Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve—1 Samuel 15

Show Notes

Rev. Nate Bower

And 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 listen than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of divination,

and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,

he has also rejected you from being king.”

(1 Samuel 15:22–23 ESV

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Speaker 0: You're are listening to a sermon from the pulpit of Redeem church, a Pc. In hudson, Ohio. For more information, visit us at redeem Ohio dot org.

Speaker 1: If you would now turn in your bibles, to first Samuel. We're going to be reading first samuel chapter 15 today. It's a bit of a longer chapter but it's an exciting chapter, a gripping chapter. So I'd encourage you to sink into the story, immerse yourself and what we have before us in god's word Here now the word of the lord from first Samuel chapter 15. And Samuel said to saul, the Lord sent me to an you king over his people Israel.

Now therefore listen to the words of the lord. Thus says the lord of hosts. I have noted what Am did to Israel and opposing them on the way when they went when they came out of Egypt. Now go and strike Am. And devote to destruction all that they have, do not spare them, but kill both man and woman.

Child and infant, ox, and sheep, camel, and donkey. So soul summoned of the people and numbered them into lamb, 200000 men on foot and 10000 men of Judah, and seoul came to the city of Am and lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the key nights, go depart, go down from among the my heights lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the key departed from among the Am ama.

And saul defeated the Yam ama from H as far as shore, which is east of Egypt. And he took A gag, the king of the Yam ama Alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. But saul in the people spared a ag, and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fat calves and the lambs and all that was good and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despise and worthless they devoted to destruction. The word of the lord came to Samuel.

I regret that I have made saul king. For he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. And Samuel was angry and he cried to the lord all night. And Samuel Rose early to meet Saul in the morning, and it was told Samuel saul came to Carmel and behold he set up a monument for himself. And turned and passed on and went down to Gil.

And Samuel came to saul and Saul said to him blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the command of the lord. And Samuel said, what then is this bleeding of the sheep in my years? And the lowering of oxen that I hear. Saul said, they've brought them from the Ama for the people spared the best of the sheep.

And of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God and the rest we have devoted to destruction. Then Samuel said to saul stop. I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night, and he said to him speak. And Samuel said though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel. The Lord anointed you king over Israel.

And the Lord sent you on a mission and said go, devote to destruction the sinner, the am ama and fight against them until they are consumed Why then did you not obey the voice of the lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the side of the lord? And Saul said to samuel I've obeyed the voice of the Lord. I've gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I've brought A gag, the king of the Ama.

And I've devoted the Am ama to destruction, but the people took the spoil sheep and oxen the best of the things devoted to destruction to sacrifice to the Lord your God and Gil. And Samuel said, has the Lord is great delight and burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the lord. Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of nation and presumption is as ini in idol tree. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.

Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned for I trans the command 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 bow before the Lord. 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. And as Samuel turned to go away, saul seized the skirt of his robe and at tore.

And Samuel said to him the Lord is torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. And also the glory of Israel will not lie or have regret for he is not a man that he should have regret. And 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 New your God. So Samuel turned back after saul and saul bowed before the lord Then saul Samuel said bring here to me a ag, the king of the Yam ama, and egg ag came to him cheerful. A said surely the bitterness of death is passed.

And Samuel said as your sword has made women childless, Social your mother be childless among women. And Samuel hacked A to pieces before the lord in Gil gal. Then Samuel went to rama, and saul went up to his house and gi of saul, and Samuel did not see saul again until the day of his death. But Samuel grieve over saul, and the lord regretted that he had made saul king over Israel. A amen.

Thus ends our reading of God's word may he write its eternal truth on all of our hearts this evening. Let's go before the lord in prayer. Heavenly fathers, we have heard your word red, we pray now that your spirit would till the soil of our souls. So that the seed. Of your word would dig its roots deeply in our hearts and bear forth the fruit of righteousness in our lives.

We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. These books first and second Samuel. Are all about sin versus obedience. This passage is all about sin and obedience.

