Well, you can turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 15. 1 Samuel chapter 15. In many ways, this sermon provides the rationale for what we looked at last week in terms of the atonement in Gibeah. Though this is not Saul's attack upon the Gibeonites, it does reflect his apostasy and his wretched condition, and as well does explain why David had to deal with the effects of his sin in his own life and in his own reign. Also, several weeks ago we looked at apostasy in Hebrews chapter 10, verses 26 to 31.
In many respects, this sermon this morning could be entitled, The Portrait of an Apostate in the Life of Saul. I want to read 1 Samuel chapter 15. It's a long chapter, but I do want us to have it all before us. When I originally taught this material, it was in four lessons, so this will be abbreviated if anyone's interested in further argument or in more of a detailed explanation.
I believe those lessons are online. But beginning in 1 Samuel 15, 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, 10,000 men of Judah. And Saul came to a city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley.
And 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's Partial Obedience
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. But Samuel said, What then is the 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. Then 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 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, the 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 to 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 it 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. But 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.
Then 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.
Well, let us pray and seek the Lord's help. Our Father, we thank you for the Word of God. We thank you that it's given by inspiration of God, that it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. And it is our desire that you would thoroughly furnish us unto every good work.
We would ask that the Holy Spirit would be at work in our minds and in our hearts, that we would know His presence and His power, that you would indeed forgive us for all of our sins and our transgressions, that you would cause us to receive with thankful hearts the Word of Truth, And for any and all who have come here this morning outside of Christ, we pray that today would be the day that they confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. We don't look to their ability. We don't look to their free will. We look to the God of heaven and earth who has revealed this, to sinners who does reveal this, and who gives them eyes to see and hearts to receive the truth as it is in Christ.
Do this for your glory. Do this for the good of souls. And we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, as I said, Saul is certainly a portrait of apostasy. And that apostasy begins prior to chapter 15. I think what we have in chapter 15 is his point of no return. But if you go back to chapter 13, you already see indications that things are not well with Saul, specifically in chapter 13, verses 8 to 15.
Saul was told by Samuel to await Samuel's arrival in Gilgal. Samuel is late, so Saul undertakes to offer up a burnt offering to the Lord. And this was wrong. He rejected the Word of God as it came through the prophet Samuel.
Note what Saul says in chapter 13 at verse 12. Then I said, the Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord. Therefore, I felt compelled and offered a burnt offering." Brethren, the Word of God always trumps our feelings. We are not to act upon our hankerings, or our longings, or our desires, but we are to obey the word of the living God.
If the prophet of God tells you to wait, and you do not, and you undertake to offer up sacrifice, no matter how noble or how pious your appearance may be, you've rejected the word of truth. The same thing holds in chapter 14. You'll remember specifically, they're going to battle against the Philistines, and Saul imposes a fast upon Israel in chapter 14, verses 24 to 30. Now, from a military standpoint, this is absolutely folly, because these are men engaged in battle.
Don't deprive them of food, and don't deprive them of rest. Make sure they get both, so they can indeed kill Philistines. But spiritually, probably Saul is thinking somewhat along these lines. If we fast, then the Lord will bless us.
If we engage in this formula, then God will spit out the blessings. It was a superstition. It was to treat Yahweh as if He was Baal. We do enough religious good, and God will return blessing upon our head.
No, again, we need to obey God. When God imposes a fast, we need to submit. We don't need to concoct things, religiosity, in order to impress God so that He will give us things. Yahweh is not Baal.
We don't approach Yahweh as if He is Baal. We don't go through formula in order to manipulate Him to pour out blessings upon us. Most likely, that's what's happening in this imposed fast by Saul. So we see already traces that Saul has a problem with the Word of the living God.
We get to chapter 15 and that comes to a crescendo or to a high point. And I want to break down this chapter into three considerations. First, the command to destroy the Amalekites in verses 1 to 9. Secondly, the rebellion of Saul against the Lord in verses 10 to 23. and then the rejection of Saul by the Lord in verses 24 to 35.
But
Command to Destroy the Amalekites
note in the first place the command to destroy the Amalekites. 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. That's Saul's marching order.
That's what he's supposed to do. As we seek to paint the portrait of an apostate, the person who fits that profile is somebody who disregards God's Word. It's somebody who knows what the Word says and yet rejects it for whatever reason. Again, Saul felt compelled to offer up sacrifice.
Saul felt compelled to impose a fast. Well, here Saul feels compelled to disobey God in the manner of the Amalekites. So what Samuel does is remind him of his accountability before Yahweh. Very specifically, you are to heed the voice of the words of the Lord.
Remember the first order of business for the reigning king of Israel. According to Deuteronomy 17 and the law prescribing what kings were supposed to do, the first order of business wasn't to select their cabinet. The first order of business wasn't to have a celebration. The first order of business wasn't to display themselves in pomp and glory.
The first order of business for Israel's king was to write in his own hand the law of the Lord. He was to keep it with him. He was to meditate upon it. He was to walk in obedience to it.
And so Samuel reminds Saul what is imperative in terms of this particular chapter. And then he highlights that Saul's particular mission is to go and utterly destroy the Amalekites. And there are reasons for this.
