"Strike 3: Rejecting God's Word," 1 Samuel 15:1-35, Dan Claire

Please be seated. Turn in your.

Bibles to 1st. Samuel chapter 15 in the Church.

Bible The Black Bible. It's page 222.

First Samuel 15, we'll be looking at this very.

Difficult chapter together. Today.

Is the feast of. King of Kings.

Jesus, our Lord of Lords, we. Celebrate him on Christ the King

Sunday. He's the King we do not deserve,

but we desperately need and. We believe here at the Church of

the. Resurrection.

That all. Scripture is God.

Breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof and

correction and training and righteousness.

That we may be complete equipped.

For every good work. And so that includes.

Tough chapters like first. Samuel 15.

And we're going to do our best to make sense of it together.

This is the last chapter. In our series in First Samuel

this fall and it's it's a challenge.

We. Have seen this thus far in this

series. That we usually get the leaders

that we deserve people. Who put themselves center?

Stage who push God off. Into the wings and make

themselves king over all. And King Saul exemplifies this

in First Samuel. His egocentrism is a stark

reminder that we need better. We need a miracle leader, one

who is both just and merciful. One who never.

Breaks the law. But who's willing to lay down

his? Life for lawbreakers like us.

And as we. Dig deeper today.

We're going to see. That Jesus is.

Truly the miracle leader that we need but do not.

Deserve. So let's pray.

We turn to you, Lord, and give thanks to you.

For your word. And ask for you to help us

understand, give us minds to understand and.

Hearts to believe? And the courage.

To live faithfully. According to what?

You teach us. For we pray in Jesus name, Amen.

So here's a brief recap of where.

We've been in for Samuel so far. God raised up.

Samuel as a miracle. Leader.

Samuel was theocentric, God centered, rather than

egocentric. He put God first rather than

himself. But the people wanted a king

like all of the other nations, and so God consented.

He gave them Saul. He warned them of the dangers,

but he gave them King Saul and Saul.

Started off very well. Saul wasn't a bad character from

the beginning. He started off with a clean

slate, just like Adam in the Garden of Eden.

And when the first challenge came, Saul.

Rose to meet. It and he did better than Adam,

the king of the Ammonites, Nakash, which means serpent,

came into the promised land to. Devour God's people.

But Saul obeyed God. He.

Rallied an army and they went together and destroyed the

serpent. But then Saul.

Let that victory go to his head and.

Instead of remaining God centered.

He. Curved in on himself over the

last couple of Sundays we've seen his.

Rapid. Decline In chapter 13, Saul gave

in to his anxiety. He disobeyed God and he tried to

manipulate. God through ritual sacrifice.

And then when Samuel confronted him, he didn't repent.

Strike one against Saul Last Sunday, chapter 14, we saw

Saul's anxiety grow into despotism.

He burdened his army. With stupid rules.

Provoking them to sin against the Lord, he also condemned his

son Jonathan to death. Jonathan The.

War Hero. Another incredibly stupid thing

to do. And even after the army ransomed

Jonathan back, Saul did not repent.

Strike two against King Saul we come to.

The Passage. Today, for Samuel 15, this is.

Saul's last. Chance he's had.

Lots of. Opportunities to repent.

And here is one more. But his selfishness, his

egocentrism is going to cost him the Kingdom.

But first before. We look at this, we need to

understand what God is asking Saul to do, and that's in verse.

Three, a very difficult verse. Let's look at it together in

verse. Three, God commanded.

Saul to strike? Amalek and devote to destruction

all that. They have.

Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant,

ox and sheep, camel and donkey. It's really.

Hard to hear. Isn't it startling that God

would command such a thing? It sounds kind of like genocide.

Was it? Was it really necessary?

This word devote to. Destruction.

It's a single Hebrew word, harem, and it means a kind of

capital punishment for an individual.

Or a group. Who has become so utterly?

Wicked. So hell bent on destroying.

God's people. Because this was only a command

in the Old Testament. Period of Israel.

So hell bent on destroying God's people that.

God's justice required their destruction.

Now our. God is, is.

Gracious and merciful. But he is.

Also an all consuming fire he. Is.

Slow to anger, but when the land fills with.

Blood God has to act. To bring justice.

God's compassion for us is greater than we can ever

imagine, but He cannot abide in. Justice forever so.

God in his mercy intervenes to set things right, and it's.

