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“The High Cost Of Rebellion” • 5.24.15 • Calvary Christian
Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- We closed our last study with the
establishment of Saul's sovereignty over Israel and his expansion of military
force.
- During that time, a period of a few years,
Samuel came to Saul with some outstanding business, which offers the King a
chance to completely obey the Lord.
- The chapter before us contains the story of
this make or break moment for King Saul.
- It begins with God's Decree. Look at verse 1.
Text
• I Samuel
15:1,2 : "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. " : Saul had established his
sovereignty over Israel, but it was the Lord who anointed him King over His
people.
- Samuel is speaking on behalf of the Lord of
hosts or armies, the military Name of God.
- God was going to settle an old account with
the people of Amalek, who attacked Israel on their way out of Egypt, nearly 400
years before this.
- Amalek attacked them, using a cowardly ambush
tactic, focused on the tired, weary and old. (Exodus 17:8-16, Deuteronomy 25:18).
- Ultimately, Amalek did not fear God,
seemingly defying Him to act on their behalf.
- After Israel defeated the Amalekites, God
called Moses to begin writing, we presume, what began to be the Pentateuch,
with this piece of information.
• Exodus
17:14-16 : "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Write this for a memorial in the book and
recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.' And Moses built an altar and called
its name, The-Lord-Is-My-Banner; for he said, 'Because the Lord has sworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from
generation to generation.'" :
• Deuteronomy
25:19 : "Therefore
it shall be, when the Lord your God has given you rest
from your enemies all around, in the land which the Lord
your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget." : Israel is to recall this, because while the Lord will remember
and punish Amalek, their military force will be the tool He uses!
• I Samuel
15:3 : "Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they
have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing
child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’" :
God's sovereign decree to Saul is that they go out against the Amalekites and
thoroughly destroy them.
- The words here are the same words that were
spoken to Joshua when they came against Jericho. All that the Amalekites had was
to be considered "under the ban."
- They are to be utterly destroyed, dedicated
to destruction with all of their posessions. Israel was to execute them without
compassion, consuming all that had breath.
- There is no way around this. A good, beneficent
God decrees that Israel complete this task. Let's look at this as thoroughly as
possible.
- First, God is good and loving, but He is also
just and righteous. He is a loving Father who dotes upon His children and a
righteous, sovereign Judge, who doles out vengeance upon the guilty.
- He does what is best and He does what is
right. Having studied other such "judgment" passages in the past, we
can be confident that this was not an arbitrary or undeserved action.
- God did not just have it out for the
Amalekites. The Bible presents a God that affords great periods of time before
acting in judgment. This particular period was almost 400 years long!
- God gave them time to repent, but they would
not and in not repenting, they became the rabid dogs that patrolled the
proverbial neighborhood often.
- If you turn back a single page, you'll see
that Saul had to deal with the Amalekites who were again plundering the people
of Israel. They have again been the provacateurs. (I Samuel 14:48)
- On a final note, understand that this is not
genocidal. This group of Amalekites was a specific group among that people
group.
- God does not wipe out every Amalekite because
we will see several more in scripture.
- Now, this brings us to the truly difficult
measure to deal with and that is the execution of what we call the innocents,
the children and the nursing infants.
- I believe that you will see that whoever
wanted to get out could. Whoever was left behind, it was assumed, planned to
fight. Notice verse 4.
•
I Samuel 15:4-6 : "So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in
Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. And
Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said to
the Kenites, 'Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy
you with them. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they
came up out of Egypt.' So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites." : Saul has 210,000 men surrounding Amalek, staged there in a
large valley.
-
The author points this out to reveal the deliberate and calculated activity of
Israel.
-
There is no surprise. They are on the doorstep to sound out an advance warning.
-
Saul addresses the Kenites, who dwelt among the Amalekites. The Kenites were
related to Moses through his Father in law. Their story consistently links them
with non-aggression.
-
They were most recently associated with Sisera, the wicked Canaanite General in
Judges 4 and 5. Here we find them with another group that opposed Israel.
-
They are living among them and Saul extends the warning to them, that they
might depart because they had shown Israel kindness, assisting them in the
wilderness wanderings.
-
The Kenites in response to Saul, departed. Any Amalekite who was willing to
survive likely went along with them, perhaps especially those with children and
infants.
-
Whoever remained behind was now fair game. If there were children and infants,
they were in the wrong place and their parents would have been attempting to
use that to their advantage.
-
We've noted God's Decree. Note now Saul's Disobedience. Verse 7.
•
I Samuel 15:7-9 : "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." : Verse 7 begins
correctly, as Saul attacked the Amalekites, pursuing them all the way back to
the border of Egypt!