The Herem Principle and Divine Justice
Amalek ambushed Israel on the way when he came up from Egypt, Exodus 17, Deuteronomy 25. The particular manner by which Saul was to engage in this is what's called the harem principle. There were things that were devoted to destruction. There were things that were under a ban.
And when the Lord God said to deal with it, He said to deal with it completely. Get rid of them. Now, I know that this is a shock to many in our day, because the way we fight wars is completely different than the way ancient peoples fought war. Ancient peoples fought war to win.
And winning in war means killing people and breaking things. You can't help it. That's the way it goes. And so the Lord God stipulates that when you deal with Amalek, you deal with him according to that particular principle.
Now, moderns can't stand this whole concept concerning God telling Israel to go in and conquer other peoples. It's an offense, and unfortunately it's offense to some in the church. We need to remember, however, certain atheists use this as an argument to try and disprove the ethics of the Bible. Atheists are in no position whatsoever to speak about good and evil.
There is no moral standard. If there is no objective standard, then what's right for you may not be right for me. If I want to go and exterminate Canaanites, who are you to tell me otherwise? If we're just a random collection of atoms and molecules and particles, what difference does it make?
So if an atheist lodges this complaint, he has no basis upon which to stand. If a Christian does, he ought to repent, because whatever our God reveals in Scripture is for us, for our edification and our instruction. As well, we need to remember the Lord God is sovereign over all of life. It's not murder for God to command Israel to go in and destroy Canaanites.
God is sovereign, 1 Samuel 2, 6. He kills, He makes alive. As well, the punishment of sin by a holy God is a necessary consequence in His moral universe. It's always amazed me when people say, well, I don't like those ethics in the Old Testament.
I don't like the thought of Israel going in and conquering the land. It seems offensive to me. You ask that person, what should we do with a child molester? What should we do with a rapist?
What should we do with a serial murderer? Well, he ought to be punished. He ought to get what's coming to him. Exactly.
God didn't send Israel into the land of Canaanites to dispossess the land of the Canaanites because the Canaanites were innocent, law-abiding people. They were wretched. They were wicked. They were abominable.
This is why God explains or gives us His rationale in Leviticus 18. When Israel occupies the land and they conduct themselves like Canaanites, God raises up Assyria and then Babylon to drive them from the land. There's no capriciousness on the part of God. There's no arbitrariness on the part of God.
His law is violated and it's just and righteous for Him to punish those who violate it. As well, the vengeance of God is a blessed reality for the people of God. This isn't simply an Old Testament concept. Vengeance is mine.
I will repay, says the Lord. Romans 12, 19. Of course, citing the Old Testament Scripture. But Paul's argument is, don't avenge yourselves, but give place to wrath.
Paul doesn't say wrath is wrong. Paul says you're not to implement it. Leave it into the hands of God. He's got the monopoly on the execution of wrath.
He will pay back with tribulation those who try you. 2 Thessalonians 1. The saints under the altar in Revelation 6. Oh, how long, oh Holy Lord? Do you avenge our blood?
When Babylon the Great is judged in Revelation 19, how does heaven respond? With a fourfold hallelujah! The church has lost something of the righteous judgment of God Most High inflicted upon her enemies, probably owing to the fact that we don't sing enough psalms. We don't sing those themes that David records for us in the songs of Zion concerning God, bringing justice to bear upon the enemies of the church.
That's a blessed and a wonderful theme, brethren, that we in some sense have lost. And then as well, God commanded holy war, Deuteronomy 7, 1-5. And he said, when you go into the land, have no truck with the inhabitants of the land. Kill them.
Destroy them. Do not enter into social alliances. Don't marry with them. Do not enter into political alliances.
Don't have government with them. And certainly don't enter into religious alliances. Tear down their altars. What does God know about humanity?
He knows that it's not likely the case that we're going to go into Canaan and affect it for good. He knows it's likely the case that we're going to go into Canaan and they're going to affect us for bad. And so God says, deal with the sin in order to pursue that calling to be a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a chosen possession of our God, wherein you mediate the blessings of the covenant around the nation. So this is the rationale behind the instruction here.
While it may seem a bit harsh to us, It is nevertheless what Scripture says, and I hope that at least some of these things will serve as rationale as to why it's good, why it was righteous, why it was necessary. So basically we have Saul assembling the troops, and then notice in verses 7 and 9, we won't get into the whole Kenite thing. Again, four lessons, somewhere online you can find it for more detail. But notice, with reference to the actual attack itself in verse 7, And Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt.
Again, we need to go back and remind ourselves of verse 3. 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. We get back here, verse 7.
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. That wasn't part of the instruction. Certainly if God is bringing judgment to bear upon Amalek, He is included in the kill them all.
You're not supposed to spare Agag. You're not supposed to change it up. You see, this is the problem with creativity or innovation in the creature. We see it in worship.
Saul felt compelled to offer sacrifice to God. I don't care what you feel compelled to do. You need to obey God. In terms of politics, in terms of the king of Israel, I don't care that you think you should spare Agag.
This is the whole emphasis in the passage. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. For whatever reason, Saul, why you thought to spare this man and to spare livestock was a direct affront to the word of the living God. Ours isn't to shape the message.
Ours isn't to make it more palatable. Ours isn't to make it more culturally relevant. Ours is to preach. Ours is to declare.
