1 Samuel 15 (Part 2) Bible Study (The Lord Rejects Saul) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Mimi in first Samuel chapter 15, please. I thank God that there are writers that are going back to the deep end of the bible to write songs with rich truths. I'm sure you agree with that. Amen. First Samuel 15.

And let's pray one more time together. Father, we thank you for this bible study. We thank you that your word is true. Every promise, every command, every fact, every every portion is true. Lord, we ask now that by the power of your holy spirit, you would teach us, You would help us not just understand but retain, and not just retain, but translate it into action in our lives.

Lord, we pray for an unusual sense of your presence, an unusual sense of your glory. Lord, make everything else disappear, even in our own lives, and let us feast at the table. We ask, God, that you would lead us in our hearts, in our emotions, in our thoughts, in all things to see the glory and majesty and the wisdom of God in this bible study. We give you all glory in advance. We thank you, Lord, that we can come here freely and receive from you.

We pray that the ministry of the word would be assisted by the power of the spirit. Nothing of the flesh, nothing of self, Christ and Christ alone. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. First Samuel 15.

This chapter is just way too dense to cover it in one sitting, so we are part two and we're only covering six verses in this bible study. And so let's read from verse 10 down to 16. 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 be 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 commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, what then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?

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. Then Samuel said to Saul, stop. I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night. And he said to him, speak.

A reminder for us tonight in this bible study that this chapter illustrates for us one of the strongest illustrations, one of the greatest examples in the narrative of the Old Testament and the new even for that matter, of what true obedience is and what obedience is not. And that is given to us through the life of this man named King Saul. Obedience is not an optional or a suggestive way of life for the Christian. Obedience is what frames our relationship with God after we put our trust in Christ. Obedience qualifies our service for God.

Obedience is what will determine whether we will experience certain rewards, not just in this life, in the life to come. And obedience surely determines the effectiveness of our testimony before men. Obedience is crucial. And what we see here is a man who thought he obeyed, but didn't really obey. In fact, we're learning here of the failures of a man who claims to obey God.

And as we continue in this chapter, we will not only see a man who was blatant in his rebellion, but a man who responded to his sin in a way in which further confirms that he was not truly the man of God that he claimed to be. Because it's one thing to not sin, but also, it reveals much of who we are when we do sin, how we respond to it. And Saul will demonstrate the wrong way of doing so. There'll be many other lessons tucked into these verses, but this is bible study, so we wanna study and take our time. Notice in verse 10, the word of the Lord came to Samuel, meaning God spoke to Samuel because God was the one who saw Saul's disobedience when Samuel didn't see it.

And this is what Samuel heard. Maybe he was laying in bed, maybe he was in his living room, we don't know where he was at, but he heard from God. And God said, I regret that I've made Saul king. I regret that I've made Saul king. Probably have a couple people in here who have the King James.

Instead of the word regret, what word is used in the King James? I repented. It repented me that I have made Saul king. Correct? Now, let's go with the ESV and other modern translations and the King James.

How do we reconcile the character of God, the nature of God? Being omniscient, all knowing. And this concept presented to us in this verse that he apparently regretted making a decision, implying that he perhaps did not know what Saul was going to do before this moment, anointing him as king and realizing, maybe I made the wrong choice. How do we reconcile that? And how do we reconcile with the King James understanding, repenteth?

We know God is perfect, he doesn't make mistakes, but we are we are being told, if we don't understand the deeper meaning of it, that maybe he did make a mistake by electing Saul as king. How would you answer that? How can God regret? How can God regret? Any ideas?

Say that again. Very good. Did you guys catch that? It's God's way of revealing and expressing to us what he feels. Would anybody be in disagreement with that?

Would anybody be in agreement to that? I see some heads nodding. There are certain descriptions used for God in the bible called anthropomorphisms. Have you heard that fancy term before? That term simply means that the Holy Spirit uses human language to define God's expressions in order for us as limited creatures to be able to relate to him through those words and those terms.

So these anthropomorphisms are bodily terms, the eyes of the Lord, the arm of the Lord. These things are languages to help us understand something, the the visual of his actions, And they're also under the category of personality terms, emotions and things like this, regretting. And so what we understand from this is not that God actually regretted, like, I didn't see this coming. What we see is God opening himself to us and providing a frame of reference so that we can understand something of who he is and what he's like. For God to say, I regret, invites us into what he felt in this moment about Saul and his actions.

We don't serve a God that is void of emotion. He's not in heaven just evaluating and and and he's stoic, and he's stiff, and he just he just determines things without any any pulse, any feeling. No, he has great feelings, deep feelings, and in this place he feels the pain. He feels the pain and he wants us to share in that pain with him, to understand that the actions of men actually hurt the heart of God. Now, if we go with the King James rendering, that it repented me.

