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1st
Samuel 15:1-35 “Samuel
also said unto Saul, The LORD
sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of
the words of the LORD.
2 Thus
saith the LORD
of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait
for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 3
Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly
destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman,
infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. 4
And Saul gathered the people together,
and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men
of Judah. 5 And
Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley. 6
And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go,
depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with
them: for ye shewed kindness to all the
children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the
Amalekites. 7 And
Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is
over against Egypt. 8 And
he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the
people with the edge of the sword. 9
But Saul and the people spared Agag, and
the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and
all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and
refuse, that they destroyed utterly. 10
Then came the word of the LORD
unto Samuel, saying, 11 It
repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and
hath not performed my commandments. And
it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD
all night. 12 And
when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying,
Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and
passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. 13
And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said
unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
14 And
Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears,
and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? 15
And Saul said, They have brought them
from the Amalekites: for the people
spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD
thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. 16
Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I
will tell thee what the LORD
hath said to me this night. And he said
unto him, Say on. 17 And
Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou
not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD
anointed thee king over Israel? 18
And the LORD
sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the
Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. 19
Wherefore then didst thou not obey the
voice of the LORD,
but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have
obeyed the voice of the LORD,
and have gone the way which the LORD
sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed
the Amalekites. 21 But
the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which
should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD
thy God in Gilgal. 22 And
Samuel said, Hath 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 hearken than the fat of rams. 23
For rebellion is as the sin of
witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD,
he hath also rejected thee from being
king. 24 And
Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned:
for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD,
and thy words: because I feared the
people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now
therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may
worship the LORD.
26 And
Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD,
and the LORD
hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. 27
And as Samuel turned about to go away,
he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. 28
And Samuel said unto him, the LORD
hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a
neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. 29
And also the Strength of Israel will not
lie nor repent: for he is not a
man, that he should repent. 30 Then
he said, I have sinned: yet
honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel,
and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD
thy God. 31 So
Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD.
32 Then
said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death
is past. 33 And
Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be
childless among women. And Samuel hewed
Agag in pieces before the LORD
in Gilgal. 34 Then
Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. 35
And Samuel came no more to see Saul
until the day of his death: nevertheless
Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD
repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.” [Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED654] Introduction: God’s Judgment Against The Amalekites--God’s
Judgment Is Not Like Man’s Judgment, It’s At A Different Level “1st
Samuel chapter 15, in the life of Saul, in whom we have been journeying with
these last weeks. It begins by saying “Samuel
also said unto Saul, The LORD
sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of
the words of the LORD.”
(verse 1)
Samuel has some issues with Saul, Saul has been the disobedient. In chapter 13, because of the presumption of
his sin, Samuel has already said that his lineage would not remain on the
throne, that the throne would pass to another family, that it would not stay in
regards to his heirs. But in this
chapter, the throne will be taken away from him personally, because of his
disobedience. So, there’s a challenge at
the beginning. Samuel says, ‘I’m
the one the LORD
called to anoint you to be king over Israel, it was his decision, you’re in
this position because of him.’ And
he says, “therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD.”
(verse 1b) ‘the LORD
put you into this position,’ as he has put
every one of us this evening in whatever position we are in, in life. The Bible says even our next breath is in his
hands, and he says “therefore” as we realize that, your translation may
say “give heed,” “incline yourself,” that’s the idea, listen then to the
things that he says, that’s the whole center of this 15th chapter,
Saul’s inability to take serious the things that the LORD
would say to him. “Thus saith the LORD
of hosts,” now Samuel giving him the message, “I
remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for
him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.
Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and
spare them not; but slay man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep,
camel and ass.” (verses 2-3) “and utterly” an important word, “all” an
important word, a complete slaughter, they’re being dedicated as it were to the
LORD. And look, we read this, those of you
visiting, your first time, maybe your first time working through an Old
Testament passage, is this the same God of the New Testament? How could he be that callous, to wipe out
everyone. In Deuteronomy it
tells us, the LORD
there reiterating before the children of Israel entering the Land, he says
there, “Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when you were come
forth out of Egypt, how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee,
even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary, and he
feared not God, therefore it shall be when the LORD
thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about in the land
which the LORD
thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out
the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven, thou shalt not forget it.” Amalek,
of the line of Esau, Amalek attacked Israel, and it says “the feeble, the
hindmost.” You know, you have over 2
million people journeying through the Wilderness, and Amalek attacked the
crippled, the children, the little ones, the pregnant women, slaughtered them,
had no mercy on God’s people. And look,
Amalek did that as a pillar of cloud is leading them during the day and a
pillar of fire is there at night, Amalek did it against incredible Light, the
children of Israel had come out of Egypt, it was big news then, the Red Sea had
parted, the Egyptian host had been destroyed in the sea, and they sinned
against incredible Light, they did it with incredible cruelty. And no doubt when God gives this command to
Saul, to utterly destroy them now, God is the one who knows what Amalek will be
in the future, what Amalek would do to Israel in the future. [Comment:
Amalek was descended from Esau, whose descendants became the
Edomites. Who are the Edomites
today? This article traces the lineage
of Esau, the Edomites, right to the present day. see https://unityinchrist.com/prophets/edom/Edom%20in%20Prophecy%201.html] As we study that, of course, we’re going to
find out that it’s an Amalekite that takes Saul’s life, Saul here in
disobedience here does not wipe out Amalek.
