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1 Samuel 15. We've spent longer 
in this chapter than normal. We dealt with the ethical challenge 
in verses 1 to 9, the whole idea wherein God tells Saul and the 
children of Israel to go in and utterly destroy the Amalekites. 
If you do any witnessing or apologetics or evangelism, very often you'll 
hear people make objections like this. Why would God sanction 
or condone or encourage genocide? So we sought to give some rationale 
to this particular section or offer up some help to combat 
such things. And then we saw there is a challenge 
or a theological challenge to the doctrine. of divine impassibility. In verse 11 and 35, we read that 
the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king. And in verse 
29, it says, also the strength of Israel will not lie nor relent, 
for he is not a man that he should relent. We dealt with the doctrine 
of divine impassibility two weeks ago. So tonight, we return to 
the exposition proper. We'll be taking up verses 10 
to 35. But I do want to read beginning in chapter 15 at verse 
1. Samuel also said to Saul, the 
Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people, over Israel. 
Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus 
says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did 
to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from 
Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that 
they have, and do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, 
infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. 
So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Tulam, 200,000 
foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah. And Saul came to a 
city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said 
to the Kenites, go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, 
lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all 
the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the 
Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. And Saul attacked 
the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east 
of Egypt. He also took Agag, king of the 
Amalekites, alive and utterly destroyed all the people with 
the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared 
Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, 
and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy 
them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly 
destroyed. Now the word of the Lord came 
to Samuel saying, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, 
for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel, and he 
cried out to the Lord all night. So when Samuel rose early in 
the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel saying, Saul 
went to Carmel. And indeed, he set up a monument 
for himself. And he has gone on around, passed 
by, and gone down to Gilgal. And Samuel went to Saul, and 
Saul said to him, blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed 
the commandment of the Lord. Samuel said, what then is this 
bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen which 
I hear? And Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites. 
For the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to 
sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have utterly 
destroyed. And Samuel said to Saul, be quiet, 
and I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night. And 
he said to him, speak on. So Samuel said, when you were 
little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of 
Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you a king over Israel? 
Now the Lord sent you on a mission and said, go and utterly destroy 
the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until 
they are consumed. Why then did you not obey the 
voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the 
spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord? And Saul said to 
Samuel, but I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and gone on 
the mission on which the Lord sent me and brought back Agag 
king of Amalek. I have utterly destroyed the 
Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, 
sheep, and oxen, the best of the things which should have 
been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. 
So Samuel said, has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings 
and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, 
to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. 
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness 
is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the 
word of the Lord, he also has rejected you from being king. 
Then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed 
the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared 
the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon 
my sin and return with me, that I may worship the Lord. But Samuel 
said to 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. And as Samuel turned around to 
go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. So 
Samuel said to him, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel 
from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who 
is better than you. and also the strength of Israel, 
will not lie nor relent, for he is not a man that he should 
relent. Then he said, I have sinned, 
yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before 
Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord your God. 
So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord. 
Then Samuel said, bring Agag, king of the Amalekites, here 
to me. So Agag came to him cautiously. And Agag said, surely the bitterness 
of death is past. Samuel said, as your sword has 
made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among 
women. And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces 
before the Lord in Gilgal. And Samuel went to Ramah, and 
Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel went 
no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless, 
Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that he had 
made Saul king over Israel." Amen. So essentially what we 
have in this particular chapter are three broad sections. First, 
the command to destroy the Amalekites in verses 1 to 9, which we have 
already looked at. Secondly, the rebellion of Saul 
against the Lord in verses 10 to 23. And then thirdly, the 
rejection of Saul by the Lord in verses 24 to 35. So we'll 
take up the rebellion and the rejection tonight. So remember, 
after they come back from this particular mission, God's command 
and God's word was crystal clear to Saul. He wasn't to go in and 
spare anything. What God commanded is found very 
clearly stated in verse 3. Go and attack Amalek, utterly 
destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. Kill both 
man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and 
donkey. Then when you notice specifically 
in verse 9, it says, but Saul and the people spared Agag and 
the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and 
all that was good." That sort of is an overarching statement 
concerning all that follows beyond this section. Because what we 
find is that Saul does not embrace the reality of what he has done. He continues to think that he 
has fully obeyed God He puts the blame ultimately upon the 
people. Later on in the chapter, he says 
that he feared the people and he did what they had him to do. 
But the narrator tells us very specifically that Agag and the 
livestock were spared because of Saul and the people. Saul 
was the king. He had the authority. He had the rule over Israel. 
And whatever he determined would be what took place. So let's 
look first at this rebellion of Saul against the Lord. Notice 
the response in verses 10 and 11. We saw this last time. The word of the Lord came to 
Samuel saying, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king. 