Now, when you hear repentance, when we preach repentance, what are we telling people to do? Turn from what? Sin. Now, repentance in the Greek, who knows the word? Metanoia?

Doesn't just mean change of action, it actually means what? Change of mind. So we do believe repentance is a turning of action, but it begins in a changing of way of thinking. When we call people to repentance, what we're saying is change the way you think about sin. Change the way you think about your sin.

And as a result of changing the way you think about sin, then you will turn from your sin and begin to walk in accordance to God's ways and his will. But man repents differently than God repents. When man repents, he changes his attitude about sin. When God repents, he changes his attitude about a man and what he feels about a man. God never repents of sin.

We know that. He's perfect. But God does repent. He does have a change of mind when man chooses to sin and how God feels about that man or that woman. And so in the King James, you would read it in Genesis six one, when he describes the situation going on on the earth with all the violence and the perversion in Noah's day.

It says, and it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth. It repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth. Meaning what? Oh, I made a mistake by by making these humans. No.

He changed his thoughts. He changed his attitude. He changed his heart posture about man, not about sin in his own heart. So that's what we see here. We see it clear.

But what's interesting about this verse is that we don't just learn about how God feels about sin. Listen, we learn about how Samuel feels about sin. I regret that I made Saul king for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. And then it says here, and Samuel was angry. And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.

Other translations would say what? Samuel was what? Grieved. NASB? Who has NASB?

Word What's the word used? Distressed. ESB, angry. I believe the ESV got it right. When you go to the Hebrew, I believe is the word of Daniel Bennett will rebuke me later if I got it wrong.

Good? I passed. To be hot, to be furious, to burn with anger. Now let me ask you this, how many people today respond to sin in like manner? How many people today do you think in the church get angry about sin?

We are more willing to tolerate disobedience than be upset about it. And when somebody gets upset about it, we get upset with them. Samuel was angry. He was mad. I'm sure his face turned red.

I'm sure he paced back and forth in his room. I'm sure he expressed himself in the presence of God. It's okay to be angry if it's righteous anger. Now I know the other side where people get angry and they say it's righteous anger when it's really unjustified anger. And we see a balance here with Samuel.

Samuel was angry, but here's the other side, and he cried to the Lord all night. There's the compassionate side. There's the humility. There's the brokenness. There's the realization that sin can affect all of us, even a king.

There is his intercession for the very man that he was angry with because he had sinned against God so blatantly. He was angry. Why do you think Samuel was angry? You know, the foundational framework for knowing God is by being biblically sound and theologically accurate. There is no debate about that.

You can't claim to know God if you don't know his word. But Samuel proves knowing God is is greater than that. It's not just knowing the word, there's another factor that measures how a man or woman knows God. Not just knowing what he says, but you feel what he feels. You feel what he feels.

And what angers him angers you. And what grieves him will grieve you. And what pleases him will excite you. And Samuel here is proving that when you are close to God, and this man was close to God, he had a prayer life unlike very few. When Samuel was angry, it was a reflection that he shared God's pain and frustration, and it was completely righteous.

Would you like proof to know that when you get to know God, you will feel what he feels? Here's a couple scriptures. Moses, a man who spent time with God as a man who spoke to someone face to face. When Moses was up on that mountain getting the law of God, the Israelites were like, Pastor Moses is taking a while. Let's have a party.

They make it an idol and they dance around naked and they commit gross sexual acts with one another while Moses is getting the next steps for the people of God in his program for this nation. God brings it up to Moses and it says clearly that he burned with anger. God burned with anger. And then we read in Exodus 32. And as soon as he came near, verse 19, the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot.

And he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. Why was Moses angry? Because God was angry. Why was Moses so frustrated? Why was he ready to discipline in a righteous way as a leader?

Because he knew God's heart. His feelings were filtered by God's feelings. Now, I don't know brother. Anger anger is not is not right. I don't think you're I think you're digging too much into the text.

Okay. Let's go with Jeremiah fifteen seventeen. Here's a prophet. And look what Jeremiah says in that amazing chapter. Jeremiah fifteen seventeen, I did not sin in the company of revelers, nor did I rejoice.

I sat alone because your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation. Satan filled me with indignation? My flesh filled me with indignation? No. You filled me with indignation.

Oh, you want God's hand on your life. Yeah? God, lay your hand on my life, use me, fill me, clothe me. You might just get angry. You might get angry at all the perversion in the world.

