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Well, please turn with me in 
your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 15. We're embarking on a study in 
the life of David, and we've come to 1 Samuel 15. We need 
to see the rejection of Saul that provides the vacancy for 
the throne that David would occupy. So we looked at half the chapter 
last week. We'll take up the latter half 
tonight, and then deal with some of the matters concerning theology 
in this particular chapter. 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. 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 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. 
Then 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. 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 the head of the tribes 
of Israel? And did you not, or 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, 
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. 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. 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. Well, let us pray. Our 
Father, we thank You for this, Your written Word, and we ask 
now that Your Holy Spirit, the Spirit who gave us this Word, 
would guide us in our understanding, help us to think clearly concerning 
the theology in the passage, and as well, with reference to 
Saul, his great sin, his crime against a holy God, was not obeying. Lord, we know we're not saved 
because of our obedience, because our obedience is not perfect, 
it's not exact, it's not entire. We are saved by grace through 
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, but unto obedience. So help us, 
Father, by the power and the presence of your Spirit to be 
faithful to you, to follow your word. Jesus says, if you love 
me, you'll keep my commandments. John says the commandments of 
God are not burdensome, they're not grievous. Lord God, I pray. 
that we with David would delight in the law of God in the inner 
man, that it would be our meditation day and night. And again, by 
your Spirit, help us to comply with these things and help us 
to learn the lesson of Saul with reference to his disobedience, 
that sin which is likened unto witchcraft and idolatry. Again, 
Father, bless and guide us with your Spirit. Forgive us for all 
of our sin and transgression. And we ask this through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, with reference to 
Saul, 1 Samuel chapter 13 gives us the beginning of the end. 
There, God tells Saul that he will not ultimately have a succession 
of kings from his line. Then in chapter 14, Saul imposes 
a fast upon the people, most likely for religious reasons, 
which evidences his superstition. If we fast, then God will bless 
us. And here in 1 Samuel chapter 
15, we have the technical end of Saul. Now, he's certainly 
going to live beyond this chapter. He doesn't die until the end 
of 1 Samuel, but essentially this is it for Saul because of 
his disobedience against God in the manner concerning Agag 
and the Amalekites. Remember last week he received 
a command to destroy the Amalekites in chapter 15, verses 1 to 9. 
He wasn't supposed to spare anybody, he wasn't to take the spoils 
for possession, but rather he was to obey God and utterly decimate 
and utterly obliterate Agag and the Amalekites. That being for 
the fact that they had ambushed Israel when they were on their 
way in the Exodus. And with reference to Saul, we 
notice that he rebels against him. In chapter 15, verses 10 
to 23, we have his interaction with Samuel. Saul, all the while, 
maintains that he had obeyed the mission, that he had complied 
with the instruction, that he had done precisely what was mandated 
for him. And of course, Samuel makes that 
statement there in about verse 12 or 14. What then is this bleeding 
of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? 
In other words, Saul, if you had done your job, I wouldn't 
be hearing that right now. Because not only was he supposed 
to utterly destroy the human beings, he was supposed to utterly 
destroy the animals as well. And we see Saul blame shifting. 
We see him throwing the people under the bus. We see him trying 
to evade the clear implication that he had rebelled against 
the living and true God. So that's what we covered up 
through, as I said last week, verse 23. Notice Samuel's sort 
of capstone remarks in verses 22 and 23. 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. 
Now the chapter ends, of course, and we'll see this in a few moments, 
with Agag being hacked into pieces by Samuel and Gilgal. But Saul 
has been hacked into pieces as well, because he has been disobedient 
to God Almighty. He has engaged in sin, like witchcraft 
and like idolatry. He will never be the same. He 
will only decline from here on out, and he will express his 
rage and animosity in his attempt to destroy David, as David is 
identified in chapter 16 as his successor. Not his son Jonathan, 
but rather David. So he hunts David like a dog, 
and it ultimately culminates with Saul seeking the counsel 
of a witch in chapter 28, and then dying on the field of battle 
with reference to the Philistines. So Saul is a miserable character 
on the pages of Scripture relative to what it looks like not obeying 
the voice of God Almighty. So let's pick up in verses 24 
to 35 to look at the rejection of Saul by the Lord. In the first 
place, notice the repentance of Saul. I have repentance in 
quotation marks. He admits his guilt in verse 
24. Finally, after all of these statements by Samuel, after all 
of the emphasis on his rebellion, he finally admits it. He says, 
I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and 
your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 
Even in this, he expresses something that is wrong in his heart. If 
he obeyed the people, he was absolutely contrary to the will 
and word of God. He was to lead the people. He 
was to govern the people. He was to guide the people. He 
wasn't to listen to the people. Instead of believing God, this 
is a sin on his part. Even his admission of sin is 
riddled with sin. As well, when we look at the 
narrator's comments in verses 8 and 9, we see that Saul was 
far more responsible than he lets on here. Verse 8 says, 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 ox and the 
fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling 
to utterly destroy them. They wanted this stuff. They 
wanted the possessions. They didn't want to devote it 
to destruction. They didn't want to be rid of it. The only things 
they got rid of, according to the end of verse 9, but everything 
despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. Well, 
that's pretty convenient, isn't it? We don't want that anyway, 
so let's go ahead and destroy it. But everything we want, including 
Agag, king of the Amalekites, we're going to go ahead and spare 
them, and we're going to go ahead and take that back to the land 
of Israel. So God is angry with him. Notice in verse 25 his request 
for pardon. Now, therefore, please pardon 
my sin and return with me that I may worship the Lord. It's 
almost as if he's just seeing it as some small thing. Okay, 
I've sinned, I admit it, but it really wasn't my fault. I 
listened to the people. It was their fault, ultimately. 