God is speaking in the manner of man. Remember, this is an 
improper predication. If it were properly predicated 
of God, then it would be that God regretted what he had decreed. It was God who formally decreed 
that Saul would be the king. This is a figure of speech, an 
anthropopathism, that is designed to tell us something about the 
enormity of Saul's sin and the gravity of God's justice and 
righteousness. Certainly, Samuel interpreted 
it this way. He did not believe that this 
was a proper predication. He did not believe there was 
emotional fluctuation in God, because Samuel later, in verse 
29, tells Saul that God does not lie nor relent. He is not 
a man that he should relent. So Samuel understood the particular 
literary convention that God used in verse 10, or in verse 
11, and then Samuel responds accordingly. He has grieved Samuel 
according to the end of verse 11, and he cried out to the Lord 
all night. He responded to this in an appropriate 
manner. He was grieving to the man of 
God to see the King of Israel engage in such rebellion against 
the Lord God Most High. Now that brings us to this confrontation 
with Saul in verses 12 to 21. They meet in Carmel. This is 
not Mount Carmel where Elijah threw down with the prophets 
of Baal, but rather this was a smaller city. Notice that Saul 
had erected a monument. Notice in verse 12, it says, 
indeed he set up a monument for himself. Now, this was common 
among kings. When you would win a particular 
military battle, they would set up a monument in terms of their 
victory. So it probably wasn't an idol 
to himself. It probably doesn't have any 
other sort of significance than the fact he really thought he 
did a good job. You see that throughout the chapter, 
don't you? He really thinks that he did 
a bang-up job in obeying God. Yes, he may have almost decimated 
the entirety of the Amalekite population. He did, in fact, 
get rid of the livestock, or some of the livestock. God had 
commanded him to do so. But we need to understand that 
a partial obedience is not obedience. just about honoring God doesn't 
get the job done. If you do 99.9% of what God says, 
you will still be damned for that other tenth of a point. 
We need to understand that when God commands, it is obedience 
that is to be perfect, it is to be perpetual, it is to be 
exact, it is to be entire, as our confession of faith summarizes. This is the beauty and the glory 
of the Christian gospel. None of us obey the way that 
God says. Christ did. He fully executed 
the law of God. He fully submitted and he fully 
obeyed every jot and every tittle. What we have here is a picture 
of an imperfect obedience that is not obedience at all. So we 
need to understand that when we try, or when we knowingly 
give God less than what He demands, we really ought not to pat ourselves 
on the back and try to take credit for being extra-specially good 
people. Because that's what Saul seems 
to maintain throughout. from this monument all the way 
through, even later when it says that he repented or he confessed 
his sin, I don't think it was a confession that was real. I 
think he just wanted to fix the particular predicament that he 
was in. Similar again to the things that we sometimes do. 
We find ourselves in a mess. Instead of genuinely humbling 
ourselves before the Lord God and casting ourselves upon the 
mercy of Christ, we just want to fix the immediate situation 
so it doesn't go as bad as we think it might go. So Saul here 
is really an excellent picture, not only of a disobedient king, 
but of a religious hypocrite. Through and through, this man 
sets forth that reality, that religious hypocrisy is a reality, 
and Saul is a poster child for that very thing. Notice, so they 
meet in Carmel. Notice the assessment of Saul 
in verse 13. This is truly amazing. Samuel 
went to Saul and Saul said to him, blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed the commandment 
of the Lord. Now this is truly amazing in 
light of verse 11. In verse 11 we read, God himself 
say, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king. And now 
in two verses later, Saul is congratulating himself for doing 
what the Lord had commanded. I have performed the commandment 
of the Lord. We need to understand here that 
the deceptiveness of sin is a reality. Again, we may think that we're 
doing well. We may think that all is in order. We may think that we have all 
our ducks in a line. But the Lord God two verses previous 
to this is saying, I greatly regret that I had set Saul up 
as king. Saul is just wandering through 
life thinking that he is pleasing God when indeed he is actually 
rebelling against God. I hope you see the parallels, 
okay? I hope you see that when we engage 
in a partial Christianity, When we engage in a partial conduct 
that is worthy of the Lord, when we are holding back in a particular 
area, or we are nurturing a particular sin, or we are not dealing with 
a particular sin, we might have our act together in 80% of our 
lives. but if in that twenty percent we have some secret wicked 
thing that we continue to engage in and we continue to deceive 
ourselves in thinking that all is well because after all we've 
got this much in order we deceive ourselves it's better to confess 
the twenty to vomit it up to God and say please forgive me 
be merciful to me you know there are men I'm sure you've heard 
of them pastorates that fall into sexual sin. They preach 
the gospel, or they preach the Bible week in and week out. If you look at those particular 
men, perhaps it looks like 90% of their lives are in good check 
or good order. But in that 10%, they're nurturing 
a particular sin. They're looking at porn, or they're 
engaged in all kinds of wickedness. Or it could be a sister in the 
church. 90% she's doing quite well. She's helping people that 
have had babies. She's helping people that need 
help. She is visiting people. She is a good woman in terms 
of that 90%. But she is a gossipy, slanderous 
wretch and thinking that all the while she is serving God. 
