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The Resting Place
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The Resting Place
God's Perspective Has The Power To Transform Your Life
What if everything you thought you knew about humility was wrong? In this episode of The Resting Place podcast, we challenge conventional religious thinking about what true humility actually means. Through powerful biblical narratives—from the twelve spies entering Canaan to King Saul hiding among the baggage to Jesus washing His disciples' feet—they reveal that authentic humility isn't thinking less of yourself, but rather agreeing with God's perspective of who you are.
This episode contrasts Caleb's bold faith with the fear-based hesitation of the other spies. While most religious teaching would label the cautious spies as "humble" and Caleb as "arrogant," Scripture shows the opposite is true. At 85 years old, Caleb still claimed his inheritance with the declaration: "I am as strong now as I was then." This wasn't pride—it was alignment with God's promise over his life.
Perhaps most striking is the revelation about King Saul, whose refusal to step into his royal identity wasn't humility but arrogance—he valued his self-perception over God's declaration. This false humility ultimately cost him everything. Meanwhile, Jesus demonstrated perfect humility not by diminishing His identity but by being so secure in it that He could serve others through foot washing.
Ready to break free from the chains of false humility and step into your full inheritance? This episode provides practical wisdom for identifying where you might be "hiding in your baggage" while God is calling you to something greater. Your breakthrough awaits when you finally take sides with what God says about you rather than what your insecurities, past failures, or others' opinions have told you.
How might your life transform if you stopped arguing with God about who you are and started believing Him? Listen now and discover the forgotten key to inheriting all God has promised you.
Hi everyone. I'm Ben and I'm Logan and we're the Robins. Welcome to the Resting Place Podcast. We're going to take a quick journey into Numbers 13, then we'll jump to Joshua 14, and we're going to look at 1 Samuel, 10 and 15, and then we may look at John 13 as well. So we've got a few scriptures here, but I want to share a few thoughts here on humility being the key to authentic living.
Speaker 1:And if we remember what our good Orthodox father, anthony Bloom, wrote in his book Beginning to Pray that I'm beginning to read, I'll never stop making that joke, because it's funny that the Lord oftentimes is absent in our prayer, or absent from us in our prayer, or we don't commune with Him in a way that we would like to because we approach Him as someone other than we are Now. Classical evangelical wisdom would say, well, yes, of course we approach Him. In hubris wisdom would say, well, yes, of course we approach him in hubris and we should come to him as shameful sinners that don't belong in his presence, and that he will meet us in the place of our humility. The issue that I have with that is this Lou, this is the issue I have with it. We have been given the righteousness of God in Christ. It has been imputed to us. It cannot be taken away. It cannot be so to come to him as anything other than his righteous son and daughter then becomes coming to him as someone other than we really are. And we've got to remove ourselves from the wrong thinking of evangelical Christianity. And there are many perils from evangelical Christianity that we've all just been baptized into through our whole youth and coming up, most of us, except for people that live in California. Because people that live in California, lucy looks at me like I'm an alien when I talk about this stuff. She's like well, we just were, we just had the best time in California. Like because in California they don't have these weird religious things where they teach you you're a piece of crap and that the Lord can never do anything with you. Everywhere else is like you suck and the Lord knows you suck. And in California they're like joy, yeah, whoa, joy, and I'm like my God. We could use a little bit of that in the Midwest and in the South and Southeast and Northeast. We need a little bit of that sort of thing because we've got these thoughts that, whether we know it or not, are often in our subconscious as we apply it to our relationship with the Lord.
Speaker 1:And I think a wrong thinking about humility plagues most of us. Maybe not in this room. Lance is shaking his head. Yes, all right, so I got one person to agree with me. So there's one at least that will agree with me, and we'll.
Speaker 1:We'll dive into this just a little bit. I've got just a simple teaching, but we're going to jump into it. Let's go to Numbers 13. And I'll say this too. I'll say this We'll never fully receive our inheritance until we come into true humility and I'm going to prove that to you in just a moment. But we will never fully receive our inheritance from the Lord until we come into true humility. Now, what is true humility, you ask? I'm going to read something from Anthony Bloom and then I'm going to share what I believe is a really great working definition of humility. But let's go.