Ours is to hold fast the truth of God's Holy Word. Whatever He says, how He says it, we need to submit. And we could do a whole message on this whole idea of, I felt compelled in worship to do whatever it is that the church does in worship today that is strange fire and is an affront to a holy God. Do you realize God killed Nadab in a bayou when they offered up strange fire?
And probably right now, all throughout the earth, strange fire is wafting up into the presence of God Most High, and people actually question whether God's patient. Whether God's long-suffering, the fact that He hasn't wiped out a nation full of idolaters is a great expression of His patience and of His long-suffering. But back to our text. Notice.
Verse 8, 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. If it wasn't that good, why not get rid of it?
Do you see the fundamental problem? This wasn't the instruction. Does everybody get that? You're alive, you're with me, it's 11.45, we're still together.
Saul sinned, Saul rejected, Saul rebelled. As we consider the portrait of an apostate, notice that Saul doesn't just wake up one day and there he is, the portrait of an apostate. There's steps involved. This is what concerns me at times, for my own heart and for us.
There's steps involved. You're not going to wake up on Thursday utterly renouncing Christ. It's going to start by, I felt compelled to do it another way. I felt compelled to approach you with this superstition and this desire to strong-arm you and manipulate you so you would spit out blessings.
I didn't think that it was legit to kill everybody. I mean, there was livestock there, and it was nice, and, you know, egg eggs, not so bad after. It typically happens by steps. There's a progression.
You cut corners. You shave off edges. You don't come to church. You don't read your Bible.
You don't pray. You don't take the covenant meal that the Lord God, the householder, sets before His weary pilgrims. Why is it that we don't eat that feast that God provides for us? Well, these are the steps that go into apostasy.
Again, it could happen, you wake up on Thursday, an atheist, utterly renouncing all things Christ, but usually it happens in steps. And it's the case that Saul actually thinks he's doing the right thing. Self-deception is a horrible, horrible thing.
The Rebellion of Saul Against the Lord
Now notice, verses 10 to 23, the rebellion of Saul against the Lord. Verses 10 and 11. Now this passage speaks to or contributes to the discussion of the doctrine of divine impassibility. Verses 10 and 35 are what's called improper predications for those of you up on the discussion, and verse 29 is a proper predication.
So if you want more information on that, you can email Pastor Porter. Notice the response of the parties involved. Verse 10, 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.
This is the result of the prophet. It's a horrible thing when a man preaches the word and sees people absolutely positively disobey it. And this is the heart of a shepherd that we have here in Samuel. It grieves him.
He's not some peddler. He's not some merchant. He's not just doing what he does. He doesn't just come up and preach and do his thing and go live unaffected.
It affects the prophet of God when the people of God don't do what they're supposed to do under God. And this is precisely what we have.
Samuel's Confrontation of Saul
Notice that he then confronts Saul. Verse 12, 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. Saul was pleased with his performance against Amalek.
This setting up a monument for oneself was the practice of a king. It's sort of the equivalent of a love me wall. a love-me wall, all my plaques and all my certificates and all the things that I've accomplished, it's a love-me wall. You want people to come into your house and look at that wall and say, you are a great guy, you are wonderful, you are awesome. Well, that's what's happening.
Saul sets up this monument, Samuel hears about it, and now Samuel goes to confront him. Verse 13, Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed are you of the Lord, I have performed the commandment of the Lord. It's one of the marks of apostasy, or the marks of at least the steps of apostasy, or of false religion as a whole. It's deceptive, isn't it?
We think we're doing the right thing, and we're not. Well, I went to church, so I must be okay. I have a Bible, so I must be okay. Those of you who have ever gone out and passed out tracts, you meet this with people.
Well, my uncle taught Sunday school, so I must be okay. It doesn't look at things rightly. It doesn't survey the scene honestly. It doesn't look at what is.
It rather looks at what it wants it to be. And this is the problem with Saul. Now notice, in verse 13, Samuel went to him. He says, Blessed are you of the Lord.
I have performed the commandment of the Lord. Note what Samuel says in verse 14. Samuel said, What then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the ox in which I hear? You know what Samuel means, right?
If you haven't been paying attention, here's what Samuel means. If you did what you were supposed to do, I shouldn't hear animals. If you did what God says in terms of the harem principle to utterly destroy all of the occupants in the land, including the livestock, why am I hearing livestock? Right?
These animals became preachers of righteousness and they condemned Saul. John Gill says, these questions he 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 bleating and lowing of these must alarm his conscience unless dreadfully stupefied. Now note Saul's response in verse 15, Now you need to appreciate what the author's already told us.
Note what it says in verse 8, He, Saul, also took Agag, king of the Amalekites, alive. Note verse 9. But Saul and the people. Intriguing.
We drop down now to Saul's response, and he says, they and the people. What's he doing? He's doing what those on the way to apostasy will most certainly do. He shifts the blame.
Well, it's me. He understands that Samuel's mad by this point, or, I don't know if mad is the word, but I don't know how Samuel could have calmly reasoned, why am I hearing these animals? I'm sure that Samuel may have projected some sort of an edge wherein Saul concluded that Samuel was not happy with it. What's he do?
He does the opposite of Proverbs 28, 13. Whoever confesses and forsakes his sin will find mercy. He's a coverer of it. He blames the people.