If it hadn't have been for those people that insisted we take 
Agag and we take these possessions, we wouldn't be in this mess right 
now. But I've admitted it. Everything's okay now. Now go 
ahead and pardon me." Always be mindful of that, brethren. 
If all you're after is an immediate quick fix, that is not indicative 
of grace in the heart. Now God is gracious. God is merciful. If we confess our sins, He is 
faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all 
unrighteousness. But there is this idea or this 
sentiment, let's just get this done, let's just get this over 
with, pardon my sin, give me the whammy, restore me to my 
office, and then we'll be back to normal and everything will 
be hunky-dory. That seems to be the attitude 
manifested by Saul here. It's a matter of convenience. 
It is a matter of appearance. It's a matter of saving face. 
And as we move through the narrative, I think that is precisely what 
the narrator wants us to see. Saul's repentance, much like 
much of the news today, is fake. What he is doing is wrong. What 
he is doing is not from the heart, embracing the reality that he 
has violated the command of a truly holy God, but rather he just 
wants to have things back to status quo. Now notice Samuel's 
response to him in verses 26 to 31. He reiterates that he 
has been rejected. That's not going to change, Saul. 
Verse 23 is reality. Because you have rejected the 
word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king. 
So Saul just wants to fix things so that he is not rejected from 
being king. Most likely he wants to see his 
son Jonathan ascend the throne after his death. But he reiterates 
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. Done. Full stop. Period. Things ain't gonna change for 
you, Saul. You've already made your bed. 
Now you must lie in it, all of your fake repentance notwithstanding. And then Saul petitions him in 
verse 27. And as Samuel turned around to 
go away, Saul sees the edge of his robe and it tore. This is 
a sign of supplication. You see it with that woman who 
grabs the hem of Jesus' garment in Matthew chapter 9. It's a 
common sort of a custom. And then we have Samuel again 
respond to him in verse 28. 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. That neighbor is King David. 
Now, King David wasn't a perfect man. In fact, when we get to 
2 Samuel, specifically chapters 11 and 12, we will see he was 
a very imperfect man, a very flawed man, a very sinful man. But always, David maintained 
that status as a man after God's own heart. David never engaged 
in idolatry. He never committed apostasy. 
He didn't defect. He didn't leave off Yahweh. But 
rather, he showed that fidelity when he was sinful, and he was 
rebuked for that by the prophet Nathan. He genuinely repented. He expressed his sorrow against 
the living and true God, or toward the living and true God, and 
he repented genuinely. So David was that neighbor that 
is better than Saul. And then Samuel goes on in verse 
28 to indicate, or verse 29 to indicate, Also the strength of 
Israel will not lie nor relent, for he is not a man that he should 
relent. The strength of Israel there 
is God. And what Samuel says is that he's not going to change 
his mind on this. He is not going to relent. Now, 
I said there's a bit of theology that we need to deal with, because 
the same verb is used in verse... Can't even see that without the 
glasses anymore. Verses 10 and verse 35. It's 
the same verb, verse 10, verse 35, and here in verse 29. So 
on the one hand, you have God saying, I regret that I made 
Saul. On the other hand, you have Samuel 
say that he's not a man. He doesn't relent like men do. 
So we need to have a manner in which we can synthesize this 
teaching and deal with it in a way that upholds who God is 
and upholds all of scriptural teaching concerning him. And 
we'll do that in a few moments. But let's just finish this particular 
narrative relative to what's going on here. And then the request 
by Saul. And again, here we see the only 
desire is that he be seen honorable among men. Verse 30, 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." There are instances where he 
says, the Lord God, and there are instances where he says, 
the Lord your God. But he never says, as far as 
I can tell, the Lord my God. Saul was not a believer. Saul 
was not converted. Saul was not one who owned Christ. He wasn't able to say with Paul 
in Galatians 2.20, who loved me and gave himself for me. The 
only persons entitled to say that are those who are washed 
in the precious blood. Those who have by grace believed 
the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Those who by grace have fled 
to him for salvation. They are the ones who can say, 
who loved me and gave himself for me. Or with Thomas, they 
can say, my Lord and my God. Saul does not have that capability 
because Saul is a goat. Saul is a reprobate. Saul is 
an unbeliever. And Saul never owns, as far as 
I can tell, he never owns a relationship with God Almighty. Now certainly 
people will say, but I thought the Spirit of the Lord came upon 
him to activate him and energize him as the King of Israel. The 
Spirit did that in the Old Testament as well. Just because the Spirit 
of God came upon a particular person didn't necessarily mean 
it was an ordo salutis. sort of thing in the New Testament 
where that person was saved. So he had the Spirit and the 
Spirit left him and again that doesn't mean that he was saved 
and then unsaved. It means he was set up as the 
king over Israel and then he was basically defrocked from 
that particular position. So he wants to be honored in 
front of the elders and verse 31 says, so Samuel turned back 
after Saul and Saul worshiped the Lord. Samuel is a man. Samuel initially said, I'm not 
going to go with you. Samuel changed his mind and now 
he does go with him because he's not the strength of Israel and 
he does change and he does relent and he does go with Saul at this 
particular time. And that brings us to the end 
of the chapter and the end of Agag. The end of Agag, notice 
in verses 32 to 35. Verse 32, then Samuel said, bring 
Agag, king of the Amalekites, here to me. So Agag came to him 
cautiously. I'm sure he did. He had no idea 
what was going on in terms of the inner turmoil with reference 
to Saul and Samuel. So now he's bidden to come and 
appear before Samuel, so he comes cautiously. He tries to break 
the ice with a bit of a proverbial saying. He says, surely the bitterness 
of death is past? Not so fast, Agag. You shouldn't 
count your chickens before they hatch. Samuel is going to obey 
God. While Saul engages in sins akin 
to witchcraft, rebellion, and idolatry, Samuel is a godly man. Samuel is a believer. Saul says 
the Lord your God. Why? Because Samuel was a man 
of faith. He believed the gospel. He understood 
salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Samuel himself, 
not a perfect man. Samuel himself, a flawed man. 