We really need to learn from Saul that we have to have a better 
assessment of the way things genuinely are. Most likely, we 
are not as good as we are inclined to think. Most likely, we are 
not able to say, I have performed the commandment of the Lord. 
Now notice, I'm saying most likely. You may be that particular snowflake 
in our congregation that in your personal identity is rendering 
up much better obedience to the Lord than the rest of us. But 
most likely, for the rest of us, we need to realize that we 
are probably not as holy as we think that we are. Saul was fooling 
himself. Saul actually thought that by 
sparing ag-ag and sparing these livestock, he nevertheless was 
obeying God. I mean, I hope that you see how 
well the author constructs this particular narrative to shine 
the light on the reality that Saul is not righteous whatsoever. I mean, just in the space of 
a few verses, we see utter disobedience, we see the regret of God, and 
then we see Saul happen upon Samuel and say, you know, blessed 
are you of the Lord, I have performed all that the Lord has said to 
me. It's incredible that he does this. Now notice the questioning 
indictment of Samuel. Verse 14, but Samuel said, what 
then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing 
of the ox in which I hear? Samuel was no fool. He understood 
the harem principle. And by harem, I don't mean a 
group of women that fan people and feed them grapes. The Hebrew 
word that is the Old Testament equivalent to the Greek word 
anathema, something that is devoted to destruction. That's what the 
Amalekites were, they were devoted to destruction. You cannot miss 
that in verse 3, destroy Aegon, destroy the Amalekites, man, 
woman, infant, I mean totality. and then all the animals, you 
were to destroy them completely. So if Saul had obeyed the commandment 
of God, then why would Samuel hear the bleeding of the sheep? 
Why would he hear the lowing of the oxen? Because if Samuel 
or Saul had in fact obeyed God, there would be no sheep to bleed. 
There would be no oxen to loathe. There would be no livestock to 
smell. There would be nothing that had 
the stamp of the Amalekites on them because they would have 
been destroyed in accordance with the commandment of God. 
Listen to John Gill concerning this verse. Verse 14, these questions 
Samuel put to convict him of the falsehood he had delivered. 
The bleating and lowing of these creatures proved him a liar and 
were witnesses of his breach of the divine command. And one 
would think every bleeding and lowing of these must alarm his 
conscience unless dreadfully stupefied. he is dreadfully stupefied 
because the oxen and the sheep are making their noise he still 
thinks that he's done a bang up job notice the response by 
Saul in verses 15 and 16 so you get the scene Samuel says if 
you've obeyed everything that God has said whence then the 
sheep whence then the oxen why is it the case that livestock 
are still here Saul if you've obeyed God verse 3 says you need 
to utterly destroy all the animals. Now notice verse 15, Saul said 
they have brought them from the Amalekites. You see this is typical, 
isn't it? We want to blame everyone else. 
Today at the cascade I was making a similar point in a different 
context, but the idea being that we want to pass the blame. And 
I mentioned the Adam and Eve story, and they fell right into 
my trap. I don't mean that in a malicious way. I said, what 
did Adam do, or who did Adam blame when he sinned against 
God? And they all, to a man and woman, 
said Eve. I said, he blamed God first, 
right? The woman whom thou gavest me, 
she gave me the fruit. What's the implication? God, 
if you hadn't have created this woman out of the rib of my side, 
I would have been a happy camper. I would have been doing just 
fine. Everything would have been peachy. 
I wouldn't have eaten this fruit. But it's the woman whom thou 
hast given me. So he blames God. He blames Eve. Does Eve answer any more nobly? 
It's the serpent. We're all wanting to pass the 
buck. We all want to pass the blame. We really struggle with 
Proverbs 28, 13, don't we? Whoever covers his transgression 
shall not prosper. But whoever confesses it and 
forsakes it will find mercy. Brethren, I am absolutely convinced 
that the reason why that David was a man after God's own heart 
is because David was a wretch, David knew he was a wretch, and 
he dealt faithfully and honestly with God. Except, of course, 
with reference to Bathsheba, but God dealt with him as a result 
of that. You see, we are not the holy, 
pious creatures we think we are. So when we're lying to God or 
lying to men, this is not the way of prosperity. It is best 
to deal openly with your sin. I don't mean blog about it. Today 
I did X, Y, and Z. I don't mean tweet it. I had 
a wicked thought. I don't mean put your Facebook 
status update. I screamed at my spouse. I'm 
not suggesting that, but maintain short accounts with God. What 
Saul does here is textbook sinner conduct. He says, they have brought 
them from the Amalekites. Verse 9 is conspicuous. Saul 
and the people. Spirit and gang. Now it's they 
did this, you see. Saul has been found out, and 
instead of owning it and coming clean to Samuel, what does he 
do? He's cleaving to his own righteousness. He's cleaving to his own conduct, 
and if that means throwing them under the bus, he's all too willing 
to do that. They have brought them from the 
Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and the 
oxen. You see that? It's not me and 
the people. I was passive. I was just sitting 
here obeying God, and these wretched people spared the livestock. 