-
Saul went a long distance, but didn't obey! Saul spared the King alive and the
people were unwilling to destroy the good animals, though they destroyed that
which was despised and worthless.
-
This is unjustifiable, blatant unwillingness to perform what God had commanded them.
•
I Samuel 15:10-12 : "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.'" : Before
Saul returns to Israel's territory, God began to reveal His view on what had
taken place to Samuel. God saw Saul's actions in real time and makes His
pronouncement.
-
Listen to these words: "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as
King."
-
God uses language that we would understand to convey the emotion that most
closely reflects His heart. He laments the choice of Saul for reasons bound up
in Saul's response to Him.
-
It's not that God did not know what would occur. He did and warned Israel
beforehand. This is the pain that realization brings when a person has chosen a
road for themselves.
-
In the actions we have witnessed, Saul has made a firm decision to turn back
from following the Lord. What indicates that turning? Not performing God's
commandments!
-
That is what it means to turn back from following the Lord! Samuel hears this
in the late hours of the evening and cries out to God all night! Samuel had his
hope set against the odds.
-
Maybe Saul would turn it around. Maybe he would respond with a vigorous
attention to God's command. When God met with Samuel, he knew it was over.
-
Samuel sets out at God's command to meet Saul only to find matters worse, as
Saul set up a monument to himself en route to Gilgal. Saul is actually
congratulating himself!
•
I Samuel 15:13 : "Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, 'Blessed are you
of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.'" : Saul meets Samuel without any shame or remorse for his actions,
even speaking with religious words.
-
He boasts of his doing what God commanded him to do, owing to the fact that he
has redefined what God had commanded him to do!
-
Any variance or creative readjustment that we make to God's commandment, nullifies
the commandment and makes it something else! Samuel calls Saul on this
immediately.
•
I Samuel 15:14: "But Samuel said, 'What then is this bleating of the sheep in my
ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?'" :
"Really!? You obeyed the Lord's command? Then why do I hear bleating sheep
and lowing oxen?" Saul is caught red handed!
-
His sin can be heard in the background! It won't remain silent or hidden.
•
I Samuel 15:15 : "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.'" : For a King, Saul really has very limited powers. He has obeyed
God, but the people have brought the animals. They
-
"And, by the way, the animals are the very best of the animals, which the
people brought with the intention of sacrificing to the Lord YOUR God
Samuel!" All the rest was destroyed.
-
Saul made an executive decision to allow the men to bring back a sacrifice to
God, but things we still destroyed. This is a healthy compromise isn't it!? God
does not compromise!
-
When we are commanded to do something, the moment that we offer something else,
we have become the Lord of our relationship, subjugating God to subservience!
•
I Samuel 15:16-19 : "Then Samuel said to Saul, 'Be quiet! And I will tell you what
the Lord said to me last night.' And he said to him, 'Speak on.' So Samuel
said, 'When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes
of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? Now the Lord sent
you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the
Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not
obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in
the sight of the Lord?'" : Samuel won't let Saul
continue. He's said enough and Samuel doesn't have the patience to endure
another second of Saul deflection! "Be quiet! Let me tell you what God
said!"
-
This is where things must always return when a person creates confusion with
their rationalizing of sin. Let's return to the Word! Let's hear what THE
Authority says!
-
Saul was once little in his own eyes and he was a nothing before the Lord
raised Him up to be the King over Israel. He hadn't created this opportunity.
He couldn't credit himself.
-
God had done this! If he had only kept this in mind, he would have understood
his mission clearly! God told him to destroy the sinners and to consume all
that they had. That was the command.
- Regardless of how
Saul saw it, no matter how he rationalized it to himself, he knowingly
disobeyed God, greedily rushing, pouncing upon the spoil! This was evil in
God's sight!
-
We've seen God's Decree, Saul's Disobedience. Note now, Saul's Defense. Verse 20.
•
I Samuel 15:20-23 : "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.'" : Samuel had the initial Word from God, the late night
re-statement, but Saul insists that they were both wrong! Baffling but not!
-
God's Word calls a person out clearly on their sin and they look for alternate
translations, offer their half baked excuses or claim some form of ignorance.
It didn't fly for Saul!
-
Saul contradicts himself immediately by saying that he brought back King Agag,
who was not to be spared and then blames the people for directly disobeying
God, so they could sacrifice.
-
He admits that they should have been destroyed, but the people just wanted to
sacrifice what God determined should be destroyed to sacrifice! This is the
worst sort of justification.
-
A person does something sinful, but then believes that some level of sacrifice
cancels it out. "I'm living with my boyfriend, but we give a great
tithe." That is blatant paganism!
-
Samuel looks directly at Saul and says, "Is it really about the sacrifice?"
What does God have to do with animals? The animals are expressions of obedient
hearts! Isn't THAT what God wants?"
