Samuel: The Kingmaker - Week 4

Name is James, and we are continuing now. This is going to be

our third or fourth week in the Samuel series and this is the uh uh

well by far, I think the most interesting passage, well, one of

the most interesting passages I think in the whole Bible. And so it's should

be quite a journey this morning. Let me ask you guys some questions.

Just raise your hand. Let me know. Have you ever stuffed your toast

so bad it took your breath away? And who in here has ever had

a splinter that just was agonizing until you pulled it out? Anybody who in

here has ever slammed their hand in a door? Oh yeah, yeah,

uh, you don't have to raise your hand for this one who's been punched

in the face. Well, let me tell you this message is like taking

all four of those and putting them together. Okay, Uh. It's a

rough, rough text. It's one of those texts that as a pastor,

when you preach it, you're like, I wonder if anybody's going to come

to church next week. And it's a tough text. Do you remember when

you were young and your dad was say to you right before he gave you

a whippan now this is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you. Sure,

Yeah, well, dad gonna have the belt, let me hit you.

Let's see if that's true. And that was the first time I remember

my dad lying to me, because I do not believe that. But when

I became a parent, I realized that that's so true. That sometimes we

have to discipline those we love because we love them so much that we we

don't want this certain behavior to go on, and so that as they get

older, it could lead to destruction. And said, we love these people

so much that we want them to have a fruitful, beautiful life. And

that's a lot like this text today. It's tough on us. This is

a tough text, but we preach it because if we obey it, it

will lead to a fruitful, fruitful life. But if we ignore it,

it could lead to destruction. All right, where do we leave off?

Last week? Last week we talked about Israel went to the prophet Samuel,

and Israel said, hey, Samuel has been good having an invisible king who's

leading us. But you know what we would really love. We would really

love to have a king like the other nations have. We want to be

like them. We want to be like all the other nations. And so

God, realizing that this was a rejection of him, still said, okay,

I said all right, you can have your king. And the rest

of the story goes that Samuel the prophet found a young man that God said,

this is him. His name was King Saul. And so as he

was getting ready to annoying King Saul. There's a few things to know about

King Saul. Number one, he looked like the perfect king. Okay,

if people could think about he was good looking, he was tall, he

was athletics, he was headed shoulders above everyone else. He matter of fact,

the Bible was said that he was a really good dad. He was

kind of like mister Israel. And at first when we meet him, he's

a very humble man. No is he a great military leader, But he's

also one of those guys that just doesn't want to be the center of attention.

Matter of fact, we see this little story at first Samuel ten where

they're looking to anoint Saul as king, but they can't find him, and

they're looking all over the town for him, and God says, hey,

won't you go to the luggage room. And there was a room where everybody

dropped off all their luggage, and he said, that's where you're gonna find

Saul hiding. And so the first time we meet Saul, we see this

Saul as a humble man. He's a man that's not after richie. He's

a man who is not after power. He doesn't want to be the center

of attention. But then Saul got a taste of power. And I've said

this a lot of times in this room, power corrupts. And so we

see here as we get to first Samuel fifteen, that everything changes. This

is a crazy, crazy story. Fall along with me. Here we go,

and Samuel said to Saul, he says, that, says the Lord

of host, I have noted what Amalik did to Israel in opposing them on

the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike a

Malik and petitionists and devote to destruction all that they have. In other words,

kill them all. Now here's what you need to understand. This seems

like a crazy thing for God to say, Hey, go find Amalik the

Amalekites, and I want you to destroy their whole tribe. Kill them all.

Now here's what you need to understand about the Malachites. The Amalekites were

the perpetual enemy of Israel. And God is saying, all right, this

finally came time because I'm going through pass judgment on what they did to you

as you were coming out of the Exodus. We go all the way back

to Deuteronomy chapter twenty five, and we see this moment where Israel had just

came out of the Exodus and they had this huge triumph. But you know

what, they're tired, they're wore out. They're heading to the Promised Land.

But then there was a group of them that lagged behind. They got

behind the group, and so they got so far behind that they were really

separated. But who are these people? Who is the group that lagged behind.

It was the elderly, the sick, those with disabilities, It was

those who had young mothers with children, and so they were the easy targets.