He's Adam in the garden, first projecting it upon God. The woman whom you gave me. God, if you hadn't have given me her, I wouldn't be in this mess. How many of us men complained thus before God?
If it wasn't for her, I would be so much holier. I'd always be on time for church. I wouldn't be this. I wouldn't be that.
Lord God, had you just given me a better spouse, And then we actually blame her, like Adam does. She gave me to eat. Oh, really? So, sin is out there now.
It's all external. It's what they did. I would just be perfectly holy, harmless and undefiled if it weren't for the rest of these slobs. This is what Saul does.
They took. They did. The people. Why?
Because he doesn't want to face God's prophet when he's rejected God's Word. Saul's a wretch. I think there's a bit of Saul in all of us. I don't want to sound psychologically engaged and babble here, but there's a bit of Saul in all of us.
Do we lockstep with the truth of God? Do we march according to orders? Have we received it not as a suggestion for a better life, but as marching orders from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? I suspect if we received it as the latter, our lives and our churches would look different.
The ambiguous they versus the specific Saul and the people. And note, here's again what an apostate or on the road to apostasy will bring. Verse 15, 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. You see, our motives were driven by the end result.
If it's to sacrifice to the Lord your God, well, then everything's okay, isn't it? This is the problem in modern worship. Our desire is to worship God. Then get the puppets and ponies and programs out, because He hasn't commanded them.
God does not want creativity in worship. Go create all you want at the beach. Go create all you want in your spare bedroom that's set up for such things. But in worship, do you know what the church is supposed to do?
Obey. Creativity and innovation are frowned on by headquarters. But we did this to sacrifice to the Lord. Let's see how this goes for him.
Notice, verse 16, Samuel said to Saul, be quiet, I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night. And he said to him, speak on. So Samuel recounts or rehearses his humble origin, his royal authority, the specific mission, he rebukes him, and then Saul responds. Again, we have to abbreviate this.
If you want further development and detail, go to sermonaudio.com. But a few things we ought to be concerned about.
Obedience Over Sacrifice
Notice, verse 19, here's the issue. 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? So in other words, what Samuel says by his response, which he's going to spell out in more detail in just a moment, is that you've disobeyed.
It doesn't matter that you thought you were sacrificing to the Lord. Do we all get that? God's not only concerned with the what, but He has defined the how. He's the householder, so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth.
Paul does not write to Timothy and say, I want you to feel compelled, I want you to hanker, I want you to go meditate on a mountain, and whatever you feel is best, I want you to introduce that into the worship of God. That's never been the approach. Where to approach God, according to Hebrews 12, in an acceptable manner. Now, how the world or the church in the world today has defined acceptable manner as defined by the world is beyond me.
Well, if we have long sermons, they won't like that. If we preach fire and hell and wrath and brimstone, they won't like that. It has to be relevant. It has to be palatable.
We have to appeal to them and get them to hear, but we don't want to drive them off or alienate them. We want to have a nice band, and we want it to be aesthetically pleasing, and we want it to be acceptable to the world. That's not what the Apostle means in Hebrews 12 when he says we are to approach God in an acceptable manner. Who defines what an acceptable manner is in terms of approach to God?
It's God. Just ask Nadab and Abihu. They thought to offer strange fire before the Lord. Most likely, they thought to enter into the Holy of Holies.
Most likely, they took upon themselves a position that God did not authorize. So what does He do? He sends fire down and He consumes them. How in the world has it ever become the case that the church thinks the world gets to define what acceptable worship is?
And we're the nutjobs because we affirm the regulative principle of worship? We're weird, we're wacky, we're strange, we're odd, because what God commands, what God stipulates, what God demands is what we want, by the grace of God, to try and do? As Johnson says, we preach the Word, we read the Word, we sing the Word, we pray the Word, and we see the Word in the sacraments of the church. That's it.
Or as Pastor Albert N. Martin says, the regulative principle, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else than what God has commanded in worship. You see, Samuel, or Saul, is trying to hide his apostasy under religion. But we did it to sacrifice.
Now notice, what he does, he digs his feet in. Verse 20, And Saul said to Samuel, But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. No, you haven't. How come it is that everybody else can see this but not the guy that's deluded?
Mark Sarver was right. He said once that pride is like bad breath. Everybody knows you have it but you. Everybody knows you have it but you.
You walk in and you start knocking people down and they know what your issue is. Well, pride, rejection of the Word, being a Saul who has obviously and clearly disobeyed, and the prophet of God is calling him upon it and he says, but I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and gone on the mission which the Lord sent me. brought back Agag king of Amalek, I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites." Note the blame shifting again in verse 21, "...but the people took up the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, the sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal." You see what he's doing? He's hardening his heart. He's trying to defend his position.
These are the most scary people on the face of the earth, those who want to defend themselves when they're wrong. You're never 100% right. Be quick, willing and able to admit you're wrong. Join the rest of the ranks of humanity that can say, I was wrong.
See, this is a fundamental difference between David and Saul. It's not that David was a sinless man and Saul was a sinner. They're both sinners, but Saul has no place for faith and repentance. David, however, rejoices in Yahweh, who does not impute iniquity.