You won't sit back lightly. See, while the world is desensitized by the media and by the casual approach of not just the world, but even those in the church, you spend time with God, you sit alone with God, you go to the mountain and sit at God's feet, you open this word, you get a prayer life and you will feel things that the average person will not feel. You will sense things that the average person will not sense. On top of that, you might be criticized for it. But I'm telling you this, a man who knows God doesn't just know what he says, he knows what he feels.

Does wickedness bother you tonight? Does compromising Christianity eat at your soul? When you know somebody like Saul who has had so many chances yet continues to rebel against God with such an influence and such a platform, Does it ruin your day at least in part? Do you feel the weight of it? These men did.

These men did. But remember the balance, they also knew how to cry out to God for them. Have mercy, Lord. Do something about this. Intervene.

Heal them. Convict them. They didn't go out and whip people into their place, but they did feel something. Samuel was angry and he cried to the Lord all night. Verse 12, and Samuel rose early to meet Saul.

Seems like somebody wants to deal with this sin issue once and for all. Seems like he's not waiting. He's not delaying. We're gonna deal with this right here, right now. He rises, showcasing his willingness and his eagerness to try to confront this and deal with it.

And it was told Samuel, Saul came to Carmel. So he's trying to find about where the whereabouts of Saul is. He's asking questions and somebody comes up and says, you know, he was in Carmel before he went to Gilgal and he actually set up a monument for himself. I mean, there's something wrong with this guy. Here he is, claiming victory over the Amalekites, and the first thing that comes to his mind before he even goes back to where he needs to go back is to set up a permanent plaque with his name.

So that the rest of the nation, for generations to come, would realize Saul was the one who who had this victory. Saul was the one who conquered the Amalekites, the ancient enemy of Israel. And so this man from chapter 13, we read that not only is he willing to take the credit from his own son for defeating the garrison of the Philistines and trumpet to the whole nation, Saul has defeated the garrison of the Philistines. We now come to the place we now come to such a low place where Saul is ready to make a statue in his own name and not take credit from his son, take credit from God himself. Think of bible study tonight.

When was the last time we saw a man of God performing a great victory over the same people group, the Amalekites? Think. Think. When you're ready, answer if you feel confident. Joshua, yes.

And who was over Joshua? Moses. Very good. Go to Exodus 17. This is where the whole issue with the Amalekites even began.

We remember that the Amalekites were the first people to attack Israel when they came out of Egypt, But we also know that there was a great blow against the Amalekites. And I want you to see in Exodus 17, the response of Moses to this victory in comparison to the response of Saul in this place. Exodus 17 verse 13. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will surely blot out, utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.

Now look at the reaction verse 15. And Moses built what? An altar and called the name of it, the Lord is my banner. Wow. The Lord is my banner saying, a hand upon the throne of the Lord.

The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. What did Moses built? An altar, and he called it the Lord is my banner. What did Saul built? A monument, and he put his name on it.

And the man turned his ministry into a monument. You see the difference? You see the difference between a man of God and a man who claims to be a man of God? One yearns and longs to make every opportunity to be about God being glorified and exalted in his life. What's the difference?

The other who claims to be a man of God takes every opportunity to use God for his own glory. That's the difference. And that's what's happening here. Saul is using God for his own glory. Moses was used by God for God's glory.

And listen, if you will take, you're willing to take from God what solely belongs to him, you are stealing. And you know what God says about thieves. And you know what God says about those who try to try to take his glory when Isaiah tells us, I share it with no one. Saul's playing a very dangerous game, and he's about to find out very quickly how dangerous it is. But what's amazing here is the the contrast between Saul and Samuel.

What was Samuel doing the night before when he realized Saul sinned? He grieved. He cried. He was broken. He was shattered.

What was Saul doing? Building a monument for his own name. See the response to the sin? Here's a man of God that has broken over someone else's sin, and here's the man who is in sin that has taken this opportunity to actually magnify himself. And what we see next here shows us the impression that this man was really deceived because of his own pride.

In fact, what he's about to do next would actually perhaps impress the gullible. What he's about to say now when Samuel confronts him might even trick those who don't understand that just because you say the right things, doesn't mean your heart is right before God. Verse 12, and Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. We are told in verse 13, and Samuel came to Saul. He finally found him.

I wonder what was going on through Saul's mind when he saw this old prophet coming up the hill, and I have a feeling that he didn't have a smile on his face. Samuel came to Saul and Saul said to him, this bugged me when I read it. This bugged me. Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.

Good thing Samuel was praying all night before he met with this man. And that's important to actually highlight because we're about to see how Samuel confronts sin and it provides wonderful lessons for us confronting sin. But before that, notice his greeting. Do such words hold any weight for someone who deliberately rebels against God's word? Does someone here prove to be sincere?

