In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith reflects on the lamentation of David over the death of Saul. He emphasizes the beauty and might of Israel that has been lost. Pastor Chuck also mentions the city of Gath, where David found refuge, and warns against pride. The sermon then transitions to a lecture by Dr. David Menton, who disproves Darwinian evolution and discusses the importance of defending oneself and friends from bad science. The sermon concludes with a reflection on the violence and lack of progress in society, contrasting it with the anointing of David as king by God.

Oh, let the Son of God enfold you With His Spirit and His love Let Him fill your heart and satisfy your soul Oh, let Him have the things that hold you And His Spirit like a dove Will descend upon your life and make you whole Welcome to The Word for Today The broadcast ministry of Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California Pastor Chuck is currently leading us on a verse-by-verse venture through the entire Bible And on today's edition of The Word for Today We find David lamenting over the death of Saul As we pick up in 2 Samuel 1, verse 19 And now, with today's message, here's Pastor Chuck Smith But here's the lamentation, the beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places How are thy mighty fallen? Tell it not in Gath, which of course was one of the major Philistine cities The city where David actually found refuge Don't let them know in Gath that it's happened Of course, they already knew they had carried Saul's head through Gath They took his head off and carried it through all the Philistine cities So that they could rejoice over their victory Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon You see, when they would come back victorious from war Then the ladies would all come out And they'd have great celebrations, dances, and jubilation over their victories You remember, when Saul would come through the villages Having come from the victories in war The ladies would come out with tambourines and they would dance And they would sing, Saul has killed his thousands David didn't want the Philistines to have this kind of a celebration Because the people of God had fallen to the Philistines So don't publish it in the streets of Ashkelon Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph And then to the mountain of Gilboa where Saul fell Let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you Nor fields of offerings, for there the shield of the mighty Is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul As though he had not been anointed with oil From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty The bow of Jonathan turned not back, Jonathan an archer And from the sword of Saul it returned not empty Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives And in their death they were not divided Joined together in life, joined together in death Father and son, they were swifter than eagles They were stronger than lions and they were a powerful pair They had been a nemesis to the Philistines for many years Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul Who clothed you in scarlet and with other delights Who put ornaments of gold upon your apparel O how are the mighty fallen in the midst of battle O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan Very pleasant hast thou been unto me Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women For the third time within the lamentation How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished So, the mighty have fallen Came to pass after this that David inquired of the Lord Now, you remember we have pointed out that David's experience in the land of the Philistines Was an experience of backsliding David did some pretty raunchy things He's still not out of the woods David is not a pure man, David is not an innocent man In fact, David is a pretty guilty man in many areas So much so, that when David desired to build a house for God God said, sorry David, I can't allow you to build a house for me You're too raunchy a character You've got too much blood on your hands You're a guilty man, David I just can't have you building a house for me Your son Solomon, a man of peace, he can build a house for me But it would be just too inconsistent for you to build a house for me So David was not allowed the privilege of building a house for God Because of his background And now, we pointed out that when he went down to the land of the Philistines He had not inquired of the Lord He wasn't seeking the guidance or the counsel of God While in the land of the Philistines There's no mention of his seeking the counsel of God He just joins with Achish to go fight against Israel He didn't seek the Lord of whether or not he should do it It was not until he came back to Ziglag And found that he had been wiped out His family, his wives and his possessions had been ripped off That he began to seek the Lord again Tragedy brought him back to seeking God Unfortunate, isn't it, that so many times it takes tragedy to bring us back You know, we sort of go our own willful way We sort of leave God out of it We sort of strike out on our own and say Well, okay God, you know, I know how to do it now And you can, you know, just thanks for your help But, you know, I can make it from here And, you know, we get in a real mess And then we say, oh God, why did you allow me to get in this mess, you know Well, isn't it interesting how we like to blame God For everything that's gone wrong When we've really told God, leave me alone and lay off And when the mess comes, we say God, why did you, you know, put me in this mess But David is now seeking the Lord again He inquired of the Lord saying Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah? He was in the Philistine city of Ziglag Shall I go back to the cities of Judah? And the Lord said unto him Go back David said Where shall I go? Good He's learning Not only do you just get the word to go Where shall I go? The Lord said Hebron So David went up to Hebron with his two wives Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess And Abigail, Nabal's wife, the Carmelite And his men that were with him Did David bring up every man with his household And they dwelt in the cities of Hebron And the men of Judah came And there they anointed David king over the house of Judah And they told David saying that the men of Jabesh-Gilead Were the ones who had buried Saul You remember the Philistines beheaded Saul And then they hung his body And those of Jonathan on the wall There in Beth-shean The men of Jabesh-Gilead from across the Jordan