Speaker 1:Let's go here to page 35 of beginning to Pray, which I'm beginning to read. The word humility comes from the Latin word humus, which means fertile ground. To me, humility is not what we often make of it the sheepish way of trying to imagine that we are the worst of all and trying to convince others that our artificial ways of behaving show that we are aware of that, that our artificial ways of behaving show that we are aware of that, aware of what that we are. The worst of all Humility is the situation of the earth. The earth is always there, always taken for granted, never remembered, always trodden on by everyone. Taken for granted, never remembered, always trodden on by everyone. Somewhere we cast and pour, pour out all our refuse, all we don't need. It's there, silent and accepting everything, accepting everything and, in a miraculous way, making out of all the refuse new richness in in spite of corruption. So let me read that again, because I stumbled through that a little bit, because I need hooked on phonics. The earth is always there, always taken for granted, never remembered, Always trodden on by everyone. Somewhere we cast and pour out all the refuse, all we don't need. It's there, silent and accepting, accepting everything and, in a miraculous way, making out of all the refuse new richness in spite of corruption, transforming corruption itself into a power of life and a new possibility of creativeness, open to the sunshine, open to the rain, ready to receive any seed we sow and capable of bringing thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold out of every seed.
Speaker 1:I said to this woman learn to be like this before God, abandoned, surrendered, ready to receive anything from people and anything from God. Indeed, she got a great deal from people. So his thoughts on humility are that, despite all of the refuse and corruption sown into the earth, the earth is able to take from that refuse and corruption and turn seed into 30, 60 and 100 fold. That's his thoughts on humility and I think that's an interesting perspective on humility and I think there's some value inside of that perspective on humility that the earth would be forgotten, trodden upon and all sorts of refuse and pollution are cast into it and still, at the end of the day, we have farmers combining fields, bringing 30, 60, and 100-fold from every seed that's sown into it.
Speaker 1:Damon's working definition of humility is simply this, and I ascribe to this belief on humility Agreement with the Father's perspective of who we are is true humility, and anything outside of agreeing with the Father's perspective of who we are is false humility. And actually, if it's false humility, it's pride. Often, what we call humility is pride and what we call pride is humility. We get it wrong because of the way we were taught. We get it wrong because of the way we were taught to believe about humility. Now we're going to go to numbers 13. I had some other thoughts, but I think I'm going to save those, because I'm going to just jump the shark and we'll just save those Numbers 13.
Speaker 1:Twelve spies have been sent into the land of Canaan after the children of Israel have crossed the Red Sea. They're preparing to take their inheritance that the Lord has promised them. This has been the inheritance of the children of Israel since the time of Abraham. Get up, abram, and go to a land that I will show you. So Abraham got up and departed the land of his father and went to the land that the Lord had showed him. And it says in the Bible. It says that he traveled there as almost like a gy, with no place to call his own, but believing that the Lord would give him everything that he promised. He traveled there as a sojourner and believed as a pilgrim, and believed that the Lord would give him everything that he promised. And it was a promise to Isaac, it was a promise to Jacob and it was a promise to the patriarchs. And they went into slavery in Egypt. And now the Lord has finally brought them out of their slavery After the prophesied 400 years of slavery that they would suffer. Moses brings them out, their deliverer gets them across the Red Sea and they go into the land of Canaan to spy out what is finally going to be theirs, canaan to spy out what is finally going to be theirs Now. What happens here is fascinating. They've been waiting for this, begging for this, praying for this, asking God for this for 400 years. And they get there and here's what happens. This is the scouting report everyone brings back. This is Numbers 13.25.
Speaker 1:After exploring the land for 40 days, the men returned to Moses, aaron and the whole community of Israel. So for 40 days they spied out the land, the whole community of Israel. At Kadesh, in the wilderness of Paran, they reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land Grapes so large they had to carry them on a cane between the two of them. It's absurd, my mind can't. Even the grapes in the land of Canaan were so large they had to carry them on a like almost like a cane between the two of them. They had to grab a pole and two men had to haul them. That's how large one cluster of grapes was yeah, one cluster was that large. We can't, our modern minds can't comprehend it because of the way that we've changed agriculture, right, right, like we've just never experienced grapes that grapes that large and clusters that large is something that we we've. We have genetically modified our food to the point that we we can't understand that that's something. Probably probably not, but that's that's how. That's how large it was.