Do you read this and take this seriously? I hope not, because this is flattery. And not only is it flattery, it's a attempt to try to use spiritual phraseology to try to convince someone else of their personal spiritual condition, and worse than that, trying to advance their personal agenda. Have you ever met somebody that talks like that? You see, when you try to talk like a spiritual person and you are not a spiritual person, it doesn't fit you.

It's like you wearing a small shirt when everyone knows you're supposed to be wearing extra large. Stop doing that. And you think it's actually working to your purpose when all the while people can see right through it. Blessed be you to the Lord. I have obeyed the commandment of the Lord.

What Saul is doing here is what people try to do when they get around the pastor. Or it's spiritual people that are sincere followers of Christ. They just turn on the spiritual kind of attitude and they bring this vocabulary and they they they bring scripture references and everyone knows you're not that person if you're discerning. And they try to persuade others of their purity and their passion for God. And let me tell you this, if you ever feel that temptation, I wanna help you overcome that temptation once and for all.

You will you will never have to deal with that temptation if you just listen to this. You ready? Get a real relationship with God. That's it. That's it.

Once and for all. Get to his word. Be broken in his presence. Spend time with him, and guess what? You won't even have to think about how you're gonna speak.

You know what? In fact, let me tell you this. The truly spiritual person is known as a spiritual person when they're all the more natural. The most spiritual people I know are very, very normal and natural. They don't put on a face, they don't turn on the vocabulary.

No, no, no, no, no. They are just them and even if they don't bring up scriptural references all the time and they don't quote things to you and they don't tell you about what they've done for God, it's amazing that you can sense this person truly walks with God. One of my friends used to say this when I first got saved. He goes, everybody usually has a realness detector in them. Not everybody.

There are some people that are easily fooled. But anybody that spends time in the word of God, that knows God, that prays as a prayer life, that walks in holiness, you develop a discernment. And I would recommend never trying to do this with a prophet by the way. But unfortunately like Saul, people use the word of God and try to put on a spiritual mask to achieve a personal fleshly agenda. And there are times when people who greet you in the name of the Lord, blessed be to you, Lord.

And they even boast of their own devotion to Lord, I have obeyed the commandment of the Lord, When last night they just sinned with no problem. Why was Saul doing this? Because he thought that he could hide his disobedience. And he thought that he could cover it in front of a prophet. And you might, you might be good at, tricking a pastor.

You might fool your congregation. I promise you, you can't trick God ever. And that's what we see here in verse 14. And Samuel said, what then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear? I love prophets.

See, prophets, not just prophets, men of God, women of God, don't look at somebody's words only. That's not the sum evidence of who they are as a person. They evaluate your life. They look at the actions. They look at your social media.

They look at how you talk in different settings. They wanna see consistency. And this man didn't buy it. This man wasn't persuaded. He wasn't flattered.

He was looking at the evidence that was provided him. And what he does is quite incredible because he he questions him. And he says, what what is it that I'm hearing then? I hear sheep and I hear oxen. Why is that concerning?

Because the commandment was slaughter every living thing among the citizens of Mamelik. Here is a man who is prayed up and here is a man, as I said earlier, who knew how to confront someone in their sin. You know what's so wise about what he's doing here is that he doesn't point and accuse immediately, he asks questions. And he allows the individual, if they're honest enough, to come to that conclusion for themselves. There are times in which the prophet or the Christian must call out sin immediately, lest that person put himself or others in danger.

But there's also a great wisdom if we're trying to win somebody back to repentance. To let our Lord and savior Jesus Christ use parables and questions to allow the person who is in the wrong, whether in judgment or indeed, to come to the conclusion of where they stand on their own. There's great wisdom in that. So what is this? You're telling me blessed be da da da, I obey the commitment of the Lord, then why am I seeing what I'm not supposed to be seeing?

Why am I hearing what I'm not supposed to be hearing? I just offer you that advice when you ever have to counsel someone or have a conversation with someone that might be tough or uncomfortable, ask questions. And let them discover it if they're honest enough. But the principle here of Samuel confronting Saul is far greater than giving us some kind of guidance in how we confront people and their sin. You ready for this?

I hear the sheep. I hear the oxen. This teaches us that no matter how much you try to hide your sin, your sin will always find a way to tell on you. Always. Always.

And I'll tell you this, I don't wanna give credit to sin, but sin has a creative way of exposing people. There are many things that professing Christians claim to believe, but don't really believe. A lot. And here's one of the things that many people don't actually believe about the word of God. That when you try to conceal unrepentant sin and hold on to it while bearing the testimony of Christ, that God will expose you.