river When they heard of the desecration of their bodies They came all night and they got the bodies And took them back to Jabesh-Gilead where they cremated them And then they buried the ashes, the remains And so it's told David that the men of Jabesh-Gilead Did this heroic action In saving the bodies of Saul and Jonathan From further desecration And so David sent messengers Unto the men of Jabesh-Gilead And said unto them Blessed are you of the Lord For you have showed this kindness unto your Lord Even unto Saul And you have buried him And now the Lord show kindness and truth unto you And I also will requit you this kindness Because you have done this thing Therefore now let your hands be strengthened Be valiant for your master Saul is dead And also the house of Judah Has anointed me to be king over them So while he is in Hebron A city of Judah The men of Judah came They anointed David king You remember that David had been anointed when he was a child Samuel was sent to the house of Jesse To anoint one of his sons to be the king When God rejected Saul from being king over the Israel As a result of Saul's rebellion against God Refusing to obey God's orders God said that to Samuel Go and anoint one of the sons of Jesse Jesse brought in his seven sons And he said don't you have any others Oh there's just one he's just a kid He's out in the field watching the sheep Call him in So he went over and whistled And David came running in And little sweaty kid from watching the sheep You know and the Lord said that's the one And Samuel poured the oil over David's head And he was anointed the king But now the people are recognizing What God has done It's interesting how that often times The people are way behind God God has done something years in advance And now the people are finally recognizing God's anointing upon David And they anoint him king When David sends the message to Jabesh Gilead He points out He says hey you've done a good job Be valiant be strong I recognize what you've done I requit it to you And incidentally Judah has anointed me king It was more or less incidentally They've anointed me king Would you be interested in my reigning over you also However Abner Who was The general Of Saul's army Who Escaped from the hand of the Philistines Now if Abner had been doing his job He was the chief bodyguard of Saul You see he should have been around Saul When Saul was in trouble And he did escape from the Philistines Which means that he was beating a pretty hasty retreat From the battle But he was captain of Saul's host And he took one of the sons of Saul Ish-basheth And he brought him To Mahaneim Which is on the other side of the Jordan River In the area of Jabesh Gilead And there he made him king over Gilead And over the Asherites And over Jezreel Over Ephraim and Benjamin And over all of Israel So in a sense the kingdom was divided David ruling over Judah And the son of Saul Ish-basheth Ruling over the remainder of Israel Abner being the chief instigator Being the general of the army And sort of a kind of a military takeover And then a military government set up Where Ish-basheth sort of became the figurehead king So Israel followed after Ish-basheth Where he reigned for two years But the house of Judah followed after David And the time that David was the king in Hebron Over the house of Judah was seven years And six months So he didn't ascend immediately to the throne But there was a good period of time That he was still living in Hebron As king over Judah Now Abner is a pretty rough guy And so is Joab In fact Joab is a very rough guy He's chief general And David had trouble with Joab Because he was just a tough, crude, rough guy Later on when David was dying And he was turning the kingdom over to his son Solomon He said Solomon I want you to take care of Joab Don't let his gray head go down to the grave in peace Execute him He's been a bad hombre all the way along He's done some bad things He's murdered some men And don't let his gray hairy head Or hoary head would be a frosted head Or the gray hair Go down to the grave in peace So here Abner Who was the general over the armies of Israel And Joab Who was over David's armies They met At the pool by Gibeon And they sat down on either side of the pool And Abner said to Joab Let the young men now arise and entertain us And Joab said let them go for it This was sort of a gladiator kind of a thing Let the guys like the gladiators in the arena Let them fight to death Entertain us Watch them kill each other We say we've advanced but have we? I have difficulty when some guy Can take a high power rifle And just start wiping out people indiscriminately Shooting and everything So we say we've advanced so far But sometimes I wonder The Romans, you know, they were They had the same kind of gladiator things They had the sacrifice of the Christian lions And they got some kind of a joy Out of watching the lions rip up people And watching the gladiators kill each other So this is sort of a presaging all of that As they said, you know, let the guys go down Out and fight, entertain us And there arose and went out by number Twelve from the tribe of Benjamin And twelve of the servants of David And they caught every one of his fellow by the head They each grabbed hold of the other guy's head And all of them thrust their spears through the other guys And all twenty-four were dead So they fell down together Great entertainment Wherefore the place was then named the Field of Swords And that sort of spurred then the whole battle Then they all jump in, you know And start fighting now and waiting in a way to each other There was a very sore battle that day Abner was beaten and the men of Israel before the servants of David And there were three sons of Zuriah Who was David's uncle Joab was actually David's cousin And his three cousins, Joab, Abishai and Asahel Were there in the battle And Asahel was as light of foot as a wild deer He was really fleet of foot And Asahel chased or pursued after Abner And in going he turned not to the right hand or the left From following Abner Abner was running and Asahel was matching him step for step Just right behind him And Abner looked behind him and said Are you Asahel? And he said I am And Abner said unto him Turn aside to the right or to the left And grab hold of one of the young men and take his armor Let's have a fair fight Give you a chance But Asahel would not turn aside from following him And Abner said again to Asahel Turn aside from following me man, you're bugging me Why should I smite you to the ground? How then should I hold up my face to Joab your brother? Howbeit he