Samuel's sons didn't turn out great in that he was somewhat 
like Eli before him. But nevertheless, Samuel was 
a faithful godly man. So when the Lord God Most High 
commands the destruction of Agag, Samuel is going to deal out this 
blow. So notice what we have in verse 
33. 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. Now I think at times, not just 
the world, but believers, especially in a New Covenant setting, where 
they aren't very familiar with the Old Testament, sort of recoil 
a bit in horror at the bloodshed in the Old Testament. Brethren, 
this was a wicked man. He was an ungodly man. We already 
saw that in verse 2. The Amalekites ambushed Israel 
on their exodus. We see it here in verse 33 with 
Samuel's words. 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. This 
morning in our Sunday school or confession study, we discussed 
justice. And it appears to me at times 
that the church, and I don't mean this church in particular, 
but the church in general, doesn't love justice, doesn't love righteousness, 
doesn't exalt in the Lord for His goodness when it comes to 
retribution poured out upon those who are lawless and disobedient 
and engage in all manner of wickedness. One brother cited Micah chapter 
6. Micah chapter 6, verse 8. He has shown you, O man, and 
what is it but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly 
with your God. I think this is in the backdrop 
with reference to Jesus in Matthew 23, 23, when he's indicting the 
religious leaders of his day, and he says, you tithe the mint 
and the anise and the cumin, but you neglect the weightier 
matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. I think the 
church as a whole appreciates the mercy of God. And well, we 
should! We should celebrate that mercy. 
We should revel in that mercy. We should jump up and do holy 
jigs in light of that mercy. Because God is in Christ, reconciling 
the likes of us unto himself. But there is justice, brethren. 
God is a God of justice. In fact, the psalmist in Psalm 
89 tells us the very foundation of God's throne is righteousness 
and justice. And when God visits with His 
judgment persons who deserve it, it is not wrong for the righteous 
to rejoice. Now, we don't dance on their 
graves, and we don't engage in that sort of a display of revelry, 
but at the same time, there is this joy that God Most High has 
undertaken for His elect. Turn over for just a moment to 
Judges chapter 4. I just want to illustrate this 
point with a couple of texts. Judges chapter 4. Just so we 
don't look at Samuel and say, oh boy, Samuel, I cannot believe 
you hacked Agag into pieces. This was the command of God. 
And Samuel was obedient to the command of God. And the righteous 
rejoice in the meeting out of justice for those who are deserving. Notice in Judges 4, there's that 
instance. We've got the Jabin, the king 
of the Canaanites, and then his henchman, the commander of his 
army, is a man by the name of Sisera. And I just want to drop 
down to verse 17, where Sisera meets his end. It says, however, 
Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael. Jael's that 
sturdy woman that is quite capable with a tent peg. In case you 
didn't know her, I just want to make sure we're all singing 
off the same page here. However, Sisera, I reckon she 
had to be sturdy to do what she did, would require a bit of upper 
body strength and a bit of ability to navigate and all that sort 
of thing. So she definitely had a skill 
set that I would doubt many people possess. Verse 17, however, Sisera 
had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber 
the Kenite. For there was peace between Jabin 
king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Gennite. And Jael went 
out to meet Sisera and said to him, turn aside my lord, turn 
aside to me, do not fear. And when he had turned aside 
with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket. Then he said 
to her, please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty. 
So she opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink and covered 
him. And he said to her, stand at the door of the tent. And 
if any man comes and inquires of you and says, is there any 
man here? You shall say no. Then Jael, 
Heber's wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand. 
and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple. And 
it went down into the ground, for he was fast asleep and weary. 
So he died. And then as Barak pursued Sisera, 
Jael came out to meet him and said to him, Come, I will show 
you the man whom you see. And when he went into her tent, 
there lay Sisera dead with the peg in his temple. Now, there 
are some sloppy commentators with reference to this particular 
passage. One in particular, I won't even mention his name because 
we'd all gasp and go, can't believe he actually says that, says that 
what a jail does here is murder. This is not murder. This is legit 
war. In fact, look at the next section, 
verse 21. So, on that day, God subdued 
Jabin, king of Canaan, in the presence of the children of Israel. 