If you do not see yourself or people close to you in the person 
of Saul, you're not understanding 1 Samuel 15. This is us, isn't 
it? That's what I love about the 
Old Testament. When you look into the pages 
of the Old Testament, guess who's looking back at you? It's you! That's us. You may not be the 
king of Israel, you may not have been given the harem command 
to go and utterly destroy Amalekites, but you want to blame others 
for your sin. You want to distance yourself 
from any thought whatsoever that you could ever disobey God. We 
like to maintain this idea that we are the most obedient Christians 
that we've ever met. All the rest of the people we 
know, they're just sadly lacking. We need to own this stuff, brethren. 
We need to learn from Saul. We need to understand that when 
we see him, we ought, I mean, have you seen your kid do this? 
You've got children, you've seen them like a Saul, haven't you? 
It wasn't me, it was him. It wasn't me, I did what you 
told me, but it was them. They're always shifting the blade, 
you see. I think Saul is a textbook representation 
of hypocritical religion. For the people spared the best 
of the sheep and the oxen. Now notice, here's what hypocrites 
love to do as well. They love to do it in the guise 
of religion. You see, the worst hypocrites 
are the Pharisaic type, the holier-than-God type. Look at what he says. For 
the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen. to sacrifice 
to the Lord your God. You see, Samuel, you can't be 
mad at us because we had high, noble ends in view. You can't 
be upset with me because what I wanted to do was to sacrifice 
to the Lord. God the Lord told you to destroy 
those animals. When God the Lord commands you 
to sacrifice, take them from your own flock. Let's make it 
a real sacrifice. Not a lot of sacrifice when you 
take the Amalekite animals and you cut them up and give them 
to God, is there? doesn't cost you one iota. You see, sacrifice, by definition, 
brethren, is to cost you something. You ever met persons that say, 
well, you know, if I give or if I do, then it's really going 
to hurt me. Isn't that what sacrifice means? Isn't that what it meant for 
the Lord Jesus? When He sacrificed Himself, did 
He do it in a palace? Did he do it with a beverage 
in his hand? Did he do it being fanned or fed grapes? Sacrifice 
for Christ cost him dearly. So why is it when it comes to 
us and our sacrifice, we want to make sure we get off as cheaply 
as we can possibly get off? You see, Saul wants to offer 
to the Lord. That's commendable, but he's 
offering up animals that God said he was supposed to kill. 
You are not impressing God with your religion when you are disobeying 
him in the pursuit of it. You see that? I'm really laboring 
to try and make this as clear as possible, because I think 
there's a lot of the church in 1 Samuel 15. Again, maybe not 
you. You may be the exception to the 
rule. But I know how my heart works, and I know how much Saul 
is at least there. So if it fits, take it. If it 
doesn't, pray for me, brethren. Now notice the rebuke by Samuel. The Rebuke by Samuel, verse 16. Then Samuel said to Saul, be 
quiet. I doubt he said it really gently 
and graciously either. Be quiet. It was probably more 
like shut your mouth. Saul, you have sinned against 
God, and you are standing before the prophet of God trying to 
assert your obedience to the Lord? I mean, come on. This narrative is written in 
such a way, it jumps out at you. Be quiet. I will tell you what 
the Lord said to me last night. And he said to him, speak on. 