David rejoices in Yahweh, who has provided atonement in David's greater sin. He's a man that says, I have sinned against Yahweh. He doesn't say, oh, no, it wasn't me. I didn't do it.
This is Saul. Oh, no, it wasn't me. I didn't do it. Twice now.
You see this, the progression in the text? Samuel's already asked him. He said, I've obeyed. Samuel asks him again, even more directly.
Oh, I have obeyed. It's those people. If those people hadn't have done that, you wouldn't have been upset, Samuel. It's terrible.
Absolutely terrible. Now,
The Condemnation of Saul
note. the condemnation of Saul in verses 22 to 23. We see a question, a declaration, comparison, and condemnation. Note the question, has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Now, some take this and say, well, God doesn't want sacrifice.
No, that's not the point. God wants sacrifice from a pure heart It's like in Malachi's day. The problem wasn't the sacrificial system. It's the fact that they took the worst animal in their flock or they stole one from a neighbor and tried to present that or pawn that off to Yahweh as a sacrifice.
It's not a sacrifice if it doesn't cost you anything. It's not a sacrifice if it doesn't hurt. The word sacrifice, by definition, involves pain, doesn't it? So in Malachi's day, God's not saying the Levitical system of approach to God through the sacrificial system is wrong.
No, it's that you are bringing these mangy creatures to the living and true God. That you're bringing this stolen creature to the living and true God. This is why God says, present it to your governor and see if he would be pleased with you. In other words, try and pay Revenue Canada what you owe them with the kinds of stuff you pawn off in service to God.
See if Revenue Canada will be pleased with you. See if the Governing Prince is going to say, oh yes, thank you for giving me the worst Forgiving me the least, forgiving me that which does not matter is unimportant. That's the point in Malachi. The object here is not to say or to suspend the sacrificial system or the cult of Israel.
It says, Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? And then note the assertion or declaration, Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. Again, it's idiomatic. He's not saying don't bring sacrifice, but he says bring sacrifice and the heart.
That's the point. That's the issue. That's what's underscored. True religion has never been external only.
True religion has never been about the formalism involved. There are externals. You've got to show up, you open the books, you listen. There's an externalism to Christianity.
But Christianity, now and then, has always been a matter of the heart. You bring your sacrifice to God and your heart is a-whoring from Him. God says, isn't it better to obey rather than to sacrifice? Now, note the comparison that he draws out, which, ironically enough, will be fleshed out in the later chapters of 1 Samuel.
Notice in verse 23, "'For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.'" What does Saul do when he doesn't have a word from the Lord prior to his final battle with the Philistines? In 1 Samuel 28, Saul seeks the counsel of the witch at Endor. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Think about that the next time you want to go violate the law of God.
The next time you want to click on a porn site. The next time you want to drink too much. The next time you want to smoke something you shouldn't. The next time you want to be insubordinate to your husband.
The next time you want to dishonor your parents. Think of what the prophet Samuel says, under the authority of the living God, that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. All over the church today we condemn witchcraft, don't we? And yet we engage in a form of witchcraft when we offer up strange fire to the Lord.
It's absolutely amazing the way we rationalize and try to justify rebellion. Oh yes, we will condemn the witches at their coven, but we'll come in and just proffer up whatever old thing we hanker to do. No. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.
Listen to what Matthew Henry says. He says that nothing is so provoking to God as disobedience, setting up our wills in competition with His. 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.
Do you get that? Well, I don't have idols like they do, but you're disobeying God. Why are you better? Why am I better?
Why are we somehow more appealing to the living? Now, obviously, if we're justified by faith and its remaining corruption, I hope you assume that theological context. But note what Henry says. He says, those that are governed by their own corrupt inclinations, in opposition to the command of God, do, in effect, consult the teraphim, 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. And then note the condemnation, the end of verse 23.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.
The Rejection of Saul by the Lord
That brings us quickly, really quick, to survey just this last section, verses 24 to 35, the rejection of Saul by the Lord. But Saul repents, doesn't he? No, he doesn't. Look at verse 24, Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
That's not repentance. That's like somebody saying, and people do this, believe me, to use an overworked phrase or word in the media today. It's like saying to somebody, you know, I wouldn't have done this if you weren't such a horrible person. Wow, thanks for that apology.
Wives or husbands might do this. You know, I wouldn't have been late if you hadn't have done that. That's not an apology. That's not repentance.
That's not owning sin. That's not forsaking. David acknowledges in 2 Samuel 12, after having been approved by the prophet, he says, I have sinned against Yahweh. Some say, well, that's it?
That's all he has to say? It's not a magic phrase, but what he does is he acknowledges, God's right, I'm wrong, what else have I to proffer? Not Saul. He says, I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
God doesn't care why you sinned, He doesn't ask you to explain the rationale behind your transgression. Well, you know, I wouldn't have done it if blah blah blah blah blah. This isn't repentance. And the fact is, as we move through the passage, he says to Samuel, honor me before the people.
You've got to remember, there's a political current running through this. Samuel should honor the reigning king so that the reigning king does not lose the esteem of the people. Certainly, Yahweh has rejected him. Certainly, Yahweh is angry with him, but he still has to maintain a respect for the reigning king at this particular time.
But Saul's desire is not the face of God, it's the face of men. That's what the text specifically indicates.