God's prerogative to do this, because this is our Father's

world after all. He made the world.

He made us and put us in it. He gave us rules to live by, but

we have. Disobeyed him and the punishment

for sin is. Death by his.

Grace, he has made a way. For us to live forever through.

Jesus, his son Jesus is death. For us so that.

We might live. Jesus is the Savior.

King, that we desperately need but do not deserve.

Now Christians believe that on judgement.

Day all of. US will stand before God and

have to give an account. Jesus will come again to judge

the living and the dead. And on that.

Day, those who. Have made Jesus their king.

Will be saved from eternal. Death.

The death that we rightly deserve.

But in the Old Testament, during the time of the.

People of Israel. In rare instances.

God called for. Harem, this devotion to

destruction, and this. Was a little bit like.

Judgement Day brought from the future into the present harem.

Was a tactical strike. Against the serpent.

To keep the. Serpent from canceling Christmas

to. Save the Savior of the world.

Of all the enemies of Israel, the Amalekites were the most.

Vicious. In the Exodus.

After the Israelites had escaped through the red.

Sea escaped from Egypt. The Amalekites attacked them

when they were down, when they were faint and weary.

You may remember this story. Moses had to.

Keep his staff held high. In order to fight against the

Amalekites and later when Moses reflected on this.

Battle, he described. What the Amalekites were doing,

He described it as cutting off their tails.

Cutting off their tails? What did that mean?

It's a strange expression the rabbis in the centuries to come

understood. It to be a.

Euphemism for castration, and it makes sense because the

Amalekites were genocidal maniacs.

With the Israelites. In their sights, cutting off.

Israel's tails. Was, in effect, a most painful

and humiliating way to exterminate the Jews in that

day. The Amalekites, in so doing,

were serving the serpent. As he tried to destroy the.

Seed of the woman and to prevent the Messiah from coming.

To save us. And this storyline continues

through the Old Testament. It continues all the way.

Up to the story of Esther, because today, Saul.

Doesn't do his job. The story continues all the way.

Up to Esther. And Esther outwits Haman, who is

a descendant of the Amalekites and Haman's plot even in those.

Days was to. Exterminate the Jews.

But for today, in our story today, it's important to see

that God's command. To devote.

The Amalekites to destruction didn't happen overnight.

It wasn't something that God just came up with and told Saul

to go and do it. It was literally.

Centuries in the making that God had been giving them opportunity

to repent. They were Abraham's neighbors

when Abraham and Sarah came to the land of Canaan.

They could have. Come.

To faith through. Abraham.

God did not send Abraham to destroy them, but at the same

time God gave Abraham a sense of what was yet to come.

God said to. Abraham, your offspring will

sojourn in Egypt and be. Afflicted for four. 100 years.

Why 400? Years, God tells.

Abraham this he says the sin of the Canaanites, including the

Amalekites, has not yet. Reached.

Its full measure their sin is growing.

And over. Those 400 years, Israel

encountered many. Foes the.

Egyptians enslaved them, God did not.

Tell the Jews to kill. The Egyptians to destroy them

utterly. Likewise the.

Philistines enslaved the. Israelites but God.

Did not command them to completely.

Wipe out the. Philistines, but the Canaanites

in general and the Amalekites in particular wanted to

exterminate. God's people.

These nations were were. Brutally wicked.

They were depraved. Among other things.

They they worshipped. Satan, essentially they.

Put their. Children into the fire, and they

were such an existential. Threat to Israel?

That God eventually lost his patience with them.

Even so, coming up to this time there were opportunities for

repentance as Israel came into the Promised land.

You may remember the. Story of the fall of Jericho.

A canaanite city and rahab was given the opportunity to repent

she came and joined the Israelites even though she was a

canaanite woman, and threw her the.

Seed. Of the Messiah was passed down.

She was a matriarch of the Messiah.

Later on in the book of Joshua, an entire Canaanite city

converted and joined. The Israelites.

So it's really clear through the story that.

Repentance and inclusion of Canaanites into the people of

God was permitted, but eventually the time ran out and

that's the 400 year thing that God said to Abraham.

For 400 years. The Amalekites never repented,

and so God called on. Saul to devote.

Them to destruction now before we move on to see what happened.

Let's. Talk about evangelism for a

minute, because we have to remember our mission as

ambassadors. Of Jesus our.