When we get to the Book of Esther, we’re going to find out there that
Hamen was of the line of the Amalekites, and if he had had his way, would have
destroyed every Jew on the planet, he wanted to wipe out the entire Jewish
nation. [To read the entire history
surrounding the Book of Esther, see and read through this link, https://unityinchrist.com/ezra/ezra1.html
and the accompanying “html” pages that follow.]
So God has good purpose, you know, if he warns us, and he says to us
“hearken,” and he tells us there’s something in our life that needs to get
eradicated, that’s the lesson here.
Because, remember, Amalek is a type of the flesh, Amalek is a type of
that fallen nature that lives within us, he is of Esau, and you remember Esau
traded away his birthright for a bowl of beans [lentils], Esau is that picture
of a part of us that thinks so little of spiritual things, that it’s willing to
satisfy itself carnally in regards to the flesh, and at the sacrifice of any
spiritual thing, it doesn’t matter. So
there’s something in us of Amalek, there’s some lesson for us here, certainly
you and I are not going to go out and slaughter Amalekites, there is a lesson
here that God would put in front of us that is relative to our wellbeing as his
children. It tells us in Romans
15, ‘the things that were written aforetime were written for our learning, that
we might have hope,’ through the instruction of the Scripture and so
forth. So we see this interesting
picture here, where Saul is told now ‘You’ve got the throne, I want you
to go now and I want you to completely eradicate the Amalekites.’ There’s no problem here in regards to
the battle, no chance of defeat, it is God’s war. God is only asking Saul to be obedient. If Saul were obedient, the Amalekites could
have been destroyed in a whirlwind, they could have been destroyed by fire like
God had done in times past [Sodom and Gomorrah], all he’s asking Saul to do is
be obedient, there’s no chance of defeat.
And there is no chance by the way in our lives of defeat as God asks us
to yield, he’s given us the power of his Holy Spirit, ‘greater is he that
is in you than that’s in the world,’ yes, the world, the flesh, the
devil, those are our enemies, but we only succumb when there’s willing
disobedience in our lives, we don’t have to give ourselves to that. When I fail, it’s because I want to, or
because I let myself. Now look, our
picture here is not deception, it isn’t as though Saul is deceived. Saul is disobedient. And that’s vastly different. It’s going to say clearly he’s in rebellion.
And that’s vastly different from someone being deceived. So the LORD
tells him to do this, the LORD
tells him to go in and wipe out the Amalekites, “And Saul gathered the
people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and
ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came
to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.” (verses 4-5) set up his
troops around the city. And listen, God
is longsuffering, God is not unjust in his judgment, his judgment is not rash,
we know that he had told Abraham in Genesis chapter 15, verse 16, that he was
going to take his descendants down into Egypt for four generations, for four
hundred years, and then he was going to bring them into the Promised Land, and
God was going to use Israel as his chastening rod, his rod of judgment to wipe
out the Amorites. But he said ‘the
iniquity of the Amorites is not yet come to its full,’ God would wait
400 years, being patient with the Canaanites, the Amorites, before he would
bring judgment. And any of them could
have turned, we know that, because the prostitute Rahab lived on the wall [of
Jericho] turned, and not only was she forgiven and saved, she becomes part of
the lineage of Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 1 [see https://unityinchrist.com/rahab/Rahab.htm]. So as we look at the Amalekites, it’s been
over 400 years since they attacked the children of Israel, God has been patient
with them, and any of the Amalekites could have individually turned to the God
of Israel, could have been forgiven, could have joined themself to the nation
of Israel. So God is not rash, there
isn’t something here where God is just flipping out or getting even, there’s
never any of that. And the problem is,
and the reason why we struggle when we look at these things, yes, it seems
cruel, it’s because we want to lower God to human reasoning, and we think ‘Well
boy, for a human being to do that, that would be terrible, that would be
cruel,’ and we can’t take God’s judgment and God’s thoughts and God’s mind
and God’s heart, and lower that to that of fallen man. There’s just a disconnect there, sometimes
God asks us, sometimes God asks us for obedience, he asks us to do things, we
have to believe that he’s wise, that he’s sovereign, he knows what he’s
doing. So he gives this command to Saul,
Saul goes out now with 200,000 men around one of the cities of the
Amalekites. Saul
Warns The Kenites To Depart From The Amalekites--Saul’s Partial Obedience, A
Sign Of The Flesh Now
Judges chapter 1, verse 16 tells us the Kenites are the family of Moses’
