1 Samuel 15
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Is obedience important to God?
The basis of true religion is obedience.
John Calvin
Obedience is the crown and honour of all virtue.
Martin Luther
We live in a culture and age now where obedience is not well-thought-upon
-Our country was kind of founded on not obeying the British government that was over us at the time
-And even nowadays, in many Christian circles, obedience reeks of legalism
-What God cares about is the heart, and you praying a prayer of salvation
Does God care about obedience?
-That’s the question we’re going to seek to answer from the Word of God today
-Now, before I start, I want to state from the outset, and I’ll come back to this at the end . . .
-but I want to state from the outset that I know that no Christian is perfect
-I know we’re all disobedient sinners
-My goal here today is not to discourage or weigh anyone’s conscience down with an unbearable load of morbid introspection
-But I do want to look at what the Bible says, and allow the Word of God to renew our minds in areas in which we may be thinking wrongly in our lives
Can we do that together this afternoon?
The Word of the Lord Pronounced
The Word of the Lord Pronounced
Vs. 1-3**
The command of the Lord is very straightforward for Saul:
“Go and utterly destroy the Amalekites.”
-God is specific, and tells him that nothing is to be left alive. No people, no livestock, nothing
But notice what the command is based on:
Vs. 1
-It’s based on the grace of the Lord appointing Saul King in the first place when he didn’t deserve it
-And it’s based on the authority of the Lord who has the power to appoint people and put them in positions of authority
And before we go any further, let’s consider our own similar situation
-No one here, obviously, is a king of any country, much less the nation of Israel
-No one here has been appointed by God as the head of a theocratic nation
-But we too have a relationship with God through His grace
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
And because of His grace, God also has the authority to appoint us to the tasks He desires of us
But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.
For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
So as we consider this topic today, let’s understand that we are in a similar situation:
-We too have been shown incredible grace and mercy by God, and we are His servants, debtors to grace
1. Sitting in judgment on God’s Word
1. Sitting in judgment on God’s Word
Vs. 4-9
So Saul gathers up the troops, and goes and to the city of Amalek, ready to make war
Vs. 7-8**
So far things sound pretty good! Saul’s got the king in his possession, so he’ll probably go ahead and execute him
-and all the people are killed!
-So far, so good!
but look at vs. 9
Vs. 9**
With that word “but” starting the sentence in verse 9, the author of 1 Samuel is drawing attention to what happens next
-It’s like he’s taking a big blue highlighter, and highlighting this verse for us
-This is not how the narrative ought to go
-Let’s look carefully at the verse and see how the author wants us to view this
-Notice what is spared:
First of all, Agag, the King of Amalek
Now, let’s think for a moment: what may be some reasons that Saul spared the king?
-Perhaps to inspire confidence in the people of Israel?
-Bring him home to the palace and make him subservient?
-Maybe he can get something from Amalek?
There may be some things that come to mind that make this sound reasonable
What else is spared?
-the BEST of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all the was GOOD
-Doesn’t that sound reasonable?
-I mean, that cattle was worth a lot!
-That could help feed Israelites, it could be used in trade, it could be used to breed more cattle
-Maybe it would relieve some of the financial burden of the Israelites for supporting their new king?
And notice the last phrase:
“But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.”
Doesn’t this sound reasonable?
Don’t we often do similar things?
“I obeyed the important parts of God’s Word!”
“I mean, I agree with God that adultery, murder, homosexuality — those things are wrong and I don’t do those things!”
“But gossiping? Slander? Integrity at work or on my taxes? Those things aren’t as important.”
Maybe we wouldn’t say it quite like that, but isn’t that the way that we live our lives at times?
-We take God’s Word, and evaluate it as far as what we think are the really important things to obey and what things aren’t as important.
-What things look good to us and what things don’t
We like what God says about loving others and not stealing . . .
but we don’t like what God has to say about meeting with the body, or gender roles in marriage, or being generous with our money
The Word of God ought to be up here! and what we do is that we put ourselves up here and the Word of God down here, and we sit as judge over God’s Word, about what things we ought to obey or not obey
-And when we do that, we make ourselves the final authority, not God’s Word
Transition
Transition
We started the sermon by asking the question, “is obedience a big deal to God?”, and we begin to get some of the answer here
Vs. 10-11
-Apparently, obedience is something that seems to really matter to God
-God is deeply grieved by Saul’s sin, and so is Samuel
Does Saul realize the seriousness of what he’s done?
Apparently not, because he’s set up some kind of monument to himself in Carmel
So Samuel finds Saul, and never has someone seemed so tone-deaf to the situation than what Saul seems in verse 13
Vs. 13**
This is where we get
2. Being lifted up in Pride over our partial Obedience
2. Being lifted up in Pride over our partial Obedience
“I’ve done it! I’ve obeyed!”