Wicked contrast against righteousness. And what our actions, what saul actions, what Samuel actions reveal about our hearts against the backdrop of god's love. God's gracious love and also his perfect justice. We see the contrast broadly in first and second Samuel between the kings ship of saul and the kings ship of David. If you were to sort of look, at the at both books together, big picture 30000 foot view, you're going to see that first and foremost.

This contrast. Between the kings ship of Saul and the kings ship of David. But in this passage, we really see that contrast between the actions of saul and the actions of samuel. But in order for us to get our our terms very clearly defined before us. What is sin and what is obedience.

Sin we're told in the bible is missing the mark. Sin is not doing what God has commanded us to do and doing those things, which he has commanded us not to do. And in all of that, it's not obeying the lord with a righteous heart, with an aim for the glory of the Lord first and foremost, Obedience is doing just that. It is obeying god in every aspect of his command, not just with the actions that we do, but also our heart and motivations and desires behind those actions. So we've got sin and we've got obedience, Why do those things matter?

What is sin and what is obedience matter in any way? They matter because God is holy. God is creator. God is sovereign lord. He is holy and just and we were made to serve him.

To disobey him to send, is to reject him. It's to attack him. When we sin, we are trying to d the lord. These are simple ideas that we often I think sort of skate over. They're very simple ideas for us to logic...

Logically grasp and articulate. But can sometimes be very difficult for us to remember in the moment. They're sometimes very difficult for us to diagnose in our hearts So I wanna put a choice before you this evening that I want you to keep in mind as we examine this passage. What would you do? If you were confronted with your sin by the spirit, during this sermon, maybe.

Or by someone that you know, maybe here after the service, What would you do if you were confronted with your sin. If you were given the choice, right? You've got 2 doors before you? If you're given the choice of walking through 1 door, and when you walk through that door, you're able to explain away your sin. To hide it to avoid it, avoid the consequences entirely.

When no 1 where no 1, but you would know That's door number 1. Alright? Door number 2 is you're confronted with your sin. You confess your sin, you face the consequences of your sin where everyone would know. But you would be forgiven.

Door number 1, hide, avoid consequences. Door number 2, confess experience consequences, and no forgiveness. Which door would you choose? Imagine thinking, which door you're gonna walk out of? You're confronted by the spirit maybe in this sermon or confronted by someone else after the service.

I'm not planning on confronting anyone. I just I just want just want that to be made now. Saul is faced with that question, that choice in this passage. And his response reveals his heart in the heart of the nation of Israel. Let's understand the situation here.

Saul has been anointed king of israel. Israel was given this task coming to Canon to drive out the nations. So that they would be a people set apart for the Lord, a holy nation that failed in that duty They were experiencing as judges right now to of the sons of Samuel. And there were terrible judges. Taking advantage of the authority that had been given to them by their father, samuel.

So they cried to the Lord and came to Samuel wanting a king like other nations. Let us be ruled by a king, like these other nations. That's the heart of israel right now. They're in the promised land that the Lord has brought them into. They've been given this task that they've failed at.

They long to be like these other nations. But the Lord in his divine providence fore saw this or ordained this and allowed them to be anointed a king. Understanding that that king was to lead them as the covenant people of Israel to lead them in obedience. Then we got saul. That's the people of Israel.

We've got saul. He's been anointed king. He's the very first king of Israel. He was picked by god to lead his people out of all of the tribes of the nation of Israel. God picks saul.

Were told saul was a handsome man. We're told he was a very tall man. Where told he came from a wealthy and affluent family. He was anointed king by god's appointed judge of israel. Samuel.

The faithful judge. By all accounts, he's the ideal person to serve as king, for God's people. But what you start to see from when we're introduced to saul earlier in first Samuel, all the way into this passage is we see a man that is growing more and more concerned with serving himself as opposed to God. Who trusts more in his position in the eyes of his people than his position before God. And it culminate here in this passage.

God's given solid command verse 2. Thus says the Lord of hosts I've noted what Am did to Israel and opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go strike Am. And devote to destruction all that they have, do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant. Sheep, ox, Camel, Donkey everything, destroy it.

This is the fulfillment of a vow that god made in exodus 17. When Am sought to destroy Israel when god brought them out of Egypt. This nation, Am more than any other opposed God's people. And God said he would utterly b out the memory of Am from under heaven. God chose soul to be instrument of his judgment of the amount ama.