father-in-law, they were Kenites that had joined themselves to the children of
Israel. “And Saul said unto the
Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you
with them: for ye shewed kindness to all
the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the
Amalekites. And Saul smote the
Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over
against Egypt.” (verses 6-7) the southern part of the country there’s a
great slaughter. Look what it says, “And
he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the
people with the edge of the sword.” (verse 8) Now anybody named Agag ought to be killed, so
he took Agag. Now Agag is not his name,
Agag is a title, like Pharaoh, Agag was the name of the Amalekite kings,
Pharaoh is what the name of the Egyptians kings were called. It’s interesting, Agag, the word, the root of
the word means “a flame,” so it’s an interesting picture. “Agag the king of the Amalekites alive,
and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But” that’s a troubling word in Saul’s
life, “Saul and the people spared Agag,” notice this “and the best of
the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that
was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and
refuse, that they destroyed utterly.” (verses 8-9) it doesn’t say that he
“could not” utterly destroy them, it says that he “would not,” he made it his
will, he made a decision. But notice, “but
every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.” So, it’s always like the flesh to want to
destroy and remove from sight everything that’s vile and everything that’s
refuse, and spare those things, some hidden flame, something that looks better. As a picture of our flesh, it’s typical for
you and I to make sure we put away the things that are vile that anybody would
see, and to let some little flame burn inwardly, some thing still let it have
life. When we know that the Lord is
telling us that ‘Now you need to put all of that to death, you need to
utterly destroy that, you’re allowing the very center of this to breathe, have
some life.’ And look, the old man,
the flesh, our fallen nature, this is a mistake a lot of Christians make. The
Bible doesn’t say it needs to be rehabbed, I need to turn over a new leaf. In the human nature, the other side of the
leaf is old and moldy and rotten just like the side you’re looking at, there’s
no side of the leaf that’s pretty, there’s no turning it over, it’s a fallen
nature, it’s a fallen nature, and we’re not to rehab it. Paul says to consider the old man dead, to
not let it on the throne, don’t let it reign.
It’s there, but to consider it dead, that’s what we’re told. We’re never told to rehab it, because your
old nature, the old man, is probably more fowl today than he was the day you
got saved [amen, don’t I know that’s true, looking back], because he’s been
frustrated for many years in my life, the old man. If I look down there any time, he’s going ‘AAAGH!!!’
I shut him up real fast, and I just say ‘You’re dead, go away.’ And some day this corruption is going to
put on incorruption, this mortal is going to put on immortality, but the old
man, the fallen nature, you’re to consider him dead. [Comment:
And when you do put on immorality, the old nature will be truly dead,
gone out of your psyche, no more spirit-in-man infected by Satan and his
demonic world nor the broadcast of Satan into our human spirit. That “old man,” the fallen nature will not be
a part of our minds when we’re immortal beings in the Kingdom of God.] We’ve been studying Romans, you and I are
justified, just as if we didn’t do anything before God. Isn’t that a wonderful place to be? But the fallen nature, it’s still there, it’s
circumstance wants its way, and Saul is just a picture of someone who is not
willing to hearken to what the LORD
said, when the LORD
said ‘You need to put the Amalekites to death, you need to wipe them
out.’ Selective obedience is not
obedience. The lesson in this
chapter is that partial obedience is disobedience, as far as God is concerned. So Saul destroys all the Amalekites, he saves
Agag the king. And the arrogance of
Saul, he probably, you know, he has no problem slaughtering women and children
here, he just has a problem being obedient to God’s Word. He probably in his own pride, made sure Agag
knew that he owed him, ‘The reason you’re alive, Bub, is because I’ve spared
your life.’ It wasn’t his battle, it
was the LORD’s,
it wasn’t his decision. So, he saves all
that he considers good, and he puts away everything he considers vile or refuse. We
Never Sin To Ourselves, It Hurts God And Others--God’s View of Partial
Obedience Verse
10 says, “Then came the word of the LORD
unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and
hath not performed my commandments. And
it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD
all night.” (verses 10-11) now this is the night
before Samuel confronts him, the night before is the same day, remember in the
Jewish [Hebrew, all 12 tribes, as well as the whole Mesopotamian culture,
Babylonian culture of the time] it’s evening and morning. We never sin to ourselves, Saul’s sin hurt