Speaker 1:So when it says it showed them the fruit they had taken from the land, two dudes are hauling a cluster of grapes. Here's what we took from the land. I'm sure that was exciting to the people. My God, it actually is a land flowing with milk and honey. But listen to the report that they give them, because that's what was prophesied to them. I'm going to take you to a land flowing with milk and honey, a land of provision money, a land of provision, a land where the land will provide for you and you're not going to have to kill yourself and scratch out a living. I'm going to bring you into fertility Something that will not just grow it for you. You're going to have to put the plow into the ground, but if you'll put the plow into the ground, it will more than take care of you, right? This was their report to Moses. We entered the land you sent us to to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country, a land flowing with milk and honey. That's exactly right. Here is the kind of fruit it produces, showing them that they're having to haul it between the two of them.
Speaker 1:But the people living there are powerful and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there. The descendants of Anak, the Amalekites live in the Negev, the Hittites, the Jebusites and the Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and all along the Jordan Valley. But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses let's go at once and take the land. We can certainly conquer it. Remember him. Caleb says let's go at once to take the land. He said we can certainly conquer it. But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. We can't go up against them. They are stronger than we are. So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites. The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes in there. All the people we saw were huge. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak, and next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that's what they thought too. In the New King James it says we were grasshoppers. In their sight, and in ours also, there were giants. Their cities were fortified, their armies were strong and they were too strong for the children of Israel to conquer.
Speaker 1:Many times, when the Lord prepares you to enter into your true inheritance, what will come against you in the form of discouragement is something that looks like it's going to be too hard for you to accomplish. The Lord's attempting to move you into a place of inheritance and opposition will come against you. That will look like something you can't handle and you're going to have to, in humility, choose to, like Baxter Kruger says, take sides with the Lord. Take sides with the Father, son and Spirit and what they say about you, rather than what the culture would say about you or what the opposition against you would say. Baxter does a beautiful job of painting this picture. The Lord is waiting for us to take sides with him about who we are and not choose the side of the enemy. Not choose the side of what the culture would say. Not choose the side of what our good evangelical teaching would say that we're sinners saved by grace. And we can't possibly, guys. If you look at this, it sounds like they're.
Speaker 1:They're about 10 humble people and two arrogant people in Caleb and Joshua. These giants don't have anything to offer us that we can't handle. They just came out of Egypt. They weren't trained in the ways of war. Surely that was going through the mind of Joshua or the spies. And Joshua and Caleb are like guys, why are we even hesitating? Let's go now and let's get after this.
Speaker 1:And what happens is the 10 spies, who evangelical Christianity would say were operating in humility, because only arrogance would assume that you could actually go in there and take the thing that the Lord said that you were going to take. On the other hand, though, they were the ones who had the faith, because they weren't also listening in ourselves. Well, that's exactly right. They took sides with what the Lord had said, and the other ten did not, and, as a result, they turned the children of Israel against going into the land, and because they did that, that was promised to them. They were pre-designed, pre-ordained and intended by the Lord to go in when Caleb said we should go in right now, but because of opposition to the promise, they chose sides, with the voice of accusation that said you're not big enough, you're not strong enough, you're not intelligent enough, you're not strategic enough, you're not well-trained enough, you can't possibly do this. And the problem is, it made sense if you looked at it. That's the issue. The opposition made perfect sense. So, instead of receiving their inheritance you can read on. I'm not going to read the whole thing, you can read on.
Speaker 1:They chose to not enter the land and the Lord said not one person from this generation will enter into this promise, save Caleb and Joshua, who served me with their whole heart. They spent 40 years traveling. They spent 40 years traveling the wilderness needlessly because they, in arrogance, argued against the Lord. Arrogance caused them to argue with the Lord. Well, what do you mean? It was arrogance. It would be arrogant to assume that they could even, guys, that's humility.
Speaker 1:Humility is agreement with the Lord's perspective of who we are. And you're going to in your life, and probably right now in your life, have opposition coming against you saying you can't do what it is you're actually trying to do right now. You're not qualified, you're not strong enough, you're not smart enough. You can go down the laundry list of reasons, and some of them are probably, you know, on paper, kind of right. That's the issue with it. The issue with it is on paper.