The Kingdom Torn from Saul
Notice, he says what he says. In verse 26, 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 sees the edge of his robe, a type of a petition, something that that woman did when she grabbed the hem of Jesus' garment. And then he says, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today.
First Kings 11, this will be evident in the division of the kingdom. This is an acted parable or a description of what God is doing in terms of Saul. 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. Why is David better?
Because he fears Yahweh. We've studied, we've gone through. This account all the way up now presently to 2 Samuel 22. Is David a perfect man, brethren, that are there on Wednesday night, or any brethren that have ever read 1 and 2 Samuel?
No. David does some horrific things. David commits murder and adultery. David in many respects is just, you know, it's shocking at times, isn't it?
I mean, we get to 2 Samuel 11 and 12, and I think that the saint of Christ is yelling at the tax, saying, David, don't. As if we could somehow change events by yelling at him and saying, go out to battle. Don't send Joab, David. You go out.
Please, David, don't go up on your roof. Because I know when you go on that roof, you're going to look at Bathsheba. And I know when you look at Bathsheba, you're going to violate the very psalm that you would write. The psalm that says, put no worthless thing before my eyes.
And David does that very thing, and David seeks her, and he takes her, and he goes into her. And then instead of manning up, David covers up. And David has Uriah killed on the front line of battle, and others with Uriah. The prophet has to come to shake him out of his stupor.
He tells him the story about the man who had the ewe lamb. The other man who wants to come and take the ewe lamb and barbecue it because his friends are visiting. And David gets incensed and he gets outraged and he says, I cannot believe this. And Nathan says, thou art the man.
And God, through the prophet, says, I've given you everything. I've given you houses. I've given you wives. I've given you everything.
And if that wasn't enough, I would have given you more. So we've seen David in the pit. You hear David in the psalter. What does he say?
Why are you cast down, O my soul? Hope thou in God. David's not a perfect man. David's not a sinless man.
But David's a better man because he's justified by faith in Christ. That's why. And when he sins, by God's grace he repents. When he sins, he appeals to the mercy of God in Jesus.
When he sins, he doesn't harden his heart and stiffen his neck. Just the opposite of Saul the apostate. Verse 30, I have sinned. Yet honour 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 worshipped, and Saul worshipped the Lord.
Again, every time the Bible says somebody did something, it doesn't necessarily mean it was true. Well, but he worshipped the Lord. He did what was right. Brethren, how can you conclude that after seeing all that has happened in this passage?
It's like looking at 2 Kings 17 and seeing the Assyrians coming into the land and the people of Israel, you know, worshipping Yahweh along with these pagan gods. Where does God ever say that He has truck with other gods? You're supposed to understand irony. Oh, really?
They didn't really worship there? No. And neither did he. He's trying to save faiths.
He wants to make sure that the people still esteem him and respect him. And again, the political undercurrent suggests that this was a good move on the part of Samuel at this particular time. And Samuel is not God. He is a man and he does change his mind.
Notice.
Agag Executed and Saul Abandoned
We just should pick up at least what happens with this fellow called Agag. Verses 32 to 35. Well, I think you know. And by the way, this is another argument for that righteous command of God to go and destroy the Amalekites.
Notice that Agag isn't, you know, father of the year, husband of the year, king of the year. He doesn't have a coffee cup awarded to him by the local provincial government saying, great guy of the year. Agag was a wretch who led a wretched people. Note what he says.
Surely the bitterness of death is past, verse 32. I think Agag's engaged in some wishful thinking here. He got enough of your own internal problems, maybe I can just slither out the back door and, you know, return unto the place from which I came. But Samuel said, as your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.
You see, he's not dealing with an innocent man. Agag's sword has made women childless. And then verse 33b, Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. He carried out the harem principle.
He did what was supposed to be done. He obeys God. And then note, verses 34-35 tie up, summarize, and conclude this particular event. Then 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. Don't miss that. What are we supposed to understand when the prophet of Israel doesn't visit the king of Israel? That's not a good sign.
That's not good, brethren, when the prophet of God doesn't come to speak to the King of God. What is it saying to us? That all that has been promised in the text has come to pass. Saul rejected Yahweh, Yahweh rejected Saul.
Verse 35. B. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul. There's that pastor's heart.
And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. You see, it wasn't just Agag who was hacked in pieces at the end of this particular chapter. So was Saul. It was a spiritual hacking, it was a cutting off, it was an abandonment, it was a having given over.
You see, when you reject the living and true God, or to use the language in Hebrews 10.26-31, when you trample underfoot the Son of God, when you count as a common thing the blood of the covenant by which Christ was sanctified, and when you insult or you spit in the face of the Spirit of grace, you will be rejected." You see, Saul is indeed the portrait of an apostate.
Application
Well, brethren, in conclusion, there's a lot here concerning the doctrine of God. Again, I've mentioned that the teaching concerning divine impassibility necessarily must take into account 1 Samuel 15. You have two statements, verses 11 and 35. God said, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king.
Verse 35, the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. And then you have this statement in verse 29. And also the strength of Israel will not lie nor relent, for he is not a man that he should relent. In the first place, we need to understand that we're not smarter than the author of this particular page.