the heart of God, and it hurt the servant of God, it hurt Samuel also. And here’s God’s view of partial obedience,
this is his view of it, this is what he says, ‘He has turned back from
following me,’ that’s God’s view of partial obedience. He doesn’t grade on a curve, it’s not like
Saul could say ‘Hey, I killed most of the Amalekites, I kept a few of the
pretty ones alive, I kept the king alive, I should get a 90 on this exam
anyway.’ No, God’s view of partial
obedience is, ‘he has turned back from following me, and hath not
performed my commandments.’ And
it grieved Samuel, he was heartbroken, he loved Saul, and he cried unto the LORD
all night. Look, the LORD
says ‘it repenteth me.’ Ah,
look at verse 35, “And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his
death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for
Saul: and the LORD
repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.” So here it says
he repented, that is never to be confused with New Testament repentance, you
and I are called to repentance, Metanoia in the Greek, it means to
change the mind. God can never exercise
New Testament repentance, because it’s relative to sin. And God can’t repent from sin, he has no sin,
it’s impossible. For you and I it means Turning
around, our life has been going away from him, a change of the mind is when
we realize ‘Wait, I’m in sin,’ it’s what Saul should have realized, ‘I’ve
been going away from God,’ repentance is to turn and then to come back to
God. That’s impossible for God to
do. Look in verse 29, “And also the
Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent:
for he is not a man, that he should repent.” “the Strength of Israel,” this is a
picture of the LORD,
your translation might say “the Eternity of Israel,” “the Victory of
Israel,” ‘the LORD
of Israel will not lie or repent, for he is not a man, that he should repent.’ So we have two verses here saying “he
repented,” and then saying, who he is relative to Israel, he will not
repent. Here’s the idea, now that we’re
totally confused. God is immutable, he
can’t change, it says “it repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be
king.” That’s not relative to
God, it’s relative to Saul’s disobedience, and because God can not change, God
must be the same toward obedience, and he must be the same towards
disobedience. So he calls Saul to be
king in obedience, he’s exercised something towards Saul’s life, and there will
be blessing there in Saul’s obedience.
If Saul then turns from God in disobedience, it mandates a response from
God. On the human side it looks like
he’s changing, the truth is unchanging, and that’s why he must respond to
obedience one way, and disobedience and rebellion in another way. So here as he speaks to Samuel, he says in
regards to Saul and his sin ‘it repenteth me that I have set up Saul to
be king, I can’t let that go on anymore, I can’t endorse sin, because I am
unchanging, and because now he is living in rebellion, therefore my heart
cannot endorse that, I have to be who I am, and it repenteth me I have made him
king.’ But then he says ‘he’s
not a man that he should repent, the way man repents,’ and that’s
always important for us to understand.
God’s heart is grieved, Samuel’s heart is broken here, verse 12 says
“And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel,
saying, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set him up a place, and is gone
about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.” Now I hate confrontation, I would have slept
in that morning. Confrontation in
ministry, I’m a wimp, that’s one of the things I hate, I hate, and I have to do
it sometimes, but I hate confrontation.
Samuel got up early. “Samuel
rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came
to Carmel, and behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on,
and gone down to Gilgal.” We don’t
believe this is the Carmel up in the north, this is another Carmel in the
south, it seems this is the area of the country they’re in at this point in
time. He set up a memorial, “and is
gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.” Saul had the guts to put up a memorial of his
victory over Amalek, he set up some kind of a ‘Saul is a great king’
monument or something, or ‘Saul the slaughterer of Amalek,’ or
something, he set up a memorial to himself, you can tell where the guy’s
at. And now he’s gone down to
Gilgal. Now Samuel is old, we’re told
that, a few chapters before this, so it could say here ‘that Samuel is
REALLY old.’ He’s probably a big
tall skinny guy with a long white beard, looks like Gandolf probably, you know,
I’m sure he’s an austere figure in some ways.
I’m sure that Saul is a man that had known the tender side of Samuel,
but he also must know the look in his eye when he comes with the word of the LORD. “And Samuel came
to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed
be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.”
(verse 13)
You know, people do that, they have God-talk, ‘Oh the Lord
understands, ya, I know, Praise the Lord, I, ya we’re doing this, oh ya I’ve
done that, Praise the Lord, God understands.’
