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1 Samuel 15:1-31
15:1 And Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the LORD. 2 Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction1 all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”
4 So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. 6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, 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 Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction 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 fattened calves2 and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.
10 The word of the LORD came to Samuel: 11 “I regret3 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. 12 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 Gilgal.” 13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the LORD. I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” 14 And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” 15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, 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.” 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the LORD said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”
17 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. 18 And the LORD sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 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 sight of the LORD?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the LORD. I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.” 22 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.
23 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.”
24 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.” 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the LORD.
[1] 15:3
[2] 15:9
[3] 15:11
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
We're gonna read first Samuel 15:1 through 31. And, it's a big chunk of scripture. And we're gonna read it, in its entire we like reading large passages, full passages of god's word, Not only because it gives us context to what Joel is gonna bring, but because it is the point. It was written to tell a story and a story within a story. And so go with me as we just go into the living word.
Speaker 1:Just enjoy it and let it soak over you. And Samuel said to Saul, the lord sent me to anoint you, king over his people Israel. Now, therefore, listen to the words of the lord, thus says the lord of host. I have noted that Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have.
Speaker 1:Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey. So Saul summoned the people and numbered them into lam. 200,000 men on foot and 10,000 men of Judah. And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay and wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the Kenites, go depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them, for you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.
Speaker 1:So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havala and far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. And he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive and devoted to destruction, all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the and the people spared Agoc and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fatted calves and the lambs and and all that was good and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless, they devoted to destruction.
Speaker 1:The word of the lord came to Samuel. I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following. He 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.
Speaker 1: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 Gilgal. And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, blessed be you to the lord. I have performed the the Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the lord your god, and the rest they have devoted to destruction. Then Samuel said to Saul, stop.
Speaker 1:I will tell you what the lord has said to me this night. And he said to them, 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 sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.
Speaker 1:Why then did you not obey the voice of the lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what is evil in the sight of the lord? And Saul said to Samuel, I have obeyed the voice of the lord sent me. I have brought Agag, the king of Amalekite Amalek and I have devoted to the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took the spoil of sheep and oxen and the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gagal.
Speaker 1:And Samuel said, has the Lord as great delight has the Lord has great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in the obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than presumption as in inequity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the lord, he has rejected you from being king. 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 bow before the lord.
Speaker 1: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. As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe and it tore. And Samuel said to him, the lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from 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. 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.
Speaker 1:So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the lord. This is the word of the lord.
Jeffrey Heine:Thanks be to god. Lord, we ask that you would honor the reading of your word. We do take time to read it because we believe through your spirit, you speak to us and you breathe life into us. And so come breathe life. Lord, may, now in this moment, my words fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore.
Jeffrey Heine:But, lord, may your words remain, and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Before we take a look at Saul here, I want us to pick up just a little bit of where we left off last week and talk about kingship. Last week, we looked at Hannah's prayer, and we saw how in her prayer at the very end, she prayed slash prophesied that Israel was going to have a king because, she knew that Israel needed a king in order to fully be redeemed, in order for the oppressed to be free, in order for justice to reign across the earth.
Jeffrey Heine:And a king was always part of God's plan. And yet, if we were to continue reading the story, when it gets to the point where Israel does ask for a king, God says that it is a evil thing that they should ask for a king. Says you're asking for a king means you're rejecting me. In chapter 8, God says that you're rejecting me as king. In chapter 10, God says this, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel.
Jeffrey Heine:I brought up Israel out of Egypt. I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians kingdoms that were oppressing you. But today you have rejected your God who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses and have said to him, set a king over us. And and so that just kind of begs the question, why if this was part of God's plan that there should be a king and a kingdom? Was it a evil request that they asked for a king?
Jeffrey Heine:And the reason it was evil is because they were asking for a king the same reasons that Hannah initially wanted a child. Remember that she she wanted a child for security, you know, the so the boys could be in the army, can defend their tribes. She wanted a child for financial security and provision. That was a retirement plan. She wanted to be like the other women around the well who all had their mother or their their children around them.
Jeffrey Heine:She wanted to be like them. And those are the reasons she wanted a child, and those are the reasons Israel wants a king. We want a king for protection. We want a king for security. We want a king, so we will be like all of the surrounding nations.
Jeffrey Heine:They didn't want a king for the glory of God. Not yet. God was gonna have to change that. God brought Hannah down to a point of desperation where she began to look to god and god alone to meet her need. And over the coming centuries, god is going to bring Israel down to a point of desperation where they see that He is the King.
Jeffrey Heine:There there's only one way that God can say, I am your King and, and, and if you reject me as your King, you are evil. There's only one way that he can actually establish a King and they not reject him. And that's as if he comes someday and he reigns as king. And that was always part of God's plan. Jesus coming always apart.