And so this nomadic group, the Amalachis, what they did was when

they saw this group unprotected and alone, they charged them. They destroyed them,

They killed them all and stole all their goods. And now God says,

all right, today is today that they will pay for this. And

here's what you have to understand about the Malachis, and a Malachis kept doing

this over and over and over again. They were a nomadic group that they

would find weak little communities and they would attack them in the nine and they

would destroy everybody and kill everybody and then walk away if their goods. Here's

what you need to understand as we jump into the story about the war against

the Amalakites. Please understand this. When you think of the Amalekites, think

terrorists, because that's all they were. They were a terrorist group. They

were a group that attacked the week, killed people, took stuff, ran

away, okay. So when you think of the Amalekites, think al Qaeda,

think Isis okay. And they were very violent. And finally God said

that's it. I've had enough, and he goes a saw and says it's

time to wipe him out. So let's look at verse three here today.

What's it saying says do not spare them, but killed both men and woman,

child, an infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. Very

clear here. Now we're gonna get into some of this here in a moment.

So I know you have some concerns about this text. But we'll get

into that here in a moment. But the very first thing I need you

to understand about this text is that this was a war of justice. This

is a war of justice. A war of justice is something very different.

Ward justice means that Paul cannot go and take any spoils. Song men cannot

enrich themselves, They cannot take cattle, they cannot take gold, they cannot

take anything. This is a war of justice. God is bring a justice

upon this group, and he says, destroy them, all of them.

Now here's what this type of war is called. In ancient times, they

called this war a holy war. And we only see a holy war happen

a few times. And let me tell you the characteristics of a holy war.

Number One, only God can initiate a holy war. It's God's decision

to have war on a group to bring justice. Number two, Okay,

very very important. You're not to take any spoils because this is a war

of justice. Number three, God promises victory before you even go into this

war. And matter of fact, God is seen as kind of like the

warrior, and his presence is in the middle of the battle. And that's

why they have all these religious services they have worship, they have sacrifices,

and as they go into this holy war, they actually have a huge religious

festival because the ark of the covenants there and God has called for a holy

war. And that's another reason why they wouldn't even count the troops, because

you weren't depending on the troops, you were depending on God. And God

would go into these wars and the presence of God would destroy the enemy and

you and a holy war were to wipe out all of the enemy. No

spoils again, no spoils. It's a war of justice. Now, this

battle against some al Khites was a holy war. But I think we need

to talk about something that we're all kind of hung up on right now,

because I just read something that said, you know, women, children,

infants, so on, and so you might be thinking, all right,

James, I can understand where there would be a war where you, you

know, in self defense, you would fight, you'd have to kill,

and maybe some innocent would die. But but going out and purposely killing the

innocent. But the short answer to that is simply this. In this room,

about all of us are Westerners, and we understand justice different as Westerners.

As Westerners, we understand justice as one on one. In other words,

if I commit a crime, I pay for the crime. My daughter

does not pay for the crime. My parents do not pay for a crime.

My wife does not pay for crime. I'm the one who goes to

gym. I'm the one who is punished. Why Because in the Western world

justice is for the individual. Now in the Eastern world, especially back then,

nothing you never think of yourself as an individual. You are always thinking

about yourself as in the community. The community lives together, they die together.

You are one in the community. And so we would have these battles

and these wars between the tribes and these tribes they would fight each other,

and of course when they would battle a tribe and they would bring justice on

them, they would wipe out the whole tribe everyone. Why why would God,

especially the wars back then, say go and wipe out everyone, even

the fs. Well, here's a couple of things you need to understand.

Who here has heard of vendettas, Okay, Vendetta is where you make a

promise because someone has hurt someone in your family, that you will exact vengeance

on them someday. And so when you would kill this tribe but maybe believe

the young ones. The young ones, as they would get older, they

would remember that you destroy their parents, and so they would make a vendetta.

And so they would come back someday and they would go and they would

attack your grandchildren are your children, They would kill them. And so when

you had this holy war and you were to wipe out everyone, what you

were doing was saying, we're gonna wipe out everyone, but we're not gonna

leave anyone alie, so that someday my grandchild and my child will not be

attacked and killed because of the action I did today. And so we see

that these wars, they were wars of justice, but they were complete.