King. This day of.

Judgement is approaching for everyone, for us, and for all

the people in the world, including our neighbors and our

relatives and our classmates. And coworkers.

There is still time for everyone to repent and turn to Jesus as

King. But they have to.

Hear the good news and how. Will they hear?

How will they believe? If they've never.

Heard How are they to? Hear without someone telling

them. We've got to tell them it's not

optional. Jesus didn't give us the great.

Elective. He didn't give us the great

option. The great hobby he gave us the.

Great Commission. As his disciples.

He sent us out. To share the gospel.

And it is an essential and central part of being a

Christian. If this is not something that

you're engaged in, it calls into question whether you are really

a Christian at all. Now let's see if.

Saul did. As God commanded starting in

verse. 12 Look at what happened. Samuel.

Set out to discover whether Saul.

Had been obedient to the Lord or not, and the rest.

Of the chapter reads like a. 6 count indictment against King

Saul. The first charge is Saul's

pride. Look at verse 12.

This is the first thing that Samuel learned when he inquired.

Of Saul, he discovered that Saul had already.

Created a monument to himself down by the Amalekite.

City. It's a very bad sign because.

Pride is the 1st of. The deadly sins and.

Pride always goes before a fall. Verse 13.

The second thing was Saul's deception when Samuel finally

caught up with. Saul.

In verse 13. Saul boasted of success, he

said. I have performed the

commandment. Of the Lord.

But Saul was lying and the evidence was all around.

And So what did Samuel say? He says, what's the sound of the

bleeding of bleeding of sheep in my ears, the lowing of oxen that

I hear remember that God had commanded.

Saul to devote. Everything to destruction, not

just the crummy things and to keep the good things, but the

bleeding of sheep. Was a telltale.

Sign. Of Saul's.

Deception in addition to Saul's. Pride and deception.

Thirdly, there's his greed. Look at verse 15.

He he reported. Now.

He's come up with a better idea. He.

Says instead of letting them go. To waste these animals that

he's. Brought them.

Back to be a peace offering, which is a different kind of

offering, a different kind of sacrifice than the harem.

This, this devotion to destruction, the peace.

Offering. Was a meal shared with God kind

of like Holy Communion for us? Where the people would get the

the. Meaty portions that would be

roasted and all the rest would be burned up on the altar.

But God had very explicitly told Saul to do the harem.

Where everything was devoted to destruction.

In other words, it all belonged to God and what Saul was doing

was the same sin as Eli. Or as.

Hophony and Phineas, Eli's sons who were stealing from God at

the beginning of first Samuel, on top of.

Saul's pride, his deception, and.

Greed, Saul. Also disobeyed God.

Verse 19. Samuel asked why.

Hadn't. He obeyed.

God's commands. And Saul said.

Verse 20. I have.

Obeyed the Lord, I have gone. On the mission on which the Lord

sent me and I have. Brought back King.

Agag with me, the king of Amalek.

This is a problem because that. Is not what God had told him to

do, and he knows it. It's.

Disobedience plain. And simple saul's #1 tactical

objective. Was to take out the king of.

The Amalekites not to bring him back as a trophy.

Fifthly in. Addition to pride, deception,

greed and disobedience, Saul shifted the blame look at this

verse 21 he said the. People did it.

It was the people's fault. The people took the spoil.

It was their fault. See Saul's totally.

Innocent. It's not his fault, it's like.

Aaron when? Moses comes down from Mount

Sinai, right? And.

He sees the. Golden calf.

And he says to Aaron, what is going on?

And Aaron is like, Gee, Moses, I don't know.

The people just gave me all their gold.

I threw it into the fire and I'll pop this golden calf.

Same thing, Saul. Is blaming.

His followers. When it is.

Really. Truly his fault.

Finally, after. Saul's pride, deception, greed.

Disobedience, blame shifting. There's just plain old treason.

Verses 22 and 23. Samuel asks.

Does. God prefer burnt.

Offerings over obedience. No, he says.

To obey is more. Important than sacrifice like we

heard in Psalm 51, the. Alternative to.

Obedience is rebellion, Samuel goes on to say.

He calls it the. Sin of divination and idolatry.

Adam's. Rebellion in the Garden was

treachery against the Lord, and in the same way Saul's rebellion

was a changing of sides, adjoining forces with the devil

who prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Especially the seed of the woman.