Well he does, listen. ‘Oh,
you’ve obeyed the commandment of the LORD???’ “And Samuel said, What meaneth then
this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I
hear?” (verse 14) You know, you
can’t keep sin quiet. He says ‘Sam,
great to see ya, kept God’s commandment, I’ve slaughtered all the sheep, I’ve
killed all the oxen,’ and Samuel said ‘Well what’s that Blaaaah!? What’s that Moooow!?’ ‘What are all those
noises?’ Don’t you hate it,
you’re getting busted, and sin is crying out loud, sin is always noisy, God
makes sure. You may not say nothing, the
person you’re in sin with, the conspirator, you may convince them to be quiet,
and all of a sudden you’re gonna hear ‘Mooooow!’ and somebody’s going to
say ‘What in the world?’ “Be sure
your sin will find you out,” that’s what it says in the Book of Numbers, you
can’t keep it quiet, and you can’t keep it quiet because it’s God that’s
overseeing. He’s sovereign. You know, it’s interesting, he says ‘What
is this, what does it mean? I hear this
bleating of sheep, I hear this lowing of oxen in my ear, what am I hearing
then?’ He’s going to blame the
people, passing the proverbial buck here.
“And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep
and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD
thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” (verse 15) notice,
not “my God,” but “the LORD
thy God.” ‘We’ve just saved the
best sheep and oxen lowing.’ We
always want to bring to the altar the thing the Lord tells us to destroy on the
battlefield. It’s so easy to go forward
to another altar-call, to go up again, bring the sacrifice, ‘Oh Lord I know
I shouldn’t be doing this, oh Lord I know I shouldn’t be living this way,’ we
always want to bring the sacrifice, the thing the Lord said, put it to death on
the battlefield. You can come to church
limping and wounded and all battered looking like something the cat drug in,
but don’t come sacrificing the thing you were supposed to kill on the
battlefield somewhere. And we always
want to do that. I know, because I’m a
human. ‘What is this bleating of
sheep?’ you know, this is the original inconvenient truth here, ‘Moooow!’
you know. It’s like saying ‘Ya, I
stole the money, but I did it to put it in the offering, I’m keeping 10 percent
and giving God 90 percent, so everything should be fine,’ it’s that
rationale. Look, “Then Samuel said
unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD
hath said to me this night. And he said
unto him, Say on.” (verse 16) “Stay,”
the Hebrew is “Shut up, be quiet.” Now it wasn’t the night coming, it was the
night before, which is when the Jewish [Hebrew] day started. “Then Samuel said, When thou wast
little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the
tribes of Israel, and the LORD
anointed thee king over Israel?” (verse
17) before you were a hot-shot, a
smarty-pants. “And the LORD
anointed thee” ‘it’s his kingdom, Saul,
it’s not yours, he anointed thee king over Israel.’ “And the LORD
sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the
Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.” (verse 18) The journey may be ours, the war is the LORD’s,
we need only obey. “Wherefore then
didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD,
but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?”
(verse 19) Partial
obedience, you did evil in the sight of the LORD. Listen, do we believe the Bible is the
literal Word of God? Then what that
demands is literal obedience. It seems
to be a big struggle, the Bible says you shouldn’t be living in sexual sin with
your boyfriend or girlfriend, well that’s literal. ‘But it’s not literal when it comes to my
behavior,’ it will be. The Bible’s
literal when it says we shouldn’t be drunk [but it does not condemn drinking in
extreme moderation]. Is there a coin for literal obedience? The Bible, when it tells us we shouldn’t be
involved in sorcery, the word is “Pharmekia, pharmakos,” witchcraft and
sorcery, that’s where we get Pharmacy, it speaks of selling and using
drugs. Listen, the average guy in
America is not involved in sorcery, putting a pentagram on his livingroom floor
and sacrificing chickens, I was involved in dropping LSD, staying stoned,
opening yourself up to a world you’re not supposed to be opened up to [he’s
talking about the demonic world, which drug use can be a door into], the
Bible’s literal. God doesn’t want us
open to that world, he loves us, it’s destructive in the long run. God tells us that we should live by the laws
of the land, is that literal? ‘Ah,
I’m working under the table, you know, things are hard.’ Your walk is under the table too, that is the
problem. The government lets you under
the table for about six hundred bucks, then you gotta be above the table beyond
that. I’m saying these things because I
know there’s nobody here tonight involved in any of those particular things, so
I don’t want to stick anybody, this is like second-service Sunday morning that
really get involved in all of these things [laughter]. Look at verse 20, “And Saul said unto
Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD,
and have gone the way which the LORD
sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed
the Amalekites.” Now
he’s contradicting himself, ‘I’ve done everything the LORD
told me, and brought Agag,’ no, if you did
everything the LORD
told you, you couldn’t bring Agag, he’d be dead, ‘I’ve done everything
the LORD
sent me to do, and I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly
destroyed the Amalekites.’ Well, how does that go together? Amalek should be dead if you completely
destroyed the Amalekites. “But the
people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should
have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD
thy God in Gilgal.” (verse 21) ‘Their motives were good,’ and
again, ‘they did it to sacrifice to the LORD
thy God in Gilgal.’ Now
look, it’s hard to convince somebody whose religious that they’re doing the
wrong thing. It’s hard to convince
somebody whose being religious that they need God’s Word, and a living
relationship with the Living God. And
Saul keeps making all of these religious excuses, all of this religious jargon,
he keeps laying it out. Look, sadly it
tells us in 2nd Samuel chapter 1, ‘He [David] said, Who art
thou?’ this is an Amalekite saying Saul talked to him, ‘I
answered to him, I am an Amalekite, he said unto me again, stand I pray thee upon
me and slay me, for anguish is come upon me because my life is yet whole in me,
so I stood upon him and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live
after he was fallen, and I took the crown that was upon his head, the bracelet
that was upon his arm, I have brought them hither to my lord,’ it’s an
Amalekite explaining this to David,
there’s a whole dispute whether it’s true, but it’s an Amalekite saying ‘I
killed Saul.’ If the LORD,
if his Word had been real to Saul, and Saul had obeyed, he would have never
been in that kind of a circumstance.