He will. People don't believe that though. People really don't believe that. I'm not talking about those who know that they're wrong and they wanna confess. I'm not talking about those who are in wrong and eventually they confess.

I'm talking about those who do not want to confess and are trying to navigate through life in a way that they can harbor something that God says that shouldn't be in your life. You want me to prove how I know that most Christians don't believe that this is true? That God will pull the sheets and expose somebody who claims to serve Him? Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 10 and look at verse 20. It just says one example.

Can you please remember this? If you do not confess your sin, whether it's a private sin before God or a public sin before the ones that you've sinned against or sinned with, If you do not confess your sin, hear me, sin will confess you. Ecclesiastes ten twenty. Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter. That's how I know most Christians don't believe that God can actually reveal your sin.

Because Solomon, in his wisdom, in his observation, but more importantly inspired by the Holy Spirit, he warns about speaking evil against those who are an authority, namely kings or those who are wealthy, but the truth extends to all people. And what he's saying here is that, the slanderous and viciousness of our words though expressed in secret or perhaps through agreement of confidentiality, When it is wicked in nature, it will find its way to the ears of those that you did not intend to hear. And the hyperbolic language of birds and winged creatures, that's that's being used to say that there is mysterious and unforeseen means by which that is accomplished. When you think to yourself, how did that get from here to there? Let me tell you how the walls have ears.

And I'm I'm using just one example of of speech. I'm not talking about great sins that we would categorize as gross sins. I'm talking about things like speaking in a way of which you plan to assault or degrade or destroy someone else, the Bible says, the little birdie will hear what you say and will find a way to be able to pass it on to the person or persons that you did not intend to hear. I wonder if we really believe that, how our conversations in private would be different. I wonder what personal holiness would look like.

I wonder what my time in my bedroom with the computer or my phone would look like if I really believe that. I wonder what my handling of money would look like when nobody else is watching. I wonder what my taxes would look like. I wonder what I wonder what holiness would be if I really believed that God was everywhere I was. If you don't confess sin, God gives chances.

I believe that God is a God who gives so many chances and and we can debate this, but even when you when you hear these great scandals of great ministers, I believe before that fall or that that exposure, there have been warning after warning after warning given to that person before God said, enough is enough. You cannot continue doing this in private. My name is at stake. You are hurting people and you're claiming to be my follower, my servant. Your sin will always tell on you when you try to harbor it or justify it.

And that's true in Proverbs twenty eight thirteen. If you want a verse for life, here's one of them. Whoever conceals his transgression will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. Whoever conceals his transgression, you try to take that beach ball and you try to stuff it into the water and you're saying, I could keep it, and the next thing you know you lose grip and it just shows up on the other end. Will not prosper, you won't succeed.

This is a law that no sinner in secret has been able to overcome. Especially when that sin has to deal with someone else that you're sinning with or sinning against. Covering our sin has been woven in the fabric of our nature since the fall. The first respond One of the first response of Adam and Eve was to do what? Create clothing with fig leaves.

And we've been trying to do it ever since. We're trying to cover, we're trying to shield, we're trying to hide, and one of the ways that you can know if you're having victory over the old Adam, the old man in your life, one of the ways you can measure that is that you have a greater trust that you can't hide your sin. You have a greater revelation that I can't actually I can't build anything, trick anyone, I can't do anything to maintain private iniquity in my life without God doing something about it. That's one of the ways you know that you are growing in holiness. Private sin becomes less of a reality.

The the the notion that that can actually be true without any consequences dies and dies more and more. Saul didn't have that. And so what do we see here? Verse 15. Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites.

For the people spare the best of the sheep and of the rest, and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction. And this man is now providing for us, and we won't get into all of it this this Friday, A series of ways of not dealing with sin that has been exposed. Again, it's one thing for holiness to be known in avoiding sin, but if we do sin, if we do sin, notice I said if, not when, but if we do sin. Those those are the words of John in first John two. How we respond to that sin also reveals where we stand with God.

And when Samuel exposes him, and when Samuel points out the evidence, Saul gives this answer. Isn't it sad that Saul interpreted the bleeding of the sheep much differently than Samuel did. Samuel heard it as disobedience. Saul didn't see it as that. Do you know why?

Because that's what pride does. Pride so deceives you that even when the evidence of your wrongdoing through the word of God is brought before you, you don't see it. You're like, what's wrong with it? What's wrong with it? And pride is so ugly and strong in a person's life, they can never come to terms when they've done something wrong.