Jeffrey Heine:Israel just would not patiently wait for the king to come. They wanted a king for all the wrong reasons. And so, Saul becomes the first king. Not David, but Saul. Saul has been described as a man after Israel's own heart.
Jeffrey Heine:David is a man after God's own heart, as flawed as he was. When Saul becomes king, the first king, he's actually a pretty decent guy. He's a humble guy. He's a good guy. When, when Samuel anoints him as king, he's actually right before that, he's hiding behind the luggage.
Jeffrey Heine:And they they have to pull him out in front of the people because, you know, he's just so humble. It's like, you know, this is going to be your king. But by the end of Saul's life, he becomes so power obsessed. So, so eager to remain as king and let no one take away that throne that he was even willing to spear his son to the wall, so that no one would be king apart from him. But so, so it just begs the question.
Jeffrey Heine:How did he start off as such a humble, good guy and the end of his life? He is horrible. He's evil. How did that digression happen? That's what the text in front of us shows.
Jeffrey Heine:The sin did not happen overnight, but it begins here. And we need to understand Saul. We need to understand the 1st king because in the weeks or months ahead, almost everything David does is going to be compared to Saul. So, if you want to understand David, you have to understand Saul. The story here begins with Samuel instructing Saul to go to war against the Amalekites.
Jeffrey Heine:Back during the time of Exodus, the Amalekites blocked the Israelites and said, no, you can't come through here. And God did not judge them then. He spared them then, but he is judging them now, and he wants to use the hand of Saul to do it. And so Saul's instructions are pretty clear. Everything is to be destroyed.
Jeffrey Heine:Every person killed nothing is to be saved. Now the reason that Saul here is to spare no one, not even an animal, is because God was making sure that this war was not gonna be about profit. This wasn't a war about getting rich. The Bible doesn't use this language, but if if we were to label this kind of war something, we would call it a holy war. This is a war that is about justice.
Jeffrey Heine:And this was not a war to expand a kingdom. This was not a war to take property, to grow more powerful. That's how most wars back then were fought. That's why most wars now are fought. Nations, you know, a lot of times they'll use the reason that they give people, you know, this is a war about justice, but rarely is it.
Jeffrey Heine:It's normally about power, about land driven by greed, but not this war. God says this absolutely cannot be the case. Israel's power and Israel's wealth are to come from the Lord, not by force. Israel is not to profit one dime from this execution of justice. They're not to acquire a single acre of land, not a single head of sheep.
Jeffrey Heine:Everything's to be destroyed. The king must be killed. Usually, you brought in the king, and if you save the king, that meant that their kingdom became your vassal state, which meant years years of of free money, free wealth pouring into your kingdom, and god said, no. That is not to happen. You will not profit at all in this war.
Jeffrey Heine:It is about justice. Actually, far from profiting Israel, this war would cost them because all wars cost. And so you can see this as Saul's test, if you will. Would he become a king just like all the other kings around him? Would he would he fight like they fight?
Jeffrey Heine:Would he try to profit from war like they profit from war? If you remember, this is why the Israelites wanted a king. They wanted a king in order that they might be like the other nations around them. And so are they going to become like the nations around them and fight like they fight? But their king is called to not be like any other king.
Jeffrey Heine:Their nation's called not to be like other nations, but to be a light unto the nations. Now this test, this this text here has a lot to say about war, has a lot to say about the justification of war and things like that, but that's that's that's not where I want us to spend our attention. At its fundamental level, this text is about obedience. When the Lord asks us to do something, Yeah. Yeah.
Jeffrey Heine:How is this gonna be benefit me if I actually do what you want? The story should make us ask the question, who is my authority? And the way that I do my job, in the way that I parent my children, in the way that I use my money and all those things, who who is my authority in this? Am I trying to just be like the other people? Like Israel was trying to be like the other nations?
Jeffrey Heine:Or do I let the Lord set the vision for my life and I'm willing to sacrifice for it? Listen to me. As as Christians, your life is to be holy, and holy simply means other. It means different. Meaning your life is not to look like other people's lives.