But then you're just saying, okay, well James, what about what about

these children? And I want you to understand about the children here. I

want you to see the grace component in this because God is a God of

grace and only God can bring his justice. I remember we're talking about God's

justice here, and God is the most merciful God. Now I want you

to think about this. These are Malachi kids. As they would have grown

up, they would have been wicked like their parents, and they would have

went in on in their life and they would have defied the Lord God.

Instead, those children, from the moment that their life ended, they stood

before God and they were judged individually, not as a community, and they

got to receive heaven. So instead of growing up following in their parents' footsteps

and receiving hell, they received the grace of God and they received heaven.

So in many ways, when God goes to wipe out a nation like this,

think that understand that God is exactly his type of justice, and his

justice in this situation is to take out those who are terrorist, but to

make sure that the children were going to go to heaven. So God does

this. Now, you and I we can't ever, you know, say

it's okay to go kill innocent people. You and I can't say that.

We can't condone that because you know why, we're not God, and you

and I can't give heaven to anyone. Only God can give someone something infinitely

better than this life. Now, okay, we have to go past this

because we can't get balked down this. Here's the main point. Remember as

it relates to our story today, this is not a war of conquest or

getting richer. It is a war of God's justice. So Saul, don't

take anything for yourself. It's not about you, all right. So let's

see what Saul did. He obeyed God sort of, all right. Here

we go, and Saul defeated the Amalekites from Habilah as far as sure which

is east of Egypt. And he took a god, the king of the

Malachites, alive, and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of

the sword. Did you notice something here in this text? Who survived?

King of God? Is that everyone? No? It? Could God be

more crystal clear? Here? In verse nine, and he goes on it

says, but Saul the people's spirited gag and the best of the sheep,

and the ox and the fat calves and the lambs and all that was good,

and would not utterly destroy them. So here it is he was told

this is a war of justice. And what does he do. He takes

the king as his prisoner, and they keep all the good animals, and

so God is upset Saul. Samuel is visited in the night by God.

Verse ten goes on to say that God comes to the prophet Samuel, and

he says, this, I regret that I have made Saul king, for

he has turned his back from following me and has not performed my commandments.

And verse ten, the rest of us says that king that the prophet Samuel

was very upset. He was angry, he cried, he prayed all night,

and then he heads down the next morning to go confront Saul. And

check this out. As he goes to confront Saul, you're not gonna believe

this passage here. Checked this out and behold, Saul has set up a

monument for himself. Think about the audacity here. He came to the people

and said, you know, even though God odd one this war, here's

what I need you guys to do. You guys pile a bunch of rocks

up and put a little plaque out that says Saul. It is awesome.

Think about the audacity of this. And by the way, this is something

that kings have done throughout all of history because it's a sign of their greatness.

It's about leaving a legacy. It shows their their power. Nebucon Nezzer,

what do we see nebaicon Nezer do, King of Babylon. Well,

he builds a hanging gardens a Babylon one of the seven wonders of the world.

What do we see Pharaoh Ramesey's the second he builds these huge chipples and

he has these colossal statues of himself, and these these statues were a sign

that pointed to you know, his greatness and his reign. And then what

about Justinian. We see that Justinian had the Haga Sophia built in Constantinople for

over a thousand years. This was the biggest cathedral in the world. So

what do we see All throughout history, great kings build monuments to themselves so

that they are recognize for their power and their legacy. So what does Saul

do even though God won the war for him. Guess who wants to take

the credit? Saul? So he says, build me a monument. I

want the credit. This is not good. And by the way, this

is where the drama really starts. So listen, this is this is crazy.

Check this out. So Samuel approaches Saul and Saul says to him,

blessed be you to the Lord. And then listen to the delusionalist. He

goes, I have performed the commandment of the Lord. And this is one

of the coolest verses ever. And Samuel said, really, what is that

bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I

hear? And so Saul's like, hey, Samuel, so glad you're here.

