

 

"Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

As in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,

And to heed than the fat of rams.

 

“Though the electorate had expected Richard Nixon to lead congress in curtailing the Great Society, the thirty-seventh president ended up expanding it.” [Amity Shlaes] He was a republican after all. He ended the convertibility of the dollar to gold, imposed wage and price controls, and imposed a surcharge on imported goods. This was called the Camp David agenda. He did the same thing that Juan Peron did in Argentina and so many others have done, stimulate the economy just before an election, even though knowing that in the longer run it would invariably hurt the economy very much.  

 

David had the fear of the Lord. And though a sinner, he consistently repented and set his heart right before God. Why? He believed and loved God. 

 

1SA 16:6-7

Then it came about when they entered, that he looked at Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed is before Him." 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

 

When David confidently faced the great Philistine, it was in the Lord’s name, not his own.

 

1SA 17:46-47

This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hands."

 

PRO 1:7

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

 

The believer is to fear the Lord, as in respect, reverence, awe, and cautious walking (living).

 

PSA 111:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;

A good understanding have all those who do His commandments;

 

PSA 112:1

Praise the Lord!

How blessed is the man who fears the Lord,

Who greatly delights in His commandments.

 

Fear of God is not only an Old Testament way.

 

2CO 5:11

Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.

 

2CO 7:1

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

 

1PE 2:13-17

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. 15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. 16 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. 17 Honor all men; love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.