Because the serpent wants to gobble.

Up the Savior before he comes. So.

Saul's treachery was a win. For the devil, and sadly, this

is how Saul. 'S story ends.

We won't get to it. This fall.

But hopefully, when we come back to this story, we will.

See the last scene of Saul. Before his death.

Is he's in. The House of a witch the night

before. So because of these six sins.

Samuel declared verse 23 God's rejection of Saul as king and

for the very first time in the whole story, verse 24, Saul

confesses his sin and it's. Possibly a good sign.

Of something changing in him. But it doesn't last for long,

because instead of tearing his robes, covering himself with

sackcloth and ashes. What he's really.

Concerned about is what, everybody?

Else thinks of him, verse 25. Please pardon my sin and return

with me so that I can bow before the Lord.

He wants to save face in front of the people.

He says it again in verse 30. I have.

Sinned. Yet honor me now before the.

Elders of. My people and before Israel.

So what's? Happened is Saul.

Has come around full circle back to.

Where he started to the. Sin of pride.

Pride was the capstone of his. Failures and to most of our

elected. Leaders today, right?

What? They have in.

Common is this egocentrism putting themselves center stage.

Rather. Than the Lord pushing God off

into the shadows and pride is like crystal meth.

It will. Kill you.

It will. Absolutely kill you.

Apart from Jesus. It will kill you.

So how does this? Story End verse 20. 7 As Samuel

turns to leave, Saul rips. Off a tassel, off of his robes,

Samuel. Uses this as an illustration of

what's going to happen. A prophetic sign so.

Also will your Kingdom. Be torn from you and given to

another. And then Samuel had to do Saul's

job. For him, he.

Had. To dispatch Agag and SO.

He says to Agag. As your sword.

Has made women childless. Particularly Jewish.

Women so. Shall your.

Mother be childless among women. And then he hacked him to

pieces, which was. What was required by the law?

For burnt offerings, that's. The end.

Of this. Story but not.

The end of First Samuel, and when we pick it up again

someday, hopefully next fall, A man after God's own heart.

Will be anointed. King and King David will be.

Great. And will be terrible.

He will be in some. Ways more sinful, more

outrageously sinful than Saul. But the big difference between

Saul and David is that. David Will.

Confess his sins and humble himself before the.

Lord and He. Will return to this kind of

theocentrism over and over again and through David's lineage,

Christ the Savior. Will be born.

Not only for Israel's sake. But for all of the world.

And what will come in Jesus is that instead of.

Pride there will be. Humility.

Think about Jesus. He will come.

Laid in a Manger with no form or majesty that we should.

Behold him. No beauty that we should.

Desire him. And instead of deception so

common amongst our leaders. Jesus will be the way, the

truth. And the life with no deceit in

his mouth and instead of greed. Jesus will.

Come not to be served. But to serve.

And to give his life. As a ransom.

For many, and as Jesus goes to Jerusalem, he will not disobey

the Lord. But he will.

Go without even opening his mouth like a lamb to.

The slaughter obeying. The word of the Lord, and when

Jesus is betrayed, instead of treason, he.

Will be stricken, he will. Be smitten he will be afflicted.

Wounded for our transgressions, Bruised for our iniquities.

Chastised. For our peace and.

By his stripes. We will be healed.

And when he's lifted up on the cross instead of blame shifting.

Jesus will bear our griefs. And sorrows.

With a crown. Of thorns upon his head, and

most everyone will mock him but for those.

Who know the? Truth about themselves, they

will say, Jesus, Remember Me when you come into your Kingdom,

and on the cross above him there will be a sign.

A sign. That says Rex in Latin.

That says. Basilius in Greek.

And hamelic in Aramaic and. For us, it's.

King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the miracle king that we

so desperately need and do not deserve.

Let's. Pray to him.

Now we come before you, Lord, with.

Such gratefulness. For what you have done for us,

for we certainly deserve destruction, and you have shown

us mercy. And in your humility, lay down

your life for us instead. So as we reflect on these.

Things we want to follow you in resurrection life out into the

world and to bring the good news of what you have done for us.

To everyone around. Us and I pray for my brothers

and sisters here. Today that they would have

courage to do this, especially over the holiday week, that they

would go boldly out from this. Place in the power of the Holy

Spirit. Sharing the good.

News of what? You have.

Done for us and I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.