I did everything the Lord commanded me to. And He's like, uh,

bro, I see a bunch of animals over there that didn't belong to

you. What did you not understand about that commandment? And so how does

uh you know? And here's the problem. Saul did not obey the Lord's

commandment. But when Saul came to Samiel, his religious figure that was in

charge of the nation, what does Saul do? Saul acts like everything's okay

when it's not okay. Saul acted like everything was okay when it's not okay.

Now, this is where we get to the hand slamming into the door

part of the message. How many of you, how many of us walk

into service every week? We walk in and we worship, we sing songs,

we have fellowship, and we act like everything is okay when it's not

really okay, when there's sin going on in our life, when there's hatred

in our soul, where we haven't forgiven our brother or sister or a coworker

or maybe we have secret effects for someone other than our spouse and we act

like it's okay. Or we have a secret addiction and we act like it's

okay. Or we've been watching Portant this week and we act like it's okay.

Or we've been withholding our tithe even though God has kiviated of us of

this, but we act like it's okay. Or maybe we were mean to

our spouse and our kids, but when we come in and worship and act

like it's okay. Or maybe we gossip to the point that doesn't even convict

us anymore, and we come in when we worship and we act like it's

all okay. See this unrepented sin that goes on in our life, and

if we live like it's just a normal thing, we get to the point

where we're like, I'm okay with it, but here's what I need to

do, and I understand today God is not okay with it. Now.

Can I tell you something. We all sin, I send you sin.

We all get convicted of our sins. But what we do after the Holy

Spirit convicts us is of life or death importance. See when we see Saul,

he gets to this point. He has a road that he can turn

down. He could go repent and he can change, or he can go

down another path that's going to lead him in the wrong way. And with

this, what does Saul do. Let's look at Saul's response. Check this

out. Saul said, they came by his people. They have brought them

from the Malachites for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen

and the sacrifice, so that we can sacrifice to the Lord your God,

and the rest we devoted to destructure. So check this out. When Samul

says, hey, what about these sheep right here over here, He's like,

ah, well, let's see here. First of all, I didn't

do it. My people did it. You know, he's the one in

charge. But he blames shifts, and then he comes up with another answer

real quick. He goes, they're not going back to the farm. We're

gonna have a huge religious service, a big festival, and we're gonna sacrifice

from the God. We're gonna have such a huge sacrifice that God is even

gonna be blown away. You see how he's making religious excuses, blames on

other people, tries to give a church answer, you know, as like

that, uh you know how the best way we can gossip is like,

you need to pray for Becky's husband. He's cheating on her again. Let's

pray for her. You know. It's like, no, I needed to

know that, you know, like we could use religion as an excuse for

sin, and he's using religious and people are gonna sacrifice all these and so

what do we see here? It says. Then Samuel said to Saul,

and I love this. He says, stop stop now. I don't know

about you, but not too often do you see an exclamation market in passage?

Right, we don't see that too often in scripture. So when we

see in scripture, we got to say, this is a big moment.

And I don't know what Samuel was wearing. I imagine when he looked kind

of like a Star Wars jedi, you know, he has a robe on

and some type of staff. And finally he looks at Saul. He goes,

saw, stop, what are you doing? Are you crazy? You

really are play miss on the people. You really want me to believe that

you took all these animals and you disobeyed God so that you can have a

beautiful worship service for God. And then he says, I'm gonna tell you

what the Lord said to me this night. And Samuel says, a,

Saul, though you were little in your own eyes, are you not head

of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. He

said, Saul, don't you remember you came from nothing, You had nothing,

you were nothing, But then God gave you everything. God made you

everything. And Saul, is that not good enough? And by the way,

we had to understand a little bit of what's going on here. Saul

took this king a gad and he took them me and put him in prison.

But let me tell you what the real reason was that. Let me

tell you what was really going on under the surface with Saul. Once a

year, kings would gather other kings who were their prisoners, who were emaciated

in chains, And once a year they would take the kings that they conquered

and they would walk them through a parade so that everybody could see the king

that they conquered and that they were the true king of kings. And Samuel

say, listen, God gave you everything, and now you build a monument

to yourself. You got a king in prison, so that you could show

him off at one of your ceremonies. What has happened to your soul,

Saul? And why do you think all of this is okay? And so

Samuel is just kind of just at what's in here, and we see here

that he said, all right, Saul, I know what's really going on.