They will go to all these different avenues before you get to the heart of the matter and them actually saying, you know what, I have fallen short. That's what pride does. It's very difficult to deal with pride from Christian to Christian on a horizontal level and that's why God has to deal with pride himself. God has to deal with a person who is so deceived that he cannot even see the wrong that he has committed, and so God will find a way to humble him. The arrogance of Saul and his response shows that he can't even see sin as sin.

He can't even see it as a trespass, and look how he answers. I want you to see three points, three highlighted insights to how he responds to Saul, Samuel rather. Notice the first thing that he does. Number one, he blames others for his disobedience. They have brought them from the Amalekites.

He's talking to his men who are under him. As though he's not the commander in chief. As though he's not the king who can rule over them and direct them as he wishes. They have done it. Saul had no problem Listen, Saul had no problem taking the credit from someone else when it didn't belong to him, And he also had no problem giving the credit to someone who has done wrong, or rather when he's done wrong.

He has no problem taking credit from somebody when he hasn't done right and they have, and he has no issue bouncing that credit to someone when he's done wrong. Isn't that amazing? This man doesn't care that his sin has affected his relationship with God. All this man cares about is how his performance is before men. That's all he cares about, what his track record looks like on paper.

And so he he can easily say they have done it. He can easily say I have done it when he hasn't done something good, and can easily say they have done it when he's done something wrong. Isn't that amazing? You want to know how this man is exposing himself about how he has no relationship with God? Keep reading.

Look carefully. He says, they brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to the sacrifice to the Lord who? Your God. Not my God. Your God, Samuel.

See, we're doing this for your God. Oh, really? He's not your God? See, through all the spiritual language, something slipped out. Because eventually, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Eventually. You can clothe that and spray spiritual perfume all over it. You can do whatever you want. Eventually, the true you is gonna come out. Your own heart will deceive you, and that's what's happening here.

You're a god. I wonder if he caught it. I wonder what Samuel looked like when he said, oh yeah, my God. That is right. He is my God.

He's definitely not yours. So what about all that spiritual talk? It was fake, hollow, empty. It stunk. Had no value, had nothing to offer.

Your God, blaming it on others, having no concern about how this is affecting his vertical. Only concern was how are men gonna see me? I can't let people know that I've sinned against God. Do you think it was really that? Number two, not just blaming others for disobedience, but justifying the disobedience.

What does he say here? He says, they have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to do what? To sacrifice to the Lord your God. Here's a man who has framed his actions the way that many do, and unfortunately some in the church, that the that the end justifies the means. That the end justifies the means.

And so if the goal is religious, it doesn't matter how we get there. If the goal is a spiritual goal, it doesn't matter what we have to what we have to do and and and trick and and and kind of deceive and we it doesn't matter because that's the goal. God does care about the means. God does care about the means. In fact, if the end is a righteous end and the means are wicked, that spoils the end anyway.

And so let's look at this on a grander level. We can't preach on certain things because we wanna bring people in, and when we bring them, then we'll talk about the hard subjects. Let's just reel them in. Oh, really? You You really think that once you fill the place in, then you're gonna speak about the things that you weren't willing to speak about in the beginning.

Do you see? Any person who tries to live their life in a way in which the end justifies the means, that is breeding ground for compromise whether on a macro level or on a minor level. Here's proof. I'm gonna marry her anyway. Babe, we're we're gonna get we're gonna get married anyway, so who cares?

I mean, I'm gonna put a ring on your finger. We're gonna go to the altar. God already revealed to me that you're the one, so why don't we just mess around? Who cares? Does the end justify the means?

We're gonna sacrifice this to God. We're gonna give this to the Lord didn't ask you to sacrifice it. The Lord asked you to kill it. And not only do people justify their disobedience, look what Saul does here. He actually distracts.

He attempts to distract Samuel from the disobedience. Because what does he say in the end? And the rest we have devoted to destruction. See how he puts a exclamation mark at the end of this thing? So yeah.

Samuel, look, we we did keep this, but it's to sacrifice. And and Samuel, did you notice that we destroyed everything else? Did you notice that that in the midst of all this I know it's weird and it's confusing and it's chaotic. I know that it looks kinda it looks kinda shady, but look at the good. Look at the good that we did.

People are like that. People, when they are caught in sin and they are proud, will fish back to the past and try to resurface the good that they've done, thinking that that will that will soften the seriousness of the present moment. Do you realize what I've done for God? Do you realize who I am? Do you realize what do you realize my history?

So how can you how can you do this to me now? How can you say that I'm wrong now? How can you say that I'm in danger of discipline now? And so this is a distraction. This is an attempt to say, don't look at the wrong that I've committed.

