WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.700 --> 00:00:01.000 Our text 2 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:06.000 today, comes from first Samuel chapter 22. And David said to Abiathar, 3 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:07.900 I knew on that day 4 00:00:07.900 --> 00:00:09.600 when Doeg the Edomite was there 5 00:00:09.600 --> 00:00:14.200 that he would surely tell Saul. I have brought about the death of every 6 00:00:14.200 --> 00:00:16.000 person and your father's household. 7 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:17.500 Stay with me. 8 00:00:17.800 --> 00:00:19.800 Do not be afraid. For he 9 00:00:19.800 --> 00:00:21.900 who seeks my life, seeks, your life. 10 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:23.800 You are safe with me. 11 00:00:24.900 --> 00:00:26.000 This is our text. 12 00:00:28.300 --> 00:00:29.200 Poor Saul. 13 00:00:30.400 --> 00:00:35.700 It is Lonely at the top and it's even lonelier when those who are 14 00:00:35.700 --> 00:00:37.200 supposed to be following, you 15 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:38.900 don't trust you anymore. 16 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:44.900 I mean, when your own son is making covenants of lifelong commitment 17 00:00:44.900 --> 00:00:48.600 and fidelity with your greatest rival and threat. 18 00:00:49.400 --> 00:00:53.200 Well, then things are well past the not-so-good stage. 19 00:00:54.100 --> 00:00:59.300 At that point, the isolation and the loneliness crushing. 20 00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:07.600 Poor Saul. Abandoned by his son, and now flagrantly disobeyed by his most 21 00:01:07.600 --> 00:01:08.900 loyal fighting men. 22 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:14.200 You take your friends where you can find them of course, but when your 23 00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:20.700 best friend is Doeg the Edomite, you know, you are in serious trouble. 24 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:24.800 What detestable character 25 00:01:24.800 --> 00:01:29.300 that guy is. His 15 minutes of biblical fame 26 00:01:29.300 --> 00:01:35.400 go from a darkly ominous, passing mention when David connives some 27 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:40.800 support from the unwitting, Priests of Nob. To being the headline 28 00:01:40.800 --> 00:01:44.000 stealing terror of chapter 22. 29 00:01:45.300 --> 00:01:50.700 When Saul's Israelite men muster enough conviction to defy the Kings 30 00:01:50.700 --> 00:01:54.600 direct order and take a stand against slaughtering 31 00:01:54.600 --> 00:01:59.700 God's priest Doeg jumps in and does the job for Saul. 32 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:02.300 85. 33 00:02:03.700 --> 00:02:10.300 He slaughters 85 priests right there in Gibeah in the presence of 34 00:02:10.300 --> 00:02:11.100 Saul. 35 00:02:13.100 --> 00:02:18.700 Apparently, the moral conviction of Saul's soldiers had peaked at not 36 00:02:18.700 --> 00:02:23.600 doing the killing, but failed to reach the level of intervening to 37 00:02:23.600 --> 00:02:24.700 stop evil. 38 00:02:26.900 --> 00:02:29.100 But that's another discussion for another time. 39 00:02:30.500 --> 00:02:31.300 Right now. 40 00:02:31.600 --> 00:02:36.200 Doeg the beast from Edom, Doeg sucks 41 00:02:36.200 --> 00:02:40.000 all the moral air out of the entire chapter. 42 00:02:41.200 --> 00:02:45.500 After the bloodbath in Gibeah, the carnage continues, five miles down 43 00:02:45.500 --> 00:02:46.900 the road in Nob. 44 00:02:46.900 --> 00:02:52.500 The city of the priests where Doeg butchers every living thing. 45 00:02:54.500 --> 00:02:59.800 And then Doeg disappears. His 15 minutes of infamy finished 46 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:00.500 forever. 47 00:03:02.900 --> 00:03:08.300 Perhaps someone needs to provide us with an origin story for Doeg. 48 00:03:09.200 --> 00:03:15.300 I mean, if we just understood some of the horrific upbringing, he had. 49 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:16.900 With an alcoholic 50 00:03:16.900 --> 00:03:20.900 and abusive father, who continually criticize little Doeg. 51 00:03:21.400 --> 00:03:25.200 And if we had some inkling of the trouble, he had fitting in with the 52 00:03:25.200 --> 00:03:27.400 cool kids and the struggles 53 00:03:27.400 --> 00:03:29.200 he had interacting with women. 54 00:03:29.200 --> 00:03:33.700 Well, then we could begin to understand his complex character, and 55 00:03:33.700 --> 00:03:38.500 some might even begin to feel a little twinge of sympathy for Doeg. 56 00:03:39.400 --> 00:03:42.500 Could even have a title Bad Boy from Edom. 57 00:03:44.700 --> 00:03:48.700 But there's none of that to be found and for that matter, there's no 58 00:03:48.700 --> 00:03:51.600 moral commentary on his actions to be found here 59 00:03:51.600 --> 00:03:52.200 either. 60 00:03:52.300 --> 00:03:55.900 Just the horrible, bloody report. 