Jun 25, 2017
by: Jack Lash Series: God's Holy Book | Category: Scripture | Scripture: 1 Samuel 15:24–30
- Introduction
A. 2018 I plan to preach on 2Corinthians, Paul’s most underappreciated epistle.
B. Many many times I have thoughts after sermons which I wish I had thought of in time to include them in the sermon. Every once in a while, I have so many thoughts, or such important thoughts, that I really need to preach a second sermon. And so today.
II. Story
A. The story begins way back in the days when Israel was on its way from Egypt to the promised land, traveling by the land of the Amalekites.
1. But instead of allowing them to pass by peacefully, the Amalekites repeatedly ambushed the end of the line, the stragglers who couldn’t keep up: women with child, the old, parents with young children, the injured, the sick. (Deuteronomy 25:17-18)
2. As a result of this, God declared that when the people had settled into their new home in Canaan, He would require His people to go back and punish the Amalekites for what they had done, blotting out their memory from under heaven. (Deut.25:19)
B. Well, now that the people of Israel have settled into their new homeland, now that they have their first king, God says it’s time to destroy the Amalekites. So He sends the prophet Samuel to King Saul, with the instructions to wipe out every man, woman and child, and their livestock as well.” – 1Sam.15:2-3.
C. So Saul gathered his soldiers and routed the Amalekites (15:4-7), killing all except King Agag. He also spared the best of the animals: destroying all the bad ones. Not what the Lord had said to do.
D. And so God sent Samuel to confront Saul for not obeying the Lord’s command.
1. But Saul doesn’t humble himself at all. First, he claims he did what the Lord had said. Then he claims he kept the animals to sacrifice to the Lord. Then he argues that it was the people who spared the animals.
2. Then comes Samuel’s memorable words, “Does the Lord delight in offerings and sacrifices, as much as He does in obeying His voice? Truly, it is better to listen and obey than to offer sacrifices. For your sins of rebellion and presumption are just as bad as the sins of divination and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.” (1Sam.15:22-23)
E. Read 1Samuel 15:24–30 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. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the LORD.” 26 And 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.” 27 As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. 28 And Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” 30 Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the LORD your God.”
III. Analysis
A. In Saul God had given the people of Israel just what they wanted, just what they asked for, just what they deserved. Saul was tall and strong. But Saul was not a man with a heart for God.
B. Let’s analyze Saul for a minute.
1. 9 “All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.”
a. Saul was willing to do the things which were easy to do, and give up the things which were easy to give up. He killed the worst of the animals, but kept the good ones.
b. But God doesn’t ask for the easy things, does He? He asks us to give Him the hardest things.
(1) When God told Abraham to sacrifice son on Mt. Moriah, He didn’t say to sacrifice Ishmael. (Gen.22:1-2)
(2) God tells us to give Him the first fruits of our income, not the extra which is leftover at the end of the month. (Proverbs 3:9-10, Neh.10:35)
(3) Jesus tells us that to be His disciples we must hate our loved ones, He doesn’t tell us we have to hate our enemies. (Lk.14:26)
(4) He tells the rich young ruler to give away all his wealth, not all of his trash. (Matt.19:16-22)
c. Saul’s obedience stopped when his own earthly estate was threatened, when he thought he could make himself a little richer if he disobeyed.
2. God punished Saul for this by taking away his throne. And when Samuel told him that, all of a sudden he had Saul’s attention.
a. Once Saul found out about his punishment, and ONLY once he found out about his punishment, he expressed all kinds of remorse.
(1) “I have sinned. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me.” (24)
(2) “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the LORD your God.” (30)
b. But his remorse was only an attempt to cancel the punishment. Every apology was accompanied by a plea to reinstate him as king.
3. What does all this tell us about Saul?
a. Saul didn’t really believe in God. Saul believed in his own welfare, his own throne.
(1) It’s not that he didn’t believe God existed. It’s that the things of the Spirit were foreign to him.
b. He was a man of earthly motivations – very different than Samuel, who was a man of the Spirit.
c. People like Saul don’t really care about truth. They just care about power. They don’t care about invisible realities. They only care about tangible results.
d. Saul displays the pattern of the flesh:
(1) Cutting corners when you don’t think anyone’s looking
(2) Making excuses, Blame-shifting, Rationalizing
(3) Apologizing only to avoid the consequences
4. But there’s one more aspect to Saul’s character to talk about:
a. As a man of the flesh, he thought he was in charge of his own prosperity.
b. He didn’t believe that his prosperity came from the Lord.
c. He was afraid that God wanted to ruin him, but he didn’t believe God wanted to bless him.