Why? Because the commander of his 
army got a tent peg driven through his head, vis-à-vis jail. This 
was not murder on the part of Jael. This was an act of retribution 
against a godless man who led the army of an additionally godless 
man. Verse 24, And the hand of the 
children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king 
of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan. Now notice 
chapter 5. Chapter 5 is the song of Deborah. Deborah was a prophetess who 
assisted Barak. Barak is the judge. Deborah was 
a prophetess who assisted him. She wasn't a judge. She was technically 
the prophetess that assisted the judge, which was Barak. Now, 
notice she engages in this song to praise God for the great deliverance 
that God wrought relative to this Canaanite band that had 
tried to impose their might upon Israel. And it's a celebration 
of the goodness and the glory of God. But let's pick up at 
verse 24. Notice what she says. Most blessed 
among women is Jeho. Doesn't sound like a murderer, 
doesn't sound like a transgressor of the law, doesn't sound like 
somebody who should be upbraided or who should be visited with 
judgment from on high. Do you know where this language 
is also utilized? With reference to Mary, the mother 
of Jesus. Most blessed is Mary, the mother 
of Jesus, alongside of most blessed among women is Jael, the wife 
of Heber the Kenite. Blessed is she among women in 
tents. He asked for water. She gave milk. She brought out 
cream in a lordly bowl. She stretched her hand to the 
tent peg, her right hand to the workman's hammer. She pounded 
Sisera. She pierced his head. She split 
and struck through his temple. At her feet he sank. He fell. 
He lay still. At her feet he sank. He fell. 
Where he sank, there he fell dead. She's celebrating the reality 
that this man had been dispatched. He is no longer a threat to the 
children of Israel. Now notice what she goes on to 
say, just so we don't go, oh, poor Sisera. He was just a innocent 
Canaanite, minding his own business, trying to navigate the armies 
of the Canaanites in their ongoing battles with the Israelites. 
Brethren, he was a wicked man. And that is precisely what the 
next section indicates. The mother of Sisera looked through 
the window. All the other troops are returning 
home. His mommy's standing there looking out the window, wondering 
where her baby boy is. And look at what happens. The 
mother of Cicero looked through the window and cried out through 
the lattice. Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarries 
the clatter of his chariots? Notice the response from her 
friends. Her wisest ladies answered her. Yes, she answered herself. 
Are they not finding and dividing the spoil? To every man a girl 
or two? I don't want to unpack that because 
there's children here, but it means precisely what it means. 
This is what's happening with reference to Sisera. They were 
dividing up the plunder and they were sharing the Israelite girls. 
Are they not finding and dividing the spoil to every man a girl 
or two for Sisera a plunder of dyed garments, plunder of garments 
embroidered and dyed, two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck 
of the looter? Now notice how Deborah brings 
the song to a crescendo and a pinnacle here in verse 31. Thus let all 
your enemies perish, O Lord, but let those who love him be 
like the sun when it comes out in full strength. So back to 
1 Samuel 15. While we may recoil in horror 
at the thought of poor innocent Agag being hacked in pieces by 
Samuel, this is legit. This is the lex talionis. This 
is the law of retribution. And I think Proverbs 11 summarizes 
the sentiment well. Proverbs 11.10. When it goes 
well with the righteous, the city rejoices. And when the wicked 
perish, there is jubilation. The ESV captures it this way. 
When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the 
wicked perish, there are shouts of gladness. You see that? It is not inconsistent for the 
people of God to rejoice when the enemies of God are visited 
with judgment by God. That is not only not inconsistent, 
it is absolutely consistent, and it is the reflex attitude 
of those who have been conquered by sovereign grace, who now actually 
appreciate justice and righteousness, who now actually appreciate the 
reality that there are some bad characters in this world, and 
that when the civil state visits them with punishment, They're 
acting on behalf of God Almighty, according to Romans 13, 4. So 
it is not ungodly to rejoice. I mean, again, dancing on graves 
and engaging in that sort of ridicule and whatnot, that's 
overboard, and people ought not to do that. But in terms of rejoicing 
at the just judgment of God Almighty, that is absolutely consistent 
with biblical Christianity. Going back to 1 Samuel chapter 
15, we have Samuel in verse 34, 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. Thus, we see the chapter and 
we see how it opens the door for chapter 16 and the choice 
of David as the successor of Saul. But I want to deal with 
a couple of things before we close. First, the doctrine of 
God in this passage, and then sort of summarize the reign and 
subsequent apostasy of Saul himself. With reference to the doctrine 
of God, We need to understand how we jive or how we reconcile 
or how we deal with statements like this. I greatly regret that 
I have set up Saul as king. Verse 11, verse 35, the Lord 
regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. And then in 
the middle, verse 29, and also the strength of Israel will not 
lie nor relent for he is not a man that he should relent. 