61 00:03:57.300 --> 00:04:03.900 And no backstory or commentary can ever mitigate the stark evil of 62 00:04:03.900 --> 00:04:04.700 the account. 63 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:10.900 But it's not as if Doeg the Edomite is the only moral failure and yet 64 00:04:10.900 --> 00:04:14.100 another nasty chapter of 1st Samuel. 65 00:04:15.200 --> 00:04:16.500 Whose idea was this? 66 00:04:17.899 --> 00:04:22.700 After all Saul is the one who is meant to be the center of our critical 67 00:04:22.700 --> 00:04:23.500 attention. 68 00:04:23.700 --> 00:04:29.500 We have watched the unraveling of Saul for 14 chapters now and it all 69 00:04:29.500 --> 00:04:34.800 started so well. With this self-deprecating silence about his calling 70 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:40.000 to the king and even an endearing attempt to avoid being crowned, 71 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.700 they're hiding among the baggage but that humility and that reluctance 72 00:04:45.100 --> 00:04:45.800 are gone 73 00:04:45.800 --> 00:04:47.500 now. Saul has 74 00:04:47.700 --> 00:04:51.300 squandered, all the gifts and talents 75 00:04:51.500 --> 00:04:57.800 God had given. His downward spiral is accelerating at a stunning rate 76 00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:05.600 and syncing to breathtaking depths. Saul defies God and looks for help 77 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:08.800 from the dregs of humanity like Doeg. 78 00:05:09.700 --> 00:05:15.200 We know exactly where Saul is headed even before we get to the bitter 79 00:05:15.200 --> 00:05:16.300 end of the book. 80 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:20.600 Poor Saul, what a mess. 81 00:05:22.400 --> 00:05:26.500 But even David's rising star is dinged 82 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:32.400 and tarnished in this bloody chapter. But David's, good looks quick 83 00:05:32.400 --> 00:05:36.100 wit, eager disposition and boundless resourcefulness. 84 00:05:36.300 --> 00:05:38.800 Well, David looks like the hero. 85 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:42.500 But now we're forced to reconsider. 86 00:05:43.300 --> 00:05:47.800 It was after all David's quick wit and smooth-talking, that had 87 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:54.800 implicated Ahimelech in the first place. David decided to drag all 88 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:57.500 of Nob into his feud with Saul. 89 00:05:58.100 --> 00:05:59.800 He made the choice for 90 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:03.300 them and left them to face the consequences. 91 00:06:04.700 --> 00:06:08.000 Here we get an inkling of the steep price to be 92 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:13.500 paid for David's impulsiveness, and clever resourcefulness. Traits, 93 00:06:13.500 --> 00:06:20.400 that bud here, but reach full bloom with Uriah and his widowed bride. 94 00:06:22.500 --> 00:06:27.000 Stung with remorse in our account today, David extends, comfort and 95 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:30.100 assurance, to, Nob's one, sole survivor. 96 00:06:31.100 --> 00:06:32.100 Stay with me. 97 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:34.600 You're safe with me. 98 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:38.800 At last, a glimmer of gospel. 99 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:42.200 But it doesn't, hold up. 100 00:06:43.400 --> 00:06:47.600 I mean, how much security can this sentiment provide when it is 101 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:51.500 extended by the man who just orchestrated the violent death of your 102 00:06:51.500 --> 00:06:52.700 entire family? 103 00:06:53.700 --> 00:06:59.700 David promises to save Abiathar from Saul, but who's going to save 104 00:06:59.700 --> 00:07:02.200 Abiathar from David? 105 00:07:04.200 --> 00:07:09.800 And there seems to be no solution to the biggest problem of all who's 106 00:07:09.800 --> 00:07:12.900 going to save David from David? 107 00:07:15.100 --> 00:07:18.800 Saul may have been hunting David with a ruthless vendetta, but 108 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:24.200 David's worst enemy was clearly much closer to home than his Royal 109 00:07:24.200 --> 00:07:25.200 father-in-law. 110 00:07:27.800 --> 00:07:31.800 When you're honest, you know, the same is true for you. 111 00:07:33.300 --> 00:07:39.600 Your own worst enemy is always your own stupid self. 112 00:07:41.300 --> 00:07:46.400 You craft the perfect strategy to get done what needs to be done and 113 00:07:46.400 --> 00:07:52.500 then watch it fall apart as you yield to the things you should not do, 114 00:07:52.500 --> 00:07:54.700 but would much rather do. 115 00:07:55.900 --> 00:07:58.800 Words, slip out and wound 116 00:07:59.100 --> 00:08:02.500 the one you love and they can't be unsaid. 117 00:08:03.900 --> 00:08:07.700 Fresh resolve to shun a habits loses 118 00:08:07.700 --> 00:08:12.200 its steam. New beginnings become old routines. 