IV. Now let’s use Saul to analyze ourselves a little bit.
A. Saul thought he was going to be richer if he disobeyed and kept the animals.
1. This is the very issue of faith: Do you think you’ll be richer if you sin than if you obey? (I’m not necessarily referring to money.)
B. Saul thinks he can use this opportunity to line his pockets a little bit. But he ends up losing his kingdom. Instead of enriching him, his disobedience impoverishes him.
C. Like Saul, sometimes we believe the lie which says our prosperity is up to us. This is the very lie the serpent whispered in the ear of Adam and Eve in the garden.
D. The truth, however, is that obedience to God makes you rich and disobedience impoverishes you — because “God puts down one and exalts another.” (Ps.75:7)
E. You see, Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “Whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
1. Saul wasn’t interested in drawing near to God.
2. He probably believed that God existed, but he didn’t believe that the reward comes to the one who seeks Him. Obviously, he believed that the reward comes to the one who takes it.
F. Sadly, Saul didn’t believe in God’s love for Him.
1. The errand God send Saul on with the Amalekites was a divine act of love for His people. It showed that God was always going to protect him and provide for him and for the rest of His people.
2. Every command of God, and everything God calls us to go through, is ultimately a prescription for prosperity. (Rom.8:28)
3. But Saul didn’t see it. He saw it as a job he had to do, as pure duty.
4. In one sense, Saul didn’t take his assignment to wipe out the Amalekites seriously enough. But in another sense, he focused too much on his assignment, in that he paid attention only to the task and not to the One calling him to the task. He was blind to the spiritual aspect of the task. He was blind to how it was related to God’s love for Israel, and for him.
G. And the life of faith is a life of remembering God’s love for us, no matter what we’re doing or what’s happening to us.
V. Let me end by talking for a moment about the Bible.
A. In preaching this series on the Bible, I don’t want to give the impression that the key to the Christian life is knowing the Bible. There are a lot of people in hell who knew the Bible very well.
1. It’s not just knowing the Bible.
a. Saul’s problem wasn’t that he didn’t know or understand what God required of him.
b. Saul’s problem was that he didn’t see God’s command as God’s means for blessing him.
2. Learning the Bible is not to be done out of duty, but out of faith.
a. You read the Bible for the same reason you read a treasure map.
b. You read it because the Bible tells us about the Treasure of life and how to get it.
3. This is why if you neglect the word of God, you are depriving yourself.
B. But some see it as a burdensome duty. So, they either make themselves do it — because they’re supposed to, or they just don’t do it. They’d rather watch TV, or do Facebook, or play video games.
1. Bryce Canyon: kid insisting on staying in the car to play games on his phone
a. That’s like us when we refuse to spend time in God’s word.
C. Really the treasure is not the Bible. The treasure is what the Bible tells us. The treasure is the One the Bible tells us about. The treasure is the One the Bible points us to.
1. God – revealed in His Son Jesus – is the ultimate blessing and the ultimate treasure.
2. Ephesians 1:16–18 “I do not cease ...remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, ...may give you the Spirit of ...revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.”
3. Nothing else matters! This is what is real! And to the extent we don’t see that, we’re blind.
4. Isaiah 40:17 “All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are accounted by Him as less than nothing and emptiness.”
5. There is no comparison between God and some sheep and cattle.
6. There is no comparison between God and the highest position of power.
7. God is the treasure. But many people are blind to this. Many people don’t get this.
8. Saul just didn’t get this. In Saul’s mind, God wasn’t the treasure, God was the One who can help you get, or keep, the treasure. And like Saul, many try to use God to get treasure. They’ve stopped seeking the Creator and have started seeking the things He created . (Romans 1:23)
D. In Christ, God reveals Himself as our all-in-all. And where do we find out about this?
1. In the Bible. In ten thousand ways.
2. How many times do you need to hear about someone’s love for you? Wives?
3. God has filled His word with messages of love. There aren’t just a few. There are thousands!
4. Why? Because He loves us so much — and He knows we need it.
E. What is your relationship with God’s word like?
1. Off at a distance?
2. Your closest friend?
F. God loves you and wants to bless you through His word. Faith means believing that.
1. Faith means searching for the precious jewels in each passage.
2. It’s not about reading information about a God who is out there somewhere. It’s about listening to Him speak to you in words of assurance, or words of loving challenge. It’s about meeting Him.