You want to enhance your stature, you want to enhance your own kingdom,

and you want to elevate the glory of your life for all of your

people. The same It was like, really, you've come so far,

Saul. Let's look at verse eighteen. And Samuel said to him, the

Lord said you want a mission and said, go to vote to destruction the

sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they're all consumed. And

then he says, why then, did you not obey the voice of the

Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil? In other words, why

did you Why were you so greedy? Why did you crave it so much?

And he says, and do what was evil in the side of the

Lord? And what a Sam'll say? He says to him, like,

listen, I don't know what's going on in your soul, but you have

definitely disobeyed the Lord. And what was Saul's response? And Saul said the

same. He goes, listen, I've obeyed the voice of the Lord.

I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. All I

brought a gag the king of i'm Amelek, and I have devoted them Alakites

to destruction. He's making an excuse after an excuse, after an excuse.

Samuel said, you have not obeyed the Lord. But you were saying you

have obeyed the Lord. And this is where we have this moment. Saul

said, I did not obey the Lord because I wanted to give him a

really awesome worship service. Okay, And this is where we have this passage

that this is the one that you gotta let go deep diy your soul today.

This is the one that's got to just really really go deep down into

your heart because this is something that God is very serious about. And so

Samuel says to him, He says, does the Lord delight in burnt offerings?

In other words, as the Lord delight in all the things that you

think you can give him? Okay, does the Lord delight in burnt offerings

and sacrifices as much as obeying the Lord. Samuel says to them, you

can do all these religious things, but here's what God really wants from you.

He wants obedience from you. See, let's ask this question right now.

Is God really all about you coming to church, sitting in church,

seeking more songs, giving a little money. Does God want that more than

you just obeying him? Is that really what God is after? Is God

after a few hours of your time as God after your money? As God?

God bored? Is God poor? Does he just want more of your

money? No? No, Here's what God wants. God wants a surrendered

heart. God doesn't want our sacrifices, our allferings, our rituals. He

wants all of us. He wants a surrendered heart. And this is where

we have to understand. As you come into church today. You could have

a phenomenal worship service, you can serve you you can do all these things.

But God really wants from you today, God really requires of you today

is a surrendered heart. Now, this next passage we're gonna talk about right

now. I studied this like crazy all through the week. It was one

of the most confusing passages I've ever read him. And the way it looks

from the surface, it looks like it's saying something, but as we dig

into it, I think it's saying something else. All right, here's what

Samuel says to King Saul. He's talking about his rebellion, and he says,

listen, God wants total obedience from you. And then he says,

for rebellion is as the sin of divination. And so what he's saying is,

if you know what divination is, it's witchcraft, it's idolatry, as

Satanism is satan worship. And he's saying, as sin and rebellion when it's

not dealt with or repented of, are taken seriously. It's almost the same

as having idols are Satan as a truler of your life. And that's very

confusing here. And now here's one thing I could do. I can relate

to rebellion. I can relate to what it's like to be in church and

grew up in church, and to rebel. I remember growing up and all

of a sudden, when it hit a certain age, I would watch pornography

and then I would go to worship service and I would say, God,

I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. And every repent,

and then the next week I'm a slip. I'd watch porn again and

I'm say God, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I repent,

I repent, I repent, and then I would go again the next week,

and I wo'd watch pornography and I would say, God, I don't

want that. I'll only want you, please help me. And then I

got a girlfriend and g and I we would mess up here and then I'm

gonna go to church, but I would say God, forgive us, forgive

us, and we mess up again. I say God, I don't want

to do that. I only want to teach you. We would go to

these church camps and these retreats, and I would go down to the altar

and I say, God, please help me. I don't want to send

and get you. And then after a while, because I was one of

those church kids, I had to be at church three times a week.

After a while, I got tired of repenting. And then after a while

I stopped repenting. And it only took about a year for me to not

even feel bad about it. I became okay with my sin brothers and sisters,

especially those of us who have been in church. For a long time.

How easy is it for us to become okay with our sin in our

life. We could become so comfortable that we become okay with the sin and

our life. Some might be sleeping with her girlfriend and say that's okay,

cheating on our taxes, or doing something that God doesn't want us to do,

and then or maybe you know, we haven't forgiven someone because we're so

bitter, and we just get to the point where we're just okay with it.