Speaker 1:The other 10 spies were correct. You're going to have to learn in humility, and when I say you, I mean all of us. We're going to have to learn in humility to take sides with what the Lord says and realize that choosing the humble path is actually choosing what he says about us, because you'll argue against him thinking you're being humble. You'll argue with him thinking you're being humble and well-meaning people will say you're just operating in a humble spirit. No, you're operating in arrogance. You're operating in arrogance because you are esteeming your own opinion of yourself or the opposition's opinion of yourself over what the Lord's perspective of you is. And we're going to have to learn as a community, to take sides with what he says about us and just, flat dog, believe it to the point that we're willing to put our flat dog that's a Southern saying, I learned that in the South flat dog, believe it. Now I have to flat dog, believe it to the point that you're willing to put yourself in impossible situations, because he created you to thrive inside of impossibility.
Speaker 1:I'm so through with a Christianity that's safe. I'm through with a Christianity that says I'll stay away from the impossible, I'll live this. Simple Guys. Often the great thing about the Christian life is often simple and impossible at the same time. You don't have to choose one or the other, you get to choose both. You just want to live a humble, simple life. Good, choose Christianity, but you're also going to get to be humble and simple inside of an impossible situation where it can't possibly turn, and God's going to use you to insert you into the middle of that, to turn impossibility around and you'll see the inheritance of the Lord come to you and to your family because you chose to believe what he said.
Speaker 1:So 10 spies turn the children of Israel against going in and all of them die, including Moses and Aaron, except Caleb and Joshua. And I could belabor the point and go through a few more things, but we won't. We're going to turn now to Joshua 14. So that's all the way through Numbers and Deuteronomy, the really fun chapters of the Bible or books of the Bible to read. Actually, judges is great, if you ever get a chance to get around to read Judges. Judges is amazing. There's so many stories. I can't count the amount of times I read the book of Judges growing up, because the stories are fascinating. You got stories about a guy in there using an ox goad to kill a bunch of Philistines and stop them from invading Israel. I don't even know what an ox goad is, but it must be really gnarly and I kind of feel bad for an ox now After reading that if he's taking the heads off Philistines with it, it must be a pretty Joshua. Uh, joshua 14, that's okay. Joshua 14 6.
Speaker 1:This is after the children of Israel have crossed over the Jordan River. They have finally gotten to a place where a generation would take the word of the Lord for what it is. There, finally, was a group of people inside of the children of Israel that said we'll take sides with what the Lord says and we'll follow the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord across the Jordan River and we'll go take the thing the Lord promised to us. There's this interesting tension that prophetic people find themselves in. The Lord gives us promises and we start to move on those promises, but then it's hard. The thing that he asked us to do is hard, it's difficult, it looks impossible and we don't allow ourselves to go fully into what the Lord asked us to go into because of the difficulty of it, and we never give him a chance to bless our effort. We don't do this by effort. Hear me very clearly you can't live the kingdom life by effort, but it does require effort and I don't know a better way to say that. There's this really great tension that's really interesting and not fun at all, where the Lord gives us a promise, lou, and then we go into that thing and it's hard and there's opposition that comes against us and it's difficult.
Speaker 1:And I can't tell you how many times I've felt like a failure in the last two years, a complete and utter failure in the last two years, arguing with the Lord why in the world I just edited myself. I'm getting so good at this. I edited myself. Look at me. Why in the world did you send me here? I am failing miserably at this, and because of the perception of failure or the perception of not being able to overcome the difficulty or the challenge that lies in front of us, we give a half-hearted effort and we don't allow the Lord to put his blessing on Hallelujah. We don't give the Lord an opportunity to bless us in doing what he asked us to do.
Speaker 1:There's this interesting thing that happens when opposition comes against you it forms you. Opposition will either form you or discourage you and you get to choose which. And, as prophetic people who believe that if the Lord says it and this is true he releases grace for that thing to be accomplished. When he says it and he does, and it's by grace through faith, by grace through faith, that we do all things. But you've got to put your feet in it and you've got to put your feet in it and you've got to put your hands on it and you can't. What will happen if you're not fully convinced of what the Lord thinks of you or you're not fully persuaded to believe what he believes about you? What will happen when that opposition comes against you is you'll crumble and you'll allow that to tell you.