Whatever verses 10 and 35 mean, Samuel did not understand it 
to mean that there was change in God. That much we are absolutely 
sure of because Samuel makes that declaration in verse 29 
that he does not relent. Now, there is a doctrine. It's 
one of the more important doctrines in theology proper that you don't 
know that you desperately need. It's called the doctrine of divine 
impassibility. Now just bear with me for a few 
moments. Some of you have heard this material 
before, but it certainly bears repetition. And this chapter 
or these statements about God regretting or God relenting are 
often utilized as a challenge to the doctrine of divine impassibility. Now, what is the doctrine of 
divine impossibility? I'll give you a definition in 
just a moment, but our confession highlights it in chapter 2, paragraph 
1. There's a lot of books written 
about the attributes of God, or the perfections of God, or 
those things that are true of God. There's not a lot written 
on three of them in that sort of string of attributes that 
get a lot of attention. That's changing, and thankfully 
so, there are more persons dealing with it Certainly in the ancient 
church, they dealt with it a lot, and in the Reformation era as 
well. But you have this statement in 2nd London Confession, chapter 
2, paragraph 1, that says that God is without body. That means 
divine non-corporeality. That means God doesn't have a 
body like man. He is spirit. It then goes on 
to say that God is without parts. That's the doctrine of divine 
simplicity. That means that God is not made 
up of parts. God is not a composite being. God is, as our brother reminds 
us, He is. He is pure spirit. He is pure 
act. He is independent. It's called 
aseity. He is not dependent on anything 
in His creation. He is simply Him. And so there 
is this doctrine of divine simplicity. And then the next statement says, 
and without passions. That is the doctrine of divine 
impassibility. Now, just a basic definition 
of impassibility. It is that divine attribute whereby 
God has said not to experience inner emotional changes, whether 
enacted freely from within or affected by His relationship 
to and interaction with human beings and the created order. 
In other words, there's no passions with God. Passions we often associate 
with change. In fact, the very idea of passion 
suggests undergoing change. James Dolezal says it this way, 
The doctrine of divine impassibility teaches, quite simply, that God 
cannot undergo emotional changes. In its narrower sense, it emphasizes 
that God cannot suffer. That's why this morning I took 
pains to indicate how Scripture can tell us the Church of God, 
which He purchased with His own blood. God doesn't have blood, 
God doesn't suffer, and God doesn't die in His essence or substance 
as God. Dolezal goes on to say, the term 
passion is derived from the late Latin passio, which means to 
suffer, to submit, or to undergo. Passion as passion is an undergoing, 
a happening to, so to speak. So scripture tells us that God 
is impassable. Now this doctrine is a subset 
of what we call immutability. I would imagine you have probably 
heard of immutability before you had heard of impassibility. 
But understand that immutability teaches us that God doesn't change. So if God doesn't change, then 
it's true that He's without passions. And there are several texts, 
Exodus 3.14 being one of them that indicates that God is without 
change. As well, you have Malachi chapter 
3 and verse 6, and then James 1. We can turn to the James 1.1 
just to see this in a New Testament setting. The doctrine of immutability 
teaches us that God doesn't change. Impassibility is a subset of 
that. James 1 verse 16, do not be deceived 
my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect 
gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights 
with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Hermann 
Bavink said, those who predicate any change whatsoever of God, 
whether with respect to his essence, knowledge, or will, diminish 
all his attributes, independence, simplicity, eternity, omniscience, 
and omnipotence. This robs God of his divine nature 
and religion of its firm foundation and assured comfort. That is 
why I said this is one of the most important doctrines you 
may not even know that you need. We need the fact that God doesn't 
change. We need the fact that God is 
without passions. We don't want Thursday us to 
engage in some grievous sin and God says, that's it, I'm done, 
I'm cutting you off. The fact that God doesn't cut 
us off is owing to the doctrine of divine impossibility. It is 
a wonderful thing. Now, typically, when people hear 
about this doctrine, they say, well, then that means that God 
is inert. That means that God is static. 
That means that God is just a rock and doesn't relate to his creation. 
Oh, God does relate to His creation. God relates most excellently 
and most wondrously. In fact, in the language of our 
confession, it says He is most loving, most gracious, most long-suffering, 
most abundant in goodness and truth. He's most because of the 
doctrine of divine impassibility. He can't get more loving toward 
us. He just can't do it, but he can't get less loving toward 
us either. You see why this is a glorious 
truth? He doesn't say on Thursday, well, 
I'm so disappointed with you. The love that was 100 units is 
now 80 units. If you work really hard and you obey very industriously, 
then we'll bring those units back up to 100. That's not the 
way God operates. As our brother reminded us, He 
is not the top of a chain of being that includes creature. 
He is Holy Other. He is God. He is Creator. Everything else is creature. 
Consider the statement by John the Apostle in 1 John 4, 8. He 
says, God is love. You can't say that about us. 
We do love, but that love fluctuates, that love grows, that love moves 
from object to object. Note that God is love. Not that He loves, but that He 
is love. Man loves, but it is not the 
case that man is love. It is part of what makes us up. 
We can grow in love, we can diminish in our love, but this is not 
the case with God. He is His attributes. He is His 
perfections. He is His essence, existence, 
and attributes. One has well said, all that is 
in God is God. So we're not dealing, again, 
with a composite being who's made up of a little bit of love, 
a little bit of justice, a little bit of mercy. It is the reality 
that God is impassable. Stephen Charnock makes this observation. He says, if God does change, 
it must be either to a greater perfection than he had before, 
or to a less. If to the better, he wasn't perfect, 
and so was not God. If to the worse, he will not 
be perfect, and so be no longer God after that change. So he 
is relatable in the language of the confession, most loving, 
gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth. 