Listen, Romans says this ‘They that are after the
flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the
things of the Spirit. Therefore
brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh, for if you
live after the flesh, you shall die. But
if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall
live. For as many as are led of the
Spirit of God, those are the sons of God.’ So it says the same thing in the New
Testament, we’re not supposed to let the flesh have sway in our lives, and
here’s Saul, and he’s got all the religious speak and all the religious jargon
going on. ‘To
Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice’ Now
look, verse 22 and 23 kind of bring us to the epicenter of this chapter and
what the LORD is
saying here, and you know these verses.
Samuel has heard enough, “And Samuel said, Hath 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 hearken than the fat of rams.” (verse 22) ‘Do you
think that the LORD
is more concerned about sacrifices than he is in regards to obeying the voice
of the LORD?’ Listen, the Psalmist would write, ‘Sacrifice
and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened, burnt offering
and sin offering hast thou not required.
Then said I, Lo I come in the volume of the Book it is written of me, I
delight to do thy will, O my God.’ That’s
what the LORD asks
for. In Psalm 51, ‘For thou
desirest not sacrifice, or else I would give it, thou delightest not in burnt
offerings, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite
heart, O God, thou will not despise.’ It
says in the Book of Proverbs, ‘To do justice and judgment
is more acceptable to the LORD
than sacrifice.’ To
do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD
than to do sacrifice. In Jeremiah
the LORD
said, ‘Thus saith the LORD
of hosts, the God of Israel, Put away your burnt offerings and your sacrifices,
eat your flesh, for I spake not unto your fathers nor commanded them in the day
that I brought you out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings and
sacrifices, but this thing commanded I then, saying, Obey my voice, and I will
be your God and you shall be my people, in walking in all the ways that I have
commanded you.’ He
said, ‘You know look, when I first brought them out of Egypt, my
commandment to them was not in regards to burnt sacrifices and offerings and so
forth, I asked them to walk with me, to obey me.’ And you’ll find it all through the Old
Testament. So here, Samuel says ‘Hath
the LORD
as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of
the LORD?’ “Behold,”
consider this, “to obey is better
than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of
witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD,
he hath also rejected thee from being king.” (verses 22c-23) To obey is
better than sacrifice. Listen, obedience
costs more than sacrifice. It doesn’t
cost anything in some ways to throw 20 bucks in the offering plate. It doesn’t cost in some ways to go and do
this, and join missions things, what costs me is when the Lord is telling me to
have a certain attitude towards my wife, as the weaker vessel. Weaker, because we’re both weak, everybody
calm down. When the Lord is telling me
to have a certain attitude about my time, that costs me more than the
sacrifices that are in my routine.
People like to talk and say ‘Well I do this for him,’ minutia
[minor detail] is the reflection of conscience, minutia, when I walk in my
house and there’s nobody watching. Now I
don’t have HBO, I don’t have anything, I’m not on the computer, I don’t have
pornography, but just watching a Baseball game, and sometimes the commercials
that would come on, you know, I think ‘Why am I even watching this? Where’s my conscience at, that I even let
some of that come in front of my eyes?’ [that’s what the almighty TV remote
control is for, it has a mute button and a fast-forward button. Mute the ad, its funny watching those idiots
without sound, or mute it and look away if it’s bad enough, and some of the ads
on Hulu are downright putrid, where you have to turn away, muted and all. We’re ready for Jesus to come, let me tell
you.] Or sometimes Kathy asks me to do
something and it’s the 4th Quarter.
You know, and again, I’m not in any disqualifying sin, but I do love to
watch full-grown athletic men pulverize one another, I’m out there with
them. [Historically accurately
re-enacted war movies do it for me, that’s my sports, the real thing, plus it’s
history, which we’ll have to be teaching in the Millennial Kingdom, along with
a good dose of teaching about reconciliation for the participants when they’re
resurrected back to life for their opportunity for salvation (see https://unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm).] And sometimes I can have this attitude, and
say ‘Lord, where is my conscience?