Speaker 1:I guess I missed it. I guess the Lord really didn't mean that. Maybe we'll spiritualize and say maybe he didn't mean that actually, maybe it actually means this and maybe it's some kind of other inheritance and it's all right, it's just not the season for it. And the Lord's sitting there with the gift in his hand saying if you would just take sides with me against what everything else is, I feel the spirit on this. Take sides with me against what everyone else is saying, against what the opposition is telling you, against what your own subconscious is telling you. Take sides with me. Put your hands on the plow and give yourself to this.
Speaker 1:You'd look up in two years and your whole life would be transformed. You'd look up in five years and you'd be smack in the middle of the promise that I gave you. You just have to give yourself an opportunity to allow him to bless you. Is this making sense, lou? Does this make sense? And the interesting thing is, guys, we don't preach effort. We don't preach that you gain by effort. In our stream, we know religion has one message try harder. And that serves the purpose of wearing you out, and that's about all. But, but. But.
Speaker 1:The Lord will require, as a good steward of your heart, as a good steward of your heart, as a good steward of your heart, the Lord will require that you grow into the inheritance that he's asking you to take, and that will come by way of giving yourself wholly to the thing that he asked you to give yourself to, and not backing down when things get hard. And not backing down when things get difficult, not backing down when the giants of the land. The giants of the land rise up in accusation against you. Who do you think that you are to come against me with a sling and a stone? You're going to have to be really okay with that and say I know it. Don't look like I have much to offer you, but I'm taking sides with what Yahweh says about me and your voice will be silenced to this day and I'll never hear you again. And we give ourselves wholly to the thing that Yahweh asked us to do, and it gives him the opportunity to bless you. Bill Johnson teaches it this way you have to give him real estate. You've got to give him real estate to put his blessing on. It's called being a doer of the word and not a hearer only. That applies to prophetic promises as well.
Speaker 1:All right, I told you I wasn't going to take long and I'm not. It's only been 10 minutes. Um, I actually don't know how long it's been. I'm not looking, don't have my timer. I don't have my timer. It's been longer than 10 minutes. Y'all know. Y'all know it's been longer than 10 minutes. I don't have my timer. It's been longer than 10 minutes. Y'all know. Y'all know it's been longer than 10 minutes. All right, we're going to go. Joshua 14. And we're going to read 6 through. I think 15 here. All right. Joshua 14, verse 6. Through, I think 15 here. All right, joshua 14, verse 6,.
Speaker 1:A delegation from the tribe of Judah, led by Caleb, son of this fellow, the Kenazite, came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb said to Joshua now watch this. These are two old timers that have been through the crossing of the wilderness together. I can't imagine. I can't imagine the real estate these two traveled together and the depth of friendship that they had with one another, the only two of that generation to get to cross into the promise. That relationship had to be special. Those brothers had to do some encouraging while they were going to funerals and Damon always makes this point Imagine how many funerals did they have to attend If the whole of that generation passed before they could cross into the land of Canaan, into the land of Israel. Now it's becoming Israel. How many funerals did Caleb go to? Yeah, yeah, a lot. Yeah, exactly right. A delegation from the tribe and watch what he says A delegation from the tribe of Judah, led by Caleb, the son of this fella.
Speaker 1:I'm too much of a redneck, I'm not even trying on that one. The Kenizzite came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb said to Joshua Remember what the Lord said to Moses the man of God about you and me. Remember what the Lord said to Moses the man of God about you and about me when we were at Kadesh Barnea. I was 40 years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land of Canaan. I returned and gave an honest report, but my brothers who went with me frightened the people from entering the promised land, entering into the thing that God had given them. Guys, it was a foregone conclusion to the thing that God had given them. Guys, it was a foregone conclusion. God had already given it to them. All they had to do was go in. This is how these things work. It is a foregone conclusion, a conclusion that happened before. That's theirs. All they had to do was go in.
Speaker 1:And because they in arrogance said we were like grasshoppers in our sight and in theirs also. Well, the thing is we don't know what their perspective of the children of Israel is. And when we hear that the children of Israel later in the Bible, when it says the children of Israel are crossing the Jordan River, it says, all the people of the land trembled with fear. All the people of the land were trembling with fear before the children of Israel and the children of Israel and the children of Israel just a generation before said to themselves we're like grasshoppers, we can't do it. And the whole, while the opposition they were so terrified of was shaking in their boots at their approach, gave an honest report. But my brothers who went with me were too frightened. Who went with me frightened the people from entering the promised land.