Now, here's a question I have for you. He talks about rebellion

as of divination. Now, so is he really saying that if we sin

and rebel against God, that's like saintan worship? First of all, hear

me clearly, I think that sounds extreme and crazy if you take it like

that, almost cultish or even cruel. Here's what I believe that Samuel was

saying to Saul. He's saying, Saul, if you're just gonna do what

you want instead of what God has commanded you to do, and if you're

just gonna make excuses of blame it on others instead of repenting and truly being

remorseful, you might as well follow Satan because you're not sincerely following the Lord.

And so he calls for Saul out to be delusional and think that just

because he has some religious things going on in his life well at the same

time, thinking that he could do what he wants and go on sinning and

not taking a sin serious. What Samuel saying is, then, who is

really your lord? And he's saying to Saw that most likely your lord is

Satan, because if you're just living your life with unrepented sin and you're okay

with it, you're definitely not following the Lord. You might as well follow

Satan. Now, how does this apply to us? The question today is

are you just allowing things to go on in your life unrepented sin? You've

become okay with it, So the question is who is really your Lord?

And I love that Samuel uses the word rebellion here. It helps us understand

unrepented sin better. Let me give you this quote here today. See sin

is not only wicked only because of what you do, but because of who's

authority you reject. See sin is rebellion. Let's get back to the text

here. He says, because you've read rejected the word of the Lord,

he has also rejected you as king. So now he's finally handed down the

consequence. He says, all right, Saul, you've made a lot of

excuses. You've lied today, you've taken these animals, you've taken a king,

and then you act like it's called for a worship service. You're a

liar. You're doing all these things, and you're trying to cover it all

up in religion, he says, all right, here's what's happened to you.

Now your kingdom is torn from you. Now now watch all right,

finally there's a consequence. So what's he do here? And then, Saul,

he said, to see me and listen, I've sinned. I've trying

aggressed the commandment of the Lord and your words because I feared the people and

obeyed your voice. So okay, it looks like repentance. But let me

ask you a question. Is that true repentance? LL tell you right now,

no, because the two reasons. One is because we see in later

chapters he continues to do the same number two. Look at the next phrase.

Check this out. He says, all right, here's what I need

to do. Now. Therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me

that I may worship the Lord now here. Understand this, Saul is not

saying, part of me and my sin. And then Samuel, let's me

and you go to a chapel and sing some worship songs together and prayse the

Lord. No no, no, no no no. See there's not really

be a big national celebration, and it's gonna be this big religious ceremony.

And he knows, he knows that if Samuel does not go as the head

prophet of the nation and do the main sacrifices and lead the ceremony, that

it's gonna look bad on Saul. And if Samuel is not standing next to

Saul, what does that mean. It means that the Lord is disappointed in

Saul, that Saul has sinned against the Lord, and maybe just maybe Saul

has been rejected as a king. And so what Saul says is he's like,

Hey, I'm really sorry, I really messed up. But here's what

I need you to do. Can we and I go play church? Can

we go to the worship service and act like everything's all right? Because it'll

just kill me if people knew what's really going on, what's really going on?

And we've seen this all throughout history happened where people are more concerned about

their status than they are their soul, more concerned about what people think about

them than the state of their heart. We remember in the late nineties Bill

Clinton he had this affair with a young lady named Monicael Lewinsky. And I

don't know about you, but I'll never forget that moment on television where he

from the whole nation he said this, He goes, I did not have

sexual relations with that woman, miss Lewinsky. Now, the crux of this

illustration is not that he had an affair. The crux of this illustration is

simply this, it's what followed. Okay. See that statement was a deliberate

untruth, a lie told in the hope of avoiding consequences and actions. But

the truth surfaced and it came to light, and his deceit was shown for

everyone. And by the way, he was impeached by one group and another

group he was acquitted. But the point is that this is his legacy now

and the real problem was is he was more worried about being caught than con

fact, he was more worried about his reputation than his relationship with God.

Let me ask you a question. Are you more worried about how you look

to others or how you look before God? Imagine this morning, as I

walked in, I got an envelope and it has everybody's name in the room.