-
That is where His delight is! Obedience, listening and acting upon what God has
said is better than the fat of rams, the most choice cut of beef! The opposite
of obedience is rebellion!
-
That is akin to the sin of witchcraft in that you are treating God as though He
was at your disposal! Stubborness is the same as sin and idolatry. Don't soften
that.
-
You might be inclined to look at your stubborn response in life as a strength.
Please see it as sin and idolatry! Saul had rejected God's Word and the Lord
had rejected Him from being King!
-
Let me say to you that this has not changed! If you choose a life of willful
disobedience to God, don't expect the end of your choices to lead you into His
benevolent presence!
• I Samuel
15:24-29 : "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.'" : Saul's words in verse 24 shouldn't be viewed as a
confession,
but as a concession! "Ok, Ok, I've sinned! I feared people above
God."
- He has the right words, but the wrong heart!
He says it to appease Samuel. Look, as he tells Samuel to forgive, to remit,
his sin, that he might worship the Lord! "Samuel, get off my back!"
- When Samuel refused, Saul sought to stop him
and his actions furnished him with a resounding illustration. Saul's tug tore
Samuel's robe, which was a picture of his Kingdom.
- It was torn from him and would be given to
another! There weren't any words to use, as God would not give in to him. The
real Strength or Glory of Israel did not negotiate!
- God won't see it his way! You need to hear
this as much as Saul did: God isn't a man and when He decrees something, it
won't change!
- His Word doesn't change because the fashions
have changed. His Word doesn't change because you were brought up wrong. His
Word doesn't change because He "knows your heart!"
- He is God and to treat Him as such, you and I
must bow our knees and acknowledge His truth and everyone else's self deceived,
self protecting lies!
•
I Samuel 15:30,31 : "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." : Saul just doesn't get it.
He is unconcerned with what God thinks and is still only concerned with his
public perception. Notice that he wants to impress the elders of HIS people!
-
Samuel comes back with him for a reason that we'll discover in a moment.
-
Saul "worshiped the Lord." Who knows what that actually means in
terms of his actions. This must have been particularly galling, as whatever he
did was divorced from a reality.
-
Who is fooled when a person living in known sin, raises their hand to God in
"worship?" Is it God? Is it the fellow worshippers? The only person
that is fooled is the person who acts this way!
-
The rest of the people around that type of person just wonders how long it will
take them to finally get real with God!
-
We've seen God's Decree, Saul's Disobedience, Saul's Defense. Note finally, Samuel's Demonstration. Verse 32.
•
I Samuel 15:32-35 : "Then Samuel said, 'Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to
me.' So Agag came to him cautiously. And Agag said, 'Surely the bitterness of
death is past.' But Samuel said, 'As your sword has made women childless, so
shall your mother be childless among women.' And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces
before the Lord in Gilgal. Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his
house at Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of
his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that He
had made Saul king over Israel.'" : Samuel
called for the King of the Amalekites, who came forth with some amount of curiosity,
but sure he wasn't going to die.
-
The King had pardoned him as a royal favor. What would this old prophet do to
him?
-
You can imagine the celebration, as the fighting has past and the festivities
have put the fear of battle behind them all.
-
Samuel in the midst of it pronounces God's judgment in a single, heartbreaking
sentence amidst the noise of the crowd. Your sword has been guilty for making
mothers childless.
-
Agag's crimes had come before the Lord and now he would face the deserving
sentence.
-
Samuel took a machete and hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord! He should have
died in battle, out on the field. Instead, he dies at a celebration that he
should never have seen.
-
Saul, do you want to see what true worship looks like? It's doing what you
don't want to do!
-
It's difficult and brutal, but God requires our obedience and that is our
worship! Pastor Chuck always said that the Amalekites were a picture, a type of
the flesh!
-
Sadly, what was true then is true now. If you don't kill it, if you aren't
brutal with it, it will kill you! From here on out Samuel and saul go their
separate ways.
-
They only see each other one more time. In all the intervening years, Samuel
mourned for Saul, as every Christian does for every person who takes their
privilege and flushes it!
-
The Lord regretted that He had made Saul King over Israel. This is the biblical
way of saying that God's people will mourn in the same way that God mourns over
such people.
Conclusion
-
Once again, we have been let in to witness another person's life. God says
"obey." Will you?
-
That's true worship. That's what He delights in. That is what prompts His joy.
- If
you are in sin right now, forsake it. Let it be the end. Don't leave here and
return to it. Don't justify it. Don't blame others for it. Confess it, renounce
it and never return to it!
- I
pray that this chapter will be enough for each of us to run from sin and run
into the arms of the Lord, whose love and delight is a greater reward than the
pleasures of sin can afford.