Look at the right that I've done. And, yeah, this is wrong, but let's get over it. Come on. And you learned last week you learned last week that God does not esteem obedience the same way man does. If if the man in his flesh would hear this, some would say, you know what?

Yeah. It is one guy, Agag. I mean, you killed an entire people group. You left one guy. What's one guy, really?

What's one guy? You're right. Where's that memorial, by the way? I wanna go see what you did. Let's go check it out.

That's how men would see it. God says everything. And when God says everything, it's everything. Period. Full stop.

By the way, notice what he said. He says in the beginning, they have brought them from the Amalekites. Right? He blames the people. They brought them from the Amalekites.

And how does he end it? But we have devoted them to destruction. Wow. Like, this guy has issues. They have done the wrong, but we have devoted them to destruction.

Did they really? Did they actually destroy all the Amalekites? How do you know? Somebody said something. The king, not just the king.

I'm not talking about the king because Samuel's about to kill the king, and that would have been mission accomplished. How do you know that Saul's even telling the truth here? That he killed every single because look at verse 20. Come down to verse 20 with me. 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. So he's even claiming, I have devoted every other Amalekite to destruction. Really? Did he?

Go a few chapters later. Go to chapter 27. This is when David shows up on the scene. And what do we read in verse eight? Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites, the Gerzites, and who?

The Amalekites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from of old as far as shore to the land of Egypt. Well, well, well. Looks like somebody didn't destroy all the Amalekites even when he claimed to say I did. Because Samuel's gonna kill the king, and if he's the last of the last, how do they show up again just in a few chapters? Somebody didn't do his job.

So now we get an extra layer and understanding of how great this disobedience was in God's eyes. It wasn't just that he left one. He lied about killing the others. This is serious. And God is gonna bring swift discipline because of it.

And notice what Samuel says in verse 16, that Samuel said this all, stop. Enough. Enough is enough, man. The new King James says, be quiet. Because the tendency of those who are caught in sin and they're in the wrong and they don't wanna confess is that they ramble on.

They keep talking, and they try to bring in all these different things to either manipulate the situation or convince you otherwise or deflate a tense moment. So I can just imagine it. Based on this word stop, I can just imagine Saul saying, well, you know what? They have done it. They've sent the Amalekites, and and we even brought them out so that they can dedicate it to the Lord, and we have devoted the destruction.

And then it's the same and just enough. Stop it. He says, I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night. He asked him to be quiet. He asked him to stop.

K? Because he's revealed enough. Your excuses do not work. There's no way of justifying your disobedience. Now what was the command?

What was the command? Stop. New King James, be quiet. Did he obey the command? No.

Because what does he say at the end? And he said to him, speak. You couldn't even obey that command. Do you think the prophet needed your permission to say something? He already told you I'm gonna say something.

He didn't need you to say speak. He didn't need your authority. He didn't need your green light. But what? He needs the last word.

What? His pride wouldn't let him. I can't let Samuel get the last word. So when Samuel says, enough. Stop.

I will tell you what God said. Saul's like, speak. Speak. And then he's gonna tell him what God said. Because true men of God are not afraid of confronting sin.

True men of God are not afraid of confronting sin no matter what the cost is. True men of God are not afraid to confront sin no matter who the person is that is in the wrong. True men of God only care about one thing. I am the messenger of the Lord. I stand with him and for his word.

Do you realize that this king had the authority like king David did with Nathan to at one word have his neck slit? And you're gonna see next week, Saul's aggression when he grabbed Samuel by the garment and rips it. But true men of God don't fear men. When you stand in the presence of God, you can stand before kings. When you sit at the feet of the master, you can, without even your voice shaking, stand before myriad of princes and evildoers, and those who have power and position.

When you stand for righteousness, God will bless you. When you, for the sake of your safety or your reputation or whatever else, Do not stand for what's right. I don't care who stands with you. I'd rather stand alone with God before the world than stand with the world and stand against God any day. Any day.

And true men of God, they speak what God says. They say what God says whether men say you can or you can't. True men and women of God are so close to God that their hearts are filled with the feelings of God, that no matter what men do, say, it doesn't matter. My heart is brimming with the knowledge of what my God asked me to do. And I only care about how he feels, so I will say what he tells me to say.

Where are those men of God today? You know what we have today in majority? Cowards, men pleasers, people who don't really believe the promises of God, people who don't really believe that when you are in integrity, God will be your shield, and he will defend you, and he will step in for you. Where are those men? Where are those women?

You know what we have? We have a bunch of people building monuments for themselves. We have a bunch of people that are so concerned about the reputation before others. So they have done this and I have done this and the the and the spiritual talking, all this craziness. Where are the prophets?