-I mean, Saul is pretty proud of what he’s done!
“I did it!”
-I mean, he killed every last inhabitant of Amalek!! . . . except for the King of course
-And, he destroyed the cattle and the other stuff!! . . . except for the good cattle
-I mean, wouldn’t most people be happy with that??
-Saul was in a great mood! He even built himself a monument!
-Brothers and sisters, don’t you see the deceitfulness of sin?
“I’m obedient! I go to church! . . . I’m just an annoyed father who gets angry at my wife and kids sometimes, but who doesn’t right?”
“I’m obedient! I read my Bible every day and give my tithes! . . . but I’m a lazy employee who steals time from my employers.”
“I’m obedient! I pray regularly and am so kind to others . . . I just watch one or two things that aren’t the best, but who doesn’t?”
And we let our pride of the areas we are obeying in (at least outwardly), blind us to the areas where we are disobedient in.
3. Blaming our Disobedience on Other Things
3. Blaming our Disobedience on Other Things
Samuel calls Saul out on his supposed obedience in vs 14**
Vs 15**
Notice the pronouns in this verse
“They”
“The people”
“Well, it was the people who didn’t really obey”
But notice, at the end of the verse, who is it that utterly destroyed the rest?
It’s “we”!
“it’s not my fault! It’s the people who disobeyed!”
Where else does this sound familiar?
“the woman whom you gave to me, she gave me to eat”
“it was the serpent that deceived me”
And is this not what we often do as well?
**Ashelyn illustration**
Isn’t this what we do as well?
“my spouse provoked me”
“my coworker really had it coming!”
“If only you knew my circumstances”
There’s usually seems to be a reason why it’s ok for us to be disobedient
We somehow think that we’re the exception to the rule!
“I know God said this in His Word, but God knows my circumstances and why it’s ok for me to be disobedient.”
-As if verses or commands in Scripture ought to have a footnote showing why we get to the be exception to God’s Word
It puts my circumstances and my experience as the authority over the word of God!
4. The blinding pride of disobedience
4. The blinding pride of disobedience
Look at how sad vs. 20 is: **
-Saul just can’t admit it!
-He’s insistent!
“no, I did obey! I’m in the right on this one!”
“I did obey!”
Sin can be so deceiving and so blinding, that we can’t even see where we’re wrong sometimes
-We can convince ourselves that we really are in the right!
A brother or sister in Christ has the kindness and the fortitude to point out an area that we need growth in
-A pastor gives godly counsel and shows from the Word where we need growth
-A godly family member tries to talk to us about something
And we blow it off
-We get angry or defensive
-We go and find someone to talk to about it that we know will take our side
“can you believe they said this about me??”
-And we’ve dug in on our disobedience
-We’ve been blinded by our own sin
-And instead of thanking that person for caring enough to help us grow, we argue, or pout, or get angry
5. We spiritualize our disobedience
5. We spiritualize our disobedience
Look lastly at vs 21**
Doesn’t his reasoning sound spiritual? godly? biblical?
-Sacrifice is good!
-We have a LOT of verses in our OT about sacrifices, so clearly they were a good thing and something that God wanted
I mean, instead of just killing all that stuff, why not just sacrifice it? It was all going to die anyway!
-Wouldn’t that be better to God than just killing it right then and there!
-If they were all going to be killed by Saul if he sacrificed them, then wasn’t that obedience?
Do we do the same thing?
“it might give me a chance to witness better if I just do this . . . or go here . . . or watch this”
“you know, if I work on Sundays, then I’ll be able to have more money to give to my church and to others”
“What I said was the truth, even if it came off a little harsh, and God would have wanted them to hear that”
So what does God think about Saul and what he’s done?
What is His verdict to instruct us and renew our minds?
6. God’s Love for Obedience
6. God’s Love for Obedience
Vs. 22-23**
In 1992, a book came out by Gary Chapman, a Christian author, called “The 5 love languages”
-In his book, he argued that everyone receives and gives love in 5 basic ways
-physical touch
-words of affirmation
-acts of service
-quality time
-gift-giving
The point of this book was to help people show love to others in ways that would be meaningful to that person
-So for your spouse, maybe their love language is acts of service, so you should try to do the laundry for them or the dishes
Whatever you may think of that book or its philosophy, Scripture is very clear on this point:
-God has a love language, and it’s us obeying Him
This is all through Scripture!
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?
But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’
Look at what Samuel says here!
-Does God take delight in sacrifices? He instituted them, so there’s certainly something there!