In other words, we can't say, well, didn't he see that, that that seems contradictory? On the one hand, he says God regrets, God relents. And on the other hand, he says he doesn't. Maybe the author went and got a cup of coffee at a time and he came back and he sort of forgot what he wrote.
There's no contradiction here. Again, there's a whole way to go about the explanation of this particular passage, but in terms of the character of God, he is immutable. That means he is unchangeable. And that then implies, necessarily, that he is what's called impassable.
He's not affected, he doesn't have emotion, he isn't filled with passions the way men are. But at times, the scripture uses the language of men to communicate truth to men. And I submit that verses 10 and 35, in the precise language, are improper predications. That means it's an analogical way of telling men who don't have the brightest bulbs in the chandelier what God is like in His character.
Verse 29 is rather a proper, or it tells us something specifically concerning the being of God. Again, this can be developed further and has been in the sermons on this passage before, but just to make this observation. Secondly, we ought to appreciate the reign and subsequent apostasy of Saul. It's very intriguing.
I didn't outline all of this data prior, but notice in chapter 9, the Lord directed Samuel to Saul. Chapter 10, the Lord directed Samuel to anoint Saul. Chapter 10, the Lord equipped Saul for service. Chapter 10, the Lord set Saul over Israel.
Chapter 11, the Lord granted Saul an early victory over the Ammonites. Remember that statement, they were killing Ammonites until the heat of the day? What we ought to conclude before we proceed and look further at the anatomy of an apostate, great privilege does not necessarily prove true grace. Great privilege does not necessarily prove the existence of grace.
Remember that scene in Matthew 7. Not everyone who says to me on that day, Lord, Lord, didn't we cast out demons in your name? Didn't we do mighty miracles in your name? Jesus never denies that they did it.
Can you think of one particular person that really did do those things, but wasn't really converted? Judas. Judas went on the preaching tours. Judas had a degree of that apostolic authority.
Judas went about, probably witnessed and saw and participated in these very things. But that's not the will of God. The will of God is that you believe in Him whom He sent, John 6, 40. And those who haven't believed in He whom He sent have not obeyed the will of God.
You see, great privilege, growing up in a Christian family, going to a Reformed Baptist church, having a sermon audio app on your phone, or, you know, the Cambridge New King James, which is the Cadillac of Bibles. All these great privileges do not confirm the existence of grace. In fact, Jesus taught His disciples this in Luke 10. They come back from the preaching tour, and they say, Lord, we went out, we did these mighty things, we saw these things happen, we cast out demons, we healed, we did wonderful things.
And Jesus says, don't rejoice in this, but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven. See, we like to capitalize on what we do for Christ. No, we ought to do for Christ. But we ought to praise God for what we are in Christ by grace.
We ought to praise God that He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. We ought to praise God that the Savior lived, died, and rose again for guilty, vile, helpless sinners. We ought to praise God that He gave us the graces of faith and repentance so that we could close with Christ. Yes, we ought to go out and do for God.
But what are we ultimately joyful about? It's that God has done for us. It's that Christ has reconciled us. It's that He gave Himself for us.
That's what makes the believer happy. Well, in terms of Saul the apostate, we ought to observe that he blames others. I think we've brought that out. It's the people, it's the people, it's the people, it's the people.
And the narrator tells us, it's Saul, it's Saul, it's Saul, it's Saul. Secondly, he is riddled with false piety. riddled with false piety. That's how we know, like in, say, Hebrews 10, 26 to 31. He's dealing with people that have come into contact with the Christian faith.
He's not dealing with the heathen and the pagan out there. These are the people that trample underfoot the Son of God. These are the people that count as an unclean thing or a common thing the blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified. These are the people who insult the Spirit of grace.
The same with Saul. He is riddled with false piety. I felt compelled to offer sacrifice. I felt compelled to impose this fast so perhaps Yahweh will bless us.
And I felt compelled to spare Agag and to spare those animals so that we could sacrifice to the Lord. Apostasy doesn't typically come through the door wearing a red cape and having horns and a pitchfork. Sometimes it comes wearing a three-piece suit, a tie, and a fresh new haircut. Isaac commented yesterday, wow, you got a haircut since Wednesday night.
Yeah, guys with new haircuts can even be apostate. I hope I'm not saying I'm an apostate. I think I'm looking unto Jesus. But I think we have this image in our head, the apostate is at home today, smoking crack.
The apostate could very well be among us rejecting the Word of God. The apostate is, he's at the lake today. He's water skiing today. He may be in a whole host of churches and he's hardened his heart to the truth of God's Word.
See, that's foundational to this. Trampling underfoot the Son of God, counting as a common thing the blood of the covenant, and insulting the Spirit of grace. What's the underlying current? We reject Scripture.
Thirdly, he is self-deceived. I mean, in some senses it's sad, isn't it? Really, you're not obeying God. Samuel is bringing you along.
Samuel is teaching you. Samuel is instructing. Everybody can see, Saul, you're not obeying God. These animals are testifying that you're not obeying God.
Lay down your arms and surrender. Wave the white flag and stop. Don't engage in this self-deception. As well, he engages in a false repentance.