What in the world does it have to do eternity and the Kingdom you
know? Can’t I have a little break and
watch the 4th Quarter, you know?’
I mean, minutia to me is the barometer of conscience, the
small things, if we’re faithful in small things, in the day of small
beginnings, the small things that we do for him are not small before him in his
estimation. When we yield, hour
to hour, minute to minute, when we give up the things that no one else is going
to see. I don’t know, that sweetens my
fellowship with him, it deepens it. To
obey, the LORD
says, is better than sacrifice, to hearken is better than the fat of rams. It would be like me saying to my kids, ‘I
want you to do this,’ and my son comes and says, ‘I know what you want,
but I’m sleeping with my girlfriend, and I know you’re not gonna be happy with
that so I brought you a standing rib-roast, it’s aged, I’m giving you a big
piece of bloody meat, can’t you just be happy and leave me alone?’ To obey is better than a sacrifice, to
hearken is better than the fat of rams, God said ‘You think the bodies of
dead animals makes me happier than having my children walk with me?’ To obey, he says, is better than
sacrifice, to hearken is better than the fat of rams. Listen, to obey, wives relative to their
husbands. You know, women can do all
kinds of sacrificial things and all, but that’s not what the cost is, that’s
not what the cost is. What does the
Bible say, about respect, about reverencing a husband. Husbands, love your wives the way Christ
loved [and loves] the Church. That’s
easy to say, isn’t it. How did he love
the Church? The incarnation, the
crucifixion. He entered into our world,
and he died. You want to love your wives
the way Christ loved the Church? Enter
into her world, and die there. Simple,
not complicated. It just costs you
everything, that’s all. But the rewards
out are of this world, no pun intended.
The reason why? Because look what
he says, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness
is as iniquity and idolatry.” he’s not deceived, he knows what he’s doing is
wrong, rebellion, when you have crossed the line, listen, quietly, before
anybody finds out, that’s time to turn back.
Take inventory, take inventory, because we’re under a better Covenant
now, we’re under the New Testament not the Old Testament. And in our compromise and our sin, we can
flee to the cross, we can run to him and confess our sin. It says the reason this is all dangerous is
because rebellion, look, it says the sin of witchcraft, divination. ‘Hey, I’m not a warlock,’ but God is
saying ‘Hey, rebellion is like witchcraft, because you’re talking about
another kingdom, if you’re rebelling against my Kingdom, you’re talking about
another throne, that’s the one you’re on, it’s not the one I’m on.’ You’re talking about idolatry, you’re
talking about what Satan did in Isaiah 14, when he said ‘I’ll be like the
Most High.’ Rebellion is like
the sin of witchcraft. And stubbornness
is as iniquity and idolatry. You know,
that’s much different from us getting involved in something and saying ‘You
know,’ and you’re a new Christian, and somebody sits down with you and says
‘Well here’s what the Scripture says, you really need to straighten
out.’ That’s one thing. But when the Lord has spoken directly to us,
we know what his Word says, we know what his promises say, and he’s laid all
that before us, and then we deliberately in rebellion transgress that, it says
here, that’s occultic, you’ve left off the True and Living God, you’ve gone
after some false religion, it’s like witchcraft, it’s like divination, and
stubbornness. Hey, I didn’t write it,
ok, I’m just reading it. Everybody calm
down, some of you are cooking.
Stubbornness is as the iniquity of idolatry, listen, David when he is
confronted with his sin, after a year of being hardhearted, when Nathan
confronts him, David will repent. Saul,
when he is confronted, continues to be stubborn and continues to rebel. And that’s what is being brought before
us. And he says, “Because you have
rejected me, I have rejected thee from being king.” ‘You’ve rejected my Kingdom, so I
rejected your kingdom.’ ‘The Fear Of Man Brings A Snare’ Look
at this, “And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of
the LORD,
and thy words: because I feared the
people, and obeyed their voice.” (verse 25)
the fear of man brings a snare. And it
is always Saul’s weakness, he’s afraid loosing face in front of other people, “because
I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that
I may worship the LORD.”