-But you know what’s better than sacrifices?
OBEDIENCE
-God would rather have obedience than the best of sacrifices!
-He would rather have his people listen humbly to His Word and submit than to have all the rams and goats in Amalek
God delights in the obedience of His people!
do you see that??
God delights in the obedience of His people!!
God told His people:
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.
Now you might be asking: “aren’t there verses in the Bible about people who do the right outward actions, but God is not pleased with them?”
And you’d be right, there are!
Therefore the Lord said:
“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths
And honor Me with their lips,
But have removed their hearts far from Me,
And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,
And this is where we get into the whole issue of legalism
It’s become a taboo thing in many Christian circles, to preach on obedience
-It’s not gospel-centered enough
-The only obedience we should preach on is how Christ has obeyed for us
-And for sure, Christ has perfectly obeyed God’s law on our behalf, and imputed that obedience to us through His sacrifice for our sins, right?
Amen?
We could never obey to the standard of God’s Law, and Christ has done that for us!
-But if we stop there, we do injustice to so much of what the word of God teaches!
-God desires obedience from His people!
So what is legalism?
-Legalism is doing something that we think will somehow earn us love or favor from God
“If I be a good person, God will let me into heaven!”
-That’s legalism
-Or, “if I read my bible everyday and go to church, then God will love me and be ok with me”
That’s legalism
-It’s not done out of a heart of love for God, but trying to earn something with God
-And that’s why it’s often associated with hypocrisy
-That’s why you can have someone who is immoral, is filthy in their speech, lives a lewd lifestyle, is a horrible spouse and parent, but goes to church on Sunday and reads their Bible
-They think that’s all that God wants
-He just wants them to check a few boxes
-Obedience comes from a heart of love for God!
**parent child illustration**
Our obedience ought to come out of a heart of joy and love for God!
“Well, should I still obey even if I don’t feel all that joyful about it?”
YES!!
This is part of obedience!
-Sometimes we don’t always enjoy the task or the situation we find ourselves in
-Sometimes we don’t love or understand why the command is given
-But we love God and so we obey!!
And to disobey is to show that we don’t love God!
-Listen, you can “obey” (explain) without loving, but you CANNOT love without obeying
-It just can’t happen, no matter what you feel like or think
-You can’t love God and not obey Him
Samuel basically tells Saul: “God doesn’t want your worthless sacrifice . . . He wants your obedience!”
How many things could we insert there?
“God doesn’t only want your money . . . he wants your obedience”
“God isn’t impressed with your grades . . . He wants your obedience”
“God isn’t blown away with your impressive displays of godliness on Sundays . . . He wants your obedience”
He wants you to hear His Word, to reverence it, to submit to it, to obey it
Look at verse 23
Rebellion is as bad as witchcraft
What would you think if my dad were to come up here while preaching, and nonchalantly begin to describe the seance he visited yesterday to tell him his future?
-What would you think if one of our deacons spoke to you about his habit of visiting a Satanic cult worship service every week?
-What would you think if one of our missionaries described his regular visits to a necromancer, paying this person to help him speak to his dead relative?
That’s disgusting
-That’s disturbing
-That’s repulsive to talk about
That’s what God thinks about our disobedience
-Disobedience is not “slip-up”
-It’s not a “mistake”
-It’s rebellion
-It’s shaking the fist in the face of God
-It’s declaring that we don’t love Him
“stubbornness is as idolatry”
What would you think if you came to church and we had some statue out in the lobby people were bowing down to?
-What would you think if you came home and your spouse or parent was burning incense to an idol?
-That’s how God views Disobedience
Application
Application
Let’s turn towards application and be done
-Listen, I’m not trying to discourage you or weigh you down
-I understand that every single one of us here is a sinner
-We all disobey every single day
-I’m not here to make you feel like you’re a complete failure because you still battle sin on this side of eternity
-My goal here is to get us to think about the attitudes we have towards our sin
-Maybe you’re sitting here, and you know that you’ve grown comfortable with certain sins in your life
-Maybe you know that you’ve spiritualized it or blamed someone else for it
-Maybe you’ve been confronted about it, and you have brushed it off or dug in
We need to recalibrate our thinking on this issue:
God delights in obedience
Listen: Christ has paid the price for our sin
-We couldn’t perfectly obey
-And Christ came to earth, suffered for our sins and died in our place
-He perfectly obeyed and gives us that righteousness
-We are accepted by the Father on the basis of the work of Christ!
-Let that drive us to obedience!
-Let that motivate us to want to love and serve God with all our heart soul mind and strength!
“behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to head than the fat of rams.”