This whole command seems incredibly contrary of to the compassionate nature of god. Why would God command the destruction, full destruction, all the livestock, all the men, all the women, all the children, even the infants How could he do this? How could a good God, order the destruction the like b out an entire nation. That should seem wrong to us. It should.

It should shock us. But while it may seem contrary, I think particularly to our modern western sensibilities. It's important for us to remember what scripture teaches us about god. First, God does not abide sin. He hates it.

It's contrary to who he is. It's contrary to everything he's made. And this was a nation that it set its face against god. Second, this is not a swift judgment. This wasn't something that god all of a sudden came to out of a fit of anger.

This is an arbitrary. They had been at war with Israel since God made his promise with Abraham. They were given over 300 years to repent of the Lord. They had heard of the lord. They knew of the lord.

They were not like the city of 9. The jonah went and preached a message of repentance to and who repent. These are more like the cities of So and Go gamora, completely wicked, firmly fixed against the lord. This is who the nation of the Am ama is. God does not abide sin.

He does not come to swift judgment. He keeps his promises. This is what the bible teaches us about God. God keeps his promises. And find great comfort in that reality.

That God is steadfast and faithful to his promises. God promised Abraham in Genesis 12 verse 3. I will bless those who bless you and him who dis you I will curse. There's a lot that could be said on this topic of the lord's justice and judgment. But suffice it to say that this destruction of the Em ama was the fulfillment of God's promise.

And the just judgment of the lord. It echoes god's judgment in the flood for the wicked ness of the people. God will not allow wicked to go un untouched. He takes sin seriously. This soul takes in seriously.

Because Saul doesn't do as God commands. He slaughter the people, but he saves the king and the livestock. He will in full knowledge of his actions disobey the Lord's commands. When Samuel confronts him, listen to what Saul says, I've performed the command of the Lord. The people spared the best of the sheep and the accent.

I've obeyed the voice of the lord. I brought a gag, but the people took the spoil. Not me. I've sinned because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. I've sinned yet honor me now before the elders and before Israel.

In all of Saul responses, there exists either a refusal to fully admit to sin or refusal to take full responsibility for sin. What does this sound like? A refusal to take full responsibility for sin, were to fully admit sin. Sounds like us. Sounds like me.

Sounds like Adam in the garden. Sounds like Aaron at the foot mount Sinai when he crafted 2 golden calves for the Israelites to worship. Why do we do this? Why do we do this? I think Samuel with his response to soul, shine some light on the why.

Verse 17, in chapter 15, Samuel says though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The lord anointed you king over Israel, and the Lord since you on a mission. Why did you obey the voice of the lord and do what was evil in the sight of the lord? Samuel is revealing since that when saul sees himself as small, and greed grasp for more. He's revealing his heart's belief that God is even smaller than he.

What saul wants is what is better than what God wants. So saved all the livestock To sacrifice to the lord, clearly, that would be better than destroying them. God didn't god this would be a way better way. Of honoring you and showing your glory. God saves A, the king of the Yam ama.

Remember it was common for the nations that lived in can to parade their prisoners, the kings of the nations that they conquered before the people. To show how much greater they were than all of the other nations. That would be way better. For us to do God than simply killing a. What poll wants is better than what God wants?

For soul. What saul wants. What sol decides is better than what the lord decided. What saw fears is worthy of more fear than the lord. He fears the people He considers them to be more worthy of fear than the lord.

Ed Welch in his book when people are big and God is small says this. In the biblical sense, what we fear shows our allegiance. It shows where we put our trust. It shows who is big in our lives. Saul revealed that his fear of the people is greater than his fear of god.

That he would rather be great in the eyes of the people than faithful in the eyes of the lord. His allegiance is to himself. Have you thought about what your were actions And what the inclination of your heart say about what you fear? What do they say about your allegiance? What half hearted obedience is present right now in your life.

In what ways are you pretending to serve and follow God while secretly, it or subconsciously serving yourself? Where does your allegiance truly lie? You're at evening worship. Clearly, your allegiance is to the Lord. But have you truly rested today in thought in word and indeed?