Speaker 1:For my part, I wholeheartedly good Lord. For my part, I wholeheartedly followed the Lord, my God. So that day, moses solemnly promised me the land of Canaan on which you were just walking will be your grant of land and that your descendants forever. And that your descendants forever, because you wholeheartedly followed the Lord, my God, that's yours and your descendants forever. Now, caleb, now, as you can see, the Lord has kept me alive and well, as he promised, for all these 45 years since Moses made this promise. He's 85 years old, he was 40 when he went in and he traveled the wilderness for 45 years to come to this moment. Now, as you can see, the Lord has kept me alive and well, as he promised for all these 45 years since Moses made this promise, even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I'm 85 years old. I am as strong now. Fight as well as I could then, good Lord, I can still travel and I can still fight as good as I could then. So give me that hill country. So give me the hill country the Lord promised me.
Speaker 1:You will remember that as scouts, we found the descendants of Anak living there. Listen to this. You will remember that there are giants there, oh my God, descendants of Anak, living there in great walled towns. Oh my God, descendants of Anak living there in great walled towns. But if the Lord is with me, I will drive them out of the land. Just as the Lord said Golly man, so Joshua blessed Caleb and gave him Hebron as his portion of the land. Hebron still belongs to the descendants of Caleb the Kenizzite, because he wholeheartedly followed the Lord, god of Israel. Hebron still belongs to the descendants of Caleb, the son of this fellow, the Kinezite, because he wholeheartedly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.
Speaker 1:Previously, hebron had been called Kiriath Arba. It had been named after Arba, a great hero of the descendants of Anak, and the land had rest from war. It ends with that and the land had rest from war. It's a picture of a man who received the word of the Lord and gave himself so wholly to that word. Guys, I want to drive this point home as hard as I can. It was not about to be theirs. It was in fact theirs. It was already their possession. All they had to do was go take it. It is the same way with us today. It's already your possession. All you've got to do is put yourself in position to receive the promise of the Lord. That's all you've got to do is put yourself in position.
Speaker 1:And when Kiriath Arba, when Arba, a great hero of the sons of Anak, says you can't have this city, 85-year-old Caleb stands up and says man, I'm as strong now as I was then and he's still with me the way he was then. And I've been waiting 45 years. I've been waiting 45 years to get my crack at you. So I'm going to come and you better be ready. Good Lord Makes me want to. My old faith teacher said makes me want to chew through a tree. I'll do it too. I promise I'll do it. That man received when no one else would, not because they couldn't, but because they refused to believe the Lord's perspective of them, but because they refused to believe the Lord's perspective of them. I want to show you one more thing. And then we're going to go to Jesus, and then I'm going to turn it over to Lou. He's going to do communion for us and we're going to do this quick.
Speaker 1:1 Samuel 10, verses 20 through 24. On the tail end of the time of the judges, the children of Israel ask for a king. It breaks Samuel's heart that they're asking for a king. But the Lord says they're not doing this as judgment against you. They are doing this against me. They're sinning against me, not you, samuel, because they don't want Yahweh to be their king. They're asking for a king like the rest of the countries around them.
Speaker 1:1 Samuel 10. And in looking for a king, samuel gets sent Saul of the tribe of Benjamin, and when he finds him, he's actually looking for his father's donkeys, and I think in the new King James it'll say ass, but we're not going to say that here. So he's looking for his father's donkeys and Samuel anoints him to be king. And so we have come to the place where Samuel is about to anoint him and crown him king before the whole congregation of the tribe of the tribes of Israel. And I want to watch, I want you to watch something really interesting. This is a man. So we've got a picture of Caleb, the man who received what the Lord had given him and we're going to watch here now a man who will not receive the inheritance the Lord is trying to give him because he refuses to agree with the Lord's perspective of him.
Speaker 1:Now, so Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel before the Lord and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by Lot. Then he brought each family of the tribe of Benjamin before the Lord and the family of the Metrites was chosen and finally Saul, son of Kish, was chosen among them. But when they looked for him he had disappeared. He'd already been anointed king. He knew he was going to be king. He's being chosen.