But because he's impassable, he's most. He can't get better 
at this. He can't get more at this. He 
can't grow in his appreciation for his elect. No, he loves us 
with the mostness that is grounded in that blessed reality that 
I, the Lord, do not change, as he says in the prophet Malachi. Now, back to the challenge of 
the doctrine of divine impassibility. As you might imagine, persons 
will say things like, well, God does change. No, the change is 
in the creature. The change isn't in the Creator. And when it comes to this reality, 
there are several lines of defense relative to the doctrine of divine 
impassibility. There are these statements, the 
challenge, concerning God's regret. And then we have this statement 
concerning the immutability of God, sort of sandwiched between 
those in 1 Samuel 15. Now, the verb that is used in 
verses 10 and 35 and in verse 29 is the same verb used in Genesis 
chapter 6, verses 6 and 7. When God relented, God was sorry 
that He had made man on the earth. In that pre-flood situation where 
the earth was exceedingly corrupt and filled with violence, Genesis 
6 and 7, it says that the Lord was sorry because He had made 
man on the earth. The same verb is used in Numbers 
23. You can turn there. The prophecy 
of Balaam. Just because Balaam was a wretch 
doesn't mean his prophecies were untrue. You need to keep that 
in mind. God willing, someday we'll get 
to Numbers. on our Wednesday night study and deal with the 
Balaam prophecies. But notice in chapter 23 in Numbers, 
in verse 19, God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son 
of man that he should repent. So you have these conflicting 
statements. God is sorry. And then you've 
got Balaam and Samuel telling us, he's not sorry. He doesn't 
repent. He doesn't relent. He doesn't regret. He's not like 
a man. He doesn't have these changes. 
He doesn't undergo passions. He's not affected by things from 
without or affected by things within. So how do we deal with 
this? I would urge in the first place, there is a priority of 
the essence of God texts. And by priority, I mean being 
earlier in time or occurrence. In other words, we ask who God 
is before we look at what God does. And verse 29 in 1 Samuel 
15 tells us who God is. He's not a man. He doesn't relent 
like a man. And then we see what He does. 
Verses 10 and 35, He relents, or He regrets. There's not contradiction, 
so there has to be a strategy that we can employ so to avoid 
that particular instance. Now, the second thing I would 
urge is that we understand that the Bible uses figurative language. Figurative language is when Jesus 
says, I am the true vine. I am the door. Figurative language 
is replete throughout Scripture. And two of the forms of figurative 
language are called anthropomorphism and then anthropopathism. Anthropomorphism 
is when the Bible says something about God and attributes to him 
physical human characteristics. When the prophet Isaiah says 
that God bears His mighty arm before the nations, I don't think 
any of us thinks that God has an arm. Or when in 2 Chronicles 
it says the eyes of Yahweh run to and fro throughout all the 
earth, I don't think any of us think there's all these eyes 
kind of running throughout the earth. It's designed to teach 
us by figurative speech something true of God. His power in the 
one instance, His omniscience in the other instance. So that's 
anthropomorphism. It is predicating or saying something 
about God that is true of the creature and applying it to God. The second is anthropopathism. Passions, pathos, is connected 
here. Anthropopathism is when the Bible, 
using figurative language, takes things that are true of human 
emotions and applies them to God. And it does that to teach 
us something true about God. But the true about God is not 
that He changes. The true about God is not that 
He relents. The true about God is not that 
He regrets. The true about God, in verses 
10 and 35 in our passage, is that He's righteous, He's just, 
and Saul is a wicked rebel. And it uses this, it's called 
an improper predication, when the Bible does this with reference 
to God, it teaches us truth about God using concepts that are familiar 
to us as creature. It is spoken, as the old writers 
would say, in the manner of man. John Gill explains. He says, 
with reference to this regret, which is not to be understood 
of any change of mind, counsel, purpose, or decree in God, which 
is not consistent with His unchangeable nature. Right? Priority. His unchangeable nature. Who 
is God? Once we get that settled, then 
anything that God does that seems to betray that has to be consistent, 
and it has to jive with who He is. And so this provides us a 
grammar to be able to deal with that. He goes on to say, but 
of a change of dispensation and outward dealings, and is spoken 
after the manner of men, who when they repent of anything, 
change the course of their conduct and behavior. And so the Lord 
does without any change of His mind and will, which alters not. 