(verse 26) only God can do that, pardon his
sin. “And Samuel said unto Saul, I
will not return with thee: for thou hast
rejected the word of the LORD,
and the LORD
hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.” (verse 26) Samuel
the Prophet said ‘How can I walk with you, you’ve rejected God’s Word,
and the LORD
hath rejected thee.’ Notice, “from
being king over Israel.” Listen to
me, there was still room for Saul’s personal repentance. It doesn’t say he’s rejected Saul as a
man. It says he’s rejected him as being
king over Israel. Saul could have gone
with Samuel, and said ‘Sacrifice a lamb for me Samuel, I am in sin, I am in
sin, blood needs to be shed, a trespass offering.’ He may have had to give up the throne,
but he could have served in David’s court, and he could have been a valuable
man in David’s court. He had incredible
gifts. He had leadership qualities. He had disqualified himself, it says here
that God has rejected him from being king, from that position. It doesn’t say God has rejected him as a man. He still had the freedom to repent, David
would do that. And I believe he could
have been a great asset to David’s court, but he’s rejected from being
king. “And as Samuel turned about to
go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.” (verse
27) and this must have been
emotional, because Samuel loved Saul, and I believe Saul loved Samuel. “And Samuel said unto him, The LORD
hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a
neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. And also the Strength of Israel will not lie
nor repent: for he is not a man,
that he should repent.” (verses 28-29) The
LORD’s not gonna change,
he’s spoken his mind now, Saul. Listen
to Saul, “Then he said, I have sinned:
yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people,
and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD
thy God.” (verse 30) He’s
at least being more honest now, he’s saying ‘This is so humiliating, I’m so
embarrassed, just go back there with me, walk with me, let me worship again,
because the people are going to be watching.’
He’s being completely honest now as he begs him. He says, ‘Go with me, for this
reason.’ Now look, let’s not
judge him yet, “So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD.”
(verse 31) We
Need To Dismember Our Carnal Nature, If We’re Going To Be Consecrated
Samuel
Never Saw Saul Again, But He Wasn’t Hard-Hearted “Then
Samuel went to Ramah;” which means “the
heights” “and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.” (verse 34) which
means “the hill,” interesting. Samuel
goes to the heights, Saul goes to mediocrity, the hill. “And Samuel came no more to see Saul until
the day of his death: nevertheless
Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD
repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.” (verse 35) Sin and
compromise so often removes God’s best influence from our lives, doesn’t
it. It’s so wonderful that we’re under
the blood of Christ, that we can repent, that we can turn back to the Lord, that’s
he’s just to forgive us, to cleanse us, to renew us, to give us a fresh
start. But when we live in sin, sin
makes a mess. We see it over and
over…it’s rebellion, isn’t it. Naivety,
it isn’t something to be toyed with, Samuel did not toy with Agag, he hacked
Agag to pieces. And Samuel went to the
heights from there, and so we should.
Saul went to his house, to Gibeah, to the hill. “And Samuel came no more to see Saul until
the day of his death:” sad when those influences get removed,
“nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul:
and the LORD
repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.” (verse 35) Samuel was not
hardhearted. So this sets the stage for
chapter 16, when David is anointed to be king over Israel. As we move into the next chapter we will meet
David, Daveed, isn’t it interesting, the first Daveed of the
Bible. You would think with a name that
popular, we’d have met many along the way.
We’re going to meet “the David” as we go in, just a Hippie, playing
guitar in the field, somebody who loves the LORD,
and the LORD
loves dearly. Read ahead, into that
chapter we will start to see the history of his life. Now look, God will anoint him to be king, but
it will be over 20 years after that before he is the king that the LORD
anointed him to be. He will go through
many mandatory courses, few electives, many mandatory courses as God will
refine this man who he loves so dearly, forming him into the man he wants him
to be. And I believe, by the way, God will
do that, if you want to serve the Lord today, he doesn’t have 40 years to take
you on the backside of the desert like he did Moses, he doesn’t have 20 years,
you look at what’s going on in the world, to grind you down like he did David,
he doesn’t have the years that he took John the Baptist in the wilderness. If you really, here’s the good news for you,
if you really want to serve the Lord, he will make young men old fast. Here’s a crash-course for you. If you really want to do this, he will do it relative
to the urgency of the hour that we’re living in, and we are living in urgent
times. [Again, when Pastor Joe gave this
sermon in 2009 the times were not as urgent as they are now in the summer of
2022, with the ongoing war raging between the Russian Federation under Vladimir
Putin and the Ukraine, a war which is driving Europe to re-arm in ways not seen
since World War II, where the United States of Europe cannot be far off,
the Beast Empire prophecied 2500 years ago in the Book of Daniel (see https://unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_4.htm).] Read ahead, let’s stand, let’s pray…[transcript
of a connective expository sermon on 1st Samuel 15:1-35 given by
Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue,
Philadelphia, PA 19116] related
links: To
read about what the Bible predicts about the coming United States of Europe,
see https://unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_4.htm Amalek
was an Edomite, grandson of Esau. Who
were and are the Edomites? see, https://unityinchrist.com/prophets/edom/Edom%20in%20Prophecy%201.html Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED654
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