Speaker 1:Before the congregation of the tribe of Israel he had disappeared. So they asked the Lord where is he? They can't find him anywhere. Where did this man who's supposed to be king go? Why has he disappeared? Where is he? They can't find him anywhere. Where did this man who's supposed to be king go? Why has he disappeared? Where is he? And the Lord replied he's hiding among the baggage. So they found him and brought him out and he stood head and shoulders above everyone else. Then Samuel said this this then Samuel said to all the people this is the man the Lord has chosen as your king. Then Samuel said to all the people this is the man the Lord has chosen as your king. No one in all Israel is like him. No one in all Israel is like him. Is Yahweh's perspective of him, but his own perspective of himself, and we would call this humility. In American culture, in evangelical culture, we would call this humility.
Speaker 1:The Lord is anointing you king and you're hiding among your own baggage. I could walk up and down this line for a second. You're hiding in your own stuff. You're hiding in your own dysfunction. You're hiding in your own dysfunctional ways of thinking. You're hiding in your own dysfunctional ways of thinking. You're hiding in your own dysfunctional ways of being. You're hiding in your own baggage and Yahweh is trying to make you king. And what will happen if you can't come out of hiding in your baggage? Although Yahweh calls you king, he'll, oh. What will happen is you'll never fully receive the inheritance he intended for you.
Speaker 1:This was supposed to be the Jesus. This was supposed to be the seat of authority for the sons of Saul in perpetuity. This was never supposed to change houses. When a man is named king, they pass it down in perpetuity. I don't think you understand. This was going to be the line Yeshua was coming through. Saul was going to be what David eventually became. But Saul was too busy believing the enemy's lies about himself to ever fully believe what Yahweh said about him and because of that Yahweh had to remove him. Watch, just watch. 1 Samuel 15. Now We'll look at 24 through 28.
Speaker 1:Samuel sends Saul on a mission from the Lord. Now we can quibble about this. There's some thoughts about the Old Testament, so we won't get into that right now. But Samuel sends Saul on a mission to destroy the Amalekites and says destroy them completely. And Saul saves the best of the animals, the cattle and all the plunder. And Samuel comes back and they find King Agag alive. He saves King Agag. He saves the best of the cattle, he saves the best of the plunder. He saves the best of all of it. And watch this interaction. This is really interesting. Watch this interaction.
Speaker 1:But I did obey the Lord. Saul insisted I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought back King Agag. No, you did not obey the Lord, saul. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else. Then my troops now listen. Then my troops. Then my troops brought in the best of the sheep, goats and cattle and plunder to sacrifice to the Lord, your God and Gilgal. But Samuel replied what is more pleasing to the Lord, your burnt offering and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen, obedience is better than sacrifice and submission is better than offering of fat and rams. And I'm four verses early, but we'll just keep going. Rebellion is as sinful as rich craft and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king. Watch this now. Watch this now. I obeyed the Lord. I just brought King Agag back. Then my troops started doing some things. Then my troops brought in the best of everything else and wouldn't Saul? They're your troops.
Speaker 1:And because he was still hiding in his own baggage, he refused to take a stand and say we will obey what the Lord has told us to do, and you can stick it in your pipe and smoke it if you don't like it. You're going to do what the Lord said we should do. That's how he ought to have handled that situation when his soldiers came to him and said we ought to keep these alive. No, no, we will not do that. That's not what the Lord said to do. We're going to do this. But because he was still afraid of the things in his own mind about Jesus, that he thought about himself, he let everyone else do what they thought was right in their own eyes. That's not what Yahweh asked you to do, saul. Then Saul admitted to Samuel yes, I have sinned. I have disobeyed your instructions and the Lord's command, for I was afraid of the people and I did what they demanded.
Speaker 1:Now, what will happen? What will happen if we don't and I'm using this, obviously, as an object lesson but if we don't come to the place where we stop hiding and we take sides with what the Lord believes about us? What will then happen is we'll live the rest of our lives terrified of what other people think about us, and it won't show up as, oh, I'm so afraid of what they think about us. But what it will do is it will cause you not to be authentic in the presence of other people and you'll hide. You won't be authentically who the Lord called you to be. Saul was king. Saul was head and shoulders above everyone else in the nation of Israel. There was no one else like him. There's no one else like this man, and because he could not take sides with what the Lord said about him, what happened is he could never be authentically who he really was.