Jeffrey Heine:You are called to live a much different life, and people should see it, and they should just know you you the way you you go about your work, the way you treat your family, the way you do everything is just it's different. You're not like me. That's your calling for the Lord to set the vision for your life. And if it costs you, it costs you, but you obey his word. Well, in this story here, Saul disobeys the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:And so he becomes a king just like all the other kings. He leads Israel down to become a nation just like all the other nations, And they will begin spiraling down. And, and, and, and, and, and he's now grown up at this point, to go and to confront Saul after this disobedience. And so when Saul sees him in verse 13, the very first thing that comes out of Saul's mouth is blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandments of the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:It's the very first thing out of his mouth, which either means he has like a guilty conscience and he knows he's done wrong, and so he's just trying to hide the fact, or perhaps he genuinely believes he's done the right thing. I'm, I'm not sure In any case, he's wrong. And Samuel responds to him, why do I hear sheep? What what what is that I hear? Why do I hear sheep?
Jeffrey Heine:And and the word for for hear in Hebrew is the same word as obey. So if you hear god, you obey god. And and so the question is, you say you heard god but I hear sheep. So, you couldn't have obeyed god if I hear sheep. When David was confronted with sin, he had the exact opposite response.
Jeffrey Heine:Saul here gives a bunch of excuses. When David is confronted, David will just confess. David will just say, I've sinned. Period. I mean, we just read the text when, when, when Saul finally confesses a little bit, you know, I've sinned, but and then he gives a long explanation.
Jeffrey Heine:Then it's I've sinned, but and a long explanation. Matter of fact, at at verse 13, after Saul, Samuel calls him out, verse 14 should read, I have sinned. But we we don't get anything like that until verse 4. There's all this explanation. And then we come to verse 30 and we get this.
Jeffrey Heine:Then Saul said, I have sinned yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Okay. Samuel, I know I've sinned. I I I know I've but just for public sake, could you just kinda, like, stand by me and honor I've sinned, but honor me in front of the people. Make me look good in front of the people.
Jeffrey Heine:Otherwise, they're gonna think I'm a bad king. So so so can you just kind of look over that and honor me? This reminds me of those non apology apologies, you know, that you get all the time. The, I'm so sorry that you feel that way. Mistakes were made.
Jeffrey Heine:They're they're not apologies. Or the I realize how my comments could have been construed as hurtful, which you read between the lines and it's like, I didn't know people could be dumb enough to actually take my comments and be hurt by them. Several NFL players, I have said, I am sorry that anyone was offended by whatever I did. The most famous nominee apology is Justin Timberlake's, I am sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction. Not that he did anything wrong, but I'm sorry if you happen to be offended by this, this non apology apology.
Jeffrey Heine:And that's what Saul does here. And, Saul had a chance right here to repent, and his whole life would have been different. Right here, god was calling him out. Just say you sinned. Period.
Jeffrey Heine:And your whole life will be different if you would just confess this, and he can't do it. All he could do is offer excuses, and he begins this downward spiral. Let me let me tell you, all of you have a chance to repent. With whatever sin God is bringing up in in your mind, you have a chance to repent and to confess that and to not not give him excuses. God can't forgive excuses.
Jeffrey Heine:He can only forgive sins. And if you would confess that to him, your life would be changed. I remember had a lady come into my office. She was actually a senior in college. She was now, she was living with her boyfriend who was a drug dealer.
Jeffrey Heine:She was addicted to crystal meth. She had completely just destroyed every relationship or the relationship we had she had with her family. All of her friends now hated her, super depressed, but still rebellion. She, she, she was still rebelling against everything. Didn't want to change it.
Jeffrey Heine:So I wrote down on a sheet of paper her life. I was like, all right, let me get this right. You you're, you're addicted to drugs. You're living with a drug dealer. The family that you loved just even a couple of years ago loved you, now you have no relationship with you.
Jeffrey Heine:Your best friends from, like, 2 years ago now won't even talk to you. You you've obviously you've you've lost a ton of weight. You're looking gaunt. You're looking at all these things. I mean, I've been listing this.
Jeffrey Heine:And I said, if I were to take this and I were to show this to you 2 years ago, not say this can be your life. Would you like it? Would you take it? And she just started weeping, but she refused to ever repent and to change. She never set out to become that, but she was that now.
Jeffrey Heine:Nobody sets out to become an evil person. Saul didn't set out to be like, I wanna be just a really horrible king. I want to be obsessive. I want to be pure evil. That was not his goal, but he became that.
Jeffrey Heine:Why? He didn't repent. He didn't call sin sin. And this story here tells about the mistakes he made that made him so reluctant to repent. And may maybe we we can learn a thing or 2.
Jeffrey Heine:Look at verse 15. Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and the and of the oxen to sacrifice to the lord your god. Notice it's not his god, to the lord your god, And the rest we have devoted to destruction. So the first thing that Saul says when he's confronted with his sin, a matter of fact, the very first word that comes out of his mouth is they. They.
Jeffrey Heine:You know, still the the the vague kind of they, you know, everyone's doing it. Who? I don't know. Ev everyone. Everybody acts that way.