refused to turn aside Wherefore Abner with the hinder part of his spear Smote him under the fifth rib, caught his heart And there the spear came out from behind him And he fell down there and died in the same place Came to pass as many as came to the place Where Asahel fell down and died They stood still as the men of David were pursuing They came to Asahel, they saw him, they were shocked They just stood there And Joab and Abishai, the brothers, were pursuing after Abner And the sun was going down when they were come to the hill of Ammah That lies before Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon And the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together after Abner And they became one troop and stood on the top of the hill Then Abner called to Joab and said Shall the sword devour forever? Don't you know that it will be bitterness in the latter end? Wake up man, you know, we're doing foolish things Let's not devour each other forever It's going to just be bitterness in the end How long shall it be Before you order the people back from chasing us? And Joab said, As God lives, unless you had spoken surely Then in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother So Joab blew the trumpet, all of Israel stood still That is the people of David, they pursued after Israel no more And neither did they fight anymore And Abner and his men walked all that night through the plain They passed over Jordan, they went through all of Bethron And they came to Mahanaim And Joab returned from following Abner And when he had gathered all the people together There lacked of David's servants nineteen men and Asahel A total of twenty were lost But the servants of David had killed of Benjamin And Abner's men three hundred and sixty And they took up Asahel And buried him in the sepulcher of his father there in Bethlehem And Joab and his men went all night And they came to Hebron at the break of day And we're going to leave them And we'll take up the study the next time in chapter three This part of course is hard to get too inspired over It's pretty much history but gory history at places And there are however Lessons to be learned And as we come to these applications where possible We will try to point out important lessons for us to learn It's a wise man who can learn from the mistakes of others And grow and develop his position from learning from history It's a fool that just looked at history And doesn't use the lessons to guide his own life now And surely we learn how to properly deal with grief We learn the importance of living after the spirit We learn how that following after the flesh Is always disastrous How important it is to maintain a fellowship with God And seek God in the decision making processes of our lives As long as David sought the Lord and sought the guidance of God He was doing alright When he went out on his own he would strike out every time True of all of us We seek the Lord God will guide us right But if we go out on our own you're just going to strike out So how important that we give God The opportunity of guiding our lives That we inquire of the Lord before venturing out The Bible said that if we would Trust in the Lord with all of our hearts And lean not to our own understanding But if in all of our ways we'll just acknowledge Him Ask Him, ask for guidance He will direct our paths If you're a child of God you're coming with an earnest heart Saying God please show me the right way He's not going to lead you down the wrong path And say oh ha ha ha watch them when they get down there Disaster, watch that bridge blow up when they're going over No He's not going to lead you into some disastrous situation You go into those places when you don't listen to Him And you think you know better And you disregard His counsel That's when you get into trouble So in all thy ways acknowledge Him And He will direct your path We'll return with more of our verse by verse study Through the book of 2 Samuel in our next lesson As we follow the death of Abner And we do hope you'll make plans to join us But right now I'd like to remind you That if you missed any part of today's message Or perhaps you'd like to order a copy For that special friend or loved one You can do so by simply contacting One of our customer service representatives And they'd be more than happy to assist you With the ordering details Simply call 1-800-272-WORD And phone orders can be taken Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time Once again, our toll-free number is And for your added convenience You can order online anytime When you go to the wordfortoday.org And while you're there Be sure to browse through the additional resources That include Bible studies, commentaries, CDs, DVDs And so much more Once again, that's the Word for Today Online at thewordfortoday.org And for those of you who still prefer to write You can use our mailing address Which is And be sure to include the call letters of this station With your correspondence And now, on behalf of the Word for Today We'd like to thank all of you Who share in supporting this ministry With your prayers and financial support And be sure to join us again next time As Pastor Chuck Smith Continues his verse-by-verse study Through the book of 2 Samuel That's right here On the next edition of The Word for Today And now once again Here's Pastor Chuck Smith And now may the Lord bless you Keep His hand upon your life Give you a beautiful week as you walk In fellowship with a God Who is madly in love with you So much so That He can't take His eyes off of you Because He loves you so much This year marks the 200th anniversary Of Darwin's evolutionary theory And it also marks 200 years of refuting that theory Join Ken Ham Do you think history is just chance random processes? God's in charge And He's responding to the hearts of men and women Dr. Andrew Snelling Darwin and those who have followed him Have rejected the written history of the eyewitnesses Authoritatively revealed by God In favor instead of human reasoning Let me tell you why With a little five-letter word called Pride I'm going to call this lecture Three Ways to Make an Ape Man And I'm going to begin by simply pointing out That God didn't make any ape men As they scientifically disprove Darwinian evolution Start opposing the monkey business Defend yourself and your friends From really bad science For more information on how to order the DVD Answers for Darwin With a free bonus MP3 Call The Word for Today at 800-272-WORD Or visit us online at thewordforday.org This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today In Costa Mesa, California