Now notice. verses 17 to 19, Samuel said, 
when you were little, in your own eyes, were you not head of 
the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you 
king over Israel? What's the implication? You were 
anointed the king over Israel. Therefore, you cannot blame the 
people. You have the authority in Israel. You were given rule over those 
people. It's the law of leadership. When the troops mess up, the 
manager, the supervisor is responsible for that. You cannot say them 
and they and the others. You can't do that. It's the same 
in the family. When the house is messed up, 
when the kids are messed up, the father can't say, well, it 
was all her, or it was all them. The husband is the head of the 
wife. The husband is the leader in 
the home. I don't mean he walks around 
and beats his chest and tells everybody to hand him drinks, 
but he is responsible for the spiritual climate and the aroma 
that is in that particular home. He is the man. He is the leader. That's why after Adam and Eve 
sin, Who does God address? He does not address Eve. He addresses 
Adam. He comes to the head. Adam was 
the head prior to the fall. Adam is the head post-fall. Paul 
tells us that in Ephesians 5. He doesn't say husbands ought 
to be the head. Husbands are probably better 
at being the head. Husband is the head. He may be a bad head, he may 
be a good head, but a head of the wife he is. And in this particular 
instance, when he underscores this reality, did not Yahweh 
anoint you king over Israel, the buck stops with you, Saul. It is your responsibility, it 
is your duty, and you cannot blame the Israelite people for 
bringing the livestock back to you. If that were the case, if 
we were not operating under the auspices of verse 9, where we 
know that it was Saul and the people... See, we have a bit 
of a bird's eye view for this part of the narrative, because 
the authors already told us it was Saul and the people. So later 
on, when Saul says, I was afraid of the people, he's lying. He 
is lying. Saul was the leader. But if it 
was the case, just for a moment, that the people said, hey, we 
brought these bleeding sheep and these lowing oxen because 
we thought it might be a good idea to sacrifice them to Yahweh, 
what does the king of Israel do? He says, kill them because 
God said so. That was Saul's responsibility. Now notice what else. The mission 
was clearly defined. There ought not to be any question 
whatsoever. Verse 18, the Lord sent you on 
a mission and said, go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, 
and fight against them until they are consumed. What part 
of that don't you understand? What part of kill everything? 
The atheists, the God-haters, the rebels, they all understand 
verse 3. I mean, when you walk around 
this neighborhood and you witness for Jesus, someday, somehow, 
somebody's going to say, well, why does God command genocide? 
Guess what passage they most likely have in view? 1 Samuel 
15, 3, where God commands that they go and utterly destroy all 
of the Amalekites. So the atheist today understands 
what verse 3 means. But Saul, the king of Israel, 
failed to grasp that? Saul, the king of Israel, missed 
that? Of course he didn't miss it. He is a rebel against God. That is precisely the issue. He can blame people. He can put 
it under the guise of piety. He can say, I wanted to sacrifice 
these beasts to Yahweh. But when all is said and done, 
when we cut away all of the smoke, when we get to the bottom of 
it, it is simply a matter of disobedience to the Lord God 
Almighty. And Samuel tells him so. Verse 19. Why then did you not 
obey the voice of the Lord? Why? What's the matter with you, 
Saul? Why didn't you obey? You are 
the king of Israel. You have authority over these 
persons. You have been given a clear mandate. 
You have been given a clear mission. Why did you swoop down on the 
spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord? Now, look at this. 
This is just amazing. What does Saul continue to say? But I have obeyed the voice of 
the Lord. Stop, Saul. You ever dealt with 
somebody and they continually maintain their integrity or their 
righteousness when you've got them? It's your kid with chocolate 
streaming down his face and, you know, a chocolate line up 
his arm. There's no more cookie, but you 
say, I know you stole the cookie. Mm-mm. Wasn't me. You know they've done it. You 
press them. You push them. You want them 
to admit it. You know they're guilty. And 
what do they do? Wasn't me. Wasn't me. I guess your kids are all perfect. 
I know we had this issue in my home a time or two. Saul said 
to Samuel, verse 20, but I have obeyed the voice of the Lord 
and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me and brought 
back Agag, king of Amalek. But Saul, you weren't supposed 
to. Partial obedience is disobedience. Partial truth or half-truth is 
falsehood. You see, the God with whom we 
have to do is precise. He is accurate. He is holy. He is righteous. He is just. He doesn't barter with us. He 
doesn't say, do the best you can in this particular instance. 
Saul was given a clear mandate. He seems to indicate that he 
understands that mandate. And then he has the wherewithal 
to actually say, but I brought back Agag, king of Amalek. I have utterly destroyed the 
Amalekites. Do you see how insane that is? 
You didn't utterly destroy the Amalekites. because Agag is standing 
there breathing. If you had utterly destroyed 
the Amalekites, there wouldn't be an Agag. What don't you get? You see, sin renders one not 
only defensive, not only blame-shifting, but utterly stupid, because Saul 
is not tracking with the bare facts of the situation. Notice in verse 21, he's going 
to continue. These poor people, boy, they 
are getting chucked under the bus that day. But the people 
took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things 
which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the 
Lord your God in Gilgal. That's just an added day. It's 
the Lord your God. I did it for your God, Samuel. 