Jeffrey Heine:Who? I don't everyone. It's the same sin that Adam did. You know, when Adam God went to Adam and said, did you take from the tree? And Adam was like, the woman.
Jeffrey Heine:The the woman you gave me me, she she gave. I mean, what was I supposed to do? I had to take it. She gave it to me but it's that deferring blame pointed to somebody else. Saul, did you send?
Jeffrey Heine:Well, they. It was the people. It wasn't him. He didn't see it that way. Samuel will have none of this.
Jeffrey Heine:He actually tells the king to shut up in verse 16. Stop. Stop. And I will tell you something. You kind of picture like Saul just swallowing, like, okay, speak.
Jeffrey Heine:Says, though you were little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? And the lord sent you on a mission and said, go devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight 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 sight of the lord? Then his next excuse is in verse 20, and Saul said to Samuel, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:I've gone on the mission in which he sent me. I have brought Agag, the king of of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. Now now this is incredible because in one sentence in verse 20, he says, I have obeyed the voice of the lord. I've brought back the king. Alright?
Jeffrey Heine:He was supposed to destroy the king, to kill the king. I've obeyed. I've brought back the king. He is so self deceived at this point. He he he's actually thinking he has done the right thing, even though God has clearly told him to do something else.
Jeffrey Heine:Let me tell you what, we see this happen in our Christian culture all of the time in which, we can read something as clear as day in scripture. God clearly says it. And and and we find a way to kind of turn it upside down, do a little fuzzy math. Now 1 plus 1 equals 3. Do some mental gymnastics, and we can make it say the exact opposite.
Jeffrey Heine:For instance, divorce. God says in Malachi, I hate divorce. Period. I hate it. I've met with many people who are convinced that the Lord is leading them to divorce.
Jeffrey Heine:God just would not want me to be unhappy in my marriage. He, you know, he he really wants its its best. Convinced. They're turning the word of God upside down. You know, an issue that's in the press a whole lot right now, homosexuality.
Jeffrey Heine:It's kind of become a real taboo topic for even Christians to bring up. Scripture is very clear about a homosexual lifestyle and how this is wrong. Very clear if you look at the scripture and and yet we will look at it and because of the pressure of the world outside, because it is so counter cultural, We begin listening to the voices of other people and and we, you know, we try to make and twist and be like, well, it's alright. We could do this with the gospel. God says, I am the way, the truth, the life.
Jeffrey Heine:Nobody comes to the father except through me. But that is very countercultural. And you'll hear all these people being like, well, you know, there's many ways of God. We need to be tolerant of all these other religions. And and there's really many, many ways to heaven.
Jeffrey Heine:But scripture's pretty clear about the gospel. And so the the question is whose voices are you listening to? Have we so deceived ourself that we're we're listening to other voices, and we've convinced ourself we're actually listening to god? Saul did. So Samuel calls this divination in verse 23.
Jeffrey Heine:He says, for rebellion as is as the sin of divination, which is essentially trying to find guidance for your life with some outside source, somebody apart from God. God tells you what to do. God tells you where to go, but you want you wanna somehow get wisdom from somewhere else. It's idolatry, which Samuel also says. Saul also convinces himself that delaying your obedience is still obedience.
Jeffrey Heine:Look at verse 21, But the people but the people took of the spoil sheep and oxen the best of the things devoted to destruction true. We didn't slaughter everything. But the reason was we were just waiting. We're gonna kill them all later as a sacrifice to the lord but to the lord, delayed obedience is disobedience. If the Lord tells you to do something, you, you, you do it now.
Jeffrey Heine:You don't say I'll do it 5 minutes from now. All right. And then this whole, we just want to sacrifice these sheep to the Lord bit. You know, that's just a bunch of crock. Every one of my children have done this.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, every one of them I've, I've had this story. It's like Groundhog day. It just happens over and over with, with different kids, but I'll put them to bed and I'll say, all right, lights out, no more getting up, go to sleep. 20 minutes later, I see lights on. And so, I walk in the room, and this has happened with each child.
Jeffrey Heine:And and there have been a bunch of books on their lap, and they just immediately grab one of them and bring it to themselves. The Bible. I'm like, what are you doing? I told you to go to bed, dad. I'm reading the bible.
Jeffrey Heine:Obedience is worth more than sacrifice. Obey your dad and go to bed. We do this all the time. We think somehow through our disobedience that we worship God. You know, I'd spent 10 years in college ministry and the most common way you'd see that is through missionary dating.