He wants to look good before men, but not before God. Now, when we leave this particular chapter, in chapter 16, God identifies the man after his own heart. The Spirit comes upon this particular man, he goes out and he wins a spectacular battle in the Valley of Elah, and then from chapters 18 to chapter 26, Saul tries to murder him. See, this is what apostasy ends up as.
It may come with a fresh new haircut, may sit in the church instead of being a crack dealer somewhere. But it ends in the actual commission of grievous sin. David was the man of God's own choosing and this man Saul wanted to terminate him. And then he consults a witch in order to receive direction concerning a battle with the Philistines in chapter 28.
He ultimately dies on the battlefield as an apostate before God. As I've said, as I hope you've gotten, foundational to all of this is his utter disregard for the Word of God. It's interesting, in our church we always come back to that, don't we? It always is a matter of what Thank ye of God's Word.
And I think that's a good place to end up. I think that's a good emphasis to sound. Do you know what, brethren? When everything is said and done, whatever feelings we have, whatever desires we have, whatever emotions we have, whatever it is we want to accomplish, we always need to be governed by, disciplined by, ruled by, and watched over by God's Word.
It's unfortunate. Somehow, somewhere along the line, well, it started in the garden, we actually thought we could do it without God's Word. We actually think that we can do church, we can do family, we can do home, we can do life, we can do whatever it is we want apart from God's revealed Word. No, we can't.
Not in Please God. We must be dependent upon the Scriptures. And then finally, I hope that this survey of Saul the apostate With a special emphasis on Samuel's words in verses 22 to 23, we'll underscore for the people of God the priority of obedience. Note that I said, for the people of God.
If you are not a believer here today, if you have not come to the Savior, if you have not looked and lived, look and live. My instruction is not to you to go out, do everything you can in order to get saved. No. You will never be able to do everything you can perfectly, exactly, entirely and perpetually.
You can't do it. You have sinned. You have fallen short of the glory of God. You have transgressed.
You have rebelled. You haven't loved God as you ought. You haven't loved your neighbor as you ought. And the only hope and the only remedy for your ruin is Jesus.
Christ, believe on Him and you shall be saved. Paul outlines this in Ephesians 2, 1-3. He sets before us our ruin. And then in verses 4 and following, provides for us the redemption or the remedy.
And it's faith in Christ Jesus. But for the people of God who are justified by faith alone, that faith is never alone. But it's accompanied by all other graces and obedience is manifest. The priority of obedience in the life of God's people is absolutely crucial and needs to be thundered in an antinomian age.
Jesus said, if you love me, go hankering after me wherever you want. No, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. The Apostle John says his commandments are not burdensome. They're not grievous.
They're not a pain. I mean, just get this collective eye roll when we mention certain things, maybe not here, but elsewhere. You just get this antipathy to the revealed will of God. You mean God wants me to actually do this?
Yes, if He says it. You mean God actually wants me to destroy all of the Amalekites? Yes, it's what He commanded. You don't have the right to shape the message, to tailor the message, to massage the message.
You need to obey the message. At what point do we get that as God's people? Now, praise Him that there is forgiveness in Christ. Praise Him that there is mercy to be had.
Praise Him that the same God over Saul is the same God over David, who, when he sins, confesses it, forsakes and finds mercy. Now, I trust that this sermon will hopefully be an encouragement to those who, by the grace of God, are trusting in Jesus and seeking to be faithful. I hope we'll all take it as an exhortation, as an exhortation to pursue those things that are pleasing to God. But as well, I hope there's some balm in the Gilead of the Gospel.
I've been thinking about this recently. One of the most difficult things to convince people of is the forgiveness of sins. You get a sinner, somebody who hasn't come into contact with Jesus, somebody who hasn't believed the Gospel. And they're actually convicted, or they have this sense of their own guilt before God.
They have this sense of their own unworthiness before God. It just weighs on them. And you preach the fullness of the Gospel to them, and you tell them, there is salvation in Him. There is forgiveness in Christ.
It's hard to convince people of that. Now, obviously, we need the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit with the sinner. But even with the redeemed sinner, Isn't it hard for us to believe in a Davidic moment where we've done some awful things, that us saying, I have sinned against Yahweh, Yahweh will forgive us? It's hard, isn't it?
Maybe this is why the Apostles' Creed includes the statement, I believe in the forgiveness of sins. I think the Church needs to parrot that and to confess that more and more and more. I believe in the forgiveness of sins. Saul was an apostate.
There's no hope for him. But when we look to the pages of David, he sinned, he did horrible things, but he's trusting in the blood. He repents by the grace of God. He knows the forgiveness of sins.
He pens the 130th Psalm where he says, If thou, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? but there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. That's the man after God's own heart. He's not sinless. He's not perfect.
He's redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. So, brethren, if you find that you have been less than stellar in your obedience to the truth of God's Word, confess it, forsake it, and you will find mercy.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray. Our God, we thank You for the Word of Truth, and we thank You for these portraits that we have in Scripture, and we ask that You would help us to guard our own hearts, help us to be looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. Help us, God, to walk in those things that You call us unto, and help us to have a reverence for and a respect for Your Word. As we hear the declarative voice of God coming to us through the Old and New Testaments, may we not seek to manipulate it, may we not seek to shy away from it, but may we embrace it.
And may you empower us by your Holy Spirit to do those things pleasing in your sight. Go with us now, we pray, and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.