And though He changes the outward dispensations of His providence, 
yet He never changes and alters in the matters and methods of 
His grace. So ask the Bible, who is God? And then look at what God does, 
and then ask the question, is this something being spoken in 
the manner of men? Certainly in the prophet, God 
bears his mighty arm before the nations. That's spoken in the 
manner of men. When it tells us that God was 
sorry, or that God's soul was affected, or that God moved from 
one position or place to another, that is an improper predication. It is not properly predicated 
of him, that there is actual change in him, but rather it 
is a convention, it is a method wherein Scripture accommodates 
us. In fact, Calvin says the entirety 
of the Bible is similar to a woman who lisps to her baby or to her 
child. You can't talk to a two-year-old 
and say, I want you to go down to the store and buy a gallon 
of milk. He doesn't understand that. You 
talk baby talk. You say goo-goo ga-ga. You talk 
to him in language that he is able to accommodate or that he 
is able to process. Much of Scripture is that way. It is an accommodation from the 
Creator to the creature because there is such a great chasm or 
a great distance betwixt us. And so, of course, he speaks 
to us in the manner of men, to educate us about true theology, 
Saul's wickedness, God's righteousness, but not to tell us that there's 
a contradiction, that when he says, I, the Lord, do not change 
except in my dealings with Saul. or I the Lord do not change except 
when I was sorry that I made the world in Genesis. There's 
no inconsistency in Scripture. There is no contradiction. This 
morning I said the communication of idioms or properties is necessary 
and crucial to understand how the Bible can say the church 
of God which he purchased with his own blood. When you get into 
this aspect of theology proper, this idea of anthropopathism, 
or improper predication, or speaking in the manner of men, is absolutely 
crucial to understand so that you know there's no contradiction, 
you understand who God is, and what He does is consistent with 
who He is, but He speaks to us in the manner of men to highlight 
certain truths in a given context or in a given passage. Again, 
if you have questions about any of this, please contact me. I'd 
love to discuss it with you. in more detail. Now, let's look 
finally at the reign and subsequent apostasy of Saul. And brethren, 
we need to take heed to this. At one point, Saul probably thought 
everything was great in his life. He was the king of Israel. He 
was a good king in terms of administering the kingdom. I mean, it wasn't 
all bad with Saul. I mean, there were times where 
he defeated enemies and he protected Israel and he engaged in those 
things that good kings ought to do. They probably thought 
he was on the top of the world. But he wasn't saved. And so I 
think that Saul and others in our Bibles help us, or hopefully 
will, call us to some healthy self-examination. In terms of 
his royal appointment, the Lord directed Samuel to Saul in chapter 
9. The Lord directed Samuel to anoint 
Saul in chapter 10. The Lord equipped Saul for service 
in chapter 10, 9, and following. The Lord set Saul over Israel 
in chapter 10, 17 to 27, and the Lord granted Saul an early 
victory over the Ammonites in chapter 11. There's an instance 
of divine justice that tells us that Saul was killing Ammonites 
until the heat of the day. Boy, if that doesn't make the 
modern Christian recoil in horror, what do you mean he was killing 
Ammonites until the heat of the day? Well, Saul distinguished 
himself in those initial stages as God's man. But then it was 
a downward trajectory from there. And I think from that, we ought 
to extrapolate the principle. The presence of great privilege 
does not necessarily argue for the presence of grace. Don't 
make that mistake that great privilege necessarily equates 
to the presence of grace. Judas had great privilege. Judas 
was part of the apostles. Judas was given authority by 
Jesus. Judas went out and preached. 
Judas went out and cast out demons. Judas went out and healed the 
sick. We have no reason whatsoever 
to suspect that Judas was exempt from the exploits of those other 
apostles. Judas was included among them. 
He enjoyed great privilege. But he didn't have grace. So 
never conclude, well, I've got great privilege, I grew up in 
this family, I go to this church, I have this version of the Bible, 
that that necessarily equates to grace in the heart. We need 
God's grace, not necessarily privilege. Better to have no 
privilege and God's grace than to have privilege and no grace. 
So, with reference to Saul, that certainly seems to be the case. 
Now, in terms of his apostasy, or his rejection of the Lord, 
in our chapter, he blames others, verses 15 to 21. Always an evidence, 
brethren, that there is either, A, the absence of grace, or just 
a little bit of grace. I know it's in us still to blame 
shift. I know it's in us still to say, 
no, I didn't steal the cookie when our mouths are covered with 
chocolate. It was him, it was them, and he gave it to me. I 
know that there's still shreds or remnants of that in our hearts, 
but this idea of blame shifting to others is not a good indicator 
that there is grace in the heart. Remember when David is confronted 
by the prophet Nathan? He doesn't engage in some elaborate 
sort of ceremony the way Saul does here. Oh, Samuel, I've sinned, 
but please honor me before the elders. All David says, I have 
sinned against Yahweh. That's it. What else is he going 
to say? Is he going to say, well, it's Bathsheba's fault. She shouldn't 
have been bathing naked. She shouldn't have been there 
so I could see her. It's her fault. I didn't do this. 
It was, it was entrapment. I was led into it. I was, I was 
framed. No, he doesn't do that. He says, 
I have sinned against the Lord. This idea of blame shifting is 
indicative, not completely of a lack of grace. Again, there 
is remaining corruption in our hearts, but it is certainly a 
dangerous sign. Secondly, he is riddled with 
false piety. Riddled with false piety. 1 Samuel 
13. Samuel says, stay here and don't 
do anything. Samuel's a day late. So what 
does Saul do? Well, I sacrificed. I wanted 
to show my devotion to the Lord. Again, it's all couched in piety, 
but it was wrong and rebellious. Chapter 14, the imposition of 
this fast, which in the context is absolutely ludicrous because 
these troops were engaged in battle. That's not a winning 
victory. Starve your troops and then send 
them out to the battlefield. If ever there's a time to shove 
meat and protein and fat down their gullets, it's right before 
they go out and engage the enemy. They need strength and energy. 