Jeffrey Heine:You know, you're gonna some some Christian girl's gonna date some non Christian boy or just some Christian thug, and convince themselves they're doing the Lord's will. You know, I'm getting him to come to church. I see all this good happening from, hey, you're not gonna honor God through your disobedience. Alright? And we all know what this is really about.
Jeffrey Heine:You think he's cute. This is really about, you know, you getting what you want, which is exactly what was happening here. Saul I mean, Samuel says that they they swooped or they pounced on the prey on the cattle there. And that's the this image of, like, the they were hungry for those for those sheep and for those cattle, and they pounce on because when he sacrificed, you got to eat the meat. And they're like, we saved the best to be sacrificed, meaning we got the best cuts of meat.
Jeffrey Heine:We can't wait to eat it. Samuel's not fooled here. Their worship of the Lord was really nothing but selfishness. Let me tell you what, there's some things that God's calling you to do. And maybe it's even, like, give give money to something, and you say, well, not now.
Jeffrey Heine:Let me just wait until more established. You know? Let me just wait a little bit longer, and then we'll give. For 1, delayed obedience is not obedience. 2, really, this is about your own selfish gain.
Jeffrey Heine:You're deceiving yourself. Obey the lord even if it cost you. Let's look at what led Saul to do these things. There's a number of reasons. I'm gonna give you 2, 2 that are here in this text.
Jeffrey Heine:The first is found in verse 24. 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. Saul feared the people instead of fearing the lord, and it led to him disobeying god. Now, Saul was not scared that the people would do him physical harm, but he was fearful of what the people would think about him as their king. What people thought about him would so consume Saul's life.
Jeffrey Heine:It is absolutely what drove him. It's like, I got to know people have to think well of me. So later morning, it gets to people singing Saul's killed us 1,000, but David killed his tens of 1,000. He's like, they don't think that I'm the best and he's going to crumble. He was driven by what people thought about him.
Jeffrey Heine:The second reason that Saul fell into sin here and refused to repent, it's It's related to the first. It's found in verse 17. And Samuel said, though you were little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. Now remember, when Saul was anointed king, you know, he's hiding behind the luggage.
Jeffrey Heine:People had to pull him out. You know, he was, he was certainly little in his own eyes. He didn't think he deserved it. He, he, he thought he was a nobody. So he hid, But God established him as king.
Jeffrey Heine:But what's interesting about Samuel's words here is he doesn't say, though you were small in your own eyes, are you not now the king of Israel? He says, though you are small in your own eyes, Saul still feels like a small man, even though he's the king. This is strange because earlier, you get to verse 12, like, we just kinda read over, but it says, 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. Alright.
Jeffrey Heine:He's setting up, you know, he he wins this little battle and he's already setting up monuments for himself. Doesn't really sound like a guy who thinks he's small in his own eyes, but actually it is. He he feels so small, so inferior that that he feels like he has to prove himself. He has to constantly remind people. It's like, you know, I really am great.
Jeffrey Heine:I really am awesome. I really did win this battle, and he sets up monuments to his own honor. But inside, he feels little because god's word was not enough for him. God said, you're king, but that didn't make him feel big. He He felt like he had to prove himself.
Jeffrey Heine:God's the one who gave him authority. He didn't have to earn it, but he feels like I I have to somehow earn it. I have to somehow show people I'm worthy of this. And so he tries to please people and become big in their eyes. Let me tell you what.
Jeffrey Heine:You are not small in God's eyes either. You don't need to feel small in his eyes because you have tremendous value to the lord. We just heard it when Lauren came up and shared her testimony. Do you understand your worth? That God would move heaven and earth.
Jeffrey Heine:That Jesus Christ would come and die a painful death, bear the judgment of God in order to have you. That's a rock on which you can stand on. You don't have to prove anything to anybody. You don't have to, like, show all the works that you've done. We just sang the best obedience of my hands.
Jeffrey Heine:The best that you could do dares not appear before your throne. But faith, but faith can can meet thy demands by pleading what thy son has done. We look to Jesus. That's where we find our worth. Paul says in second Corinthians 8, for you know the grace of our lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that you, by his poverty, might become rich.
Jeffrey Heine:We can read that though Christ was big, for your sake, he became small so that by his smallness, you might become big. You might become something in his eyes. And if you realize there's something in his eyes, you won't seek to please any other person and the other thing, but you'll rest in the gospel alone. Pray with me. God, this text here causes us to look towards Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:Your son, a king who was committed to justice no matter the cost, even if it meant his own life. A king who would obey you completely. Lord, in the weeks and the months ahead, may we look forward to seeing that king, and may we grow more and more in love with him. May we grow more and more in love with you, Jesus. And I pray that the gospel would become the rock.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus, you would become the rock on which we build our whole life. And we pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.