I don't feel with the envelope, and it's all of your specific secret

sins, and I get to go. All right, you stand up,

and you stand up, and I go and I read through all of your

sins. What do you think would happen? First of all, you would

hate me. Secondly, you'd walk out. And then probably the third thing

is i'd hear from your lawyer because I would be some getting sued for slander.

But here's the thing. It would kill so many of us. And

by the way, I'm included, it would kill so many of us if

our sins were read out loud before the church, because that what embarrasses.

But yeah, we walk before the Lord, We stand before the Lord,

and he knows all the sins, and yet we go on and worship and

act as if everything is okay. Let's go on and move on and see

this is what was going on in Saul's life. And Samuel said, a

Saul, I will not return with you for you have rejected the word of

the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.

Now check this drama out. You can't get better screen writing than this.

And Samuel turned away, and Saul seized the skirt of his robe and a

tour. Now, Samuel, this is the most awesome thing you can say

to somebody in this moment. He ripped his robe. Samuel turns around and

he says this, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this

day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who's better than you.

What a dramatic scene. He rips the robe and then he says, as

you ripped my robe, So it's the kingdom ripped from you. All right,

We're not done the last part of the verse. Today, here we

go. And then Samuel said, hey, bring me that king. Hey,

gug Akis and so Aggag came out to him in chains. I checked

this out. This is crazy and this guy is very delusional too. And

he thought, all right, surely the bitterness of death has passed. And

here's what happens. They called for the king to come out, and he's

thinking his head, surely the bitterness of death has passed on. He's thinking

in his mind, he's like, all right, people, are we still

mad about all those people I killed? Like? You've killed some people,

I've killed some people. We've all killed some people, you know. You

know, everybody's chopped a neck or two, you know. And so he's

literally thinking like, hey, are you guys still mad at me for killing

all those people? I mean, he's delusional. He's like, are you

guys still bitter about this? And check out Samuel's response. And Samuel said,

as your sword has made women childless? So shall your mother be childless

among women? And Samuel hacked agag to pieces before the lord in Gilgal.

That's your bible. That's what happened. I really should have saved this sermon

for Halloween. I might pull this back out of Halloween. Now that's in

an the story. You guys ready to sing some worship songs. Let me

give you three things before we shift. One, disobedience is anything less than

full immediate obedience. So let me ask you a question today, where are

you not fully obeying? Two? Your disobedience grows out of a greedy desire.

Saul's disobedience came from a passion to be great, to be big in

his own eyes, you know. And that's why you had a monument,

That's why you kept the spoils. See, your sin always grows out of

some deep soul dissatisfaction. You believe that there's something you have to have to

truly be happy and satisfied. And that's where your sin's gonna come from.

Number three, disobedience can only be overcome by the Gospel. See only Jesus

in complete surrender to Him can change the affections and the desires of your heart.

By the Holy Spirit. Today, I just want to remind you nineteen

twelve. We all know this story. The Titanic took out from Southampton all

the way to New York, and they believed it was unsinkable. It had

all the latest technology in a state of art, and it was the greatest

achievement of mankind up to this point. And they just thought, we've done

it, We've created something that can't sink. And then they kept getting all

these warnings over and over again, like hey, we're headed towards myspers,

we're headed towards myspers, We're head towards my icebergs. And they just kept

going because they thought it was unsinkable, and then they hit the iceberg,

and we know the rest of the story. The ship sunk, fifteen hundred

people passed away. They didn't even have enough lifeboats because they believed it was

unsinkable. Now, how does that apply to us. I think if you

hear something enough like it's okay, it's okay, you start to believe it's

okay, it's okay, it's okay. And I think even with grace,

sometimes we could understand grace, and we could take grace to the point where

we say it's okay, it's okay, it's okay, and it's okay,

and then we can become comfortable with the sin in our life and we start

to say it's okay, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay, and

we don't realize that someday this sin will lead to destruction in our life.

And I love you as your pastor, and I truly want the best for

you. And so today here's what I want to challenge us to do.

I want us to go before the Lord and hear in the next few moments,

and I want us to search our hearts and if there's any sin that

we become okay with. I want us to repent and give it to the Lord