I ate that cookie to benefit you. I stole that money so I 
could give it to the poor, as if that justifies wickedness, 
as if that makes it OK. Well, I only had your best interests 
in view. That's why I did that disobedient 
and wretched thing. I mean, this is just a man that 
is continually rejecting the very prophet of God who's come 
to him to call him to repentance and to deal with his sin. It's 
far better, brethren, to confess and forsake and find mercy than 
to cover it. Proverbs 28, 13. If there's a 
verse in the Bible that you should get into your heads, I can't 
make you because that would be going beyond my particular realm, 
but I highly suggest that you get Proverbs 28, 13, and you 
internalize that particular text. Can you get me a glass of water, 
please? Thank you. Now notice the condemnation of 
Saul, verses 22 and 23. So Samuel said, has the Lord 
as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying 
the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than 
sacrifice, and to heathen the fat of rams. For rebellion is 
as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and 
idolatry. Because you have rejected the 
word of the Lord, he also has rejected you from being king. 
Notice, first, the question, has the Lord as great delight 
in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the 
Lord." This question is posed to search out Saul. The question 
as posed seems to imply that Saul knew the answer. Throughout 
the rest of scripture we find this. God has, I don't want to 
say more of an interest, but the moral law of God, obedience 
to his commands, trump the ceremonies. Not that the ceremonies are wrong, 
not that we ought not to keep them, but you see this. If you 
study Reformed theology, especially chapter 19 in our confession 
of the law of God, you start asking questions about the law 
and the history of Reformed interpretation, you'll know that the law of God, 
there is a threefold division that theologians have recognized 
from the early church. Some say it was invented by Thomas 
Aquinas, but it predates Thomas. Basically, what we have is a 
threefold division of the law. The moral law, God's holy moral 
law, summarized or codified in the Ten Commandments at Sinai. 
We have the ceremonial law, the laws of sacrifice, the laws that 
were redemptive in nature to teach Israel something about 
atonement and blood and all those sorts of things, those ceremonies. 
And then we have the judicial law. The judicial law spoke to 
life in the land. Life in the land was regulated 
by God in terms of a civil code, that if persons violated that 
civil code, then they were penalized accordingly. And some have said, 
well, that threefold division has been imposed upon the scripture. 
No, this is one perfect example where we see it exegetically 
rooted. Has the Lord as great delight 
in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the 
Lord? That shows us that there is a priority in the moral law 
over the ceremonial law. When the prophets of Israel come 
to indict the nation, it typically isn't because the people of Israel 
ate pork. It typically isn't because the 
people of Israel ate jackdaw. It was because they committed 
adultery, or it was because they committed murder, or it was because 
they violated some other precept in the Ten Commandments. You 
see, this is a text that indicates that that threefold division 
not only did not originate with Aquinas, Historically, it predates 
Aquinas, but it's from the text of Scripture itself. There is 
a threefold division, and here the question posed by Samuel 
to Saul implies that Saul should have known the answer. Has the 
Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in 
obeying the voice of the Lord? What's the obvious answer? No! What good is it if you bring 
the sacrifice, you cut the throat, you lay your hands on it, but 
you just fornicate it? What good is it if you bring 
the sacrifice, you cut the throat, you lay your hands on it, and 
you just stole money from somebody? Or you're a shop owner and you 
cheat people? You see, God wants you to be 
faithful. He wants you to be obedient. 
He wants you to walk humbly before your Lord. Micah 6, 8. You see, 
there is a priority here. God wants you to obey the law 
and then bring your sacrifice. He's not saying no sacrifice. He's just saying that it's terrible 
to bring a sacrifice to God, especially sacrifices that should 
have been killed on the battlefield. You disobeyed God and now you're 
bringing these sacrifices. He's not pleased with this. Remember 
Jesus' statement in Matthew chapter 5? If you go to present your 
gift at the altar and there, you remember that your brother 
has a problem with you? What does Jesus say? Just go 
through worship, knowing that you've got a breach with men. 
Just go through worship and engage in that act. No! Go fix it! and 
then come and offer your gift before the Lord. You see, we 
need to deal faithfully and righteously and justly before God and before 
men, and then we engage in sacrifice. So the question is meant to search 
out Saul. Notice the declaration. just 
in case Saul answered, well, yeah, he loves burnt offerings 
more than obeying the voice of the Lord. I hope Saul wouldn't 
have answered that, but based on his track record up to this 
point, he probably would have. Well, yeah, he loves sacrifice. 