But again, he does this most likely out of superstition. If 
we fast, then God will bless. That is something that attaches 
itself to the professing people of God in so many instances, 
in so many ways. 1 Samuel chapter 4, they get 
bested on the field of battle by the Philistines. Well, let's 
trot out the Ark of the Covenant. We'll win then. Certainly, they 
treat it like a holy horseshoe or a lucky charm. They think 
that if they bring it out to the field of battle, then they 
will win. God sends defeat to them to teach 
them not to do such things. He'd rather have the Ark of the 
Covenant captured by godless Philistines and taken into Philistia 
than indulge his people's vain curiosity with reference to lucky 
charms or superstition. Saul is riddled with these things. 
We see it in chapter 15, 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. And the rest 
we have utterly destroyed. Oh, well, since it was sacrificed, 
that's okay. No, it's never okay, brethren. 
There is never a good reason to disobey God, even when you 
and your piety think that it's okay. It's not okay. The bottom 
line, and I feel I feel bad that we have to say this clearly, 
but whatever God says, we just do it. We just obey it. We don't 
say, well, I thought this would be a better approach, God. I 
thought sacrifice would bring you more glory. No, no, no, no, 
no. Do not innovate. Do not create. Just obey. You see it as well 
in verse 21. Verse 21. But the people took of the plunderers' 
sheep and oxen the best of the things which should have been 
utterly destroyed to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. 
So he blames others. He is riddled with false piety. 
Thirdly, he's delusional. He is just flat out delusional. Brethren, this may not always 
be an indicator of apostasy, but it's certainly not an indicator 
of good things when the professing people of God are delusional, 
when they have no concept whatsoever about reality. Look at Saul specifically 
in verse 13. Then Samuel went to Saul, and 
Saul said to him, Blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed 
the commandment of the Lord. Not at all, not even a little 
bit. If that's the case, why am I 
hearing these animals? You should have obliterated them. 
And then notice in verse 20, 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. No, you haven't. Your own statement betrays you. Agag, get it, was an Amalekite, 
and he was under the ban and devoted to destruction with the 
rest of them, and he should have been terminated in this mission. As well, fourthly, he engages 
in fake repentance. He wants to look good among the 
elders and among the people. He doesn't care about God. Brethren, 
if that is in our minds and hearts, I'm not suggesting we all want 
to look bad in front of everybody. I think there's a natural sense 
in the second great commandment, love your neighbor as yourself. 
We don't want to expose our neighbor to ridicule and all kinds of 
bad things. We don't want to do that unnecessarily 
with ourselves. I don't think that's a wrong 
thing. But if we are driven by what men think of us instead 
of what God thinks of us, that is a bad sign and an indicator 
that you may be on the road to apostasy. Fifth, he seeks to 
destroy the man after God's own heart. That takes us a bit to 
the future, chapters 18 to 26. He hunts David. He tries to destroy 
David. He wants to kill David. David 
is the man after God's own heart, and Saul wants to rid the earth 
of him. Sixth, he consults a witch in order to receive direction 
concerning a battle with the Philistines. He knows he needs 
divine direction before he faces the Philistines, and I think 
it's Gilboa. And so he doesn't have the ear of God, he doesn't 
have the voice of God, he doesn't have the favor of the prophet 
Samuel, so he fetches this witch at Endor and he seeks guidance 
and counsel from her. And then ultimately he dies on 
the battlefield as an apostate before God. Guess where it all 
began? He disobeyed. He didn't do what 
he was told. Now again, brethren, we are not 
saved because we're so obedient. We are not saved because we are 
so upright and we do everything God says. We are saved because 
Jesus is upright and because Jesus did everything God says. That righteousness of Jesus, 
the moment we believe, is imputed to us. It is received by faith 
alone. But having received that, the 
child of God now has a new nature. The child of God now has a new 
orientation. The child of God now understands, 
John 14, 15, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. 
Saul's wretched end started off by Saul not listening, not obeying, 
and not complying with the Word of the Living God. I think there 
is a great warning for all of us with reference to this wretch, 
and we ought to, by God's grace, cry out for more of the presence 
and the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we would walk in obedience 
to our God. Not because we think by it we'll 
be saved, but because we have by grace been saved, and this 
is the natural outflow of those conquered by the blood of Jesus. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
thank You for Your Word, and thank You for the glorious things 
that we learn in Scripture concerning You. We praise You that You do 
not change. We praise You that You do not 
fluctuate, that You are not given to passions or emotions or the 
sorts of things that are so common among men. We thank You as well 
that You speak to us in ways that we understand. You speak 
to us as Your children, and You give us guidance, and You give 
us direction, and You give us not only the revelation of who 
You are, but what you require. and help us all as your people, 
those saved by grace through faith in Jesus, to learn from 
this wretched man and to seek to be obedient to the divine 
will. Give us grace to search the scriptures, give us grace 
to submit to your word, and give us grace to persevere, not just 
for a time, not just for a few weeks, not just when we're converted, 
but each and every day until the day we breathe our last. 
We ask for your help, we ask for your provision, we ask for 
your protection, and we ask for your blessing upon this local 
church. And we pray these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. 
Amen. We'll close with a brief time 
of meditation.