Do we have any prophets left in America? Do we have any prophets coming out of our seminaries? Do do we have any prophetic voices anymore? Are we all just parrots? Where are the men that will stand in the wilderness by themselves and speak the word of God no matter how much comes in?

No matter who comes in? Where are those men? Can someone say where are those men? You can't get those men from seminaries. Seminary is not wrong.

I went to seminary, but those men are birthed in the prayer closet. Those men are are are heavenly born. Those men have come into contact with God, not with a degree, not with a textbook, the real book. And I believe in this day where there's a famine in the land, what this nation needs more than ever is not bigger buildings, is not nicer lights, is not cooler, hipster looking people on the pulpit. What this nation needs are prophets.

I'm not talking about prophets predicting the future. I'm talking about prophets who point to the word of God and say, thus says the Lord. Those prophets. Samuel was such a man. I love prophets.

Because Samuel was willing to do this with Saul, and Nathan was willing to do it with David. Prophets feel what the average person doesn't feel. They get angry. They cry when people are still sleeping. They wake up early so that they can obey God.

And they're willing to stand before any man who stands against God. Where are those men? Cowards. And it's infecting the churches. But God will raise him up because he never leaves a generation without a witness.

God is too good to leave a generation without a voice. And I pray that through these bible studies and through the Sunday morning and through this church, there wouldn't just be one voice, but voices. The voice of Elijah prepared the world for the first coming of the Messiah, and we need the voice of Elijah to prepare the world for his second coming. And God is willing to raise up those voices. Can we pray together?

Heavenly father, we ask and pray that these truths concerning Saul's life would permeate in our souls. We pray, Lord, that we would not be those who who think we can trick you and trick our fellow man. Help us live in holiness. Help us live in a way in which we sense your presence in all things, that you see us and you hear us in all ways. Lord, we pray that you would keep us sensitive to your heart, that we would not only know what you say, but feel what you feel.

And, Lord, that can't be conjured up. That can't be provoked by our own self or strength. It has to come from walking with you. Pray that we would all have a close walk with you. Lord, we ask that in this house we would fear sin, not in the sense in which we fear condemnation, but realizing that it is so destructive.

And if we do not confess our sin to you and when necessary confess it to one another, sin will find a way to confess us. Lord, revive your church in the fear of the Lord. Revive your church in the fear of God. Thank you that those who confess and forsake their sin will obtain mercy. Lord, when You highlight that sin, when You convict us of that sin, and we run to You, You have nothing but mercy, forgiveness, restoration.

But when we hide it and hide it and think we can live with it, you love us too much to keep it. Lord, we pray that the chief ambition of every person in this church was to build an altar to you and not a monument. To give you glory for every victory, every gift we experience, every open door, every blessing whether great or small, to say the Lord is my banner. The Lord is my provider. The Lord is my protector.

The Lord is my shepherd. Lord, we want nothing with our name on it. We want your name to be known for generations. Lord, we thank you for a church that does love the word, that is not afraid of thus says the Lord. God, your word your word is like honey to us.

It cleanses us. It it heals us. It corrects us. It molds us. Lord, we embrace the whole counsel of God.

We embrace it. Oh, God. Make us like Samuel who stood for what was right, who stood before the king of kings before he stood before king Saul, who had the armies of heaven with him as he stood before the army of a man. Blessed be your name. We believe this book is true.

We believe you are for us and not against us. We believe, oh God, that when we walk in your ways, no one can snatch us. No one can push us. No one can destroy us. You are with us in the lion's den.

You are with us in the fiery furnace. You are with us when armies stand before us. You are with us when we feel like everyone else has left us. We love you. There is no friend like you.

There is no Lord like you. Lord, how can we not walk in righteousness? How can we not walk in your ways? There's too many blessings reserved for the righteous. We run-in your commandments.

We embrace you, God, for all that you are. And Lord, we pray for strength for any person in here that feels like giving up, that feels like I'm this is just too tiring. I'm not sure if this is worth it. I I'm not sure I signed up for this. But God, you are worthy.

You are worthy. And Lord, help us remember that Paul, he had revelation. He had revival. He had miraculous abilities at sometimes. He had great understanding, but he also had shipwrecks and stonings and nights without food or sleep and whips on his back and the daily anxiety of how the churches he planted are doing.

Lord, you are worth the suffering. You're worth it all, God. You are wonderful. And, Lord, we know that you have suffered more than all of us combined. Yet you went to the cross with joy.

Help us endure with joy, God. We wanna worship you in light of these truths. Your wisdom your wisdom is perfect, and we celebrate you in your house tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen.

Can we stand and worship the Lord together, please?