Doesn't matter how we get it, yes, it does. Notice the declaration, 
behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the 
fat of rams. This was the problem in Malachi, 
the prophet's day. In Malachi's day, the people 
of God, post-exile, were going to the rebuilt temple and they 
were bringing lame sacrifices, they were bringing maimed sacrifices, 
and in some instances they were bringing stolen sacrifices. God 
says, I don't want that. I would rather that somebody 
board up the temple door. I don't want this going on. I 
do not want you to bring this perversion to me in the name 
of sacrifice and present it unto me. You see, obedience is the 
priority. It is better to obey than to 
sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams. Now note the comparison 
that Samuel gives him. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Isn't it interesting as well? 
that when we let a little sin in, though I don't think this 
was a little sin, this was a great deal of rebellion against God, 
but how does 1 Samuel end? With Saul actually employing 
a witch. Right? Doesn't that how it ends? He actually consults a medium. He finds a witch so that he can 
talk to Samuel. You see, when you start to disobey 
God, it doesn't happily get better in the long run. It typically 
degenerates and devolves. There is no betterment when we 
engage in a course of disobedience to God. We don't get better, 
we get worse, we get degraded. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft 
and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. You know what the 
sin or rather the punishment for witchcraft is in the Mosaic 
Code? It is execution, right? So we can extrapolate the reality 
that God sees as a capital offense, rebellion against his law, rebellion 
against his word. Notice, stubbornness is as iniquity 
and idolatry. Do you ever think that when you're 
stubborn, you've degenerated into iniquitous behavior and 
idolatry? Isn't that what stubbornness 
really is? It's asserting yourself as the authority. It's saying, 
I'm right. It's saying that I'm the measure. 
I'm the man. I'm the woman. What is that? 
That to arrogate for oneself a position that belongs to God 
Most High. This ought not to surprise us. 
What Samuel relates here is really dealing with the essence of sin 
as sin. Listen to Matthew Henry, that 
nothing is so provoking to God as disobedience, setting up our 
wills in competition with His. You say, well, you know, I'm 
stubborn. I got a stubborn streak in me. You should repent. I have 
a stubborn streak in me, too. I should repent. Because what 
is it? I think Matthew Henry is absolutely 
right. Setting up our wills in competition with his. When we 
are unyielding, unwilling to bend, when we will not give an 
inch, That is, as it were, to set up our wills in competition 
with His. Matthew Henry says, this is here 
called rebellion and stubbornness and is said to be as bad as witchcraft 
and idolatry. It is as bad to set up other 
gods as to live in disobedience to the true God. Those that are 
governed by their own corrupt inclinations, in opposition to 
the command of God, do, in effect, consult the teraphim, that's 
the word here for idolatry, or the diviners. It was disobedience 
that made us all sinners. And this is the malignity of 
sin, that it is the transgression of the law and consequently it 
is enmity to God. Saul was a king, but if he disobeyed 
the command of God, his royal dignity and power will not excuse 
him from the guilt of rebellion and stubbornness. It is not the 
rebellion of the people against their prince, but of a prince 
against God that this text speaks of. Terrifying. Rebellion is 
as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and 
idolatry. Think about this in the church. 
you probably wouldn't play with a Ouija board, or you probably 
wouldn't go find a witch. I mean, it's interesting that, 
you know, in our generation, you have these sort of fortune 
teller houses where I don't know what goes on. I almost said where. 
I don't know what goes on in there. Do you put your hand on 
something? Do you look at a crystal ball, tea leaves, tarot cards? Whatever it is they do. We wouldn't 
do that. I can't imagine a Christian in 
the church saying, you know, as a pattern, You know, on a 
monthly basis, I go visit a witch, or I go get my fortune read, 
or I find out what the ball says concerning my life. I don't think 
I've ever met a Christian that would admit to that. Maybe they 
do it, I don't know. They're good at hiding it or 
something. But all of us are rebels. All of us rebel against 
God every time we sin against God. Every time we see the commandments. Every time we see, you shall 
have no other gods before me. Do you ever stop and think that 
every time, every time we sin or every time we do something, 
it is to make ourselves God over God. Secondly, we shall not make 
for ourselves idols. You may not bow to a pole or 
you may not bow to Allah. You might not bow to that statue 
in the Chinese food place, but you are bowing to yourself often. Again, if you don't, please pray 
for the rest of us. But in 2 Corinthians, one of 
the ramifications of the cross of Christ is that he died for 
all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves 
but for him who died for them. I think there is that remaining 
tendency or a bit of remaining corruption wherein we live for 
ourselves. Third commandment, we may not 
blaspheme the name of God in terms of the actual words that 
we use. We might not say the name of 
Jesus or we might not say the name of God in a perverse or 
wicked way to misuse it. But if you've ever noticed that 
event or that time when David sins against the Lord and Nathan 
the prophet reproves him, what does Nathan say? By this deed 
you have given cause to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. Our 
sin. We profess to be Christians and 
then we live like the world. What are persons going to say? 
What are they going to say? Religion means nothing. Jesus 
means nothing. What about the fourth commandment? 
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. You know, there's a 
lot of people who say, well, the Sabbath isn't for us today. 