Speaker 1:Saul lived the rest of his life as a pretender on the throne because he could not come out of his own baggage and he chose to stay there. This is the challenging part of this you have to choose to come out. Yahweh will give us the opportunity, but you have to take the journey with him to come out of hiding. But you have to take the journey with him to come out of hiding. Okay so, but now please forgive my sin and come back with me so that I may worship the Lord. But Samuel replied I will not go back with you, since you have rejected the Lord's command. He has rejected you as king of Israel. As Samuel turned to go, saul tried to hold him back and tore the hem of his robe, and Samuel said to him the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and given it to someone else who has watched this. Who is better than you? Well, just a few chapters ago, there was no one else in the land like him, but because he refused to take sides with what the Lord said about him, the Lord ended up removing it from him and finding someone else to give it to Samuel. Knock it off. Y'all. Get away from that, both of y'all.
Speaker 1:All right, I'm about to finish up, I'm about to be done, but I want to show us one more example of humility. So we've seen humility and we've seen arrogance in action, because I believe what Saul did was arrogant. I don't believe what Saul did was humility. I don't believe what Saul did was. I believe what Saul did was arrogant, and arrogance and pride caused Saul's downfall because he believed his own opinions of himself or the opinions of other people about himself were more important than what the Lord said about him. It's going to take a courageous heart to be able to walk in authenticity, and when I say courageous heart, I mean it's going to force you to take sides with what the Lord says rather than what everything else is screaming about you. And then John 13, 1 through 5, I'm not going to go through it, but I want to read the first verse, because it says something really profound. And then I'm going to turn it All right John 13, 1 through 5, and I'm not going to read all of it.
Speaker 1:Before the Passover celebration, jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth and now he loved them to the very end. And now he loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything, that he had come from God and that he was going to return to God. Listen to what this is saying. He had come from God and that he was going to return to God. Listen to what this is saying. Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe and wrapped a towel around his waist and poured water into a basin and then began to wash the disciples' feet, drying it with the towel he had around him.
Speaker 1:Humility will allow you to receive your inheritance to know who you are, but it will also allow you to be authentically who you are in every situation. The challenge for that? The challenge in that, is not conforming in situations where it would be easy to conform. Great humility led Jesus to wash the feet of his disciples and it was that same great humility that caused him to be able to walk into a synagogue and heal a man with a withered hand in front of a crowd he knew would make irate. He wholeheartedly agreed. Listen, it says he knew he had come from God. He knew the Father had given authority over everything. He knew he had come from God and he knew he had come from God. He knew the Father had given authority over everything. He knew he had come from God and he knew he would return to God. And because of that, because of his agreement with the Father's perspective of who he is, he took off his robe, wrapped a towel around himself and washed the feet of the man that was about to send him to Calvary. Interestingly enough, that city Caleb, had been given from the Lord Hebron.
Speaker 1:I looked up, just real briefly, what that means.
Speaker 1:I love that she's coming through here with crinkling those and about to smash them. She loves gummies, I promise. Hebron means an association. It's from the root word of Hebrew and I'm not pronouncing that correctly, but it means association, company, band, shared association or a society. That comes from a root word, habar, and I'm going to read exactly what that means out of our concordance here To unite, join, bind together, to be joined, be coupled, be in league, heap up, have fellowshiped with, be in compact. To unite, be joined. To unite, make an ally of. To unite to join an ally, to be allied with, to be united with, to be joined together, to join together, to pile up, to join oneself, to make an alliance, a league together. That's the definition of the town Hebron. So the root word that Hebron comes from means to make a league with or join together.
Speaker 1:It's so interesting that the Lord would give that place to a man that chose to take sides with him 45 years earlier.
Speaker 1:He said you and your descendants can have a place where I'll make a league with you, I'll join myself to you and we'll do this together, and I hope I've done a good job here. I hope that I have done an okay job of laying out kind of my thoughts on this, but I think there's a key. I said last week that the John 14 narrative is the highest call, I think, for the Christian. Those that believe in me will do the same things that I have done, and greater things will they do because I go to be with my Father and anything you ask in my name I'll do it because I go to be with the Father. We're going to have to, if that's where we're headed, those things, those promises, are still true. Those things he wants to give you are true. But you're not going to get there being a pretender in false humility and arrogance. You're going to have to choose the path of humility and that means surrendering to the grace. That is what the Father says about you.