Do so much for your local community you're for your church community. Surely you have a servant heart. But are you ever bitter and resent when your service isn't appreciated? Or isn't noticed? Or when people disagree with your decisions?

Do you serve God or do you serve the opinion of men? Where in your life perhaps, are you right now rationalizing and skew behavior and attitudes that you know are sinful because you think they're just minor problems. They're not that big of a deal. I didn't really mean it. They're just minor issues as long as they remain hidden.

Remember, god takes sin seriously. There's no such thing as a minor sin. All sin demands god's wrath and judgment. And hell forever for eternity. There's no such thing.

As an acceptable sin. Look at how Gods and Samuel response to saul reveals how we ought to respond to our sin. How saul ought to respond to his sin. Verse 10 says the word of the Lord came to soul. I regret that I have made saul king.

For he's turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. What does it mean when God regrets that he made saul king. The word regret is used in reference to What God is feeling in the moment, several times throughout the old testament. Again, this passage echoes, god's judgment of the yam ama echoes, god's judgment at the flood in which he regrets that he made man.

What does it mean that the Lord regrets something. It doesn't mean that he wishes he done things differently or thinks that he made a mistake. Remember we interpret scripture with scripture. What does scripture tell us about the Lord. He doesn't make mistakes.

He is sovereign overall. He 4 everything that comes to pass. He is right and holy and just and good. When god regrets something, it means that he's experiencing sorrow, over something. He's experiencing sorrow over sin here.

He's experiencing sorrow, not over his sin again because God doesn't sin. He's experiencing sorrow over his children's sin. He's experiencing sorrow over saul sin. As king anointed king over his people. He's experiencing sorrow over the consequences of sin, and what the sin of his people, the sin of saul reveals about the heart of saul.

Like when a father experiences sorrow when he disciplines or cha sizes his son. Where his daughter or when a mother experiences sorrow when she cha sizes her children. It's not that we would do it any differently. The sorrow is over the pain that's caused? What the sin revealed about the child's heart.

God's sorrow is not for himself, but for his children who've sinned and brought this on themselves. And his sorrow exists because he loves them. You ever read this passage where it says the Lord regrets that he made saul king and think about that revealing god's love for Israel. God's love for saul. He has sorrow over his children.

And this passage is book ended with the lord's regret. The Lord's regret shows up in verse 10 and later on in the passage at the end. The Lord regrets that he made saul king over Israel. And this regret should draw our attention to see that the Lord's judgment for is never cold. He grieve over our sin.

He grieve over the consequences of sin for us and for the world. It highlights this highlights the complexity of the Lord's emotions. He doesn't hate the sinner, but he does hate the sin. God loves the world, but will not allow sin to go un unchanged. Look at Samuel response.

He is angry. And his anger is not because Saul has a fronted him. But that saul has a fronted god as the king of God's people. Saul, a guy who's got everything going for him. He's tall.

He's handsome. He's rich. He's king over Israel. He's just accomplished a great victory. He fronts the lord.

He's decided to do what he thinks would honor God, over honoring god by following his commands. Soul poll god's worship by seeking to add to it. This is why our worship, what we do in worship isn't formed by what we think is best. Isn't formed by what we want. But what God has commanded in his word.

When we choose to follow our own way and add to or take away from any of god's commands. It both anger and grieve the lord. This is why when we talk about repentance, And our proper response to sin, it includes grief and hatred over sin. It's because the lord experiences grief and hatred over sin. But that's not how soul responds to sin is it?

He excuses it. He minimizes it. Seeks to rationalize it. He makes partial apologies, but still seeking to get what he wants, come in honor me before the elders and the people of Israel. I know I sinned, but give me this 1.

What does Samuel do Samuel hacks a gag to pieces before the lord? This is wild to think about because Samuel old. Samuel put his 2 sons in charge as judges over Israel because he's just too old anymore. He an old man. Imagine this scene where Samuel is before saul the King of Israel before the people, and he commands A gag to be brought out in front.

Ae comes happily. I can only imagine what that would look like. Cheerful, thinking that nothing's gonna happen to me now. Death the fear of death is passed? Saul?