If you think that, let's sit down and go through it. Let's 
talk through this particular idea. What? Do we have nine of 
the ten commandments abide? Nine of the ten are perpetual? Nine of the ten extend? Or is 
it a code? Is it a complete unit of ten 
words? Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, 
brethren. Are we keeping that day? Again, 
we may not go visit a witch, we may not go have our tea leaves 
read, or we may not have somebody look at whatever they look at, 
but what do we do with these other things? What about the 
fifth commandment? Yeah, well, you know, I don't 
live at home anymore. I don't need to submit to my 
parents. You need to submit to lawful authority. You need to 
submit to the civil government. What about murder? You may not 
cut people's throats, and thankfully, you don't. You know, I don't. But are you mad? Upset? Impatient? Fool? Rocker? Those kinds of 
things are not far from the lips. The seventh commandment, that's 
huge. What does Jesus say? It's not just a man who actually 
goes and lays with a woman. It's not just a woman who actually 
goes and lays with a man. It's those who entertain those 
lustful thoughts. You have broken the commandment. 
Again, we may not go to witches, but we may be rebelling in a 
much more polished sense, but it is nevertheless the same sort 
of a sin that's in view. The eighth word. What about stealing? 
You may not walk into Walmart and pull Snickers bars down. 
shove them into your pockets. But I've actually heard people 
boast how little work they do for the money they're paid. That's 
shameful. What does Ecclesiastes tell us? 
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. You are 
employed by someone. You work hard. If you're an employer, 
work hard. If you're in the home, work hard. 
Do what you're supposed to do. That is important. What about 
the ninth word, bearing false witness? Again, we may not go 
down to the witch's house and say, hey, what's my life going 
to be like in a month or so? But what about lying? Or what 
about paring off the edges? Or what about covering up? Or 
what about saying things to make ourselves look better? What about 
social media? No one lies on Facebook. No one 
lies on Twitter. No one lies on these things. 
Come on, brethren. There is a lot of rebellion that 
is probably going on under the guise of Christian profession. And then, of course, the 10th 
commandment. In case you are guiltless of 1 through 9, the 
10th will find you out. I'm sure I've shared this before. 
In the United States military, they have what's called the Uniform 
Code of Military Justice. Basically, it's 133 laws to get 
you for anything and everything you could have possibly done. 
If those 1 to 133 don't get you, 134 is put in there. It's called the general law or 
the general principle. If you didn't get found out by 
1 to 133, 134, they'll get you. It's just going to happen. There's 
always a way to get you under 134. Isn't that how the 10th 
functions? I don't think God's just trying 
to get us. I don't mean it like that. But the 10th really does 
go right to the marrow of our beings. None of us can say, I 
don't have it. I never have these. We probably 
all struggle with this. But you see the point. Rebellion 
is as the sin of witchcraft. And there's a lot of professing 
people today, a lot of professing Christians today, that while 
they wouldn't visit a witch or get their cards read, they will 
nevertheless rebel against God. And then the condemnation follows 
at the end of verse 23. Because you have rejected the 
word of the Lord, he also has rejected you from being King. We saw this in 1st Samuel chapter 
13. You may turn there. Just in case 
Saul wasn't getting this, it's reiterated to him, 1 Samuel 13, 
14. But now your kingdom shall not 
continue. The Lord has sought for himself 
a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to 
be commander over his people, because you have not kept what 
the Lord commanded you. It's almost as if as soon as 
Saul took the throne, he was being told that he was going 
to be thrown off the throne, and that there would be no lasting 
dynasty in his name. that God would indeed turn to 
another. Specifically, we know in the 
coming chapters, it's going to be the Davidic dynasty, wherein 
God builds the kingdom. And from David comes the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Well, we're going to end here. 
I don't want to try and rush through the rest. This will bring 
us to a good place. Next week, we'll finish chapter 
15, and then I will be gone for two Wednesdays following that. I'm going to find out from Pastor 
Porter if he'll be able to continue the Bible study those two weeks 
that I'm gone. So I will let you know announcements 
on Sunday and via email. But let's go ahead and close 
in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for your word and we thank 
you for its clarity in these matters. We thank you for the 
fact that you do not candy coat or sugar coat things. You tell 
us that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. And certainly, 
as we look at our own hearts, most likely, God, we must see 
that sort of thing in there. We confess our sin. We ask for 
cleansing in the blood. Again, we are thankful for the 
blood of Jesus that washes us, that cleanses us, that purifies 
us. We thank you for the gospel of 
free and sovereign grace and for the reality that Christ was 
obedient. Christ never rebelled. Christ 
always did the will of the Father and Christ died as a sacrifice 
and a substitute in our place and that he rose again the third 
day. We thank you that we have life in him. And God help us 
to pursue conduct that is worthy of this gospel. Do forgive us 
when we sin, but grant us the spirit, grant us grace, grant 
us help to pursue obedience and to pursue holiness, because we 
know that you are pleased with these things in your people. 
And we ask these things through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.