119 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:18.100 Determination to conquer sin is undone as sin finds a new way in. 120 00:08:19.200 --> 00:08:22.900 You never managed to pull off the plan. 121 00:08:23.700 --> 00:08:28.600 You never conquer the enemy because the enemy is you. 122 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:36.400 Saul, Doeg, Abiathar and David are all in the same boat. 123 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:44.300 This long sad story from first Samuel is the same old long sad story. 124 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:51.700 It is your long sad story. Left to himself, trusting his own instincts 125 00:08:51.700 --> 00:08:54.700 following his own lights and serving his own purposes. 126 00:08:54.800 --> 00:08:59.800 Every single person always pulls hell down on 127 00:09:00.100 --> 00:09:00.800 himelf. 128 00:09:02.200 --> 00:09:06.500 Like Saul, Doeg, and David, you do it to yourself. 129 00:09:07.400 --> 00:09:10.500 You try to preserve life and you lose it. 130 00:09:10.500 --> 00:09:14.100 You try to hang on to security and it slips away. 131 00:09:14.300 --> 00:09:17.800 You plot, your triumphs and watch them crumble into sad 132 00:09:17.800 --> 00:09:20.100 defeat. You operate with a death 133 00:09:20.100 --> 00:09:21.300 wish. You seek 134 00:09:21.300 --> 00:09:22.400 the very things 135 00:09:22.400 --> 00:09:26.800 God has told, you are going to kill you and you can't help yourself. 136 00:09:28.200 --> 00:09:29.200 You can't. 137 00:09:31.500 --> 00:09:34.400 Who will save you from yourself? 138 00:09:36.800 --> 00:09:44.000 Saul the morose megalomaniac, Doeg the immoral monster, David the 139 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:45.500 impulsive conniver. 140 00:09:46.200 --> 00:09:47.700 Abiathar the forlorn 141 00:09:47.700 --> 00:09:50.400 survivor are all the same. 142 00:09:51.400 --> 00:09:55.500 Every story is the same, sad story of human failure. 143 00:09:56.400 --> 00:10:00.800 No character in your sad story can never save you. 144 00:10:03.100 --> 00:10:05.800 The sad story of humanity makes painfully clear 145 00:10:05.800 --> 00:10:12.600 what we all know in our hearts and in our guts, we are all doomed. 146 00:10:13.700 --> 00:10:16.700 Death, and hell wait for us all. 147 00:10:18.300 --> 00:10:24.100 Doeg is not the answer. David is not the answer. 148 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:28.700 No, man is the answer to man's doom. 149 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:35.800 Perhaps we should give up the search for Christ figures in stories 150 00:10:35.800 --> 00:10:36.600 about failed 151 00:10:36.600 --> 00:10:40.700 humans, it is always a futile search. 152 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:45.200 The only one who can save man from himself. 153 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:48.100 The only one who can save you from yourself. 154 00:10:48.800 --> 00:10:51.300 Must come from outside the story. 155 00:10:56.900 --> 00:10:57.500 And that's 156 00:10:57.500 --> 00:10:58.300 the gospel. 157 00:10:58.900 --> 00:11:00.900 That is so elusive. 158 00:11:01.100 --> 00:11:04.600 So non-existent in this long sad story. 159 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:08.000 This is after all God's story. 160 00:11:08.500 --> 00:11:14.000 While man makes a mess of the story at every turn while you make a 161 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:15.900 mess of it at every turn. 162 00:11:16.800 --> 00:11:22.700 God, nevertheless directs, his story to his purpose and to his 163 00:11:22.700 --> 00:11:23.600 conclusion. 164 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:32.000 And it ends not with a redeemed, Doeg or a better Saul or even a new 165 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:35.700 David as the hero who arrives to save. 166 00:11:35.800 --> 00:11:42.600 No, it ends with God himself who comes and saves. Who intervenes and 167 00:11:42.600 --> 00:11:46.100 redeems and remakes a new creation, 168 00:11:47.400 --> 00:11:48.500 a new, you. 169 00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:52.400 Who will save you from yourself? 170 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:56.200 God himself will do that. 171 00:11:56.900 --> 00:11:59.800 God himself has done that. 172 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.400 Christ Jesus has done that. 173 00:12:05.300 --> 00:12:11.800 He is the one and only unparalleled other hero of the story. 174 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:19.600 And in and through his hero Christ Jesus, God himself will continue 175 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:21.600 to guide his story. 176 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:28.000 Your story all the way through to its glorious conclusion. 177 00:12:29.500 --> 00:12:30.000 Amen. 178 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:32.700 We stand for The Kyrie.