The king of Israel spared my life? What's this old man gonna do? Imagine the shock of the people of Israel as this old judge of the people of Israel hacks this king to pieces in front of their king who commanded him to be spared. What an indictment of saul kinship? What a judgment before the people?

If Saul thought he was small in his own eyes before this point, imagine how he felt after it. Samuel doesn't hack egg egg to pieces out of anger. Or out of spite, but because the Lord has commanded it to be done. The Lord has commanded it to be done and he would do whatever God commanded. Even if it meant dis the very king that he had anointed.

At the Lord's command. He would not allow saul to dis the Lord by keeping egg egg alive. But takes on the mantle of judge again when the Lord rejects the ship of saul. He wouldn't allow salt to earn the favor or good opinion of the people or to be seen as great by the nations around him by p a in front of Instead, he hacks a gag to pieces as a public indictment. Of Saul leadership before the people.

Again, how does God's response and Samuel response teach us or show for us how we ought to respond to sin. God responds with sorrow. Samuel with anger, and then later on at the end of the passage, grieve. He grieve for saul. Our god's command is important to you as they are to samuel.

Is the appropriate worship of the lord as important to you as it is to the lord. When you're caught in sin, do you try and minimize it? Try to explain it away. Are you more concerned with your appearance before the world? Than you are with obedience to god.

Are you more influenced by the praise of men than the presence of the lord in your heart? Are you more concerned with judging other people or hating their sin because you love them. True repentance doesn't just pluck at the leaves of our sin. To try and hide it. It doesn't mean just cutting at the trunk of our sin to sort of visibly remove it.

It digs at the roots of our sin. Doesn't care about public perception. Doesn't care about the opinion of a person. It cares about the h of god. It cares about the glory of the lord.

True repentance when we truly repent, we would rather suffer any disgrace shame than continue to allow sin to faster and to stink. In the temple of the lord. True obedience doesn't just simply focus on the exterior and what seen or known, but focuses is on the very heart conforming our very wills and our desires to the law of God. Do we see any greater example of this? Than in the life and death of Jesus.

And I'm not referring here to Jesus repentance because Jesus didn't send, but Jesus commitment and his dedication to serve the lord to obey the lord He viewed obedience to God as paramount, a paramount, and experiencing any grace or shame or suffering as insignificant compared to the honor and the glory of the lord. And in doing so, he accomplishes far more than we ever could in our feeble attempts. To obey the lord. He pays the price for the sin that we deserve. He lives the life of perfect obedience for us.

He dies so that we would live. Is there any better picture of that marriage between god's perfect justice and his absolute love his grace and his justice, then in Jesus, It's really easy to read this passage and just see the Lord's judgment? But do you see his love? Remember, the Lord keeps his promises. He experiences sorrow because he loves us.

He rejects saul. He gives the kingdom to David. Makes a covenant with them promising that Jesus would be born from his children would save his people from their sin. It's through the disobedience and rebellion of the people of Israel that god offers salvation to all who would believe. There any better example that what the lord wants is best?

Not what we want. He offers salvation to all who would believe in him. Belief is all that's required to be forgiven and to be welcomed to the family of God. To be a citizen of heaven? But what does that belief look like?

Looks like following God. As we heard this morning. Looks like obeying God. Serving the lord. Our repentance and our new obedience flow out of our faith.

It's the fundamental expression of our new hope in Christ. True obedience. True repentance, new obedience. This passage calls us to take our citizenship seriously. Our allegiance to god seriously.

We're called to obey the lord. We've been given the freedom from sin to do so. Through faith in Jesus, let's not take our freedom lightly. When we uncover sin, in our lives where it's uncovered for us by those around us who love us, Let's not make excuses for it. It's not minimize it.

It's not rationalize it. Let's grieve over it. Let's hate our sin, but not the sinner. Let's turn fully towards the lord and receive his forgiveness, knowing that the price of our sin. Has already been fully paid, and we don't need to be afraid of God.

Which door would you choose?

Speaker 0: Thank you for this. For more information or to connect with us, visit us at redeem Ohio dot org.